Land Tenure and Property Rights Issues and Best Practices Training: Lusaka, Zambia

In-person | Training
Contact: Jeremy Green
Location:

Lusaka, Zambia (USAID/Zambia Training Center)

HOW TO REGISTER

Search for ‘Land Tenure’ in USAID University.

OVERALL COURSE OBJECTIVE

This course will provide USG foreign assistance practitioners training that strengthens their knowledge and skills in understanding the relationships between land tenure and property rights (LTPR) and critical USG international development strategic priorities; identifying and addressing development challenges in their portfolios related to LTPR; and improving the effectiveness of Agency and USG programming.

BACKGROUND

Rights to land and resources are at the center of our most pressing development issues: economic growth, food security, conflict, urbanization, gender equality, climate change, and resilience. Secure land and property rights create incentives for investment, broad-based economic growth, and good stewardship of natural resources. Insecure property rights and weak land governance systems often provoke conflict and instability, which can trap communities, countries, and entire regions in a cycle of poverty.

This 1-week course is designed for USAID and USG international development professionals, who want to strengthen their knowledge and skills in addressing land tenure and property rights challenges.

This course provides participants with a solid understanding of the issues, theories, evidence, and best practices around land tenure, property rights, and effective international development programming.

PARTICIPANT LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of the course the participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the importance of LTPR as a critical development issue and understand considerations for USG foreign assistance programming.
  2. Define common land sector terms and concepts and be able to explain the differences between formal and informal land systems.
  3. Describe the linkages between LTPR and conflict, economic growth, responsible land-based investment, food security, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and natural resource management in developing countries.
  4. Understand and describe best practices for applying LTPR in the context of USG foreign assistance programming and identify available resources, USAID-supported technologies, methodologies, and tools for LTPR.

COURSE OUTLINE

  1. Introduction to Land Tenure and Property Rights
  2. Property Rights and Economic Growth
  3. Land and Resource Tenure, NRM, and Biodiversity
  4. Land Tenure and Geospatial Data and Technology
  5. Land, Property, and Conflict
  6. Land Rights, Gender Equality, and Women’s Empowerment
  7. Introduction to Land Administration
  8. Responsible Land-based Investment
  9. Land and Food Security
  10. USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights Technical Services, Resources, and Mechanisms
  11. Conclusion

SCENARIOS

This course will move through four real-world example scenario-based exercises to practice applying course learnings to improve USAID development programming and decision making.

PRESENTERS

Stephen Brooks

Land and Resource Governance Advisor, USAID E3/Land

Mr. Brooks is E3/Land’s Land Tenure and Resource Governance Advisor. He leads USAID’s work on tenure and resource governance in the context of global climate change and forestry and biodiversity, and manages the Office’s Tenure and Global Climate Change program. Mr. Brooks also serves as the E3/Land Office’s primary liaison for the USAID Asia Bureau, and leads USAID interagency collaboration with the US Forest Service and NOAA on the intersection between tenure, forest and marine issues.

Mr. Brooks received a master’s degree in Environmental Science with a focus on International Development and Conservation from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Science. He also received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida’s School of Forest Resources and Conservation.

Mr. Brooks brings expertise in land tenure and resource governance specific to international development and natural resource management. He also brings over 10 years of experience in forestry and coastal resource management, and 5 years of experience in urban natural resource management issues.

Darryl Vhugen

Independent Consultant

Mr. Vhugen, J.D., is a land tenure consultant who advises UN agencies, governments, private sector institutions, and communities on how to achieve socially responsible and financially sustainable investments in land and natural resources. His work focuses on protecting and strengthening the land rights of the poor in the context of large-scale land-based investments and climate change.

Previously, Mr. Vhugen led Landesa’s work in Burma/Myanmar and provided legal and policy analysis to address land rights and climate change challenges in sub-Saharan Africa, India, and China. Before that, he was Landesa’s first State Director for Andhra Pradesh, India. Mr. Vhugen also spent 25 years in private practice as an international and domestic business lawyer and litigator, advising foreign and domestic clients in a broad range of business matters. Mr. Vhugen has field experience in Japan, Cambodia, the Philippines, Myanmar, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Mexico, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Uganda and Mozambique.

Leonard Rolfes Jr.

Chief of Party and Land Tenure Specialist, The Cloudburst Group

Mr. Rolfes Jr. is Chief of Party on the Evaluation, Research, and Communication task order, a USAID-financed program being implemented by The Cloudburst Group. In this role, Mr. Rolfes provides management support to his team to facilitate their research, evaluation, communications, training and pilot project work, and engages with USAID on behalf of the program to ensure client needs are being satisfied. Mr. Rolfes also provides land tenure technical services on certain parts of the program, notably the Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure pilot project.

Mr. Rolfes is a lawyer by training and has 25 years of legal and implementation experience in the land-tenure field. Mr. Rolfes has worked in 17 countries, primarily in the former Soviet Union and sub-Saharan Africa, on issues such as land privatization, farm restructuring, land registration, formalizing customary land rights, and increasing women’s access to land. Apart from his work for Cloudburst, notable achievements include providing advice in the drafting of Ukraine’s Land Code, and serving as project lead on large land programs in Burkina Faso and Mongolia financed by the Millennium Challenge Corporation.

For more information, contact Jeremy Green, E3 Land and Urban: jegreen@usaid.gov

Land Tenure and Property Rights Issues and Best Practices Training: Washington, DC

Training
Contact: Jeremy Green
Location:

Washington, DC (Washington Learning Center)

HOW TO REGISTER

Search for ‘Land Tenure’ in USAID University.

OVERALL COURSE OBJECTIVE

This course will provide USG foreign assistance practitioners training that strengthens their knowledge and skills in understanding the relationships between land tenure and property rights (LTPR) and critical USG international development strategic priorities; identifying and addressing development challenges in their portfolios related to LTPR; and improving the effectiveness of Agency and USG programming.

BACKGROUND

Rights to land and resources are at the center of our most pressing development issues: economic growth, food security, conflict, urbanization, gender equality, climate change, and resilience. Secure land and property rights create incentives for investment, broad-based economic growth, and good stewardship of natural resources. Insecure property rights and weak land governance systems often provoke conflict and instability, which can trap communities, countries, and entire regions in a cycle of poverty.

This 1-week course is designed for USAID and USG international development professionals, who want to strengthen their knowledge and skills in addressing land tenure and property rights challenges.

This course provides participants with a solid understanding of the issues, theories, evidence, and best practices around land tenure, property rights, and effective international development programming.

PARTICIPANT LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By the end of the course the participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the importance of LTPR as a critical development issue and understand considerations for USG foreign assistance programming.
  2. Define common land sector terms and concepts and be able to explain the differences between formal and informal land systems.
  3. Describe the linkages between LTPR and conflict, economic growth, responsible land-based investment, food security, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and natural resource management in developing countries.
  4. Understand and describe best practices for applying LTPR in the context of USG foreign assistance programming and identify available resources, USAID-supported technologies, methodologies, and tools for LTPR.

COURSE OUTLINE

  1. Introduction to Land Tenure and Property Rights
  2. Property Rights and Economic Growth
  3. Land and Resource Tenure, NRM, and Biodiversity
  4. Introduction to Land Tenure and Geospatial Techonology
  5. Land, Property, and Conflict
  6. Land Rights, Gender Equality, and Women’s Empowerment
  7. Introduction to Land Administration
  8. Responsible Land-based Investment
  9. Land and Food Security
  10. USAID Land Tenure and Property Rights Technical Services, Resources, and Mechanisms
  11. Conclusion

SCENARIOS

This course will move through three real-world example scenario-based exercises to practice applying course learnings to improve USAID development programming and decision making.

PRESENTERS

Sarah Lowery

Economist and Public-Private Finance Specialist, USAID E3/Land and Urban Office

Module: Responsible Land Based Investment

Ms. Lowery leads work on integrated finance for sustainable land use and responsible private sector investment. She focuses on the link between secure land tenure and inclusive economic growth and leads econometric and financial analysis related to strengthened land tenure and access to finance. Ms. Lowery holds an MBA and a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale University.

Ms. Lowery brings over 12 years of experience at the intersection of business, finance, and the environment. Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Lowery managed the Public-Private Co-Finance Initiative at Forest Trends and has authored several papers and thought-pieces on climate finance innovations like REDD+ bonds and ways to utilize climate finance to unlock larger pools of capital-like domestic agricultural finance in the pursuit of conservation goals.

Ioana Bouvier

Senior Geospatial Analyst, USAID E3/Land and Urban Office

Module: Introduction to Land Tenure and Geospatial Techonology

Ms. Bouvier is the lead for E3/Land’s “fit-for-purpose” land technology applications and manages the Land-Potential Knowledge System, an inter-agency agreement with the USDA. She focuses on building capacity for geospatial analysis and sustainable technology solutions that advance land and resource governance, support resilient cities, and foster integrated development planning. Ms. Bouvier holds a master’s degree in Geographic Information Science for Development and Environment from Clark University, Worcester, MA and a bachelor’s degree in Geography and Environmental Science from University of Bucharest, Romania.

Ms. Bouvier has over 15 years of experience in developing geospatial analysis and technology solutions for international development programs. Prior to joining USAID, she served as a data science/analytic methods team lead at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, where she developed methods for data analysis and visualization and briefed policymakers. Before joining the U.S. Government, Ms. Bouvier worked as a geospatial and international development specialist, providing technical support and training for numerous USAID-funded climate change, biodiversity, and natural resources management programs.

Silvia Petrova

Geospatial Analyst, USAID E3/Land and Urban Office

Module: Land Rights, Gender Equality, and Women’s Empowerment

Ms. Petrova serves as E3/LU’s Geospatial Analyst and provides geospatial analytics and technology solutions assistance to missions, across the land and urban portfolio and cross-sectoral programs. She focuses on generating new evidence through the use of innovative geospatial and technology approaches to support land and resource governance, sustainable urban services, and cross-sectoral programming for climate change, biodiversity, and food security initiatives. She also serves as E3/LU’s Gender Adviser on gender-sensitive design, operation, and programming of land tenure-related activities. As such, she focuses on the link between the land tenure and property rights and gender equality and women empowerment across land tenure portfolio. Ms. Petrova holds a master’s degree in Geospatial Information Science for Development and Environment from Clark University, Worcester, MA and both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Computer Science from Technical University, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Prior to joining USAID, Ms. Petrova worked at Winrock International where she applied remotely sensed and geospatial technology to international development projects focusing primarily on agriculture, forestry, and climate change sectors. She brings experience in analyzing land cover and land use dynamics, climate mitigation and adaptation, forest carbon measurements and assessment, training and capacity building, and project implementation.

Janet Lawson

Natural Resources Officer, USAID E3/Land and Urban Office

Module: Land and Food Security

Ms. Lawson supports technical programming and policy development related to land tenure and resource governance. Ms. Lawson holds a master’s degree in Environmental Science from Yale’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.

Prior to joining E3/Land, Ms. Lawson served in USAID/Guatemala’s Economic Growth Office as the Agriculture Team Leader and in USAID/Cambodia’s Office of Food Security and Environment.

John Bruce

Independent Consultant

Module: Land, Property, and Conflict

Mr. Bruce is a scholar-practitioner who has consulted and researched land policy and law in over fifty countries, primarily in Africa and Asia. He is a former Director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Land Tenure Center and served as a Senior Counsel (Land Law) and Senior Land Tenure Specialist at the World Bank. Mr. Bruce holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Lafayette College, a JD from Columbia University Law School, and an SJD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Law.

In addition, he recently returned from three years in Beijing, where he taught a graduate seminar on land tenure issues at Renmin University. He has worked in several conflict-affected and post-conflict countries (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Southern Sudan, Yemen, Mozambique, Syria, Cambodia, Palestine, South Africa, and most recently, Liberia).

Benjamin Linkow

Senior Research and Evaluation Advisor, Landesa

Module: Property Rights and Economic Growth

Dr. Linkow is a Senior Research and Evaluation Advisor at Landesa. An applied development microeconomist with a focus on agriculture and rural land issues, his expertise includes design and implementation of impact and program evaluation projects, including the application of advanced econometric and quantitative evaluation techniques to data collected in developing country contexts.

Prior to joining Landesa, Dr. Linkow has held positions at NORC at the University of Chicago, USAID, the Millennium Challenge Corporation and on the faculty at Miami University of Ohio.

Steven Lawry

Director, CIFOR’s Equity, Gender and Tenure research program

Module: Land and Resource Tenure, NRM, and Biodiversity

Dr. Lawry is Director of CIFOR’s Equity, Gender and Tenure research program, leading a team of nine scientists and research associates based at CIFOR offices in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Dr. Lawry has published studies and scholarly articles on the social and ecological effects of forest rights devolution; the impacts of land rights formalization on agricultural investment and productivity; and tenure factors affecting adoption of agroforestry technologies in West Africa, among other topics. He received a Ph.D. from the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988. The same year he joined the research staff of UW-Madison’s Land Tenure Center (LTC) and became LTC’s Associate Director in charge of Africa programs in 1990.

Prior to joining CIFOR, Dr. Lawry held senior positions in the Ford Foundation from 1992 to 2006, including head of the Foundation’s Office for the Middle East and North Africa in Cairo from 1997 to 2001. He was president of Antioch College, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, from 2006 to 2007. He was a Senior Research Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations from 2008 to 2013. On leave from the Kennedy School, he headed the USAID-funded Sudan Property Rights Program in 2010 and 2011, based in Juba, assisting the Government of South Sudan develop a national land policy. Dr. Lawry served as Global Practice Leader for Land Tenure and Property Rights at DAI, a Washington-based consulting group, from 2011 to 2014.

Karol Boudreaux

Land Tenure and Resource Practice Lead, The Cloudburst Group

Module: Introduction to Land Tenure and Property Rights & Introduction to Land Administration

Ms. Boudreaux is The Cloudburst Group’s Land Tenure and Resource Rights Practice Lead. She provides technical guidance to staff in the Land Tenure and Resource Management team, provides oversight for the innovative Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure project, and is closely involved with The Cloudburst Group’s communications specialists to craft a variety of tools and other products that help explain why secure land and resource rights are so important for women and men around the world.

Ms. Boudreaux is a lawyer and land tenure and resource rights expert with two decades of experience in the field and as a researcher. Throughout her career, she has supported improvements to the land tenure and resource rights of people and communities around the world, with a strong focus on sub-Saharan Africa. Ms. Boudreaux is lead author of USAID’s Operational Guidelines for Responsible Land-Based Investments, a new tool for private sectors investors in the commercial agriculture sector.

Ms. Boudreaux served as USAID’s Africa Land Tenure Specialist from 2011-2013 and routinely conducted country-level land tenure assessments, provided specific policy guidance on land and natural resource management programming, and supported the U.S. Government’s negotiating efforts in developing the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests.

For more information, contact Jeremy Green, E3 Land and Urban: jegreen@usaid.gov

Land Tenure and Property Rights Issues and Best Practices Training

Training
Location:

Pétionville, Haiti

The purpose of USAID’s Land Tenure and Property Rights Issues and Best Practices Training was to provide foreign assistance practitioners training that strengthened their knowledge and skills in addressing land tenure and property rights (LTPR) challenges in their portfolios. By the end of the training, the participants will be able to:

  1. Understand and discuss key LTPR concepts, theories, and issues applicable to development and in particular to USAID/Haiti’s operating areas and programs;
  2. Understand and discuss the institutional and legal framework of LTPR in Haiti and the different, complex sources of tenure security and insecurity;
  3. Identify specific, actionable strategies to better address LTPR in USAID/Haiti’s different operating areas and existing programs, drawing from the experience of other international, non-governmental or public actors in LTPR in Haiti.

Training materials are linked below and training videos can be viewed here.

Land Tenure and Property Rights Issues and Best Practices

Training
Location:

USAID Washington Learning Center, 2231 Crystal Drive, 6th Floor, Arlington, VA

USAID’s Land Tenure and Property Rights Issues and Best Practices Training will provide 40 USG foreign assistance practitioners training that strengthens their knowledge and skills in addressing land tenure and property rights (LTPR) challenges in their portfolios. By the end of the course the participants will be able to: 1. Describe key LTPR challenges, best practices and potential LTPR interventions of critical importance to achieving USAID’s development objectives; 2. Discuss the application of LTPR approaches aimed at improving development results in economic growth, food security, natural resource management, conflict mitigation, and climate change; and 3. Identity LTPR issues and available technical resources for addressing them at different phases of the program cycle. Training materials will be posted here as they become available.

Training materials are linked below and training videos can be viewed here.

Land, Property, and Conflict Course

Training
Location:

U.S. Institute of Peace 2301 Constitution Ave., NW Washington, DC 20037

Disputes and grievances over land and property are implicated in practically all conflicts. This course provides policymakers and practitioners with analytical tools for assessing and addressing an array of complex land and property disputes, from competing ownership claims and restitution to customary land rights and illegal urban settlements. Drawing on case studies of peace operations and peacebuilding efforts, participants explore the range of entry points (humanitarian, human rights, state building, development, etc.) and options for dispute resolution and structural reform. Participants will learn to understand the overarching principles of engagement, assess the desirability of intervention options, and apply lessons learned from several case studies, including Bosnia, Rwanda, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, and Colombia. This course is organized together with the Land, Property and Reparations Division of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), The World Bank, and USAID. By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

  • Identify a range of complex land and property disputes and assess their relation to a particular conflict;
  • Understand the various mandates and entry points of international actors with regard to land and property disputes;
  • Assess the desirability of a range of intervention options for addressing land and property disputes in a given context;
  • Apply lessons learned from several case studies of complex conflict-related land and property disputes; and
  • Understand and apply over-arching “principles of engagement” to interventions related to land and property disputes.

Land, Property and Conflict Course

Training
Location:

United States Institute of Peace, 2301 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20037

The USIP and IOM Land, Property and Conflict Course aims to provide practitioners with analytical tools for assessing and addressing an array of complex land and property disputes, from competing ownership claims and restitution to customary land rights and illegal urban settlements. Drawing on case studies of peace operations and peacebuilding efforts, participants explore the range of entry points (humanitarian, human rights, state-building, development, etc.) and options for dispute resolution and structural reform. The course is tailored to professionals who work on conflict management and peacebuilding, whether they come from a legal, development, military, government, NGO, international organization, private sector or academic background.

By the end of this course, delegates will be able to:

  • Identify a range of complex land and property disputes and assess their relation to a particular conflict;
  • Understand the various mandates and entry points of international actors with regard to land and property disputes;
  • Assess the desirability of a range of intervention options for addressing land and property disputes in a given context;
  • Apply lessons learned from several case studies of complex conflict-related land and property disputes;
  • Understand and apply over-arching “principles of engagement” to interventions related to land and property disputes.

Delivery Methodology

The course will be delivered through a variety of methodologies that seek to maximize the learning experience. With an emphasis on ‘problem-based learning’ or ‘learning by doing’, presentations will be supplemented by simulation exercises, group work/discussion, role-playing, and so forth. Primarily, the training course seeks to cultivate an environment in which delegates can learn from each other through the sharing of knowledge, experiences and solutions.

The training course will be facilitated and delivered by individuals with strong backgrounds in land and property issued in conflict environments, both from an academic and practical perspective. Case studies and examples will be drawn from a variety of states where land and property disputes have played an important role, including Bosnia, Burma, Rwanda, Iraq, Timor-Leste, Sudan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Colombia.

Course Requirements

Participants enrolled in this course will find that it is intensive in nature given the breadth of materials being covered. Participants are expected to attend every seminar, and engage in discussions. In addition, participants will be asked to:

  • Actively participate in all group discussions, exercises, and case studies and
  • Actively participate in the final simulation at the end of the course

Treasure, Turf and Turmoil: The Dirty Dynamics of Land and Natural Resource Conflict

Training
Location:

Bogota, Colombia

Treasure, Turf and Turmoil: The Dirty Dynamics of Land and Natural Resource Conflict training event, February 7-8, 2011 (Bogota, Colombia). Course objectives:

  1. Participants understand critical connections among ENRM/biodiversity, LTPR and conflict to better conceptualize, design and manage integrated programs.
  2. Participants use these concepts in simulated assessments of complex conflict situations.
  3. Participants learn about adaptive management, conflict-sensitive monitoring and evaluation, and other tools that allow managers to review and adapt to changing conflict and NRM situations.

Training materials are linked below.

Property Rights and Resource Governance Issues and Best Practices

Training
Location:

Arlington, Virginia, USA

This short course provided USG foreign assistance practitioners training that strengthens their knowledge and skills in addressing land tenure and property rights (LTPR) challenges in their portfolios. Course objectives:

  1. Exchange experiences and strengthen understanding of LTPR issues, best practices internationally and their application to USAID programming;
  2. Introduce LTPR concepts and approaches aimed at improving programmatic interventions in economic growth, food security, governance, natural resource management, conflict mitigation and climate change; and
  3. Teach USG foreign assistance practitioners tools to address land tenure and property rights issues, or use land tenure and property rights interventions to strengthen economic development, governance, conflict mitigation and natural resource management objectives.

Training materials are linked below and training videos can be viewed here.

Best Practices for Land Tenure and Natural Resource Governance in Africa

Training
Location:

Monrovia, Liberia

The USAID Short Course on Best Practices for Land Tenure and Natural Resource Governance in Africa was held on October 8-11, 2012 in Monrovia, Liberia. The course hosted approximately 35 decision makers from Africa and USG foreign assistance practitioners interested in strengthening their knowledge and skills in applying land tenure and property rights (LTPR) in their economic, governance and natural resource (biodiversity) portfolios. The course provided participants with the opportunity to:

  1. Exchange experiences, deepen discussion and strengthen understanding of land tenure and property rights issues, and their application to government and USAID programming;
  2. Study land tenure and property rights approaches, best practices and tools aimed at improving programmatic interventions on critical issues in the region related to natural resources, agriculture and economic growth, and governance and conflict; and
  3. Learn tools to address land tenure and property rights issues, or use land tenure and property rights interventions to strengthen economic development, governance, conflict mitigation and natural resource management objectives.

Training materials are linked below.

Best Practices for Land Tenure and Natural Resource Governance in East and Central Africa

Training
Location:

Kigali, Rwanda

USAID/EGAT in collaboration with Rwanda’s Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines (MINITERE) organized a one-week course, Best Practices for Land Tenure and Natural Resource Governance in East and Central Africa. It was held in Kigali, Rwanda on December 2-7, 2007. The course targeted government policymakers and USAID mission staff in the region who work on land and natural resource issues. Forty-two participants from seven countries attended, including Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The course was offered under the Property Rights and Natural Resource Management Task Order contracted under the ARD/RAISE IQC.

Three overarching objectives guided the course:

  1. Share experiences, deepen discussion and build understanding of land and natural resource property rights issues affecting countries in the East and Central Africa region.
  2. Exchange experiences and broaden knowledge of effective property rights policies and approaches to address critical issues in the region.
  3. Learn and apply tools designed to help assess these issues and formulate targeted property rights interventions.

Training materials are linked below.