Document Type: Progress Reports

This annual report presents the results of the Burundi Policy Reform Program’s work during Year 4. As in previous years, the work was accomplished through efforts of the project team, several national and international consultants, as well as a range of civil society organizations, media organizations, and ministries, including the Ministry of Good Governance, the project’s ministry of reference. Following this overview, this report covers:

• Activities from the Year 4 scope of work and a few activities carried over from the Year 3 scope of work
• Table of indicators and targets
• The monitoring and evaluation report (in the annex)

Background

Year 4’s timeline includes some noteworthy points regarding the scope of work:

• In the beginning of Year 4, the project continued working on selected activities from the Year 3 scope of work pending receipt of the Year 4 scope of work.
• Grants and good governance project activities completed from July-September 2011 are included in this report and there will not be a separate report for the fourth quarter.
• The project submitted its Year 4 work plan on October 15, 2010 and the work plan was approved on November 10th 2010.
• On April 26, 2011 the Parliament adopted the new land code and the Senate subsequently adopted the code on June 30, 2011. The President of the Republic signed the new land code on August 9, 2011 thus the project did not have enough time to complete land code implementation activities within the contract period. USAID was kept informed of the status of these activities.

The purpose of AgroInvest is to provide technical assistance to accelerate and broaden economic recovery in Ukraine and increase the country’s contribution to global food security efforts. AgroInvest is achieving this objective by supporting a stable, market-oriented agricultural policy environment, stimulating access to financial services for small and medium producers (SMPs), and facilitating a more effective market infrastructure for SMPs.

The scope of work identifies three main components, refined into six tasks, as follows:

• Component 1: Support a Stable, Market-Oriented Environment
  Task 1-a: Accelerate Market Oriented Reforms
  Task 1-b: Strengthen Industry Associations
  Task 1-c: Provide Public Education for Land Rights
• Component 2: Stimulate Access to Finance
  Task 2-a: Sustainable Access to Financial Services for SMPs Provided
• Component 3: Facilitate Market Infrastructure for Small and Medium Producers
  Task 3-a: Producer Organization Development
  Task 3-b: Develop Wholesale Markets and Other Market Infrastructure

AgroInvest is a five-year project, extending to an estimated completion date of January 24, 2016. The scope of this project encompasses the following U.S. Foreign Assistance Framework Program Areas: 4.2 Trade and Investment, 4.5 Agriculture, 4.6 Private Sector Competitiveness, and 4.7 Economic Opportunity.

QUARTERLY HIGHLIGHTS

In January-March 2013, the AgroInvest project team continued technical implementation activities in the project focus areas. Key activities and accomplishments during this period included the following:

• Selected five agricultural industry associations through a competitive process for grant awards to build their capacity in advocacy and agricultural policy analysis.
• Scaled up the Legal Land Rights Services Program to help citizens understand and protect their land rights. The program is operational at the national level (through the Land Rights Resource Center and Web-portal project) and in eight oblasts of Ukraine (through grant agreements with four providers of secondary legal land rights services).
• Presented the Market Survey on the current status of agrilending to SMPs to the Ukrainian financing community and SMP-agribusinesses.
• Conducted the final training sessions on enhancing technologies of lending to SMPs via credit unions (including the launch of the system of trainings for trainers development, and actual trainings conducted by the trainers).
• Developed two new innovative credit products for credit unions (bee keeping and mini-dryer for drying fruits and herbs financing).
• Scaled up the Land Rights Public Education and Outreach Campaign.
• Completed the analytical phase of the Baseline Survey on Land Rights Awareness, Small- and Medium-scale Agricultural Producers Access to Finance, and Agricultural Market Infrastructure. The analytical report will be ready in April 2013 followed by a wide discussion of the findings through a series of roundtables.
• Conducted the final training event for credit union trainers. In total, 14 trainers were trained to train their colleagues from other CUs and agri-producers on agrilending and access to finance (risk assessment, sales and marketing of the credit offer, agroinsurance use etc.) on the basis of didactic materials developed by AgroInvest. As a result, these trainers conducted 18 seminars for credit union officers and agriculture producers, which included approximately 300 trainees.
• Law of Ukraine on Amendments to the Law of Ukraine on Agricultural Cooperation #11221 developed with the support of the AgroInvest Project was approved in whole by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on November 20, 2012 and endorsed by the President of Ukraine, and officially promulgated on January 19, 2013 (Law of Ukraine #5495-VI dated November 20, 2012).
• Conducted the third round of the post-harvest handling and logistics grant program, which resulted in four producer organizations’ selection.

The Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) helped Bolivia’s National Agrarian Reform Institute and its Property Registry System to develop a low-cost model to title and register more than 470,000 hectares containing more than 25,000 properties. The activity improved security of property rights and to expanded individual access to land markets and the full benefits of land assets. The project developed and validated a massive low-cost titling process — the results of which are accessible on the Internet — that can be applied throughout the country. Land titling fostered by the project helps farmers receive loans and encourages them to abandon illicit crops, while strengthening government institutions at all levels.

In this section we report on the specific achievements and activities during the quarter for each of the four strategic objectives. The project has four strategic objectives: 1) Develop and Strengthen INRA’s Institutional Capacity; 2) Develop and Strengthen DDRR’s Institutional Capacity; 3) Develop and Implement an Outreach Dissemination Program; and 4) Develop and Strengthen the Municipalities’ Capacity

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

Plan I and IIA

INRA Cochabamba was unable to meet the quarter’s numerical targets due to a lack of clear definition of areas of responsibility with BKP, widespread conflict over disputed property boundaries in the Indigenous Territories (Territories Comunitarios de Origen or TCO), and incomplete and/or deficient documentation. The targets for the FARA were amended early in the quarter when it became apparent INRA would be unable to meet them.

Of the six steps, each requiring a different set of activities, the original and amended goals were exceeded only in step 4: Final Resolution. Changes introduced in this step have speeded up and simplified the procedure. The standard procedure was for INRA Nacional to send a title back to Cochabamba because either it lacked proper documentation or the documentation failed to meet the requirements which were unclear or misinterpreted by the staff. This major bottleneck was addressed through the technical assistance provided by BLTP, which facilitated a workshop for 72 INRA technicians and BPK staff to standardize and clarify the documentation requirements. The workshop also concluded with the determination that INRA La Paz officers will travel to Cochabamba to carry out the reviews and avoid lengthy delays by shipping documents back and forth.

The second reason for delaying the issuance of titles in this quarter was the change in the design of the coat of arms of Bolivia which is printed on the legal paper used for the titling documentation and the title itself. The need to re-issue the documentation and titles has delayed the processing of titles nationally.

As a direct consequence of the problems mentioned above, only 197 of the planned 700 titles were issued during the quarter. While this was a disappointing number, it was important achievement for the GOB. The President himself delivered the titles to community leaders in a ceremony held in the “Prefectura” of Cochabamba where he highlighted the assistance of USAID and the EU in the titling of properties.

Plan IIB

After intense negotiation during the reporting period an agreement was signed between INRA Nacional, INRA Cochabamba and the BPK consortium identifying 15,000 hectares in new areas where INRA is responsible for the entire regularization process. The 15,000 hectares were for INRA to fulfill its original mandate to work in 100,000 hectares. Work began in late August and fell short of the original targets. However, considering that an entire new operation had to be put together and that field work did not start until August, the progress made is important, especially because it involved the implementation of a new community relations methodology developed with BLTP leadership and support.

The importance of good relations with the community from the start can not be emphasized enough. Intentional or unintentional mistreatment of community members by “saneamiento” technicians invariably leads to conflict and delays or stops the process. To prevent this, BLT has developed a strategy, a plan, and the instruments to improve “saneamiento” technicians’ capacity to work effectively with groups of clients and to speed up the first steps of the titling process.

Plan III- PRAEDAC/ BPK

After stalling for months, PRAEDAC finally made available to INRA information on the status of the work BPK is doing. When the project was designed, the assumption was made that BPK, responsible for completing four of the seven steps in the titling process for 465,000 hectares, would generate a steady flow of titling documentation for INRA to process, and that by the end of the BLT project around 25,000 titles would have been issued and registered. The reality is that from the original 465,000 hectares, BKP has only initiated work in 168,000 hectares. Furthermore, only 2,473 out of the 168,000 hectares, have reached step 4 of the process. See table 3 below for the status of BKP’s work. As a result, and given the pace at which BKP is performing, it is impossible that enough titles can complete the first six steps needed to justify the BLT project beyond the first semester of next year.

INRA, with the support of BLTP, has begun a quality control process of the documentation BKP is producing in Villa Tunari to minimize and try to eliminate delays due to sending the documents back for correction after they have been submitted to INRA.

This new activity and modality is the result of a first experience where INRA rejected the documentation of 12 out of 156 polygons presented in September. This situation highlighted the lack of coordination and understanding between the institutions involved in the regularization process, and illustrates the types of delays that are likely to occur as more documentation is handed over to INRA for further processing.

The agreement to open an INRA office in Villa Tunari, to review the documentation before it is presented, was reached in a meeting between the Vice Ministry for Alternative Development, INRA, PRAEDAC and USAID organized and facilitated by the BLTP project.

INRA Nacional

Satisfactory and strategic progress was made with INRA Nacional during the quarter. The second FARA covering September to November was signed. Under this FARA, 10 additional employees were incorporated making it a total of 17 BLT supported central office staff to process the titling documentation through the last 2 steps. The 17 are assigned to the National “Saneamiento” Directorate, Conflict Resolution and Standardization Unit, the Titling Unit and the Judicial Certification Unit.

To alleviate two other bottlenecks, the project is supporting an employee in the Agrarian Superintendence (Superintendencia Agraria) and another one in the President’s Office. The Agrarian Superintendence role in the process is limited to setting the regularization price per hectare, an unnecessary step since the law stipulates the cost of 10 cents per hectare. However, until the law is changed, this requirement must be fulfilled. This step that used to take up to 45 days or more has been cut to 21 days by the additional staff member, an improvement but not a solution. The job of the professional in the President’s office is to release the Final Determinations (Resoluciones finales) and to prepare the title for the
President’s signature.

We anticipate that next bottle neck to be addressed will be the current practice that the President must sign every title by hand and in person. As the volume of titles increases, it is hard to imagine that the President can afford the time he will need to sign titles.

On September 28 and 29, BLT facilitated what turned out to be the first meeting of all GOB institutions involved with the titling process. At that time,INRA, Derechos Reales and Tribunal Agrario held a two days workshop to try to coordinate their actions and to expedite the process. Several decisions were made that, if implemented, will improve the process. They include:

Tribunal Agrario Nacional (TAN) – INRA

INRA and TAN reached an understanding on various aspects of the law and titling procedures that should simplify and facilitate and speed up the titling process. These include:

1. INRA will analyze and evaluate the jurisdictions sentences during the regularization process.
2. Better channels of information and coordination will be implemented between agrarian judges and Regional Offices of INRA to coordinate the
   decisions of both institutions.
3. Actions will be initiated to strengthen the coordination and exchange of information between agrarian judges and INRA. This flow could be
   originated by any of the institutions.
4. Transfer of accurate information between institutions will be expedited.
5. The Regional Directorates of INRA will share technical and other necessary information with TAN.
6. Transfer of information will be made by electronic media using the system installed by BLTP.
7. Cooperation between both institutions to get a better financing of resources will be sought.
8. The physical presence of the “Supertintendencia Agraria” at a departmental level will be recommended.
9. A Committee of INRA and Agrarian Court to present projects for the revision of procedures will be created.
10. Notifications of final resolutions being impugned by citizens will be made to the “Superintendencia Agraria”.

DERECHOS REALES (DDRR)- INRA

1. Correction of errors and omissions will be coordinated between “Derechos Reale”s and INRA.
2. INRA will submit packages of no more than 20 cases at one time, using geographic classification.
3. The term for the Registration of Executive Titles will be of 5 days per 100 titles without observations.
4. Digitak graphic and alphanumeric information will be submitted electronically.
5. The errors and omissions found by DDRR will be published in the DDRR web page and corrected by INRA within 15 days.
6. The digital information transferred to DDRR Sucre will be simultaneous with the transmittal of documents to the district offices. Control numbers
   should coincide.
7. During regularization INRA will provide DDRR with base information.
8. INRA will provide DDRR with the list of priorities for regularization.
9. DDRR will standardize quality criteria that need verification.
10. A committee will be formed of both institutions to coordinate the transfer of information. Both institutions will nominate their respective representatives.
11. INRA will notify DDRR of any particular situation within the following deadlines. INRA will submit the requirements by October 8, 2004, DDRR
    proposes a solution by October 15 and INRA responds by October 20.
12. INRA will propose the exemption of taxes to the Consejo de la Judicatura, to mediate in the National Congress.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

A ceremony was held during the second week of July to deliver to DDRR Sacaba, the equipment it needs to modernize its operations and, very importantly, the communications link between the offices of Sacaba and Cochabamba to store and transmit titling data electronically. As a result, INRA and DDRR are expected to fully automate transmission of data through the use of the software (Temis and Geotemis) provided by BLT. The system was used immediately to register the first 197 property titles completed and granted by the President on September 14.

The second FARA covering BLTP support for DDRR from August to October was signed. The FARA maintains the agreed upon level of support.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

The development of the overall communications and extension plan is behind schedule. It will be completed by October and implementation will start immediately. The plan is based on a series of surveys, focus group analysis, and assessments. We subcontracted IMPRODES to conduct the surveys and focus group analysis, consultant Ruth Villegas to carry out the assessment on the role of women, Carlos Arroyo to carry out an analysis of the media in the Chapare and Marcelo Guardia to profile the media target populations.

The results of the surveys are quite revealing and include the following:

• From the households holding land titles, the percentage claiming to hold titles given out by the Colonization Institute is 65%, by The National Agrarian Reform Council is 45%, and by the agrarian syndicates and syndicate federations is 8%. The “titles” granted by the syndicates or federations have no legal validity and most likely consist of a verbal agreement among neighbors and syndicate authorities. This is an important finding because it seems to contradict the claim that syndicates and federation use the granting of land as a political tool.
• 79% of the women and 81% of the men are familiar with the INRA law.
• 97% believe that having a legal title is important and advantageous.
• The existence of an informal land market where 57% of the families purchased their farms.
• 23% obtained their land through the occupation of fiscal or “vacant” lands.
• Only 12% claim they obtained land through the colonization process.

The significance of the findings above need to be emphasized because they show that contrary to accepted wisdom, the main mechanism for obtaining land in the Chapare today is by purchasing it. The same survey 20 years ago would probably have shown that the majority of the farmers would have obtained their land through settlement/colonization mechanisms, or simply occupation of fiscal and vacant land.

Additionally, the survey found that:

• 67% of the sample had not initiated the INRA regularization process in due to the following reasons: 27% had been instructed by their syndicates to not do it, 14% because INRA has not attended their requests for regularization, 13% because they do not know or they see no reason for it, and 11% because the regularization process generates conflict.
• Of those who have not initiated regularization, 63% of the men and 52% of women want to have regularization of their land titles.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN THE MUNICIPALITIES’ CAPACITY

USAID/Bolivia and the VMDA have yet to define the conditions and manner in which this project will work with Municipalities in the region. The recent agreement between the GOB and the Agrarian Syndicates of the Chapare allowing each family to grow up to 1,600 square meters of coca offers an opportunity to achieve total land titling quickly. The timing could not be better for this project to help achieve total success in land titling.

For this to happen, a number of pieces have to fall in place:

• The allocation of a “cato de coca” per family must be tied to obtaining land title for the property ASAP, and to the development of the Municipal Cadastre.
• INRA must show convincingly that it can process land titles quickly and efficiently, so that the initial surge in interest and demand for titling is not lost.

Obviously, INRA even with the support it is getting from this project and others, will not be able to instantly process thousands of titles, should the demand materialize. However, even if it were possible to attend everyone right away, the process itself takes time, more time than the allocation of the “cato de coca” will take. The ability to respond to increased demand quickly and efficiently will be critical in titling all properties in the region. If there is no quick and efficient response by INRA, the demand for titling will quickly dissipate as informal on-the-ground mechanisms are devised by the syndicates to register land and put together some kind of cadastre. If a steady stream of titles is not forthcoming, the linkages between the land title, the municipal cadastre, and the “cato de coca” will be broken, and along with it much of the incentive and interest of having a land title.

The Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) helped Bolivia’s National Agrarian Reform Institute and its Property Registry System to develop a low-cost model to title and register more than 470,000 hectares containing more than 25,000 properties. The activity improved security of property rights and to expanded individual access to land markets and the full benefits of land assets. The project developed and validated a massive low-cost titling process — the results of which are accessible on the Internet — that can be applied throughout the country. Land titling fostered by the project helps farmers receive loans and encourages them to abandon illicit crops, while strengthening government institutions at all levels.

In this section we report on the specific achievements and activities during the quarter for each of the four strategic objectives. The project has four strategic objectives: 1) Develop and Strengthen INRA’s Institutional Capacity; 2) Develop and Strengthen DDRR’s Institutional Capacity; 3) Develop and Implement an Outreach Dissemination Program; and 4) Develop and Strengthen the Municipalities’ Capacity

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

INRA Cochabamba

The third FARA, which specifies the goals of each activity by month, was signed and implemented during this quarter. The emphasis on accountability for concrete results and the policy of using three month FARA’s to pressure INRA to deliver are producing the expected changes in the work culture of INRA. These changes, however, are not being implemented easily or enthusiastically. In fact, there is still considerable resistance and
hostility towards BLTP.

During the quarter the number of Cochabamba INRA employees supported by BLTP increased from 38 to 42 primarily to accommodate the demands of opening an office in Villa Tunari.

Plan I and IIA

As previously explained the FARA’s contain specific goals for each month of the quarter.

To provide context, plans I and IIa cover 86,200 hectares and contain 4022 properties. The area is divided into 91 polygons with an average of 947 properties per polygon.

The table above shows that INRA Cochabamba exceeded all its targets in the steps under its direct control, barring the Public Presentation of Results. The Public Presentation of Results was delayed because INRA La Paz failed to obtain the required price certification on time, and because all activities were suspended during the holidays. The table also makes it clear; once again, that INRA La Paz is proving to be a major bottleneck.

Accomplishments in the final three steps fell short of the planned results.

By the end of the quarter an additional 218 titles had been signed by the President but not yet delivered, 280 were expecting his signature, and 42 were ready to be sent to the President’s office. This totals 540 titles that can be delivered early in 2005. One major accomplishment was to persuade INRA La Paz to delegate two steps in the titling process to the regional departmental offices: 1) the authority to directly request land price certification to the Agrarian Superintendence, and 2) the authority to issue the technical and legal certificates needed for the public presentation of results. Delegating these two relatively simple steps has reduced the time needed to accomplish them from months to less than three weeks.

Plan IIb

Plan IIb is a recent addition to the INRA/BLTP workload to raise the number of titles to 5,000 and the total area to 100,000 hectares as specified in the contract and in the agreements with INRA. The area identified contains 1,025 properties divided into 24 polygons and covers an extension of 14,534 hectares. The area is densely populated with smaller properties, as there are only an average of 43 properties per polygon in contrast to the 943 in plans I and IIa.

Considering that work began in late August, the progress made is record setting, chiefly due to the innovations introduced by the BLTP Project aimed at speeding up the entire process. A scheduled 995 hectares ready for public presentation had to be postponed because of INRA’s suspension of activities on December 15.

Plan III – PRAEDAC / BKP

As planned, BLTP was tasked to help INRA process the documentation of some 25,000 titles produced by PRAEDAC/BPK and support INRA in the whole process of some 5,000 titles.

The lack of progress by PRAEDAC/BPK negatively affects BLTP’s potential progress and has contributed to a strained relationship with PRAEDAC/BPK.

Some progress was made during the quarter, but the final definition of areas and tasks assigned to each project needs to be reached as soon as possible.

INRA Nacional

An amendment to the three month FARA with INRA La Paz was signed in November 2004 extending its period until January 2005. Through this FARA, BLTP is financing 14 staff members for titling of properties in the tropics.

An important accomplishment this quarter was to persuade a reluctant national office to decentralize the execution of two simple but time consuming steps in the titling process to its departmental offices: the direct solicitation of land prices to the Agrarian Superintendence and the issuance of the final certification needed to issue the title.

In order to train INRA to more efficiently use its resources and improve coordination between donor assistance, the national director encouraged INRA to undergo a reengineering assessment. The projected completion date of this important assessment is February 15th, 2005.

By the end of this quarter a six month FARA (scheduled to start in January 2005) was completed. This is the second FARA and it includes detailed activities and indicators as well as clear titling targets per quarter. The FARA holds INRA La Paz accountable for specific results, which represents an unprecedented level of accountability for INRA La Paz. This milestone hopefully is a first step to shifting the work culture emphasizing process over results, to that of one emphasizing results over process.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

DDRR currently has the capacity to process large number of titles. However, until INRA starts producing significant numbers of titles, BLTP support is limited to maintaining the installed capacity. For this reason the second FARA with DDRR was extended until the end of the year without major modifications.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

BLT’s community outreach program was implemented successfully in Plan II facilitating the incorporation of new polygons into the land regularization process in record time and with a minimum of difficulties.

The first steps of a mass communication campaign were launched with three radio jingles in Quechua and Spanish announcing the opening of the INRA offices in Villa Tunari. The jingles highlighted how INRA could lower the cost and accelerate the titling process, while also emphasizing the role of women in the land regularization process and their property rights.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN THE MUNICIPALITIES’ CAPACITY

The Vice Ministry of Alternative Development did not issue the expected guidelines to work with Municipalities. Consequently, the project did not initiate any activities other than maintaining informal relations with some municipal leaders.

It should be noted that as expected, MAS won the elections in all Chapare municipalities. The new municipal authorities will take office around mid-January.

The Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) helped Bolivia’s National Agrarian Reform Institute and its Property Registry System to develop a low-cost model to title and register more than 470,000 hectares containing more than 25,000 properties. The activity improved security of property rights and to expanded individual access to land markets and the full benefits of land assets. The project developed and validated a massive low-cost titling process — the results of which are accessible on the Internet — that can be applied throughout the country. Land titling fostered by the project helps farmers receive loans and encourages them to abandon illicit crops, while strengthening government institutions at all levels.

In this section we report on the specific achievements and activities during the quarter for each of the four strategic objectives. The project has four strategic objectives: 1) Develop and Strengthen INRA’s Institutional Capacity; 2) Develop and Strengthen DDRR’s Institutional Capacity; 3) Develop and Implement an Outreach Dissemination Program; and 4) Develop and Strengthen the Municipalities’ Capacity

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

A new FARA for six months, developed from previous experience, was signed with INRA Nacional. This FARA contains performance indicators that will facilitate and encourage performance monitoring and allow BLTP to stop payment when results are not delivered according to schedule.

Consultant Dr. Mario Rodriguez completed his assignment with presentations to INRA’s executive Director and USAID, setting forth a comprehensive set of instruments for the reengineering of INRA, including a Job Description Manual, Organization and Functions Manual, Job Valuation Manual, Comparative Summary of Salaries and INRA’s Job and Positions Evaluation.

INRA Cochabamba

The fourth FARA, which specifies the goals of each activity by month, was signed with INRA Cochabamba during the quarter. The agreement is for a one year period. The FARA continues to emphasize results. The emphasis on accountability for concrete results and the policy of using quarterly revisions to pressure INRA to deliver are strating to produce agreed results and the expected changes in INRA’s work culture.

BLTP provided INRA Cochabamba with all the necessary resources, both human and physical including the installation of an office to start operations in Villa Tunari. This office is the operations base to work in the new areas and also a major step by INRA to establish presence in the Tropics. The office started operation in mid-January.

Plan I and IIA

As previously explained the FARA contains specific goals for each month of the quarter.

The reasons for not achieving 100 percent in each case illustrate how vulnerable the process is to minor disruptions: The first two activities were delayed because the Agrarian Superintendence Office moved from La Paz to Santa Cruz. The third activity target could not be accomplished because the President did not sign the Final Resolutions. This is a bottleneck that goes beyond the project control and continues to delay and sometimes stop the titling process.

Plan IIb

Plan IIb covers an area of over 12,000 hectares and contains 1,027 properties. The area was added to BLT’s work load so that the target of 5,000 properties and 100,00 hectares could be met.

Failing to meet the last three targets in the table was due primarily to the move of the Agrarian Superintendence to Santa Cruz and the disruption that this caused in routine procedures. The public presentation of Results could not be made because the Agrarian Superintendence did not issue the land price certificates.

During the quarter, the BLTP organized and implemented three workshops for INRA staff: 1) conflict resolution, 2) extension best practices, and 3) use of Total Station to measure land more accurately and quickly. During the three events a total of 70 participants, mostly INRA staff from the national and regional offices benefited from the workshops.

INRA Nacional

One important step in building INRA’s institutional capacity was the delegation of several functions by the National Office to the Cochabamba Departmental Office. The Departmental office was given the authority to deal directly with the Agrarian Superintendence to obtain land prices. This development speeds up the titling process by cutting down the time it took to go through the Nacional office to obtain the land price determinations required by law

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

DDRR currently has the capacity to process large number of titles. However, until INRA starts producing significant numbers of titles, BLTP support is limited to maintaining the installed capacity. For this reason the second FARA with DDRR was extended until the end of the year without major modifications.

During the quarter, the DDRR office processed and registered 261 titles in a record 4 days demonstrating its enhanced capacity to rapidly and efficiently handle large volumes of titles.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

The communication strategy was modified to adapt to the changes in the distribution of tasks among the donors and the fact that BLTP is now working in new areas, areas that have traditionally been opposed to titling for political reasons. BLTP/INRA communications are key, directed to communities and local organizations and are mostly interpersonal in nature through an expert group of local extensionists, due to the high political sensitivities in the region.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN THE MUNICIPALITIES’ CAPACITY

No activities were undertaken in under this objective. The contract was modified to reflect that fact under the current legal an institutional framework municipality has neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they can not collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners.

BLTP work in this area will be limited to carrying out an assessment of the legal, institutional and policy frameworks that govern for municipal cadastres and make recommendations.

The Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) helped Bolivia’s National Agrarian Reform Institute and its Property Registry System to develop a low-cost model to title and register more than 470,000 hectares containing more than 25,000 properties. The activity improved security of property rights and to expanded individual access to land markets and the full benefits of land assets. The project developed and validated a massive low-cost titling process — the results of which are accessible on the Internet — that can be applied throughout the country. Land titling fostered by the project helps farmers receive loans and encourages them to abandon illicit crops, while strengthening government institutions at all levels.

In this section we report on the specific achievements and activities during the quarter for each of the four strategic objectives. The project has four strategic objectives: 1) Develop and Strengthen INRA’s Institutional Capacity; 2) Develop and Strengthen DDRR’s Institutional Capacity; 3) Develop and Implement an Outreach Dissemination Program; and 4) Develop and Strengthen the Municipalities’ Capacity

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

While the INRA Cochabamba office is experiencing a change in its work culture, and has developed significant capacity to process titles through the ownership verification phase, the La Paz office that must complete the titling and registration phase continues to resist change, and continues to fall behind the goals specified in the FARAs. The BLTP has informed the INRA La Paz office that it will not pay salaries it does not deliver results as specified in the FARA. After much discussion, at end of the quarter ended, the BLTP and INRA reached an understanding that a new FARA will be signed with the La Paz office on the condition of the completion previous period results without additional resources.

INRA Cochabamba

During the quarter the BLTP made changes in the configuration of its staff in response to the work requirements as the titling documentation moves from one step to the next. The most significant of the changes in BLTP staffing are the replacement of Mr. Jose Luis Delgado with Mr. Rafael Beltran as the BLTP technical manager posted in the Villa Tunari office. While INRA personnel have become technically proficient thanks to Mr. Delgado’s work, management skills are stills inadequate. Mr. Delgado’s work was successfully completed. Mr. Beltran’s mission is to strengthen managerial skills and improve work quality, so that titling documentation are free of errors and thus accelerate the process further. In addition, and to remedy serious quality problems in the documentation of titles, the BLTP hired a team of 5 quality control specialists. Lack of consistency, lack of attention to detail and errors in the documentation of titles are a major cause of delays. These errors are usually caught in the final inspection before the President’s signature and sent back to Cochabamba for correction.

INRA La Paz

As mentioned before, change and capacity development in the La Paz INRA office has proven to be harder to achieve. Despite the commitment of INRA Director, the staff assigned to work with the BLTP continues to resist changing work habits and culture. Working to produce concrete results in specified time schedules is slowly being accepted and only because we have linked producing results to salary payment.

INRA Nacional

One important step in building INRA’s institutional capacity was the delegation of several functions by the National Office to the Cochabamba Departmental Office. The Departmental office was given the authority to deal directly with the Agrarian Superintendence to obtain land prices. This development speeds up the titling process by cutting down the time it took to go through the Nacional office to obtain the land price determinations required by law.

Plan I and Plan II

As previously explained the FARA contains specific goals for each month of the quarter.

In a linear progression where one step leads to the next, any delays affect all following steps. As we reported in our previous report, the Superintendencia Agraria moved to Santa Cruz and has taken longer than anticipated to start operations. The key ingredient they provide to the process is the value of the property, allowing for the determination of the final resolution after which there is a public presentation of findings — the final step before the issuance of the deed (title).

INRA failed to meet its goal of 25 final resolutions because of errors in the titling documentation and had to start a process to correct them. This particular batch of titles underwent the early stages of ownership verification prior to April 2004. The discovery of errors in the last step of the process highlighted serious quality problems at all levels in INRA. This is a problem that the BLTP is working to correct with the introduction of a quality control unit to make sure no errors are overlooked in any of the steps of the tilting process.

Plan IIb and Plan IV

Plan IIb covers an area of over 12,000 hectares and contains 1,027 properties. This area was added to BLT’s work load so that the target of 5,000 properties and 100,000 hectares could be met.

Because of the geographic proximity of the areas under Plans IIb and IV, we will report progress on both plans jointly in this section.

While some targets were easily exceeded as shown in the table above, others were not met pointing out bottlenecks that need to be resolved. It should also be noted that the later stages of the titling process are the ones falling short of even modest targets. These steps are the responsibility of the La Paz office which resists being held accountable for results they have committed to achieve. The BLTP’s policy is that it will not pay the salaries of INRA staff that fail to meet their targets without a valid explanation. This policy has worked well in the Cochabamba INRA office and we feel confident that it is having an impact in the La Paz office.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

DDRR (Derechos Reales) currently has the capacity to process large numbers of titles. However, until INRA starts producing significant numbers of titles, BLTP support is limited to maintaining the installed capacity. For this reason the second FARA with DDRR was extended until the end of the year without major modifications. It should be noted that the installed capacity in the DDRR office is not idle. The DDRR office of Sacaba has become a model of efficiency in handling all matters it attends in a vast area that includes the Tropics

On June 25th, INRA delivered 719 property titles in the Chapare. The titles were registered in Derechos Reales and they belong to 22 communities (colonia or sindicato).

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

The communication strategy was modified to adapt to the changes in the distribution of tasks among the donors and the fact that the BLTP is now working in new areas, areas that have traditionally been opposed to titling for political reasons. Due to high political sensitivities in the region, BLTP/INRA communications directed to communities and local organizations are mostly carried out community by community. The communications campaign is being implemented by a group of INRA technicians trained by BLTP. In addition, based on results, and to promote more interest in titling in general and in Plan IV in particular, INRA’s outreach and communications unit started a radio campaign in early June to inform the public, on a weekly basis, what INRA is doing, where, and how much was achieved.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN MUNICIPALITIES CAPACITY

No activities were undertaken under this objective. The contract was modified to reflect the fact that under the current legal and institutional framework, municipalities have neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they can not collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners.

BLTP work in this area will be limited to carrying out an assessment of the legal, institutional and policy frameworks that govern for municipal cadastres and make recommendations. The assessment will start in mid October.

The Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) helped Bolivia’s National Agrarian Reform Institute and its Property Registry System to develop a low-cost model to title and register more than 470,000 hectares containing more than 25,000 properties. The activity improved security of property rights and to expanded individual access to land markets and the full benefits of land assets. The project developed and validated a massive low-cost titling process — the results of which are accessible on the Internet — that can be applied throughout the country. Land titling fostered by the project helps farmers receive loans and encourages them to abandon illicit crops, while strengthening government institutions at all levels.

In this section we report on the specific achievements and activities during the quarter for each of the four strategic objectives. The project has four strategic objectives: 1) Develop and Strengthen INRA’s Institutional Capacity; 2) Develop and Strengthen DDRR’s Institutional Capacity; 3) Develop and Implement an Outreach Dissemination Program; and 4) Develop and Strengthen the Municipalities’ Capacity.

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

In this quarter, there have been significant changes in the INRA’s attitude and willingness associated with the establishment of numerical targets and towards building institutional capacity. This is especially true in the Cochabamba office under the direction of its new Director. The La Paz and Cochabamba INRA staff working directly with the BLTP seem to be adopting a results driven approach to their work. Titles are now being produced on a regular basis, rather than on an exceptional basis.

Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria (INRA)

A change in INRA’s leadership, with the naming of new national and departmental directors, occurred during the quarter. Mr. Roberto Torrez replaced Alcides Vadillo as INRA’s Nacional Director and Mr. Mauricio Zabalaga replaced Luis Arratia as the Cochabamba Departamental.

Fortunately for BLTP, Mr. Torrez seems to support the work BLPT is doing with the institution and re-affirmed the emphasis BLTP places on results; something that the INRA La Paz staff had resisted in the past. He has also made it possible to deliver the signature machine, used to expedite the title signing process, to the office of the president. The use of the machine should eliminate one of the most intractable bottle necks; the insistence that the president sign every title manually.

INRA Cochabamba

As mentioned before, Mr. Mauricio Zabalaga assumed the position of Cochabamba Departmental Director. Under his leadership, INRA Cochabamba is working very productively. Mr. Zabalaga has successfully eliminated numerous bottle necks which previously stifled the productivity of INRA staff. This change has provided the flexibility needed for increased synergy and improved effectiveness of staff working with BLTP. Under Mr. Zabalaga’s leadership, INRA implemented Decreto Supremo 28148 which establishes a streamlined procedure for ownership verification and titling. This, in turn, has made it possible to implement Plan IV at an unprecedented pace.

Another salient accomplishment of this past quarter was the successful transfer of title information from the antiquated Instituto de Colonizacion to the modern and automated Ownership and Tiling System (SYST). Having the data stored in an electronic format results in improved information management and prompt access to information. The availability of reliable and accessible information will undoubtedly improve institutional capacity by providing INRA staff with the tools for increased responsive and better overall delivery of services. After a year long waiting period, INRA will now have the opportunity to reap the benefits associated with having access to automated information, like the potential for increased public credibility in
the institution’s ability to efficiently manage the titling efforts. While the previous INRA La Paz and Cochabamba directors opposed transition to an electronic filing system insisting that the work be done manually, the current directors are demonstrating that these remarkable achievements are possible by maintaining an open mind towards innovation and change.

1.2. INRA Nacional

BLTP invested considerable resources by working closely with Mr. Vadillo in the re-engineering of INRA. Regrettably, Mr. Torrez has not expressed any interest in pursuing the previously crafted reorganization plan. It remains unclear, what impact Mr. Torrez will have during his tenure, which is expected to last until December or January.

There was, however, a positive turn regarding BLTP’s results. INRA staff, whose salaries had been withheld because of a failure in meeting their established targets, ultimately followed through with their commitment and not only reached the missed targets but also achieved the new targets established in a new FARA. This notable accomplishment points to the effectiveness of the FARA mechanism. Once the BLTP communicated to INRA staff that salary payments would not be processed until the stipulated targets were met, the staff promptly reacted by delivering the agreed upon results. This represents an important victory for the BLTP and serves to show that accepting accountability on the par of INRA employees is a big step forward.

It should be noted that mid level staff member of INRA, who from the start have maintained INRA and not the contractor should manage the money remain hostile and may try to persuade the new Director to confront BLTP on issue of control and administration of the money.

Plan I and Plan II

As previously mentioned, the FARA contains specific goals for each month of the quarter.

Satisfactory progress was made in all indicators except one: the issuance of the final resolution in the titling phase. This is due to the fact that the majority of the titles still being processed contain errors or missing documentation. Although INRA is working hard to fix the errors and or fill in the missing documentation, it is unclear whether the majority of these titles will be finalized in the time remaining.

Plan IIb and Plan IV

Plan IIb covers an area of over 12,487 hectares and contains 1,024 properties. This area was added to the BLTP’s scope of work so that the target of 5,000 properties could be met. In order to meet the Plan IV targets it is necessary to proceed with the verification of ownership and titling of an additional 25,000 hectares.

Because of the geographic proximity of the areas under Plans IIb and IV, we chose to report the progress on both plans jointly in this section.

All targets were met or exceeded, except for the registration of titles in DDRR. Tiles were held up in the Presidents office when his staff decided to prioritize titles from Chuquisaca over titles from the Chapare for signature

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

Titles are being registered as soon as they are issued. As of September 2005, 2,291 titles have been registered. DDRR (Derechos Reales) currently has the capacity to process large numbers of titles.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

The communication strategy was modified to adapt to the changes in the distribution of tasks among the donors and the fact that the BLTP is now working in new areas, areas that have traditionally been opposed to titling for political reasons. Due to high political sensitivities in the region, BLTP/INRA communications directed to communities and local organizations are mostly carried out community by community. The communications campaign is being implemented by a group of INRA technicians trained by BLTP. In addition, based on results, and to promote more interest in titling in general and in Plan IV in particular, INRA’s outreach and communications unit started a radio campaign in early June to inform the public, on a weekly basis, what INRA is doing, where, and how much was achieved.

Between May and August of 2005, 13 radio programs with INRA news were broadcasted by the four radio stations of the tropics. Broadcast of further program of this kind is pending an evaluation of impact by INRA.

The four radio stations are used to notify communities and interested persons of dates and places where ownership verification activities are talking place and where and when titles will be delivered.

Other outreach and dissemination activities included the elaboration of new public dissemination material to educate the public on the INRA law and the procedures used to carry out the titling process, and the installation of a stand in two agricultural products fairs in Shinahota and villa Tunari.

Starting in October, INRA will publish adds in the newspapers of Cochabamba informing the public of the activities it is carrying out in the Chapare with USAID financing.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN MUNICIPALITIES CAPACITY

The contract was modified to reflect the fact that under the current legal and institutional framework, municipalities have neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they can not collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners. BLTP task is to carry out an assessment of the legal and institutional frameworks that govern rural cadastre.

Four firms were invited to submit proposals to carry out the rural cadastre study. The selection of the winner will be made until October 15 and a contract signed hopefully before the end of the month. The cadastre study should be completed before December 15.

The Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) helped Bolivia’s National Agrarian Reform Institute and its Property Registry System to develop a low-cost model to title and register more than 470,000 hectares containing more than 25,000 properties. The activity improved security of property rights and to expanded individual access to land markets and the full benefits of land assets. The project developed and validated a massive low-cost titling process — the results of which are accessible on the Internet — that can be applied throughout the country. Land titling fostered by the project helps farmers receive loans and encourages them to abandon illicit crops, while strengthening government institutions at all levels.

In this section we report on the specific achievements and activities during the quarter for each of the four strategic objectives. The project has four strategic objectives: 1) Develop and Strengthen INRA’s Institutional Capacity; 2) Develop and Strengthen DDRR’s Institutional Capacity; 3) Develop and Implement an Outreach Dissemination Program; and 4) Develop and Strengthen the Municipalities’ Capacity

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

The changes in INRA’s attitude and willingness to work for results, noted in the previous report, is best reflected in their achievement of targets as specified in the FARAs. All offices involved in the titling process have developed sufficient capacity to meet or exceed most of their targets. Unmet targets were generally due to political decisions and not to performance. These included INRA/Nacional Director’s decision to prioritize titling work in other regions at the expense of the Chapare region, as well as the decision by the President’s Office first to prioritize the signing of titles from Chuquisaca and second to suspend issuing final resolutions as the December Presidential elections approached. The process was also halted for a few weeks in an attempt to force an increase in the salaries of personnel in the President’s Agrarian Affairs Office. This request was denied because it was outside the government salary norms and of the signed FARAs.

An important achievement is the fact that an entire polygon was titled in four months. This time would have been reduced even further in the remaining 22 polygons if the President’s and Director’s offices had not decided to stop processing titles from the Chapare and prioritized other areas in December. It is obvious to every one involved that titles can be processed in a rapid and lower cost manner, if all involved perform their jobs as expected. The highlighting of this fact shows that the Cochabamba office had reached a milestone and established itself as a leader in land titling in Bolivia. The Bolivia Land Titling Project plans to sponsor a national conference where the Cochabamba INRA office can present the rapid and massive titling procedure achieved with USAID support. The plan will be presented to the new administration, as soon as it is possible.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

Derechos Reales continues to function well and without problems. It has been able to handle easily the increased title registrations over the quarter.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

INRA has been using effectively the low key outreach approach adopted in 2004. Moreover, the results obtained under Plan IV are generating increasing interest and demand for INRA’s services. The speed with which INRA can now title properties is proving to be the most effective outreach program. Producing titles in three months or less seems to be restoring INRA’s credibility and the legalization of property rights. Thanks to the increasing demand for INRA’ services, the mass media communications (spots) are no longer necessary.

The Bolivia Land Titling Project has supported INRA to be present with stands in two regional fairs (Feria del Achiote and Feria Expotropico). The stands emphasized titling progress by graphically showing maps over a period of time. Bolivia Land Titling Project also financed a publication (separata) in the Cochabamba newspaper Los Tiempos, highlighting its achievements in titling over the past year, both in the Chapare and elsewhere in the Department of Cochabamba.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN THE MUNICIPALITIES’ CAPACITY

The contract was modified to reflect the fact that under the current legal and institutional framework, municipalities have neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they can not collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners. The Bolivia Land Titling Project task was to carry out an assessment of the legal and institutional frameworks that govern rural cadastre.

An extensive cadastre study was completed by Mr. Jorge Cortes in December of 2005. Mr. Cortes’ detailed report containing the findings of the study was submitted in early January 2006. The study concludes that establishing municipal cadastre is unrealistic and counterproductive because of the chaotic and confused legal and institutional frameworks.

The Bolivia Land Titling Program (BLTP) helped Bolivia’s National Agrarian Reform Institute and its Property Registry System to develop a low-cost model to title and register more than 470,000 hectares containing more than 25,000 properties. The activity improved security of property rights and to expanded individual access to land markets and the full benefits of land assets. The project developed and validated a massive low-cost titling process — the results of which are accessible on the Internet — that can be applied throughout the country. Land titling fostered by the project helps farmers receive loans and encourages them to abandon illicit crops, while strengthening government institutions at all levels.

In this section we report on the specific achievements and activities during the quarter for each of the four strategic objectives. The project has four strategic objectives: 1) Develop and Strengthen INRA’s Institutional Capacity; 2) Develop and Strengthen DDRR’s Institutional Capacity; 3) Develop and Implement an Outreach Dissemination Program; and 4) Develop and Strengthen the Municipalities’ Capacity

QUARTERLY PROGRESS REVIEW: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 1: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN INRA’S INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

The presidential elections and subsequent transition to the Morales administration have affected implementation. BLTP activities were first affected by former President Rodriguez’s decision to stop signing titles two weeks prior to the elections and then by the outgoing INRA director’s order to freeze all hiring. The completion of about 1,000 titles was delayed until early January when the President started signing titles again. As a result of the INRA director’s order, BLTP was forced to postpone contracting INRA personnel under the FARA scheduled to start in January 2006. Nevertheless, the BLTP successfully lobbied INRA National executives for an exception to this directive, which was granted on January 12.

Additionally, the resignation of the INRA Cochabamba director, with whom BLTP had established a good working relationship, and the transition of Mr. Howard Arroyo, who had previously worked as INRA’s coordinator with the BLTP project as the new leader at the end of 2006 disrupted momentum. The leadership changes caused delays in meeting some of the project’s targets for the quarter.

Moreover, after the January 22nd inauguration of the Morales government, rumors of an imminent purge by the yet to-be-named new INRA director paralyzed all coordination and planning meetings for the new FARA. Fernando Salazar was named INRA director in March. BLTP met with the new director on April 1st, and to everyone’s surprise Mr. Salazar expressed keen interest in continuing all BLTP related activities. A new FARA extending from May until July was negotiated and approved.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 2: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN DERECHOS REALES (DDRR’S) INSTITUTIONAL CAPACITY

Derechos Reales continues to function well and without problems. Because of the delay in getting titles of the Presidents office, the volume of work for the quarter was low.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 3: OUTREACH DISSEMINATION PROGRAM

A communications specialist was contracted to produce and disseminate information about the accomplishments of INRA Cochabamba and to help with the preparation of the final report. The two brochures produced during the quarter focused on highlighting INRA successes both in the delivery of titles and the change in work culture experienced among the staff contracted with BLTP funds and working in the field under difficult conditions.

STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE 4: DEVELOP AND STRENGTHEN MUNICIPALITIES CAPACITY

The contract was modified to reflect the fact that under the current legal and institutional framework, municipalities have neither interest nor incentive to set up a rural cadastre, simply because they cannot collect taxes from the majority of the rural property owners. The BLTP was to carry out an assessment of the legal and institutional frameworks that govern rural cadastre.

The Cadastre assessment, which was completed last year, provides a thorough analysis of the fragmented, disorganized and chaotic legal and institutional frameworks for rural cadastre. The study emphasizes that until the legal and institutional frameworks are reformed, attempting municipal cadastres that include rural areas, may not be a cost effective use of financial resources.

During this quarter, the mayor of Villa Tunari requested GIS training for technical personal in the Land Planning (ordenamiento territorial) Department. Land use plans have been carried out by previous projects and are being used in this municipality.

The Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) program was a component of the Caribbean Regional Program of USAID/Jamaica, designed to facilitate the transition of the region – in particular, Antigua, Barbuda and Dominica – to open trade, and to enable the countries to compete more successfully and sustainably in the global economy. Among other business enabling activities, the program supported the streamlining of land registration and administration procedures and capacity strengthening of land administration staff.

COTS completed a number of major activities during its first full quarter of contract implementation. Highlights include:

• Fielding of the long term implementation team;
• Establishing offices in Antigua and Dominica;
• Submitting the Draft First Year Work Plan to USAID;
• Submitting the Public Information, Public Outreach and Media Plan;
• Submitting the draft
• PMP;
• Presenting activities from the Draft First Year Work Plan to Partners Working
  Group members in Antigua/Barbuda and Dominica;
• Completing bid documents for Business Service Providers for Antigua and
  Dominica;
• Submitting the COTS Draft Grants Manual; and
• Implementing activities in all of the COTS components.

As part of the work planning and start up process, Chemonics fielded 23 short term people, in addition to the long term team, between early October and early November. This included home office assistance to establish temporary office space, open bank accounts, and establish telephone and internet communications. Short term technical people were fielded to participate in the rapid appraisal process, meeting with people in Antigua, Dominica, Barbados, and St. Lucia, including representatives from international and regional organizations. This culminated with preparing the work plan, the draft of which was submitted on November 15.

December also marked the completion of COTS’ first subcontract with Caribbean-Central American Action (CCAA), which provided financial support for their 29th annual regional conference.

In early December, the USG sent Diplomatic Notes to the respective counterpart governments (Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica). COTS will begin the registration process in both countries in early January.

COTS hired an Office Manager for the Dominica office, and an Office Manager, Administrative Assistant and Project Accountant for the Antigua office.

In early December Chemonics received the remaining approvals for long term TCN team member Earle Baccus, who will join the team in January 2006. USAID also provided approvals for Pol Klein, the new ‘Doing Business Component’ Team Leader who will join the team in January, and for Terence Slywka, who will replace Sutherland Miller III in mid-February as the Administrative Reform Specialist.

Per USAID’s request shortly after contract award, Chemonics is in the process of finalizing arrangements with a Risk Reduction specialist to work three-quarter time on COTS. Chemonics will work with USAID to review existing LOE and budget allocations in order to accommodate this position.