Document Type: Progress Reports

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.

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) is a program funded by USAID/J-CAR to support achievement of USAID’s Regional Strategic Objective (RSO9) “Caribbean region positioned to succeed in an open trade environment.” Within the scope of RSO9, there are two Intermediate Results (IRs) that guide development and implementation of COTS activities. IR-1, “Market opportunities leveraged through open trade”, is further delineated into two lower level IR’s, which include IR-1.1, “Key regional impediments to open trade mitigated,” and IR-1.2, “Improved market access for target countries.” The second IR, IR-2, is “Natural assets and national investments protected.”

The COTS Team developed its work plan to incorporate a long term four year vision and overall intervention strategy for each of five components to guide implementation throughout the life of the program, and to achieve results in IR-1.1 and IR-1.2, and in IR-2. The five components, Governance, Doing Business, Public-Private Interface, Resilience to Natural Disasters, and Public Awareness, incorporate the Team’s understanding of the situation in each country, and specific interventions to rectify constraints and capitalize on opportunities in each of the component areas.

The Governance Component of COTS incorporates two activity areas: Trade Related Legal Reforms, and Improving the Business Climate through Reduction of Business Constraints and Clarity in Investment Rules. Activities within Trade Related Legal Reforms support IR1.1 and IR-1.2. Improving the Business Climate activities also support IR-1.1 and IR-1.2. COTS is implementing activities in its Doing Business Component to support IR-1.2. Activities in Public-Private Interface support IR-1.1 and IR-1.2. All of the activities within Resilience to Natural Disasters support IR-2. Finally, Public Awareness activities are fully cross-cutting, and support IR-1.1 and 1.2, as well as IR-2. It is within the scope of these components and the approved First Year Work Plan that COTS implemented activities during the quarter January 1, 2006 through March 31, 2006.

The quarter January through March 2006 represents the first full quarter of program implementation activities in all of the COTS components.

COTS implemented a number of activities during the quarter to improve the ability of the public and private sectors to understand international trade issues; become compliant with regional and international trade and treaty obligations; support public awareness about CSME; and improve the administrative environment for business.

To improve understanding of international trade issues, public and private representatives from Dominica, and a public sector representative from Antigua, participated in segments of an international trade policy course sponsored by the Centre for International Services at the University of the West Indies (UWI) campus in Barbados.

In Antigua, COTS financed the printing of a journal published by the government that addresses the opportunities that CSME offers to citizens and the private sector. COTS supplemented this public awareness effort by funding a local radio station to air a live ‘town hall’ style radio broadcast that had local and regional panelists responding to live audience questions about what CSME means for Antigua.

To support compliance with regional and international treaty obligations in Dominica, COTS executed a contract with UWI in Barbados for UWI to provide a full time legislative draftsperson for a one year period to work with the Solicitor General to draft a range of needed legislation. Drafting will begin in April.

In support of this same effort in Antigua, COTS is finalizing a contract with UWI to provide short term assistance for a one year period in legislative drafting, and a separate one year contract to ‘scrub’ existing legislation in both Antigua and Dominica to amend and/or eliminate legislation that is not compliant with CSME. This work will begin in April.

COTS efforts during the quarter to support administrative reform include support to Antigua’s tax reform efforts. COTS trained Inland Revenue Department (IRD) officials to improve their customer service to effectively explain to customers the registration, filing, and auditing requirements related to the new income tax regime that Antigua is implementing. COTS also prepared a new tax guide that outlines for
business the requirements on how to file corporate tax, withholding tax, sales tax, and statutory payroll tax. This draft guide is being reviewed by IRD and by a representative from CARTAC who is based at IRD. Once it is finalized, IRD will post this on its website, thereby making the guide easily accessible to the public.

In administrative reform in Dominica, during the quarter COTS worked closely with the government’s Reform Management Unit (RMU) to support improvement in the land tenure area. This initiative addresses both administrative reform and COTS public-private interface activities. At the request of the RMU, COTS is preparing to review and revise the system of land registration and management so that this process can be integrated and managed in one location, rather than being dispersed among a number of government agencies. COTS will implement this activity in conjunction with the RMU and the Dominica Land Tenure and Administration Task Force, a group that comprises public and private sector participants.

COTS public-private interface activities during the quarter in Antigua include completion of an economic analysis of the impact on including wheat and flour products on a list of protected items within the scope of the Treaty of Chaguaramas. Responding quickly to a request from the government, COTS completed the impact analysis, and the government is utilizing these results to negotiate better terms with regional partners to import lower cost flour. COTS is utilizing this action to reinvigorate the Business-Labour Advisory Committee to strengthen and regularize public-private dialogue.

COTS completed several major activities in competitiveness and is moving forward to improve the quality and breadth of services that business consulting companies offer. During the quarter, COTS completed its analysis of potential lead firms in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, assessing their commitment to grow and identifying the key problems that constrain their growth in order to develop practical, firm level solutions to remedy them. COTS will submit the team’s report in early April and begin implementation immediately.

Integrated with this activity are the services that business service providers (BSP) offer to clients. During the quarter, COTS completed the bid solicitation process in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, holding bidders conference in both countries, and receiving expressions of interest from throughout the Caribbean, and the United States. COTS expects to award the first BSP contract early next quarter, and integrate BSP activities with the firm level assistance program to improve competitiveness.

COTS responded to an urgent request from the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association (DHTA) to assess the impact on tourism related businesses of the newly introduced VAT, and the impact of extremely high energy costs. The DHTA will use the results of this assessment to advocate a position with the government to improve the sector’s competitiveness based on factual analysis. This activity addresses several of the COTS implementation areas, including improving business competitiveness; strengthening the private sector’s ability to advocate on its behalf with government; and, improving the dialogue between the public and private sectors.

COTS is implementing public awareness activities to support the COTS components, and is working closely with regional organizations to integrate and leverage resources. In relation to the CSME, at the regional level COTS is working closely with the CSME Unit in Barbados, the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) in Barbados, and representatives from the OECS Secretariat to support their communication efforts to inform regional citizens about opportunities under CSME and other international trade agreements.

COTS is working with respective counterparts in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to develop CSME public awareness campaigns, and this includes developing appropriate messages in a user-friendly format to reach target audiences like youth. During the quarter COTS also confirmed its training for media workers in both Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda in April through the respective media workers unions in both countries. This activity will strengthen the media’s ability to understand and more accurately report on trade issues in the local media, thereby increasing the public’s understanding of regional and international trade issues. In order to measure the public’s change in perception towards regional integration, COTS is undertaking baseline surveys in both countries. The bidding process is complete, and the work will begin early in the next quarter.

Risk reduction has become a major focus for COTS. The team is working closely with Caribbean Disaster and Emergency Response Agency (CDERA) and Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), and is strengthening its relationship with the OECS Secretariat. USAID has requested that COTS embark on a new regional risk reduction benchmarking activity. COTS provided USAID with a draft of some initial benchmarking measurements. Early in the next quarter COTS will work closely with CDB and move forward to develop this new tool.

COTS is working in Antigua to close the regulatory and operational gaps that exist in development policy and planning, and risk reduction and response. The first activity in this regard is the Integrated Development Planning Workshop, taking place in early April. COTS will advance this focus in the next quarter in Dominica.

Also in Dominica, COTS is implementing much needed coastal vulnerability and multihazard assessment work. The results from these activities will provide vital information to develop an informed national hazard mitigation policy and national hazard mitigation plan – the overarching framework – that is presently lacking in Dominica.

The Chemonics home office Project Management Unit strongly supported program implementation by completing a range of administrative activities to make the field offices in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica fully operational. During the quarter the field offices completed local program registration for COTS in both Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. Part of this effort includes the Emergency Action Plan (EAP) to ensure that field office staff and program commodities and information are protected in the event of natural disaster.

Chemonics completed substantial work during the quarter to populate and implement the Administrative Management Program (AMP). Per the task order requirement, AMP will provide USAID with 365 day, 24 hour, 7 calendar days a week access to an internal project website and reporting database. AMP should be fully operational early in the next quarter.

The Competitiveness Specialist (Pol Klein) and the Consulting Services and Association Development Specialist (Earle Baccus) were fielded on their long term assignments early in the quarter. Due to personal reasons, the Administrative and Regulatory Reform Specialist who was fielded (Terrence Slywka) returned to the United States. Chemonics expects that a new long term Administrative and Regulatory Reform Specialist will be fielded early in the next quarter.

In other personnel matters, the COTS Program Accountant (Sheridith Weston-Benta) and the Deputy Manager of the Strategic Activities Fund (Ruth Turner) also began work during the quarter. And, responding to USAID’s request to allocate more level of effort to risk reduction activities, Chemonics fielded Lead Risk Reduction Specialist Keith Ford late in the quarter. Mr. Ford is working on COTS on a three-quarter time basis.

USAID approved the COTS Grants Manual toward the end of this quarter, enabling COTS to utilize this mechanism to support program implementation activities. COTS expects to award its first grants in the next quarter to local private sector organizations in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to support their development and to strengthen their ability to effectively represent their membership in dialogue with the public sector. Chemonics will be submitting a request to USAID to expand the type of grant mechanisms to be used so that COTS can also support a targeted range of activities in the public sector.

Chemonics has been working closely with USAID since February to make the necessary adjustments in the program budget to reflect the expected $8 million overall reduction in the life of project budget. COTS has delayed implementation on certain activities and anticipates reducing the scope and/or eliminating other activities pending final resolution with USAID of budget allocations and program priorities. Chemonics anticipates that USAID will finalize program priorities early in the next quarter so that Chemonics can finalize realignment of program activities, and work with USAID to complete a budget and program modification to reflect the changes. Chemonics understands that USAID will need to officially notify host country counterparts in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica of the reduced program budget and the realignment of program priorities.

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.

The USAID-funded Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) program’s main goal is to facilitate the transition of Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) countries to open trade and to enable these countries to become more competitive in the global economy. To achieve its very ambitious goals, in its third quarter, COTS focused on three broad, important initiatives:

• Support the national governments of Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica in their efforts to improve the regulatory and business environment in their countries;
• Respond to the private sector’s need to establish a better dialogue with government officials and to support their ability to compete more effectively within the scope of regional and international integration; and
• In coordination with regional organizations, implement activities that result in quantifiable reductions in the countries’ exposures to natural disasters and support development that preserves the sensitive environmental resources of the region.

In order to provide a well-functioning system of governance, a country must have laws that govern its economic and social development. COTS is working closely with the University of the West Indies’ Center for International Services to provide technical assistance to enable Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to meet legislative obligations within the scope of regional and international integration. In Antigua and Barbuda, COTS is providing a part-time legislative draftsperson to work closely with the attorney general and Ministry of Legal Affairs to draft critical legislation that must be enacted for the country to meet its obligations under CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and WTO. In Dominica, COTS is funding a short-term legislative draftsperson to support additional work that will begin with COTS funding in July. COTS provided additional support for Dominica’s solicitor general to attend a two-week intensive legislative drafting course with Tulane University’s International Legislative Drafting Institute. The solicitor general’s attendance at this course fulfills one of the activity goals of the first-year work plan: increase the pool of qualified legislative draftspersons in the Eastern Caribbean.

In order to enhance inter-ministerial communications in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, COTS interviewed all the permanent secretaries in both countries, as well as some of their staff, to identify targeted interventions for each country. In Antigua and Barbuda, COTS will work with host-country counterparts to establish a committee of permanent secretaries that will meet regularly to discuss matters requiring coordination across ministries or government agencies. In Dominica, COTS’ approach will focus on providing technical and material assistance to establish a central government Web site to promote communication and information sharing.

COTS greatly advanced its efforts to improve the business climate and remove barriers to investment during the past quarter. In Dominica, COTS is working closely with the World Bank and the European Union to assist with the restructuring of the National Development Corporation (NDC). In Antigua and Barbuda, COTS is awaiting passage of legislation to establish the Investment Promotion Authority, after which COTS will provide technical assistance to establish a new investment promotion agency in Antigua. COTS provided substantial input to the updated draft of the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Promotion Authority Act. COTS is a co-sponsor with the World Bank to include, for the first time, all six of the OECS countries in the Bank’s annual “Doing Business Survey.” This report, recognized internationally by investors and governments, benchmarks a country’s business and investment climate against countries around the world. It serves as an important tool to encourage administrative reform to improve the business operating environment.

In conjunction with the CSME Focal Points in each country, COTS supported activities to promote public awareness of the CSME to the general public. Working with the media worker associations in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda, COTS supported a one-day dialogue with media workers to address the history of the regional integration movement, specific mechanics of the treaty, and provided an update as to where each country stood vis-à-vis their CSME obligations. The dialogue helped better define the role media workers play in educating the public on CSME issues. In Antigua and Barbuda, COTS helped develop a dissemination strategy to inform the public about activities the government sponsored during a week-long CSME awareness outreach program. COTS also held four “Public Outreach 101” workshops with public-sector agencies and private-sector associations, focusing on the mechanics of communicating trade issues to key stakeholders.

In addition, COTS funded Caribbean Vizion’s performances of “The Single Market Shop,” a theatrical presentation on CSME. Caribbean Vizion is a regional organization lobbying for cultural and economic cooperation between Caribbean people and their governments; they staged nine presentations in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. The dramatic presentation used humor, song, and dance to convey how the CSME can have a positive impact on peoples’ lives, and addressed many of the common concerns raised over regional integration, including crime, drugs, unemployment, and cultural identity. This was further enhanced by interaction between the cast, which hails from throughout the Caribbean, with the audience after each performance.

To support sustainable tourism development in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, COTS worked with the countries’ tourism associations to convene action-oriented workshops to prepare disaster business-recovery plans for businesses in the tourism industry. Both workshops were facilitated primarily by COTS’ risk reduction specialist, along with local disaster coordinators. The workshops fulfilled the objective to have key businesses in the major economic sectors of both countries better able to plan for, cope with, and manage the aftermath of natural disasters.

In support of international donor, government, and private-sector initiatives to implement risk reduction measures throughout the region, COTS began to develop a new tool, the Disaster Risk Management Benchmarking Tool (DRMBT), that countries will use to identify and quantify their exposure to a variety of natural hazards. The DRMBT provides a unique approach to address hazard mitigation in that it enables a country to proactively assess its position at the national and local levels across a spectrum of areas and then proactively implement measures to reduce the country’s exposure before a natural disaster occurs. This tool has the potential to offer enormous positive impact. It will enable governments and donors to assess how well a country is doing to improve its disaster risk profile. Governments can use the tool to garner resources to implement specific activities to reduce the country’s exposure to future natural hazards. Donors can use the tool to allocate resources in future development programs. In order to promote implementation of the DRMBT throughout the region, and to ensure sustainability after COTS ends, the OECS secretariat will spearhead the implementation of this new mechanism throughout the region. USAID and COTS are working closely with international organizations including CDERA, CDB, CIDA, UNDP, the World Bank, and CARICAD in this landmark activity. COTS expects that the DRMBT will be ready for use in early September and will work with Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to implement it.

Finally, but very importantly, there have been two key issues that have had a significant impact on the program during the past quarter. The first issue was formal notification by USAID that COTS will experience a significant cut in funding, representing approximately 30 percent of the total program budget. The size of the cut itself, as well as several months of uncertainty about it, had two serious repercussions. The first is that the program delayed, and in some cases cancelled, a number of activities awaiting the outcome of budget discussions with USAID to detail the scope of the budget reduction and USAID priorities. Secondly, it became far more difficult to fully meet stakeholder expectations, which were raised when COTS began its start-up and initial implementation activities.

The nature of the COTS program — several distinct areas brought together in one programmatic package — has made it difficult to immediately reduce the long-term staff base since skills and resources in one area are not easily transferable to another. While a smaller team structure will be put in place over the course of the coming year, in the short term, COTS has to accept a thematically broad program with a significantly reduced depth of operational capacity.

A sub-issue related to the reduced budget is the variety of budgetary earmarks that comprise COTS’ funding. Specifically, the biodiversity earmark comprises 15.5 percent of funds currently obligated under the task order for the year, and 16.4 percent of expected obligations in July 2006. Activities funded by biodiversity earmarks have strict qualification requirements. As such, the COTS team, including Chemonics’ home office staff in Washington, D.C., has invested significant effort to fully understand the biodiversity code requirements and to properly interpret them in the context of an open-trade program. This included substantial coordination with USAID Mission staff and the USAID consultant currently undertaking a biodiversity threats analysis in the region.

COTS understands the importance that biodiversity plays in sustaining economic growth, in particular within the scope of a program whose main objective is to promote private-sector competitiveness through open trade. With this understanding in mind, COTS will ensure that program activities duly incorporate responses to specific threats faced by Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica’s bio-diverse environments while working to accomplish overall COTS program objectives.

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.

The USAID funded program Caribbean Open Trade Support – known as COTS – focused on implementing its second work plan that became effective on July 1, 2006, and supports activities through September 30, 2007. Reflecting a more strategic focus based on reduced funding that became effective during the current reporting period, COTS aggressively implemented activities in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and in strategic regional venues, and in all of its program areas – Doing Business; Governance; Reducing Risk; and Public Awareness.

During the quarter, COTS’ Doing Business team conducted the induction workshop for the new business service provider (BSP) in Dominica to support firm level assistance activities there. The BSP signed six memoranda of understanding (MOU) for these private sector firms to receive assistance during the next quarter. Sales results during the next twelve month period from these initial interventions are expected to exceed US$500,000. In Antigua and Barbuda, the team conducted diagnostics on twenty-eight firms, and completed the first two MOU’s. One of these clients will be establishing operations in Dominica and the other client has operations in Antigua and Barbuda, St. Lucia and Barbados. Sales results from this assistance are expected to reach more than US$250,000 over the next twelve month period.

COTS’ private sector capacity building work during the quarter is resulting in the establishment of alliances between four private sector associations in Antigua and Barbuda, and a separate alliance between four private sector associations in Dominica. This phenomenon is quite unique for the Eastern Caribbean and will support the associations’ ability to prepare policy agendas that will be used to engage their national policy makers and to promote dialogue on trade and economic policy issues. The private sector groups will use these policy agendas in regional private sector discussions.

COTS Governance activities made great strides in both legislative reform and administrative reform. COTS completed key pieces of legislation during the quarter, among them the Financial Services Act. This Act will enable Dominica to meet the requirements of the Monetary Council of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank pertaining to the establishment of a single regulatory unit for the regulation of offshore financial services and also meet its international obligations under the OECD’s Financial Action Task Force. Completion by COTS of the Draft Metrology Bill for Antigua and Barbuda supports the competitiveness of Antigua and Barbuda’s exports to Europe.

COTS completed the restructuring plan for the Statistics Division of Antigua and Barbuda’s Ministry of Finance and the Economy. The ministry utilized this plan as its supporting documentation to request a loan from the Caribbean Development Bank to finance a manager to implement the COTS restructuring plan. Working with Dominica’s Reform Management Unit and Land Administration Task Force, COTS’ assistance to reform the land administration and management process in Dominica began during the period. The results of this work are expected to reduce administrative barriers to acquiring, transferring and registering land for private sector development, and improve land use planning decisions, which should contribute to reducing population and structural exposure to natural hazards.

The Disaster Risk Management Benchmarking Tool (Btool) reached its draft final stage. Working with the OECS Secretariat’s Environment and Sustainable Development Unit, the tool was desk-tested in Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. In conjunction with the national disaster office coordinators, the team brought together a broad spectrum of public and private sector stakeholders to review the Btool before it becomes operational in the wider OECS. To ensure that the Btool is seen as an economic development planning tool rather than simply a disaster planning tool, the team conducted targeted sessions for permanent secretaries and senior policy makers to demonstrate how national governments can use the tool to improve the country’s position prior to a natural hazard event, which is far less costly than cleaning up in the aftermath.

Public Awareness activities continued to strongly support the implementation of other COTS components. Beginning in July, COTS funded a major public awareness campaign to support COTS’ IPR legislative activities in Dominica. Post-campaign survey results are due shortly. The baseline survey of the public sector, the private sector, and media workers got underway in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. Working with regional partners including the CRNM and the CSME Unit, COTS will utilize the results to develop additional training activities to better prepare public and private sector constituencies to participate in regional and international trade dialogue.

COTS has already begun working with the private sector associations in both countries to identify the policy analyst who will work with each of the groups to analyze trade issues and prepare position papers. This activity will get underway in the next quarter. Firm level assistance activities will continue and additional MOUs will be signed, resulting in additional sales for the program.

As a result of the passage of the long awaited Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority Act in July, in the coming quarter COTS will provide assistance in response to a request from the Minister of Finance and the Economy to assist the government to establish the new agency. In addition to ongoing work in land administration reform in Dominica, COTS assistance to restructure Dominica’s NDC and activities to improve customs will commence. COTS finalized preparations to support the launch of the World Bank’s OECS Doing Business Survey that will take place in St. Lucia in October. As a result of COTS funding, all six independent OECS countries appear in this important international assessment tool. Results from the World Bank Doing Business launch may result in identifying additional areas of intervention in administrative reform.

In addition to finalizing the Btool, COTS’ risk reduction activities will include work with private sector associations and their clients in both countries to prepare disaster preparedness and business continuity plans. COTS support to integrate and modernize the OECS Secretariat’s disaster preparedness library to make it accessible on line will also begin in the next quarter.

Working with the CRNM’s private sector unit, COTS public awareness and doing business teams will sponsor trade briefings for the private sector in Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to enable constituents to both participate more effectively in trade dialogue and take better advantage of new opportunities within the open trade environment. COTS will commence its work with UWI’s Caribbean School of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) to develop a certificate level training course on reporting of trade issues targeted at media workers. Though COTS’ support will fund participants from Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, once developed the course will be open to other participants throughout the region.

COTS began implementation of its realigned work plan during this quarter. The new work plan, which was prepared in light of a 30% overall life of project funding reduction, incorporates activities to reflect the reduced funding level. In the next quarter COTS anticipates receiving the modification from USAID that will reflect this reduced funding and will prepare a revised technical scope of work. In July, COTS also submitted its draft Performance Management Plan (PMP), which it developed in accord with the realigned work plan. The outcome of the revised technical scope may require the PMP to be revised accordingly. During the quarter the program was advised of a further reduction in funds. Although the reduction did not come to fruition, they did cause further uncertainty in regard to proceeding with activities during the reporting period.

The program continues to work closely with USAID to obtain approval for specific COTS activities in order to qualify them as meeting the biodiversity earmark requirements. Once this determination is made, COTS will know if it needs to make changes or additions to program activities in order to comply with biodiversity funding requirements. This could have implications for activities throughout the overall program.

In light of the overall reduction in funds, COTS has begun to implement difficult but necessary changes in staffing to ensure that maximum resources are allocated to implementation activities. During the coming period, COTS will continue to realign as necessary, ensuring that program implementation proceeds smoothly.

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.

Caribbean Open Trade Support (COTS) met or exceeded all of its targets for this first quarter of the new program year. COTS’ Doing Business component surpassed all of its targets in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica for its demand driven growth initiatives. COTS surveyed close to thirty businesses during the quarter, and signed Memoranda of Understanding with 7 firms based on adjusted sales potential return on investment. COTS achieved 516% of its quarterly sales targets in Antigua and Barbuda, and in Dominica achieved 147% of its quarterly targets. COTS expects that the new interventions alone will result in more than US $1 million in sales over the life of the project.

COTS is finalizing its technical assistance to provide policy analysts to each of the new business alliances in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. Beginning early in the new year, the analysts will work with each of the alliances to establish a prioritized economic and trade policy agenda, coming out of which will be policy papers to inform a dialogue between the alliances and their respective public sector counterparts. This approach is a major step forward for the private sectors in both Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to work together in their respective countries on policy issues that are of mutual concern to the wide range of private sector organizations that exist. This step is also welcomed by public sector colleagues, who often comment that they get little or no informed response or input from the private sector on important economic and trade policy issues.

COTS largely completed its work on legislative drafting to support the countries’ compliance with regional and international treaties and trade agreements. In Dominica, some legislative items were substituted for new items in order to move beyond delays resulting from policy decisions not yet taken by senior law makers. In spite of this substitution, COTS achieved 117% of its target in Dominica, and 300% of its legislative drafting target in Antigua and Barbuda. Important items completed during the quarter include revised draft bills to replace the existing National Development Corporation in Dominica with the new investment promotion agency, InvestDominica and new tourism agency, DiscoverDominica. In Antigua and Barbuda COTS completed important legislative drafting work on draft patent regulations. COTS expects that both governments will likely require some limited additional assistance to complete several outstanding legislative items in the next quarter, particularly in the area of standards.

Responding to a request from the Government of Antigua and Barbuda, COTS prepared a National Trade Policy Framework for Antigua and Barbuda. The framework provides the government with alternatives to establish a more effective public sector mechanism to support trade policy development and implementation, along with an assessment of sectors that offer more potential for economic growth in line with Antigua and Barbuda’s competitive advantages. The Minister of Finance and the Economy is expected to implement the recommendations as early as January 2007.

Working with the World Bank and the OECS Secretariat, COTS spearheaded the regional launch of the first Doing Business report for the OECS region. More than one hundred people, including representatives from all 6 OECS independent states, attended this landmark event in St. Lucia. The report provided the first opportunity for all 6 OECS countries to be benchmarked using this important and internationally recognized tool that assesses the ease of doing business in various countries. With Antigua and Barbuda’s overall ranking at 33, and Dominica’s overall ranking at 72, COTS is working with both countries to improve administrative processes such that each country’s ranking is expected to improve in the coming year. Also resulting from this work is a request from St. Kitts and Nevis that COTS support administrative reform efforts early in the next quarter to improve its ranking in the next Doing Business report.

During this quarter COTS provided important technical assistance to establish the Antigua and Barbuda Investment Authority (ABIA). COTS prepared a corporate plan for the new agency, which proposes an organization structure, personnel functions, and marketing strategy, among other important recommendations. This is a major step forward to attract investment, ease business start-up, and improve transparency and timeliness in obtaining investment incentives. The government plans to open the new agency very early in the next quarter, and COTS anticipates providing additional technical assistance to ensure that the ABIA functions smoothly. In conjunction with this work, early in the next quarter COTS will also assist the Company Registrar in Antigua and Barbuda to improve the company registration process.

COTS completed the first phase of its technical assistance to support customs reform in Dominica by completing the human resource capacity assessment of Dominica’s Customs Agency. Resulting from this work, COTS expects that it will support Dominica to establish an Intelligence Unit, an important administrative reform initiative that should substantially speed up the customs clearance process, thereby reducing the time and cost to the importer and exporter. The time and cost to clear goods through customs is an important measure on the World Bank Doing Business report, and one in which Dominica has room to substantially improve its position.

Another important administrative reform component that COTS completed during the quarter is its support to Dominica’s Land Reform Task Force to reform the land management and administration process. Based on COTS’ work, the Task Force will meet in January in order to put forward its approach to implement the recommendations provided that will reduce the number of agencies and the number of processes and length of time required to complete a land transaction. This work also supports COTS’ Reducing Risk work, as the new integrated process will support improved decision making regarding land development in accord with exposure to natural hazards.

Working with the OECS Secretariat and the national disaster offices in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica, local stakeholders completed their first national level assessment using the Disaster Risk Management Benchmarking Tool (BTool). The OECS secretariat expects to prepare submissions to each Cabinet in January that will analyze the BTool results, and highlight areas for each country to focus on in order to reduce national level vulnerability. COTS will use the results to identify additional areas of program intervention in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. The outcome of the assistance will be to improve each country’s score on the next annual BTool assessment. The OECS Ministers of Environment overwhelmingly endorsed the use of the BTool at their annual meeting, and CDERA has indicated that it wants to work with COTS and the OECS Secretariat to ensure that countries throughout the Caribbean utilize the BTool. COTS will work with the OECS Secretariat and CDERA early in the next quarter to begin this roll out.

COTS completed its technical assistance to the Environment and Sustainable Development Unit (ESDU) of the OECS Secretariat to develop an e-library system in order to make available the large number of documents that ESDU has in the area of disaster preparedness and environmental resources. COTS enabled ESDU to implement a software program that is being used throughout the wider Caribbean region. This program will make it possible for OECS member states to access this information via the on-line system, and it will be operational early in the new year.

COTS worked with private and public sector counterparts in Antigua and Barbuda to prepare disaster business plans, and sector preparedness and recovery plans in Dominica. Resulting from this work, COTS revamped the training materials to address the needs of smaller businesses that require preparedness and recovery plans. COTS will host additional sessions in the next quarter to work with smaller businesses to implement preparedness and recovery plans using the revised training materials. The Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association has also appointed a task force to oversee the completion of the Tourism Sector Disaster Plan by March.

During the quarter, COTS completed its baseline survey work of the private sector, public sector and media workers in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica to evaluate their level of understanding of business opportunities available via regional integration and international trade mechanisms, such as the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. The survey results generally indicate that although there is some support for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, there is still little understanding of the benefits to the OECS sub-region and there is still little confidence in their countries’ ability to benefit from the CSME. COTS is sharing the survey results with public and private sector colleagues at the national and regional levels to support new and revised programming to address issues raised by the survey.

In response to this, COTS is presently working with the Caribbean Regional Negotiating Machinery (CRNM) to finalize private sector trade briefings in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica that will take place early in the next quarter to focus specifically on businesses that have succeeded by taking advantage of new opportunities under the CSME. To further support improved information dissemination, COTS completed its consultations with the CSME Unit to define the CSME website upgrading requirements that COTS will support in the next quarter. And, to ensure that media workers are better trained to accurately report on regional and international trade and economic policy issues, COTS will be contracting with CARIMAC to implement a certificate level training program for representatives of the media and public sector public relations officers in Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica.

Chemonics International submitted a technical and financial modification to USAID in response to USAID’s notification of an expected 31% reduction in life of project funding, and the need to fulfill requirements in accord with biodiversity within the scope of the task order. Chemonics’ submission proposed that a new long term position be established to develop and implement a biodiversity component that is fully compliant with these earmark requirements. The first phase of this activity would include preparation of this component’s work plan in line with the threats assessment that USAID completed in 2006. Chemonics anticipates that USAID will complete its review of Chemonics’ response early in the next quarter, and will advise of any outstanding issues prior to completing the modification.

COTS is working closely with USAID to implement the new operational plan process that USAID is undertaking on a world wide basis. COTS is developing new indicators and targets in accord with the standardized program areas and indicators that USAID has developed to manage all of its programs.

COTS’ Administrative Reform Specialist, Mr. Swinburne Lestrade, departed at the end of the quarter in response to Dominica’s Prime Minister requesting his support to implement a number of important initiatives that are delayed. COTS’ new Administrative Reform Specialist, Mrs. Deborah Hackshaw, began work during the quarter, ensuring a smooth transition in this important program area.

COTS has also identified a qualified candidate to become the COTS Doing Business team leader. Chemonics will submit this approval request to USAID early in the next quarter.

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.

The objective of the activity is to significantly improve security of property rights and expand individual access to land markets and to the full benefits of their land assets. To achieve this objective, the project is supporting the National Institute of Agrarian Reform (INRA) and the Property Registry System (DDRR) in their respective efforts to title and register properties in the Cochabamba Tropics. The project provides technical assistance to INRA Cochabamba and the technical office of Villa Tunari, INRA Nacional, and the Sacaba offices of DDRR to strengthen and develop their institutional capacity to issue and register property titles.

Given the significant delays experienced this quarter, INRA has expressed the intention to adjust the targets programmed for the current and upcoming period which will impact the number of brigades and equipment needs for implementation. The project is working to procure the necessary equipment for the INRA brigades.

The following is a summary of the most important events that took place during the first quarter of 2007:

• In the framework of the new National Land Titling Plan, in the end of January, INRA’s Nacional Director, agreed to move the post field operations and the Sistema Integrado de Saneamiento y Titulación (SIST) to the Villa Tunari offices. This shift – changing the base of operations of all personnel to the implementation area – is a pilot program that aims to increase the efficiency of services and facilitate the process by resolving conflicts in the field, coordinating activities with the municipalities, and having INRA Nacional focus only on the titling activities in the process. The project has been taking the necessary steps to create favorable conditions for the smooth functioning of INRA’s operating units in Villa Tunari. Similarly, the project made all the technological arrangements for field implementation with the SIST, also as a pilot process.
• After meeting with the mayor of the Villa Tunari municipality, Feliciano Mamani, and discussing the proposed construction of a rural cadastre – part of the National Land Titling Plan — the project received an official request for support with the regularization and titling of this zone on behalf of the municipality. The collaborative effort regarding the elaboration and transferal of the rural cadastre to the municipality will be developed as a pilot for use at a national level. In late March, Kevin Barthel and Jorge Otero undertook an assignment to evaluate and formalize the proposal for the pilot rural cadastre in the Villa Tunari municipality.
• As part of the initiative overcome bottlenecks in the regularization and titling process, the Project has reinitiated support to the office of Derechos Reales in Sacaba by contracting three judicial functionaries given the anticipated increase in registration activities during the present and upcoming periods.
• Coordination with the Oficina Agraria de la Presidencia and the Superintendencia Agraria was also reactivated this quarter for the similar reasons listed above. The project contracted one person to work exclusively on INRA’s requests dealing with the Tropic of Cochabamba.
• In addition to the Otero and Barthel assignments, Walter Galindo also undertook an assignment this quarter to assess the feasibility of regularization activities in large areas and the transition of post-field activities to the areas of implementation. Mariana Mendoza was also contracted to determine the implications of the changes in the legal instruments related to regularization and titling in Bolivia with regard to the activities developed by the project.
• Among the various visits hosted by the Project during the quarter, the visit from INRA Nacional functionaries accompanied by Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) personnel to learn about the project’s experiences and tools developed for the administration of resources in support of regularization and titling is of particular importance.
• Another important high profile visit that took place during this quarter was that of the new director of Alternative Development in USAID/Bolivia, Mary Norris and Chemonics’ president, Richard Dreiman. Both traveled to BLTP’s offices in Villa Tunari and participated in the presentation and exposition of the project’s activities in the region.
• Also as part of ARCo’s strategy to support the Vice ministry of Coca and Integral Development, the Unidad de Desarrollo Integral (UDI) was established in the Cochabamba Tropics with headquarters in Villa Tunari. Par of the units mandate is to provide follow up to projects implemented in the zone. As such, they have planned periodic coordination meetings to obtain timely information regarding the activities of the projects working in the area.

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.

HIGHLIGHT OF SECOND QUARTER EVENTS

Ownership Verification and Titling

Despite the delays experienced this quarter, INRA ratified their commitment to achieve the targets included in the annual FARA, resulting in an adjustment of the personnel and equipment required to do the work. Accordingly, BLTP procured and rented additional equipment to facilitate INRA’s work, including personal use items for the field staff such as tents, sleeping bags, vests and water proof clothing, among others. Additional activities that BLTP undertook to ameloriate the impact of the delays and to facilitate the quick start- up of activities once the hiring was completed include:

• Contracting INRA’s ex-functionaries directly to organize and systematize the technical, juridical and graphic information included in the files in order to facilitate the field work.
• Setting up a training series to improve the understanding, ability and skills of the newly hired staff, as they were incorporated. This targeted training included the juridical, technical and administrative aspects of the job as well as tropical disease prevention and first aid, among others.
• Re-initiated support to the office of Derechos Reales in Sacaba by contracting three judicial functionaries given the anticipated increase in registration activities during the present and upcoming periods.
• Re-activated coordination with the Oficina Agraria de la Presidencia and the Superintendencia Agraria. The project contracted one person to work exclusively on INRA’s requests dealing with the Cochabamba Tropics.
• Procured necessary equipment to match the increase in the number of brigades and field personnel
• Started a public outreach campaign, using mass media (mainly radio and printed publications), to promote and educate residents on the importance of ownership verification and titling.
• Set-up a bi-lingual outreach window where clients can access to information on the status of their titles and obtain responses to any question related to the regularization process.

Institutional Strengthening

BLTP continues to contribute significantly to the institutional strengthening of INRA at the national level. The current National INRA Director is in effect using the BLTP tools and methodologies developed as a model to make changes throughout the organization and the way in which it carries out the regularization process. Among the most significant are:

• Moving all post field operations and Sistema Integrado de Saneamiento y Titulación (SIST) to the Villa Tunari offices. This shift – changing the base of operations of all personnel to the implementation area – is a pilot program that aims to increase the efficiency of services and facilitate
  the process by resolving conflicts in the field, coordinating activities with the municipalities, and having INRA National focus only on the titling activities in the process. Per this plan, all staff formerly housed in the departmental office and some in the national office have been transferred to the Cochabamba Tropics (Villa Tunari). This decision is not only for the Cochabamba Tropics effort, but for all regularization activities throughout the country by inclusion in the new National Land Titling Plan.
• BLTP made all the technological arrangements for field implementation with the SIST, also as a pilot process. These are important developments in INRA modus operandi that should eliminate the old practice of bouncing documentation between the field, departmental and national offices for corrections/additions. All work will be done in the field, leaving quality control and final processing of the titles at the national level.
• In meetings with INRA’s National Director and INRA’s Executive team, it was agreed that BLT P will support the modernization of the SIST’s web platform to facilitate remote access to the system via internet. The goal is to finalize this upgrade by December 2007.

Municipal Cadaster

Amendment six re-introduced into the contract the task of installing a municipal cadastre. Second quarter BLTP activities related to the installation of the first integrated municipal cadastre in the country include:

• An official request for support in the installation of the first integrated municipal cadastre in the country by the Villa Tunari Mayor Feliciano Mamani and the Municipal Council, INRA and the Vice Ministry of Housing and Urban Development
• Early in the quarter, BLTP Consultants Kevin Barthel and Jorge Otero undertook an assignment to assess the feasibility and design a formal proposal for the pilot rural cadastre in the Villa Tunari municipality
• In the latter part of the quarter, BLTP started implementation of the first integarted Municipal Cadastre by visiting parties involved in the Municipal Cadaster (USAID, INRA, VMVU, GMVT) to ratify their participation and commitment with this activity and their compromise to have a
  functioning cadastre before the end of the project.
• BLTP team prepared the terms of reference for the personnel that will participate in the Municipal Cadaster and signed a FARA with the Municipality of Villa Tunari to provide financing of the cadaster activities for this municipality.
• BLTP reformulated the budget for this activity to optmize the relation tasks/costs taking into account the logistic support provided by the Villa Tunari office and updated the work plan of activities.
• Consultant Jorge Otero returned to the project to start the implementation of the Cadaster and insure that all elements are in place for a successful operation.

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.

THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

OWNERSHIP VERIFICATION AND TITLING

During the reporting period BLTP achieved several significant advances. First, President Evo Morales Ayma signed 3,088 titles of agrarian property that had completed the regularization process with BLTP support. The owners received the titles symbolically in an act that took place on August 2, 2007, Agrarian Reform Day. These titles were then registered in the office of Derechos Reales. 1,185 additional property titles will be registered and will be presented to their owners in the next quarter.

The Bolivian Government completed work on the regulations governing the new Agrarian Reform Law ( Law3545 Reconducción Comunitaria de la Reforma Agraria). The regulations shortens the time and cost of processing a land title in the entire country. The regulations incorporate three key methodologies and processes developed by BLTP in the Tropics of Cochabamba:

• “Saneamiento interno” whereby the community comes to an agreement of property boundaries both of individual land owners and of the community itself before INRA starts the task of delimiting and measuring each property
• Use of the “Without More Paperwork” (“Sin más trámite”) ownership verification procedures, which reduces the steps and processing time
• Elimination of dispute time frames when property owners agree on the ownership of a particular property. This avoids several unnecessary legal steps.

Another noteworthy change in the regularization process is the transfer of the valuation of property function, which applies to small properties and is pre-established in the Law, from the Agrarian Superintendent to INRA. This change further accelerates the process and lowers the cost of regularization by eliminating a step that could take weeks to complete.

During the reporting period BLTP also promoted several activities to counter the impact of delays in the titling process caused by bottlenecks in the President’s Office. These activities included:

• Contracting three additional judicial staff at the office of Derechos Reales in Sacaba in anticipation of the increase in registration activities during the present and upcoming periods
• Reorganizing the INRA field teams to increase efficiency and maximize resources
• Maintaining an ongoing outreach campaign to inform the communities of the status of the regularization process, to emphasize the importance of having a legally registered title, and to highlight the installation of the first integrated municipal cadastre in Villa Tunari
• Maintaining the outreach window in the INRA office in Villa Tunari that offers information in Quechua and Spanish about the process and status of each title. This is a small but strategic activity for the project.

INSTITUTIONAL STRENGTHENING

In response to the new legislation and in order to speed up its implementation, BLTP supported INRA in the development of new instruments for ownership verification and titling to be used in field and office activities.

The products developed as a result of this collaboration include:

• Technical and juridical forms designed to gather information from the field and a manual for filling in the forms.
• A system for calculating the value of rural properties
• Templates for the production of the ownership verification final resolutions and for the adaptation of the Sistema Integrado de Saneamiento y Titulación (SIST) to the new Regulation

After these instruments were developed, BLTP supported the training of 150 INRA staff on the contents of the new law and its regulations and the use of the forms for gathering technical and juridical data. Also all the staff received copies of the new regulations.

Using these new formats, INRA personnel re-processed 150 final resolutions of ownership verification at the end of September, which should be signed by the President in the next quarter.

The project also identified coordination and relationship problems among the INRA personnel. In order to address these issues, BLTP organized a teamwork and motivation workshop (Taller de Motivación, Integración y Trabajo en Equipo) with the INRA staff, led by Vicente Delle Piane, an
experienced human resources facilitator.

MUNICIPAL CADASTRE

Amendment Six to the contract between Chemonics International and USAID re-introduced into the contract the task of installing a municipal cadastre. Third quarter BLTP activities related to the installation of the first integrated municipal cadastre (urban – rural) in the country included:

• Supporting a multidisciplinary and multi-institutional technical team with personnel from INRA Nacional and the Viceministry of Housing and Urban Development (Viceministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo), and the Municipality of Villa Tunari charged with developing the regulations and procedures for the transfer of information needed to develop the municipal cadastre from INRA to a municipal government
• Modifying the existing FARA with the municipality to include the incorporation of rural property information (provided by INRA) into the urban cadastre and the regularization of urban property in ten small urban centers. Training municipal and INRA personnel in the Cadastre software and management of land measuring equipment.
• Updating and improving existing geographical information. BLTP signed an agreement with F57, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, in order to obtain satellite images (IKONOS) of all of the Tropic of Cochabamba from previous years and aerial photos from September 2007 which are to be shared with the municipality and INRA.
• Organizing the Seminar on the Integrated Municipal Cadastre (Seminario sobre Catastro Integrado) in La Paz, with the participation of INRA, the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of Development Planning, the Vice Ministry of Land, the municipal government of Villa Tunari, the National Institute of Statistics, the Prefect of La Paz, the Agrarian Superintendent, the College of Geographic Engineers and others interested in learning about the on-going cadastre installation in Villa Tunari.

It is important to note that among the outcomes of the Seminar are an operational interinstitutional agreement between the municipality, the Vice Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, and INRA to develop and implement an information transfer system among institutions for the formation of the Cadastre, and the procedures for delimiting the urban radius of population centers. This is an agreement that transcends the municipality and has national impact.

The seminar also served to rekindle the idea of formulating a new Cadastre Law. Supporting the development of the first integrated municipal cadastre is not accidental but proposed as part of a strategy, formulated after the exhaustive study BLTP carried out in 2005 to assess the adequacy of the current legal and institutional frameworks that govern the current cadastre system in Bolivia. The basic conclusion and recommendation was that a new law should be developed from the bottom up, that is, start at the municipal level and use that experience to catalyze the revision of the current legislation.

The Land Governance Support Activity (LGSA) supports the establishment of more effective land governance systems, ready to implement comprehensive reforms to improve equitable access to land and security of tenure, so as to facilitate inclusive sustained growth and development, ensure peace and security, and provide sustainable management of the environment. Tetra Tech and partners Landesa, Namati, Collaborative Decision Resources Associates (CDR), Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), and Parley form a collaborative team providing technical and organizational assistance to the Government of Liberia (GOL), civil society, and communities in their land rights reform process.

The year two project work plan continues to support USAID’s engagement in the sector. While the Liberia Land Authority Act passed the legislature and was signed into law by the President in early October no appointments of Commissioners nor of a Transition Committee were made by the end of the quarter.

Nonetheless LGSA continued to implement components of its year two work plan focusing on the two broad Activity objectives: the land governance structure (i.e. establishing and operationalizing the Liberia Land Authority [LLA]) and the development and testing of a methodology for implementation of the Land Rights Policy (Law), specifically around the recognition of customary tenure.

Working within this broad framework of the Liberia Land Authority Act, the LGSA Land Governance Advisor and Land Administration Specialist developed a draft organizational structure which delineates the functions of each department and unit under that department as well as staffing requirements. This draft organizational structure, including staff structure and functions of departments and sub units was completed during this quarter. LGSA has also finalized an implementation strategy for the transition team during this quarter which will become a working document for the Transition Committee once it is established and will be revised accordingly.

During the first year of LGSA the project developed a set of research topics to inform the process for the recognition of customary land. Seven broad research topics were identified and research was undertaken on six of the seven. LGSA hosted a two day workshop in early November focused on research findings and the next steps for LGSA activities around the process for recognition of customary land. LGSA partners presented findings of studies on boundary identification and negotiations, current land dispute resolution models, models for community land governance, women’s land rights, definition of community membership, and the political ecology of land and agriculture concessions in Liberia. A number of these research activities are ongoing, having been broadened into
other geographical areas to ensure the ability to generalize findings for future pilot site selection.

LGSA concluded its regional media training program for broadcast journalists as well as hosted the first National Media Conference on Land. Public information is a critical component of the land reform agenda and feedback from all workshops indicated the enormity of the task ahead.

LGSA also continued its support for the Women’s Land Rights Task Force and its engagement with government agencies and members of the civil society and non-governmental organization communities.

The Land Governance Support Activity (LGSA) supports the establishment of more effective land governance systems, ready to implement comprehensive reforms to improve equitable access to land and security of tenure, so as to facilitate inclusive sustained growth and development, ensure peace and security, and provide sustainable management of the environment. Tetra Tech and partners Landesa, Namati, Collaborative Decision Resources Associates (CDR), Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), and Parley form a collaborative team providing technical and organizational assistance to the Government of Liberia (GOL), civil society, and communities in their land rights reform process.

The Year 2 project work plan continues to support USAID’s engagement in the sector. The Liberia Land Authority Act passed the Legislature and was signed into law by the President in October 2016, and in the last quarter, a third commissioner was appointed to and confirmed on the Liberia Land Authority (LLA), so as to form a quorum of commissioners, which the LLA was waiting for to further advance its implementation. Shortly after the Senate confirmed the third commissioner, the LLA hired its Executive Director.

LGSA provided technical support to the LLA, in its development of a logo, organizational structure and staffing chart, Year 1 budget, five-year work plan and budget, legal and regulatory reform processes, conceptual design for a Regional Land Governance Office (RLGO) and transition plan, now that a Transition Committee has been appointed by the President.

Support for the passage of the Land Rights Act (LRA) continued this quarter, with LGSA providing editorial support for language contained in the LRA as well as facilitating a public hearing on May 22, 2017. The LRA has subsequently been published in the newspaper and more consultations are anticipated in Quarter 4.

LGSA partners SDI and Parley and the GOL continue to work to improve community-based procedures for and conduct public outreach on customary land recognition based on their existing process as well as the findings of the research conducted by LGSA. The focus of both Parley and SDI’s efforts has been on issues surrounding boundary identification, boundary harmonization, and testing mobile mapping tools, in their respective areas and communities. LGSA also worked with a Land Rights Advisor to review the Tenure Facility’s community self-identification methodology, USAID’s PROSPER project and other Tetra Tech experiences to best learn from programs focused on community land rights and forestry.

LGSA and its partner, Landesa, conducted research for an upcoming report on Women’s Land Rights. The research team traveled to Grand Bassa, Nimba, and Maryland counties in April and May 2017. The Women’s Land Rights Taskforce (WLRTF) and Civil Society Working Group used some of these findings to inform priorities to present at the public hearing of the LRA. In addition, a key finding – the strong majority of marriages upcountry are presumptive marriages – informed the WLRTF collaboration with the Governance Commission, and presumptive marriage will be part of a constitutional amendment in the upcoming constitutional referendum.

LGSA conducted a nationwide media campaign this quarter that reached 14 of 15 counties, with activities in the final county, Montserrado, to conclude early next quarter. The focus of the campaign was on raising awareness on the Criminal Conveyance Act and the benefits of passing the LRA. LGSA developed eight new materials and conducted 74 activities over the course of the campaign. LGSA also supported the Press Union of Liberia’s Media Awards in June 2017 by providing prizes for exceptional reporting on the Land Sector.

LGSA hosted a variety of stakeholders in a two-day strategic planning session in support of developing a valuer and appraiser entity that will be responsible for ensuring standards and methods of regulatory organizations. This eventual valuer and appraiser entity will contain a Board of Accreditation and Certification that will be responsible for maintaining standards and methods.

The Land Governance Support Activity (LGSA) supports the establishment of more effective land governance systems, ready to implement comprehensive reforms to improve equitable access to land and security of tenure, so as to facilitate inclusive sustained growth and development, ensure peace and security, and provide sustainable management of the environment. Tetra Tech and partners Landesa, Namati, Collaborative Decision Resources Associates (CDR), Sustainable Development Institute (SDI), and Parley form a collaborative team providing technical and organizational assistance to the Government of Liberia (GOL), civil society, and communities in their land rights reform process.

The Year 2 project work plan continues to support USAID’s engagement in the sector. The Liberia Land Authority Act passed the Legislature and was signed into law by the President in October 2016, and in the last quarter, two commissioners were appointed to and confirmed on the Liberia Land Authority (LLA) and another three are anticipated to be confirmed in the coming quarter.

LGSA provided technical support to the LLA, in its development of an organizational structure and staffing chart, Year 1 budget, five-year work plan and budget, legal and regulatory reform processes, and transition plan for the LLA once all commissioners are confirmed. Though the exact mechanism/locations for decentralization have yet to be decided, LGSA supported the LLA’s eventual decentralization process, over the quarter, by creating criteria necessary to establish pilot regional land offices. Further refinement of the criteria is anticipated next quarter. Finally with respect to the support to the LLA, LGSA drafted terms of reference for the establishment of and activities to be implemented by a Data Standards Committee.

LGSA partners SDI and Parley and the GOL continue to work to improve community-based procedures for and conduct public outreach on customary land recognition based on their existing process as well as the findings of the research conducted by LGSA. The focus of both Parley and SDI’s efforts has been on issues surrounding boundary identification, boundary harmonization, and testing mobile mapping tools, in their respective areas and communities.

During the quarter, LGSA maintained contact with and provided technical support to journalists who were trained in the previous quarter on reporting on the land sector. The LLA and Parley, with support from the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL), held four one-day regional awareness trainings on the Liberia Land Authority Act and Land Rights Bill among various stakeholders, along with a total of 40 previously-trained land sector journalists. LGSA staff also met with female chiefs and elders in five counties to encourage communities to engage their respective law makers to pass the Land Rights Bill into law. Similarly, LGSA-trained deejays aired land specific content on 16 radio stations across 11 counties, with much of it focused on the importance of passing the Land Rights Bill.

LGSA continued its support to the Women’s Land Rights Taskforce (WLRTF) and Civil Society Working Group, particularly through a joint review of the Land Rights Bill and subsequent presentation to the LLA on areas of concern and recommended changes. LGSA also provided assistance to the WLRTF in developing a concept note and budget, so that the taskforce can sustain itself.

Forty-nine private and public land surveyors received training this quarter via two courses – Processional Practice for Land Surveyors and Establishing a Private Practice in Surveying and Mapping – in Bomi and Margibi. These trainings had the added benefit of starting the development of a Code of Ethics/Conduct for the Association of Public Land Surveyors of Liberia (APLSUL) and private surveyors.