Document Type: Project Design and Implementation

The goal of the Improving Land Access for Women (ILAW) Activity is to increase social cohesion, reduce land conflicts, and empower women to contribute to their communities economically by strengthening their legal access to land in the Northern and Western regions of Côte d’Ivoire (CDI). ILAW will achieve this goal through two performance objectives: Objective 1 – Empower communities in Northern and Western CDI through awareness raising, advocacy, and communication campaigns on land and women’s rights in Western and Northern CDI; and Objective 2 – Strengthen women’s access to legal and conflict mediation services in rural and urban areas to ensure their access to land in Northern and Western CDI.

The ILAW Activity runs from 2021 to 2024 as a Task Order under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR) II Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. The ILAW Activity is implemented in two zones of the country: the northern zone encompassing the regions of Poro, Béré, and Tchologo; and the western zone encompassing the regions of Cavally, Guémon, and Tonkpi. ILAW implements its activities in close partnership with local organizations Rural Organization in Korhogo (ARK), Humanitarian Assistance and Development Council (CAHD), Initiative for Dialogue and Research Action for Peace (INDIGO), and Association of Women Legal Practitioners in Côte d’Ivoire (AFJCI).

As approved by the USAID Contracting Officer’s Representative, the present Work Plan covers the period from October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022

INTEGRATED LAND AND RESOURCE GOVERNANCE TASK ORDER UNDER THE STRENGTHENING TENURE AND RESOURCE RIGHTS II (STARR II) IDIQ

Outline

1. Overview of USAID-PepsiCo partnership approach

   

2. Methodology for Year 2 implementation planning
3. Year 1 review and key learning
4. Year 1 feedback
   1. Year 1 Feedback from ILRG Field Staff and PepsiCo Field Team
   2. Year 1 Feedback from Key Stakeholders
5. Description of Year 2 implementation plan (strategies, activities, and targeting)
6. COVID-19 and activity implementation

Background 

The Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (AMPR) Task Order (TO) supports the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Land and Urban Office’s goal to improve land and resource governance and strengthen property rights for all members of society, especially women. Its purpose is to address land and resource governance challenges in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector using a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating appropriate and applicable evidence, tools, and methods. The three-year project, which began in September 2018 and consists of two additional option years, is implemented primarily in the Central African Republic (CAR). Throughout implementation, AMPR will:

• Serve as USAID’s flagship project for addressing complex development challenges around the ASM sector in the CAR with a primary focus on diamonds and a secondary focus on gold.
• Promote legal, responsible supply chains, and strengthen social cohesion in mining areas.
• Build on Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD) I and II to solidify progress achieved in the CAR to date.
• Provide on-demand short-term technical assistance (STTA) on development challenges associated with ASM to various USAID Operating Units (OUs) around the globe.

AMPR is structured around four objectives:

• Objective 1: Assist the Government of the CAR (GoCAR) to improve compliance with Kimberley Process (KP) requirements to promote licit economic opportunities.
• Objective 2: Strengthen community resilience, social cohesion, and response to violent conflict in the CAR.
• Objective 3: Increase awareness and understanding of the opportunities and challenges of establishing responsible gold supply chains in the CAR.
• Objective 4: Improve USAID programming through increased understanding of linkages between ASM and key development issues.

Ten Intermediate Results (IRs) further define activity areas under each Objective. These activity areas are defined in the AMPR contract.

Inter-Project Coordination and Collaboration

The Year III Work Plan is prepared in close collaboration with the World Bank (WB) Natural Resources Management (PGRN) project and the European Union (EU) Strengthening Governance of CAR’s Artisanal Diamond and Gold Mining Sectors (GODICA) project. To assure synergies between these three institutions supporting the Ministry of Mines and Geology (MMG), the MMG convened all donors for a technical working session in September 2019 and formalized this in a working group created in April 2020. The list of contributions of each project to the Ministry are listed in Annex 4.9 below, Summary of Collaborative Programs with other Donors.

Organization of Work Plan

The work plan is organized around the Objectives, IRs, and Activities as described in the AMPR contract. For each contractual activity, the following aspects are presented: a description of the overall activity context and aims, a description of specific annual activities to be carried out, a summary of roles and responsibilities, the indicative timeline for implementation, and key outputs/deliverables.  Importantly, the GANTT chart in Annex 4.1 lists  the specific activities foreseen in the current work plan organized by IR. Corresponding contract activities are noted in brackets, but annual activities are not sub-divided by contract activities.  This allows for a clear view of  all annual activities and their implementation timeline.

The work plan annexes are:

• Annex 4.1: Project Implementation GANTT Chart
• Annex 4.2: Table of Deliverables
• Annex 4.3: Performance Indicators
• Annex 4.4: List of Peace and Reconciliation Committees
• Annex 4.5: Planned Communication Material
• Annex 4.6: Summary of Collaborative Programs with Other Donors

To facilitate review by USAID and monitoring by the AMPR team, note that the contract deliverables are highlighted in red font.

Executive Summary

The USAID Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (AMPR) project addresses the complex land and resource issues around artisanal and small-scale mining in a multi-disciplinary fashion with a focus on diamond and gold production in the Central African Republic (CAR). The 5-year project (2018-2023) consists of 4 components: improving compliance with the Kimberley Process, strengthening community resilience through peace-building and economic activities with women, increasing understanding of the country’s gold sector, and improving USAID programming through targeted technical assistance.

USAID AMPR’s Intermediate Result 1.2 aims at expanding formalization of land and resource rights in artisanal diamond mining communities through piloting a territorial management and community development framework revolving around the concept of Zone d’exploitation artisanale (ZEA). The ZEA is foreseen in CAR’s 2009 mining law for demarcating an area reserved for artisanal mining but has never been applied in practice. Since the project’s inception in 2018, USAID AMPR has engaged with government and community stakeholders on how to pilot the use of ZEAs to improve the formalization of production and trade, promote local development, reduce land conflicts among miners and improve environmental management.

The current strategic document summarizes the results of these discussions and sets forth the orientations for the project’s collaboration with the government to establish 2 pilot ZEAs. The strategy builds upon several studies conducted during the first year of project implementation, including one focused on the root causes of increased diamond smuggling. The resulting action plan to combat smuggling adopted by the government includes the ZEA pilot as an activity. Another study focused on the feasibility of restarting customary land rights certification for miners that began under the predecessor USAID project Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD). Furthermore, in its first year AMPR hired a consultant to study the feasibility of adapting a co-management model between villages and the government successfully implemented in Côte d’Ivoire, and also engaged reflections on how land-use planning can be integrated into a territorial approach to mineral governance.

In the project’s second year, a joint project-government expert working group was set up to consider the conclusions of these studies and further refine the project’s strategy for the ZEA pilot. Several field missions were organized to areas identified as having good potential for the pilot efforts, mainly, SCED-Ndéléngué near Nola and Sangouma / Sama II near Carnot, both in Western CAR. As a result of these missions and reflections, the team began clarifying the legal form of the ZEA, its management structure, mandate, and other measures. Due to security considerations, the process in Sangouma / Sama II was put on hold in early 2020. However, the present document offers a relatively complete picture for the strategy for SCED-Ndéléngué, summarized as follows:

Legal form and management structure

The ZEA in SCED-Ndéléngué will be designated by ministerial decree. The management will take place at three levels. The management committee (CGZEA) will provide high-level oversight and coordination consisting of local government officials and community / miner representatives. A local development committee (CDL) will oversee the generation and use of funds, both from mining and non-mining activities, and create a platform for all actors to coordinate and collaborate, including women’s groups supported by AMPR and a community forest managed as part of an agreement with a forestry concession (SINFOCAM). The ZEA will be further sub-divided into three blocs that correspond to miner hamlets located along three different watersheds. An existing miner association will be further strengthened and formalized. The miner association will have separate chapters per bloc and will be represented both on the CDL and the CGZEA. As such the management structure creates a separate but collaborative framework between community leaders, miners, and local government officials.

Property rights strengthening

The Certificats de droit de propriété coutumière issued to miners under PRADD (2007-2013) are still used by miners to assert ownership and resolve disputes. However, their lack of legal basis in CAR mining or land law was a key challenge unresolved under PRADD. The ZEA pilot will provide a partial solution by requiring that all mining claims be identified in the ZEA ministerial decree. Per the AMPR study on the certificates, a new term will be coined: Attestation locale de reconnaissance de parcelle minière. These will be co-signed by the CGZEA, miner association and local customary leaders. A transaction registry will also be established and managed by the miner association and/or local chief. These documents can also be used to prove ownership and require compensation in case of industrial or semi-industrial mining in the area, given that these rights supersede artisanal mining rights in CAR law.

Strengthening legal production and trade

Miners will be encouraged to acquire all legal documents for working, and miner associations will play a role in monitoring compliance. While the mining law technically requires artisanal miners to get a permit called Autorisation d’exploitation artisanale (AEA), the initiative will not require miners to get this license, which has been rarely applied in practice. However, miners will be encouraged to get their professional license (patente) and fill their production notebook. During rollout, AMPR will use behavioral change communication to convince miners of the need to get their patente, but as the pilot progresses, stronger incentives will be employed such as making access to equipment rental pools contingent on having a valid patente. The miner association will also play a role in tracking and estimating production through periodic surveys of miners as well as buyers (including informal débrouillards), and will require special sales sessions for large stones, defined in CAR as greater than 4.80 carats. The pre-existing local self-defense groups will also be used by the miner associations to monitor sites. The miner association will be a liaison with mining officials including the mining police, Unité spéciale anti-fraude (USAF), with efforts to reduce the role of USAF, which is often a source of conflict and abuse.

Generating funds for local development

Per feasibility studies, it was not deemed practical in CAR’s socio-economic context to require public sales sessions and fixed percentages for all production due to a lack of trust, poor transparency and fractured customary control. Instead the miner association will determine if and how to generate funds, and how to allocate them, ranging from strengthening equipment pools to providing social benefits to members or contributing to village development projects. This voluntary system is in line with existing practice in several CAR communities. However, AMPR will seek to institute a more structured process for larger stones (>4.80 carats) which are often the subject of informal taxation by local officials and community leaders. The bylaws of the CGZEA will determine if and how a fixed percentage will be applied and a distribution formula between the CGZEA, miner association and CDL. This could help generate funds and also formalize existing corrupt practices around large stones. Finally, the CDL will have the latitude to raise funds from other sources, including women’s economic groups, the nearby national park, and the timber concession.

Land-use planning

The rural commune of Nola recently adopted a land-use and development plan, which includes SCED-Ndéléngué. The CDL will be the entity in charge of further sub-zoning and setting usage rules. For example, the nearby national park, Aires protégées de Dzanga-Sangha (APDS), has urged the creation of a 500-meter buffer zone between miners and the park. The CDL will help set those rules, which would then be further enforced by the miner association and the CGZEA. In addition, the CDL may set additional rules with respect to pastoralist corridors in collaboration with other relevant local structures like the pastoralist platform created by AMPR in Nola. In this way the ZEA will provide an impetus for further land-use planning and local rule-setting around natural resources.

Technical assistance to miners

In order to incentivize participation in the ZEA pilot, USAID AMPR will provide technical assistance to the miner association in collaboration with sister projects Projet Gouvernance de l’Or et de Diamants en Centrafrique (GODICA) and Appui à la professionnalisation des coopératives minières (APCM), funded by the European Union (EU) and World Bank, respectively. Equipment rental pools will be established for each of the three blocs of the ZEA managed by the relevant chapters of the miner association, which may evolve towards a miner cooperative with the help of APCM. Trainings on prospection and SMARTER (Sustainable Mining by Artisanal Miners) mining techniques will be organized. Finally, AMPR will re-establish an evaluation center for the association to analyze stones and compare to world market prices. This will be especially important for the mechanism for larger stones.

Timeline for implementation

Following the adoption of this strategy by the joint technical working group, as well as by relevant Ministry of Mines and Geology (MMG) officials, further community consultations will take place before the signing of the ZEA decree and the start of implementation. The AMPR field agents and rural development specialists will be in charge of implementation, which will consist of developing bylaws and statutes for the various management entities and supporting the implementation of monitoring and technical assistance measures. The goal will be to have the ZEA under full implementation by the end of Year 3 of the AMPR project in order to assess the relevance of scaling up.

INTEGRATED LAND AND RESOURCE GOVERNANCE TASK ORDER UNDER THE STRENGTHENING TENURE AND RESOURCE RIGHTS II (STARR II) IDIQ

Gender equality and women’s empowerment are core development objectives, fundamental to the realization of human rights, and key to effective and sustainable development outcomes. Unless both women and men are able to attain their social, economic, and political aspirations, and contribute to and shape decisions about the future, the global community will not successfully promote peace and prosperity. In line with United States Agency for International Development (USAID) gender compliance requirements,1 it is imperative that due attention is given to integration of issues of gender equality into USAID programs and projects.

Over the past twenty years, development practitioners and researchers have become increasingly aware of the role that gender issues and inequities play in achieving effective land and resource rights and governance.3 Land remains a critical economic and social asset for women and men, particularly for those living in rural areas and dependent on agriculture or forests for livelihoods. Yet governance mechanisms for land and natural resources, whether part of a larger formal governance system or embedded in customary systems, often carry gender biases and may in some cases completely exclude women.4 Addressing gender issues lies at the heart of effective and inclusive land and resource governance; to not fully do so risks further enabling and empowering discriminatory systems, and undermining the effectiveness, uptake, and success of programmatic interventions.

This strategy is intended as a working guide to integrate gender throughout the life span of the Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) task order under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights II (STARR II) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract.5 The document provides a theoretical underpinning for gender integration in the program, and also serves as a practical tool kit for program implementation, offering links to an array of gender-based tools produced by USAID and others, suitable at different design, implementation and evaluation junctures.

The strategy contains four primary sections. The first provides linkages to the US Government’s Women’s Global Development and Prosperity (W-GDP) framework. The second section sets out key principles and working assumptions. The third section provides background, recommendations and references for specific approaches and activities, and is organized into design, implementation and monitoring/evaluation phases. The fourth and final section offers a guide to learning approaches and questions. Annex 1 contains a list of practical tools that could be considered in design and implementation of ILRG tasks and activities to help ensure gender responsive processes and outcomes. Annex 2 contains a table of resources by topic, and Annex 3 contains a list of references.

Preliminary note: To be useful, a gender strategy must be applicable by those who are not gender experts, and detailed enough to provide direction and guidance at different programmatic phases. One challenge to developing an initial gender strategy for ILRG is that much is still unknown about the goals, direction, and approaches of specific country-based activities that will take place under the project over the next three to five years. By design, ILRG is meant to be both expansive and flexible, encompassing an array of interventions. The breadth, flexibility, and early-program status of ILRG render it difficult to create a gender strategy with sufficient practical application. This strategy should serve as a starting point for developing more detailed gender-based analysis and inputs to the design, implementation, and evaluation of specific tasks as they emerge, as discussed below; it should not serve as a replacement for this process.