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

Background

PepsiCo and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) are partnering to promote women’s empowerment in the potato value chain in West Bengal, India. The purpose of this partnership is to demonstrate how women’s empowerment can lead to the adoption of sustainable farming practices1 in West Bengal, resulting in improved potato yields and net profitability for rural farmers, positively impacting PepsiCo’s bottom line. This multi-year partnership will ultimately demonstrate the business case to both rural Bengali households and PepsiCo that empowering women makes good social and economic sense. To inform activities under this partnership, PepsiCo funded an assessment of women’s economic empowerment and equality, land rights, and agricultural engagement in the PepsiCo potato supply chain in West Bengal, India, which was carried out by Tetra Tech and Landesa in January/February 2019. The findings of this assessment, combined with discussions during a workshop held in Delhi from 30 April – 1 May 2019, and a subsequent field visit, form the basis for activities outlined in this implementation plan, to be carried out under the Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) task order. This implementation plan is focused on Year 1 (the 2019/2020 growing season) and runs from June 2019 – June 2020, but includes reference to additional years, as the partnership moves from ILRG implementation of activities to more holistic integration of activities into PepsiCo’s core business operations.

Work Plan Preparation and Revisions

The USAID AMPR contract is detailed and prescriptive with respect to activities and deliverables to be achieved for each IR. On June 19, 2019, USAID AMPR held a technical planning meeting with the Directors, Chefs des Services, and experts from the Ministry of Mines and Geology (MMG), including the Bureau d’Évaluation et de Contrôle de Diamant et d’Or (BECDOR). The COP, all Component Coordinators, and the MEL Officer represented the USAID AMPR project. The meeting, held at the Directorate of the MMG, was chaired by the Director General. The AMPR team initiated the discussions for the Year II Work Plan joint planning. The meeting proposed a participatory and inclusive approach of engaging MMG experts in contributing to the development of the work plan’s development. A nine-member technical committee, comprised of five MMG and four AMPR team members, was proposed to lead the technical analysis/discussions to contribute to the possible activities considered in the Year II Work Plan.

The technical committee held a three-day retreat from June 28-30, 2019. It reviewed the progress of the AMPR project activities, listed pending work in need of completion before the end of the work plan year, and listed activities to be continued in the Year II Work Plan. The team discussed interventions for the technical and institutional coordination with the MMG and the Ministry of Humanitarian Action and National Reconciliation (MHANR), activities needed for mainstreaming gender issues in the mining sector, and support for income-generating activities for women. In early July, the technical committee presented their report that proposed 36 activities during a meeting held at the Directorate of the Ministry of Mines, attended by Kimberley Process Permanent Secretary (KPPS), all Head of Services, and MMG experts. The meeting resolved that the 36 activities be retained and integrated into the MMG Action Plan, which will also be used to guide other Ministry partners in additional intervention priority areas. The meeting recommended that the AMPR team work with the committee members and technical experts at the Regional Mining offices to develop Year II Work Plan detailed intervention approaches.

In mid-July 2019, the AMPR Technical Deputy travelled to Bangui, where he met the AMPR in-country team and discussed in detail the committee’s proposed Year II activities and implementation strategies. From the 36 proposed activities, the AMPR project chose the priority interventions for possible consideration in the Year II Work Plan, subject to the project’s objectives and budget. In early August, the AMPR COP, Component 1 Coordinator, and MEL Officer participated in a joint field mission to Berberati with MMG committee members. The team met with the MMG Chefs des Services of Boda, Boganangone, Gadzi, Carnot, and Nola, the MMG Regional Director, Chief of the Anti-Fraud Police Unit (USAF), and the CLPR coordination committee of Berberati, led by their President. The AMPR team briefed the key technical field officials of the MMG and MHANR on the proposed activities for consideration in the AMPR Year II Annual Work Plan. The meetings helped shape the approaches for the proposed activities and clarified the coordination roles of all involved parties.

In mid-August, the AMPR Project Manager travelled to Bangui to lead the finalization of the Year II Annual Work Plan, taking into consideration the feedback from the consultations with the aforementioned stakeholders. USAID AMPR then proceeded to draft the annual work plan and associated annexes, as well as the PMP.

The draft Work Plan was submitted to USAID on August 30, 2019. Afterwards, the AMPR Chief of Party and Senior Technical Advisor traveled to Kinshasa to meet with the USAID DRC mission to present the work plan and incorporate inputs from the COR, the USAID Desk Officer, and Mission staff. Then the USAID delegation flew to Bangui to meet with government partners from the MMG and MHANR, as well as other supporting donor agencies.

Following the approval of the work plan by USAID, the AMPR field office team will meet quarterly to review the pace of implementation, prepare for quarterly reports, and hold other learning activities organized by the MEL specialist.

IMPROVING TENURE SECURITY TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE COCOA PILOT

There are several challenges in Ghana’s cocoa sector related to the link between productivity, deforestation, and land tenure. Historic government-held rights to shade trees combined with a desire to boost cocoa yields incentivized the removal of shade and promotion of sun-grown cocoa. This resulted in only short-term productivity increases, large losses in biodiversity and carbon stocks, and an increase in forest degradation and deforestation. After short-term productivity boosts, yields in sun cocoa decline. Elsewhere, shaded cocoa farms have not been replanted and old cocoa trees have declining yields. As a result, up to 40 percent of cocoa farms in Ghana have low productivity and need to be replanted. However, farmers and communities lack the financial and labor resources to replant old trees with new hybrid varieties and many farmers have insecure tenure that prevent or discourage replanting old farms. Farmers have low incomes, food security and nutrition challenges, and limited access to credit to borrow money to invest in their farms. They need information and training on best practices to rehabilitate old cocoa farms, and may need help to improve tenure security. The first two to three years of a cocoa farm are critical to develop a strong and productive cocoa tree. Implementing the best agronomic practices during this period reduces longer term risk to the farmer by helping ensure that the trees will become productive assets that generate cash flow and increase farmer livelihoods and food security. Farmers also require knowledge and tools that assist with key land use decisions, such as whether to invest in cocoa and/or other competing crops (food crops, rubber, palm oil).

Executive Summary

The USAID Mining Artisan Property Rights project (USAID AMPR) (known in French as Droits de Propriété Artisanal Minier – DPAM) is mandated by its Year I Work Plan to prepare a communication and outreach strategy. This strategy is largely based on a situational assessment and analysis of factors contributing to diamond fraud and smuggling that was carried out by the project in Bangui and Boda in April and May 2019.

The preparation of the communication strategy was based on a literature review of PRADD II and II, the results of the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices (KAP) 2019 survey of AMPR and interviews and exchanges with various stakeholders (158 people) in Bangui and Boda in April and May 2019. In analyzing the results of the KAP survey, the lack of control of the chain of custody by the government mining authorities appears to favor the illegal export of minerals. For example, according to the survey data, 2% (n = 341) of respondents say they know someone who has traveled to Cameroon to sell their production in 2019 while 3% (n = 341) say they know someone who sold a stone to someone from Cameroon in 2019.

Many informal taxation practices contribute to fraud and smuggling. Three quarters of the respondents of the KAP survey say they pay off village chiefs after diamonds are extracted, while half of the respondents do so with a state authority namely, by order of priority, the municipal council (communes), followed by USAF and the mining administration. However, during the exchanges in Bangui and Boda, 24% of respondents consider that it is easier to find satisfactory solutions to illegal taxation (in particular theft of diamonds which reduces the incomes of artisanal miners and collectors) than at the national and even less so in the international sphere. The same proportion say they look forward to enforcement by the State of the legal texts governing mining companies, in order to put an end to the opacity which characterizes these commercial relations and especially since social tensions are caused by this illegal taxation.

• Based on the following three criteria – feasibility, realism and duration of the USAID AMPR project – this study presents the following observations:
• Of the seven factors favoring fraud and smuggling, only one, that is, the exactions levied on the income of diamond operators is possible to resolve by local actors. All others are related to the statutory and institutional environment.
• Local causes of fraud and smuggling can be dealt with locally and with the most chances of success.
• Most difficult cases to resolve are those where decision-making centers are at the national level and mostly at the international level.
• On the part of those surveyed, there is a real willingness to strengthen the chain of custody of the diamond sector, if it is supported by the USAID AMPR project, the government and its partners.
• In parallel with measures to improve the enforcement of the statutory framework, the USAID AMPR project should focus more on local factors contributing to fraud and smuggling in order to attract the support of key players in the diamond sector.
• Results of well-designed and participatory interventions at the local level can inform advocacy and inquiry at the national and international levels and foster profound institutional change.

The review and analysis of communication practices proposed by key players in the diamond sector highlight the following:

• Importance of knowing about the employment patterns, dynamics of social cohesion, livelihoods, economic diversification, types of collaborative partnerships, and recreational practices in diamond mining communities.
• Predominance of Sango as the language of communication between mining artisans and collectors as well as the administration. French and other local languages come second as the language of communication.
• Closed-loop communication structures exists among artisanal miners. They inform each other, share the same values, influence questionable practices (how to cheat around diamond sales, steal from bosses, display conspicuous consumption, display wealth) rather than respect the law and the use of diamond revenues for productive investments.
• Communication channels of various types are of interest to artisanal miners (for example, posters, theater, megaphone, telephone, palaver at the markets), but with a preference for using printed cartoon-like messaging.
• Diamond miners and collectors communicate frequently around mutual interests (e.g.: site visits, advances for the purchase of equipment and food rations, fuel, management of conflicts of interest). They also have other interlocutors: the agents of the technical services of the Ministry of Mines and Geology and those of the USAF and, during an electoral period, the politicians.
• Lack of strong internet connections and the inaccessibility of national radio or even some local radios present major limitations to effective mass communications. These limitations could significantly limit AMPR’s use of mass media and social networks at the local level.
• Main communication challenges faced by the AMPR project are not around the need to inform or sensitize actors about the regulatory provisions governing their mining sector (they usually know them) but rather to reduce the distrust between actors in the diamond value chain through creating or reinvigorating various consultative spaces.
• Partnerships must be constructed between government structures, NGOs and development organizations to promote denunciations and arrests around smuggling and fraud.

The information needs of the artisanal mining community pertain primarily to generating a better knowledge of the content of the agreements signed between the State and the mining companies in order to reduce conflicts between these actors. The information needs also concern the advantages of participating in the Kimberley Process and the Operational Framework, information about the AMPR project itself or other similar projects (World Bank, European Union), a better knowledge of the roles and attributions of the local Kimberley Process Monitoring Committee, and access to AMPR products and services.

In terms of skills and perception, we note:

• Distrust of local government officials vis-à-vis the personnel of the Ministry of Mines and Geology who are considered defenders of collectors and employees of Buying Houses and who benefit from their largesse.
• Beliefs that the Kimberley Process is at the service of an international conspiracy against the Central African Republic.
• Questions about the real motivations of the United States, with respect to the financing they give to the artisanal diamond sector.

In terms of consultations, many of the crises, sometimes violent, observed in the mining sector originate from:

• Lack of space for collective debate on the issues facing the diamond sector.
• Lack of dialogue between rural populations involved in diamond mining and mining companies on the one hand and mining companies and local authorities on the other.
• Lack of skills of civil society and the Kimberley Process Local Monitoring Committee to address the obligations of the Operational Framework.
• Insufficient consultation between the actors, particularly between the administration and the Buying Houses (for example, the cumbersome and slow KP procedures and the provisions on the repatriation of profits made through mining occurring in the Central African Republic but to external financiers).
• Feelings of marginalization by the diamond operators with regards to decisions made for them by the public authorities.
• Absence of institutional memory, as for example, when a government official fails to show up for a meeting or is seconded to another office, this creates paralysis within the Kimberley Process Monitoring Committee.

The purpose and objectives of the USAID AMPR project from October 2019 to September 2013 at the closure of the project stem from the above observations and shape the communication strategy.

Goal

Contribute to the total lifting of the suspension of CAR’s rough diamond exports, represented by the restrictions of the Operational Framework so that the country regains its pre-crisis rank.

Purpose

Promote peace and economic resilience of communities in support of the reestablishment of the legal rough diamond chain.

Specific objectives

• Increase the perception of the actors of the sector of the risks they run, and the losses suffered by the country due to the persistence of fraud and smuggling.
• Increase the demand for AMPR products and services by communities to improve their livelihoods.
• Encourage policymakers to meet their obligations to the KP Operational Framework.
• Promote a culture of non-violence and social cohesion within communities and at the national level.
• Involve local communities in monitoring the chain of custody in order to fight fraud and smuggling.
• Promote cooperation between all stakeholders in the legislation, operation and marketing of rough diamonds at the local, regional and national levels.
  

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Background 

The Artisanal Mining and Property Rights Task Order (TO) supports the 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 ASM sector, using a multidisciplinary approach and incorporating appropriate and applicable evidence, tools, and approaches. The 3-year project, which began in September 2018 and consists of two additional Option Years, is implemented primarily in the Central African Republic. Over the course of implementation USAID AMPR will:

• Serve as USAID’s flagship project for addressing complex development challenges around the ASM sector in 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 PRADD I and II to solidify progress achieved in CAR to date.
• Provide on-demand short-term technical assistance (STTA) on development challenges associated with ASM to various USAID OUs around the globe.

USAID AMPR is structured around four objectives:

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

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

Process of Workplan Preparation 

The USAID AMPR contract is detailed and prescriptive with respect to activities and deliverables to be achieved for each Intermediate Result. As part of the project’s Inception Phase, the team first translated these activities into French and shared them with local technical staff and government partners. During the first week of November, the Project Manager and Technical Deputy participated in two workshops in Bangui. The first presented the project to key government stakeholders. The second was a technical session to discuss specific activities for the first annual work plan.

The Project Manager also met with the Minister of Mines and Geology, U.S. Embassy and senior official from the Ministry of Humanitarian Action and National Reconciliation. This iterative process allowed the team to present the contract framework to the government, elicit feedback, propose specific first-year activities, elicit more feedback, and finally integrate key information on government policies and priorities. The Technical Deputy also worked with the team to develop a provisional GANTT chart and a list of project performance indicators. Finally, the early November workshops benefitted from the participation of the USAID AMPR COP and Administrative and Finance Manager, who are slated to begin in January 2019. As such they were able to meet with the teams and participate in the initial work planning sessions, including discussions on operational issues such as the location of offices and staffing/procedures issues.

At the end of November, the USAID AMPR team participated in the launch ceremonies and workshops in Bangui, attended by the USAID COR and representatives from the USAID DRC Mission and the US Embassy in Bangui. Ahead of these ceremonies, USAID AMPR shared a preliminary list of activities and indicators with USAID Washington and Kinshasa. On the sidelines of the launch events, the COR and DRC Mission representatives worked with the Project Manager and Technical Deputy to discuss each activity in detail and also to review the preliminary list of performance indicators.

Based on these consultations and feedback from the government and USAID, USAID AMPR then proceeded to draft the annual work plan and associated annexes, as well as the Performance and Monitoring Plan (PMP).

Organization of Workplan 

The work plan is organized around the Objectives, Intermediate Results and Activities as described in the USAID AMPR contract. For each activity, the following aspects are presented: a description of the overall activity context and aims, a description of specific activities to be carried out in the first year, a summary of roles and responsibilities, the indicative timeline for implementation, and key outputs/deliverables. The work plan also includes a GANTT chart in Annex 1. Importantly, the GANTT chart lists only the specific activities foreseen in the first year work plan, organized by Intermediate Result rather than contract Activity. This allows for a clear view of the timeline for implementing only those activities for the first year.

The work plan also includes additional annexes:

• Performance Indicators. A table summarizes key performance indicators. The Performance and Monitoring Plan (PMP), to be submitted concurrently, goes into greater detail on the MEL framework and details on data collection and quality assurance.
• List of Communications Materials. USAID AMPR will prepare a detailed Communications Plan in early 2019. However, as per the contract, the work plan will include a preliminary list of communications materials.
• List of Anticipated International Travel. USAID AMPR has compiled an indicative list of international travel for key experts and consultants during the course of the first year.
• Environmental Monitoring and Management Plan (EMMP). As per the contract, the EMMP outlines actions to address conditions set forth in the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE). The IEE included negative determinations with conditions or categorical exclusions for most activities. However, for economic activities targeting women, the IEE issued a deferral. USAID AMPR will, therefore, submit a list of activities to USAID after the Gender Action Plan is completed in April or May, following which both the IEE and the EMMP will require updating.

Executive Summary

The USAID AMPR project conducted a baseline survey of the knowledge, attitudes and practices of artisanal miners in 9 sub-prefectures in southwestern CAR in May 2019. The purpose of the survey was to provide basic information to help measure the impact of the project as well as to better plan the project activities in collaboration with the Central African government. The target population of the survey was the artisanal miner site manager (chef de chantier), as these actors constitute the vital link between the laborers and the buyers, making them key actors to target in communication campaigns.

A sample of 341 artisanal miners was established based on a target error margin of 5% and an estimated population size of 2,400 site managers in the target area. The sample was stratified by subprefecture based on the level of activity as measured during geo-referencing campaigns under the USAID DPDDA I and DPDDA II project. A total of 13 enumerators administered the questionnaire over 3 weeks, under the supervision of the Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator and the Artisanal Mining Specialist, with the involvement of the Project Technical Advisor. The questionnaire was developed based on previous surveys and also tested in the field in Carnot in collaboration with the government (SPPK).

Artisanal miners are relatively older than the general population at 41 years of age with a household size of about 9 people. The miners have on average 2 active sites, 5 sites in reserve, and 3 mined-out sites. They are almost all the owners of these sites, and most have inherited them from relatives, demonstrating the extent of customary land control exercised by artisanal miners in CAR. Three-quarters showed a perception of tenure security as defined by USAID. More than half have documents to demonstrate ownership, including certificates issued by the DPDDA I project, but most of the documents are informal.

Agriculture and mining have an almost equal place as a source of income. Just over half cited mining as their primary source of income, and of these almost 90% cited agriculture as the second largest source. Similarly, for the one-third of respondents who cited agriculture as their primary source of income, mining was the second largest source of income for most of them. This result confirms that artisanal miners work in a mixed rural economy dominated by these two interconnected activities.

The average artisanal miner works 9 months per year. On average, the miner hires 9 workers for these sites, which corresponds to 6 workers per site, taking into account average number of sites per miner. In addition to the workers—those who share in the gains of production—almost half of the miners employ temporary workers called katamans, a relatively recent phenomenon. On average the miners employ 3 katamans per worksite, and most are paid by the task accomplished rather than by day. There is a clear difference between financed and non-financed artisans in terms of their ability to hire labor: the financed miners have 7 workers per site on average while the non-financed only 5 workers.

Women represent a minority at all levels. Only 5% of site managers are women, and often they let men manage the day-to-day operations of the site. However, 16% of respondents say they have female workers who work for them, but when taken as a proportion of the total number of workers, only 3% are women. Women are most often involved in gold panning. In fact, 22% of respondents practice gold panning in addition to diamond mining, and this is not limited to a specific subprefecture but occurs in all areas. The extraction of gold is limited to about 0.5 grams per week, according to the responses of the site managers.

About two-thirds of the miners are financed by someone, but less than half of these financiers are licensed collectors. Most are informal buyers or other people such as relatives or shopkeepers in the villages. This finding calls into question the “classic” supply chain pattern, in particular by confirming the existence of actors, working between official collectors and miner, and who are not part of the official supply chain. Similarly, only 70% of the financed miners sell to their financier, suggesting that the financier may be a financier who does not buy, which is not consistent with what is normally assumed about them.

Most of the smaller tools (shovels, jigs, crowbars and machetes) are the property of the miner. Only 14% have water pumps that they own, while 24% of financed miners receive water pumps from their financiers. Financiers also provide small equipment, but only for about half of financed respondents. Two-thirds of the financed miners receive money to pay workers’ rations, which are on average 5,000 XAF ($ 11[1]) per worker per week. A quarter also receive support for health costs.

In terms of the sharing of earnings, most of the artisanal miners sell the stones and then share proceeds with the workers. The team leader is usually present during these negotiations and sales. In some cases, it is the team leader who leads the negotiation. According to the survey, about half of the respondents found stones in 2018, and only one-third between January and May 2019. The average weight in 2018 was 69 points[2] and 87 points in 2019. The average number of carats found by miners in 2018 is 8.35 and only 2.51 in 2019. These figures likely undercount the smaller stones given the relatively high average weight and the very high price per carat, 211,490 XAF ($ 385) per carat in 2018 and 379,929 XAF ($ 690) in 2019. Assuming an estimated 2,400 site managers in the study area, production in 2018 was 20,000 carats, which is almost certainly lower than in reality. Respondents are also likely to underreport during the survey.

Despite this problem of reliability of production data, the difference in terms of average price per carat between financed and non-financed miners is striking and consistent. On average, the non-financed earn between 30 and 50% more for their stones, according to the figures of the study. We note that “financing” takes many forms, not just monetary advances, but many types of repayment requirements. The same trend was observed for both years. This partly explains the fact that 75% of respondents said they prefer to be independent rather than financed, even though the most cited complaint was the need for financing. By this we can understand that while financing is essential for increased productivity, miners hope for modes of financing which will allow them to become independent.

Among those who are already self-financing (one-third of artisans), revenue from mining activities is the most important source of funds, followed by funds from other activities, particularly agriculture. This finding supports the need to think of alternative modes of financial empowerment, including the pooling of risks and materials and the diversification of activities. Even though there are approximately 350 mining cooperatives in the Central African Republic, only 3% of respondents are part of one, showing the gap between official cooperatives and the realities on the ground.

In terms of the level of legality, only 18% have a valid license (patente), even though 53% say they have had to pay the license in the past, and almost everyone knows the legal need to have one. Indeed, almost everyone knows the need to have the license, the need to note the production and the need to have a sales slip. The most cited reason for not getting the license was the lack of production and income to pay for it. Most respondents cited divergent prices for the license, suggesting confusion on this point or a possibility of a price premium applied by officials.

Regarding the sales slips, a quarter of respondents say they received a slip in 2019, and another quarter did not (the remainder refused to respond). According to respondents, many buyers offer a better price without slips or they prefer to issue slips only for large stones. It is also interesting to note that although a minority (14%) maintain an official production book, half have unofficial records called “site notebooks” where they record expenses, worker information and production. This could be a key source of information if the level of trust increases between the government and the producers.

Indeed, there are many informal taxation practices, according to the survey, with three-quarters of respondents reporting giving something to the village chief after findings, and half to a state authority. The Mayor (township) is the first recipient of such “gifts,” followed by USAF and the Mining Administration. The study confirmed the practice of levying an amount on “big stones” by the Administration, but less than 20% of miners reported this practice. Similarly, only 16% say they have to pay something at roadblocks. In general, two-thirds of respondents say they are satisfied with the administration in its management of the sector. Only 30% received a visit from a state agent in 2018 and 2019, and among those who received one, the SPPK focal points were the most present, showing their importance in maintaining regular contact between actors in the field and the government.

In terms of security, a minority (18%) reported issues on their mine sites or when traveling to town to sell their stones (26%). About half of respondents said they felt security had improved compared to last year. About two-thirds of respondents (71%) reported no issues of conflicts this year, and of those who had experienced a conflict, the majority said they were around site boundaries. Indeed, among all respondents, 20% said they experienced a conflict around a site boundary last year, confirming the importance of clarifying property rights about mining claims, especially as outsiders increase their presence with support of elites from Bangui. In terms of workplace accidents, only 12% reported an issue, the majority being minor injuries, though a few serious cases were reported including a drowning and a fatal snake bite.

In general, the basic knowledge level on the Mining Code and KP is average with 35% of respondents having met the criteria of the USAID AMPR project to be considered as having a basic level of understanding. Nevertheless, there is a need to improve knowledge about the definition and role of the Kimberley Process and child labor, where a quarter have said that children younger than age 14 can work, and only 3% were able to define the PK. On the other hand, almost all respondents identified documents for legality and traceability, even if only 30% identified buying houses as the exporting entity.

In terms of geology, the level of knowledge is good with respect to some evaluation criteria, even if the terminologies are not in line with international best practice. For example, the majority know that a colored diamond is worth more than a white diamond, all else being equal. However, there is a diversity in knowledge levels, with half not knowing basic categories such as “triages” and “mêlées” used by local buyers. In addition, only 15% were able to say what diamonds are used for, and most have asked for training in evaluation. Only 4% said that the prices received for their stones were fair.

As far as recommendations, the report identifies several based on the results, including the need to organize feedback and discussion workshops for the Mining Administration and for the miners themselves. Given that the project had difficulties where respondents expressed their fatigue with the large number of questionnaires, a feedback session could help to communicate on the use of the information. In addition, the study has implications for the review of the legal chain of custody, the strategy of fighting fraud and the strategy of land formalization and economic diversification. In this way the technical discussions and activities can be based on observed and measured realities.

[1] An average exchange rate of 550 XAF to the USD was used throughout this report.
[2] A point is a hundredth of a carat, so 69 points is 0.69 carats

Background

The Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (USAID AMPR) project supports the USAID Land and Urban Office in improving land and resource governance and strengthening property rights for all members of society, especially women.  It serves as USAID’s vehicle for addressing complex land and resource issues around artisanal and small-scale mining in a multidisciplinary fashion with a focus primarily on diamond and secondarily on gold production in the Central African Republic (CAR), as well as targeted technical assistance to other USAID missions and operating units in addressing land and resource governance issues within the artisanal and small-scale mining sector. The project builds upon activities and lessons from the Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD I and II) projects. The USAID AMPR contract was signed on September 28^th, 2018 and will run initially for three base years and with two optional years. Most project activities will be carried out in the Central African Republic.

The U.N. Security Council has repeatedly emphasized the need for the Government of the Central African Republic (GoCAR) to combat illicit exports of gold and diamonds to achieve peace and stability. The Artisanal Mining (ASM) sector supports the livelihood of many Central African miners and families but is threatened by armed group predation entrenched in illicit mineral exploitation and trade. Successive coups have been linked to diamond exploitation and trade with ex-Seleka groups in the east, while the gold sector provides revenues for criminal, anti-Balaka groups and ex-Seleka forces in CAR’s west and center.

Objective 3 of USAID AMPR is focused on Increasing Awareness and Understanding of the Opportunities and Challenges of Establishing Gold Supply Chains. Under Objective 3, the project is working with two sub-contractors IPIS and RESOLVE to increase awareness and understanding of the opportunities and challenges of establishing responsible gold supply chains in the Central African Republic. This includes a baseline assessment – or diagnostic – of CAR’s gold sector and an interactive online map of artisanal gold mining sites. USAID AMPR will also organize a workshop to present results from the study and facilitate training and discussion aimed at moving towards a national gold action plan.

Focusing on in-country dynamics around the gold economy, a mine site questionnaire was developed by IPIS to collect data on gold mine site locations and geology; production, pricing and trade dynamics; ownership and licensing; gold exports and trade; community resource governance and social cohesion; roles and constraints of men, women, and youth; and the role(s) of the Ministry of Mines and Geology (MMG) and mining cooperatives.

This report provides an overview of the gold questionnaire developed under AMPR’s Objective 3. The results of the questionnaire will be used to complete a full diagnostic study and interactive web map of CAR’s gold sector and support the development of an Action Plan in close collaboration with national stakeholders, donors and AMPR staff. The Action Plan is intended to provide recommendations regarding: 1) the formalization of the gold sector, 2) Ensuring tax collection from legal exports and 3) Developing traceability requirements based on international conventions and best practices. The Action Plan will also consider alignment or gaps with international expectations, especially: 1) systems to enable due diligence meeting international market and stakeholder expectations, and 2) conditions for CAR gold producers/traders/exporters for engagement with the legitimate, international buyers.

Methodology

The methodology used for the drafting and deployment of the AMPR gold questionnaire was participatory in nature involving feedback from numerous stakeholders and experts, and included several stages, which are outlined below:

Preliminary questionnaire drafted and feedback requested (January – February 2019)

Drawing on a review of recent studies on the artisanal mining sector in CAR and data previously collected by the USAID PRADD II and AMPR projects around diamond and gold mining sites and supply chains, a draft questionnaire and data analysis plan was prepared. The data analysis plan outlined what data would be needed, from what sites, and how it would be collected, analyzed and visualized. This in turn was used to prepare a draft questionnaire, which was shared with AMPR staff, the subcontractor RESOLVE and USAID for comment. The feedback processed elicited several questions, and comments, which are addressed below:

The questionnaire is designed to be administered by “site”, and not to individual miners. As such, the questionnaire provides a set of questions guiding investigations by a field researchers about a particular gold mining site. The results are intended to generate an overview of individual mine sites and will also be extrapolated and analyzed across sites to discern trends and patterns.

The IPIS site questionnaire will also be administered in all the locations where the AMPR team will administer the KAP Survey. In this manner, all of the diamond mining sites reached by the AMPR team will be incorporated into the map and data base being developed by IPIS under the gold mapping initiative.

Questions related to perceptions about land tenure were deliberately excluded from the questionnaire as experience has shown it would be very difficult to get an overall perception that would be truly representative of the situation on the site and perceptions about tenure will be addressed in the KAP surveys being undertaken by AMPR.

The physical presence of armed actors will be monitored by the enumerator based on observation and discussions with various stakeholders. As such the researchers hope to limit confusions between gendarmerie, regular army or UN peacekeepers. Since the questionnaire is also designed to be simple and short, rather like a guidebook for the enumerator. As a result, information may be picked up of predatory behavior of government authorities. The questionnaire has been reviewed by technical staff of the Ministry of Mines and Geology, and for that, the AMPR team is grateful.

Capturing the complex financial linkages that support illicit gold mining from site to export is challenging and the questionnaire is not designed to capture in depth data about financial flows. However, data about where miners and chefs de chantiers perceive their support is coming from (and the type of support they are receiving either monetary and in-kind) is valuable.  Given the extensive network of financing that reaches the mining site (including financing by armed groups), there a risk the respondent will note the most more immediate financier and not address more distant but important financiers of the illicit trade. This risk will be monitored during data collection and will be discussed in the mid-project enumerators follow-up workshop (early June), and in the qualitative study on gold chains. If necessary, the questionnaire will be adapted to elucidate additional information about more distant forms of financing. It should be recognized that respondents may not know, or even feel secure, providing this information. As such, during the follow up workshop attention will be given to structuring questions to inquire about distant sources of financing while at the same time identifying processes to protect sources and the information provided.

On the issue of how informal taxes are levied at gold sites, it is difficult to anticipate all the possible options that may be currently in use without adding more questions – however the team has the opportunity to record any additional information in a comment box available at the end of each chapter of the questionnaire.

It was noted that certain information in the questionnaire is sensitive and respondents may be reluctant, for example, to discuss the presence of child labor or prostitution on a mine site. Based on IPIS’ previous experience, enumerators collect this information from a range of sources including miners but also from direct observation and discussions with local community members around the site (local NGOs, chef de village, church leaders, etc.). The triangulation of data sources also strengthens data validity.

On the issue of date sharing, a question was raised during reviews of the draft questionnaires regarding whether the data gathered would be made available to the DELVE platform. DELVE is a repository website aggregating information and data about the artisanal mining sector from numerous sources. While the platform is still in beta phase, IPIS is a DELVE partner and IPIS open data – including that which is collected with this questionnaire – could be shared noting that sensitive information (such as any names, comment boxes, etc.) would be filtered.

Finally, questions about consent in the administration of the questionnaire – including taking pictures at mine sites – were raised. The issue of consent is addressed in the training phase during which numerators are instructed to obtain consent before administrating the questionnaire or taking pictures; not to take pictures of children, and when possible to take pictures from a distance when possible to protect individual identities.

Methodology Review Workshop (22 February to 1 March)

The second step of developing the questionnaire involved a second trip to Bangui in late February, where IPIS completed the following tasks:

• Finalized mine site questionnaire, inclusive of feedback from AMPR staff, the World Bank, and the KP Secretariat. The questionnaire was then coded into an Excel spreadsheet and the final version of the questionnaire was posted online (on the Kobo platform) on March 28.
• Drafted Terms of Reference for Artisanal Gold Sector Diagnostic Study and agreed on target areas for field research

A key decision made was that IPIS and AMPR staff will conduct the same questionnaire at the mining site level and would therefore focus on different geographic areas in order to maximize the number of sites surveyed. Also, a distinction was made between mapping of sites, registration of production and individual workers and the development of a mining cadastral. Each of these are three different domains with different methodologies.

• The sites covered by the IPIS teams include: Nana-Mambéré (Baboua, Baoro, Bouar, Abba); Ombella-M’Poko (Boali, Damara, Yaloke, Bossembelé); Ouham (Bouca, Bossangoa); Ouham-Pendé (Bocaranga, Bozoum); and Lobaye (Mbaiki).
• Areas to be covered by AMPR teams include: Lobaye (Boda, Boganagone, Boganda); Sangha-Mbaéré (Nola, Bayanga); and Mambéré-Kadeï (Amada-Gaza, Berberati, Carnot, Dédé-Makouba, Gamboula, Gadzi, Sosso-Nakombo)
• Recruited of IPIS Field Coordinator. Jean-François Thalo, former PRADD I employee with a strong experience in managing field teams was recruited as the lead field coordinator. He will work for IPIS on a six-month contract, based in the AMPR office in Bangui.
• Finalized job descriptions finalized for MMG and Civil Society researchers. By incorporating ministry officials and civil society representatives in data collection missions, AMPR aims to strengthen local capacity, build trust and linkages between government officials and civil society and create greater local ownership in the final research product.

Recruitment and Training Workshop in Bangui (22-29 march March)

The third step included an open recruitment process to identify and recruit the field researchers (aka enumerators). In total, ten enumerators (including three women) were recruited and were organized into five research teams of two enumerators each. Each team will be composed of one MMG staff and one representative from civil society.

After the recruitment a four-day joint training was organized by IPIS and the AMPR project. The training focused on how to administer the survey to members from civil society organizations, and was designed around eight modules:

• Presentation of the AMPR project and IPIS component of mapping artisanal sites in western CAR
• Participative approach to site identification with local communities
• Research objectives through a detailed discussion of the questionnaire
• Field research methodology and practical advises
• Mobile data collection with ‘ODK Collect’ mobile application
• Security analysis and discussion on standard operating procedures and contingency plans
• Use of InReach satellite communicators on the field
• Increasing knowledge of the artisanal gold mining sector

After the training the questionnaire was tested by the enumerators. Results indicated the completion of the questionnaire required approximately 45 minutes to complete. This is congruent with other mine site questionnaires deployed by IPIS in in Eastern DRC. Although the actual time to fill the questionnaire might be shorter or longer depending on the skip logic questions, it is important to note the questionnaires provide a baseline survey and are not a monitoring tool (for example to provide monthly situational updates at each site).

Executive Summary

The Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (USAID AMPR) project supports the USAID Land and Urban Office to improve land and resource governance and strengthen property rights for all members of society, especially women. Its specific purpose is to address land and resource governance challenges in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, using a multidisciplinary approach and incorporating appropriate and applicable evidence and tools. The project is organized around four specific objectives: strengthening compliance of the Government of the Central African Republic (CAR) with the Kimberley Process; improving the resilience of communities and promoting social cohesion for conflict resolution; developing a strategy to promote a responsible gold supply chain; and supporting improved understanding of the artisanal mining sector.

In the CAR artisanal mining is dominated by men. Approximately 21% of artisanal miners in the country are estimated to be women, and 3% of the miners are women in western CAR. In the villages where AMPR will carry out activities in the sub-prefectures of Carnot and Nola, there are several women artisanal miners involved in both diamond and gold mining. Women in these communities are site managers, diggers, stone washers. According to the findings of the AMPR gender and economic activities diagnosis carried out in March, 2019 the 2013 political crisis led to a weakening of investments in the artisanal diamond mining sector, which affected particularly women. Declines in the artisanal mining sector translated to reductions of employment opportunities for women involved in transporting and washing gravel or selling food and services to miners. As a result of the crisis, inequalities seemed to have grown between men and women. Women lost previously hard-earned autonomy in the sector and through ancillary economic activities.

Objectives 

The USAID AMPR Gender Action Plan (PAG) is intended to be used as a strategic tool to promote the social and economic empowerment of women to ensure broad social and economic inclusion of women in artisanal mining communities. The Action Plan is intended to identify the main inequalities between men and women in the project intervention areas, examine opportunities for integrating gender considerations into each intermediate outcome of the project, and propose a range of activities to promote women’s empowerment. The PAG creates the framework for the project team to answer three main questions:

1. How can the project ensure that women’s contribution is effective and reflected in the artisanal diamond sector and USAID AMPR project activities in order to create an inclusive diamond value chain for men and women?
2. What specific activities could enable women to increase access and security to productive assets for income diversification, with the support of men in the target communities of the project?
3. How can women’s skills be strengthened to increase their active participation in decision-making bodies of villages and local organizations such as mining cooperatives and other related associations in artisanal mining communities?

Theory of Change

The Gender Action Plan is guided by a theory of change which influences the principles guiding implementation of the USAID project.
If the constraints faced by women in artisanal mining villages are reduced and their economic power improved through increased incomes, then women will gain more respect in their communities, and will play a greater role in decision-making and hence in community decisions on conflict management, economic development and land rehabilitation as women seek to protect and defend their economic interests.

Targeting mainly women in patriarchal communities where social and economic power relations are generally in the hands of men requires a strict application of the principle of do-no-harm throughout project implementation. This principle requires that USAID AMPR project actions do not expose women living in fragile contexts to higher risks than they would face without these interventions.