“We have to believe in ourselves, have goals and achieve them.”

USAID promotes the participation of women in agricultural production in Montes de María.

Luz Mery Valdez is an iconic woman, who is defying gender stereotypes through her work as a cassava and yam farmer in the Montes de María region of Colombia. She works with the Association of United Women of San Isidro (AMUSI) in the municipality of El Carmen de Bolívar.

USAID, through its Land for Prosperity Activity, is supporting the departments of Bolívar and Sucre in the Montes de María with land tenure programming and rural development initiatives. The Activity established a series of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) in the sesame, honey, yam and cassava value chains to shore up investments in agribusiness, improve yields, and bring more women into the value chain. So far, almost 400 rural women have benefited from the PPPs.

How has your experience growing cassava and yam been, since you joined the Public-Private Partnership?

LM: My experience has been great, as we have been able to regain the recognition that women can also participate in agriculture activities, which is something that had been lost.

What was the reaction of the men around you, when you joined this agribusiness?

LM: At the beginning when we started growing yam, the men found it unusual. To see women growing yam and cassava in the countryside is just not very common in our region. Then we started to get more involved in all of the process, to learn more about the business. We are reclaiming a space for women that we deserve.

What have been the most visible changes since women have participated in farming activities?

LM: The vision that women have today is very different to the one we had a few years ago. Now we think about agriculture production, about generating income for our families, and about strengthening our cultural bonds as women.

How do the men of your community see you now?

LM: Men see us in a different way, I think, at least when it comes to our farmers association, the Association of United Women of San Isidro, which sees itself as a women’s association that strives to increase income for its members. Thanks to USAID programs, we can achieve this, specializing in the production of cassava and yam.

What would you say to other women?

LM: I would tell them that they have to believe, believe in themselves, have goals, and achieve them. It was not easy when we started, because women see things from a different point of view than men. It may be difficult to participate in farming, but it is not impossible. What we have to do is believe and have goals with objectives so we can achieve them.

“To rural women I would say that it might be difficult but not impossible. Every day you have to get up thinking that you can do it, to move forward.”

Luz Mery Valdez, cassava and yam producer.

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure

An Opportunity to Join USAID for an Evening Reception with Implementing Partners and Other Stakeholders at the 2024 USAID Environment & Sustainability Conference

This decade will be decisive for the future of our planet and for USAID. Mounting environmental challenges — from climate change to air and ocean pollution to unprecedented biodiversity loss — impact virtually everything that USAID does and threaten the development progress we have supported over more than 60 years.

On January 22-26, 2024, USAID is hosting our Environment & Sustainability Conference, a week-long, interactive capacity building experience for USAID staff from across the Agency and from USAID Missions around the world.

While the conference is for USAID staff, we appreciate how important our partners and other stakeholders are in helping us advance our understanding of these issues and galvanize integrated programming and partnerships to make a real difference. In order to share information from USAID about the environment sector, foster collaboration between USAID staff, partners and stakeholders, and promote coordination and facilitate synergies among our partners and stakeholders, we are hosting an evening reception with on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 from 5:30-7:30pm at a venue in Silver Spring, Maryland.

If you are interested in attending the reception and your organization has not already received an invitation, please express your interest by completing this nomination form.  The deadline to submit your nomination form is January 19, 2024 at 12:00 pm ET and we will notify you of your attendance status by January 19, 2024.  Nominations will be reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis based on approximately 115 total available spaces.

Please note that USAID cannot pay for travel or other expenses related to any partner’s attendance.

If you have any questions, you can contact Andrea Stone at rsvp2024eoc@usaid.gov.

“The collective land title means we are taking back what once was ours.”

USAID is echoing the voices of women asserting their rights to land.

As part of the 16 days of activism to end violence against women and girls, LFP talked to Judith Rodríguez, a member of AFROMUVARAS, an association of afro-Colombian women who farm cacao in the Rescate Las Varas Community Council in Tumaco, Nariño.

Despite violence against women in her municipality and community, people are changing their mentality. Women, in particular, are becoming aware of their rights to land and the importance of their contributions to the productive development of their collective territories and the care of their families.

In 2021, USAID’s Land for Prosperity Activity created a public-private partnership in the cacao value chain in Tumaco, which seeks to strengthen farmer associations like AFROMUVARAS so they can improve the quality of their cacao and access new markets. The cacao association was founded in 2017 and has 367 members.

What has the experience of having a collective land title for AFROMUVARAS been like?

JR: For us women, the collective land title means we are taking back what once was ours. As women, we are always forced to depend on men. Lately, there has been a lot of progress, and we are very thankful for it. In AFROMUVARAS it has been a wonderful experience to be part of this big group of women who want to develop their territory and improve the quality of life for women in rural areas. We want to make progress collectively, to be the voice of women in these regions, to take a chance on peace, on the wellbeing of our children, on the growth of our territory, as well as to generate employment opportunities and grow as a business.

In the Community Council, you share the land between members. Do you think the women who own land individually or jointly with their partners are as protected as you?

JR: Yes, I think working with men or living with their partners and their children, if they have a title they are protected. I mean, we are betting every day on personal and territorial growth, this is the foundation. Working hand in hand, every day, with our families.

AFROMUVARAS knows of cases of economic violence against women in Tumaco?

JR: You can’t see it, but you can feel the economic violence, because women always depend on men or their partners. They expect the man to be the one that provides, and when he gets home he decides what everyone can do. It is harder for women to generate our own income and provide because usually, they do not have the same education or economic opportunities. And the men take advantage of this to exert economic violence, because there are fewer employment opportunities for women in Tumaco. Men always get the opportunity to work first.

There are laws to stop men from selling common properties without the consent of their partners. Do you think there is a need to talk about these laws more widely? 

JR: Yes, we need more outreach, so that women know these laws. So they can feel empowered enough around these issues to be sure that they are important. Land and property are their rights.

In AFROMUVARAS, do you think the way rural men and women think is changing? Is violence against women diminishing? How?

JR: Yes, things are changing. And I am very proud to answer this and it makes me smile, to see how women are taking part in many collective processes, participating in spaces where we are invited. We are raising our voices and protesting. These processes are empowering women, but there is still a lot of work to do. It is a long and difficult process. For example, today the President of our Community Council is a woman.

Why should the women of Tumaco have hope?

JR: We can be hopeful, very hopeful. If we work together, if we continue to be united as women, hand in hand, and continue to empower ourselves in social and educational issues, we can continue to grow in our territory.

How do you encourage other women to understand and recognize their rights?

JR: Today, from the rural areas of Tumaco, from our Community Council and our organization, as a member of AFROMUVARAS and also as a person, I tell women in neighboring areas that we are all women, we should all be empowered, we should work together, be strong and keep fighting. We can’t give up, we need to persist, be sisters and look for spaces where we can grow and be equal to men. We need to be present in those spaces to get what we want, because we can do it. We can participate in public spaces, social spaces, everywhere we want as women, we can grow and take a chance on peace.

Cross-posted from USAID Medium

Request for Public Review of the Draft Updated USAID Biodiversity Policy

Please note: USAID’s draft updated policy is no longer open for public comment.

Nature is in crisis. USAID’s updated Biodiversity Policy reflects the need for transformative change and envisions a future in which biodiversity is conserved so people and nature can thrive. A draft of the updated policy is available for public feedback from December 8, 2023 through January 10, 2024. If you wish to provide comments, please submit them here. USAID encourages input from diverse perspectives to meet the policy’s goal of advancing equitable and ambitious actions to confront the crisis of biodiversity loss, and we encourage you to share this opportunity widely.

Linking Land and Climate: Resources from LandLinks and Climatelinks

Protecting natural ecosystems, empowering Indigenous Peoples, and supporting effective land governance systems are necessary to achieve climate resilience. COP28 is fostering progress on these topics through today’s theme: Nature, Land Use, and Oceans.

USAID is leading the way on land issues by strengthening resource tenure governance and property rights to support sustainable livelihoods and protect the environment. Effective land and resource governance can encourage restoration and stewardship of land, resources, and ecosystems, which can help to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Secure land tenure can also encourage individuals and communities to adopt practices that promote greater adaptation and resilience to climate change. 

Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs) own or manage more than a quarter of the world’s lands and are stewards of much of the earth’s biological diversity. Their systems of traditional knowledge can make significant contributions to global health, agriculture, and food security outcomes as well as help the world respond to the challenges of global climate adaptation. USAID is committed to partnering with IPLCs to protect and secure their tenure and to enable them to lead on climate action, as highlighted in USAID’s 2022-2030 Climate Strategy and in USAID’s Policy on Promoting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. USAID also recognizes the importance of promoting equitable and inclusive systems of land governance so women and vulnerable populations have a clear path toward secure land rights.

Given that USAID’s climate change programming is inextricably linked to the need for clear and secure land and resource governance systems, LandLinks and Climatelinks are highlighting some resources that explore the issue in depth. Here are some climate-related resources on LandLinks that can help land and resource governance practitioners understand how their work intersects with climate change programming.

It’s Earth Day—Here’s Why Securing Land Rights Matters for Our Planet 

This blog discusses the Mapping Approaches to Secure Tenure (MAST) Learning Platform, an innovative, evidence-based, and context-appropriate tool for addressing land-related challenges within the context of climate change.

What Better Looks Like: Breaking the Critical Minerals Resource Curse 

Sustainably sourcing the green energy minerals crucial for green technologies presents both challenges and opportunities. This expert discussion explores what better looks like when it comes to mining, processing, recycling, and consuming critical minerals. 

Incorporating Land and Resource Governance into Climate Change Programming 

This brief covers the importance of land and resource governance in achieving positive human well-being and environmental outcomes, including mitigating the impacts of climate change and achieving sustainable economic growth. 

Women, Deeds, and Dirt: Confront the Climate Crisis, Uproot Gender Inequality 

This podcast episode examines the connection between gender-sensitive land rights reforms and climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Gender and Climate Change: The Intersection of Women’s Empowerment and Sustainable Farming 

A USAID and PepsiCo partnership aims to empower women in the potato supply chain, improve yields and profitability, and promote the adoption of sustainable and regenerative farming practices that can help mitigate climate change.

LandLinks is the knowledge portal for USAID’s Land and Resource Governance Division. It serves as the primary host for resources related to strengthening land tenure and property rights. To learn more about USAID’s work in support of land tenure, visit LandLinks.

A Home Called The Blessing

USAID is helping the government to increase efficiencies around rural land administration and reduce the cost and time to title rural property in Colombia.

One early morning in 1994, Gloria Ester Buelvas was woken and told she had to leave her grandfather’s farm in San Pedro de Urabá, where she had lived 16 years of her life. Nearly three decades later, Buelvas still does not know why she and dozens of members of her family were threatened and forced to leave their hometown.

“The paramilitaries told us we had from dusk to dawn to leave town. We organized ourselves and went to Carepa, 100 kilometers away,” Buelvas said, recounting a traumatic experience. “But when we got there, they told us that we had to leave from there too.”

Colombia’s Urabá region stretches from the border of Panama along the Caribbean coast and is famous for bananas and large cattle ranching estates. Over generations, the region became a textbook example of the type of class divisions between landless farmers and an elite land-owning class that fomented strife and erupted in brazen warfare between the leftist guerrillas and paramilitary groups in the nineties. Families like the Buelvas were caught in the middle, accused of helping or supporting one side or the other.

Although the traumatic memory of displacement persists, Gloria Buelvas and her family eventually found peace 500 kilometers away in Meta, a corner of Colombia’s eastern plains. La Unión del Ariari is located in the municipality of Puerto Lleras and home to a hodgepodge of families displaced by decades of conflict and several Venezuelan families who recently arrived.

Lack of Access

Over the years, the municipality provided relief, including improved roads and electricity, and the families rebuilt their lives. Gloria and her neighbors supported each other through subsistence agriculture, but none have ever obtained a land title for their property. In Colombia, low-income families can rarely afford to access land formalization services, which are complicated and expensive. In fact, the majority of Colombia’s rural parcels lack a registered land title.

Families without registered land titles mean the country’s cadaster, which is a comprehensive map of land ownership, is severely out of date, especially in areas that have been affected by violence. Unclear land rights with no backing from the state have made it easy for illegal groups to run off people like Gloria Buelvas from their land. 

This is changing, thanks to the implementation of Rural Property and Land Administration Plans, or POSPRs by their Spanish acronym, all over the country. USAID is helping the Government of Colombia untangle land administration issues and meet its commitments to the 2016 Peace Accords. The Land for Prosperity Activity is USAID’s largest investment in land tenure programming in the world and its main objectives are updating the rural cadaster and strengthening land administration.

Updating Records

When the cadaster of Puerto Lleras was last updated in 2011, it included 2,300 properties. Following the implementation of the 2023 POSPR, the initiative surveyed over 4,600 properties, many of which are home to displaced families. More than half of these parcels are not recognized by the state but are ready to be formalized and issued a registered land title.

In addition to formalizing properties, the Rural Property and Land Administration Plan provides the government with information about landholdings that could be subject to agrarian reform processes and provides a path for more than 700 landless farmers from Puerto Lleras to apply for land with the government.

“The government is going to give me the deed to my little piece of land, so I named my farm ‘La Bendición’ (The Blessing) because it has been a blessing for me and my family.” says Gloria Ester Buelvas.

Reaching Complex Municipalities

Puerto Lleras is one of 11 municipal-wide Rural Property and Land Administration Plans being supported by USAID. After considerable preparation and training, the implementation of POSPR requires an average of 18 months to complete field work and information gathering. Once completed, it is up to Colombia’s National Land Agency to deliver property titles to landowners.

With government support, USAID is implementing POSPR in some of Colombia’s most complex regions, where armed groups operate and illicit crops play a role in the local economy.

The POSPR methodology, which has evolved since being first tested in 2018, uses a variety of approaches to reach rural landowners. After a thorough analysis of available property records, squads of technical, legal, and social experts sweep the countryside, engaging communities, documenting parcels, and updating landowner information in the cadaster. A social outreach component relies on the support of volunteer community leaders and is critical in reaching rural residents with information about the land titling process, formal land markets, and women’s land rights.

“People around here ask why the state wants to give them land titles. There is a fear that if the government gives you a land title, it will then take away your land,” explains Luz Estela Velandia, who worked as a community volunteer for the POSPR in Fuentedeoro. “We assure them that nobody will come and take away their land. In fact, it is the opposite. A land title ensures they are recognized as owners under the law.”

Calculating Costs

To improve implementation, USAID has created a mathematical model to calculate the direct cost per property of POSPR implementation in municipalities where USAID has completed interventions, including Puerto Lleras. By tallying all costs related to the implementation of the parcel sweeps, including labor, logistics, systems, infrastructure, and more, USAID extrapolated a cost per property as well as cost per property by process, type of parcel, and route of parcel formalization.

Using a baseline from Colombia’s former land administration authority, INCODER, in Puerto Lleras USAID identified a 72% decrease in the cost-per-parcel from COP $3,802,639 to COP $1,080,376. When compared to the results of the first USAID-supported massive parcel sweep in Ovejas, which had already reduced the costs of the baseline, USAID found a 43% decrease (See graph below in Colombian pesos).

This would still be a steep price for first time landowners, however the cost of adjusting property records thereafter is much lower.

Since the Peace Accord was signed in 2016, USAID has been the foremost partner in facilitating the government strategy to move away from a demand-driven land administration policy to one in which the government assumes the cost of first-time formalization. The large-scale POSPR interventions alleviate the burdens that once prevented most low-income rural landholders from seeking a valid title. Once a property is registered, future title transfers become less time and cost intensive.

“I tell people that, yes, they will have to pay property taxes, but a land title can also bring them government subsidies, programs, and better services. I tell them a land title represents their rights. And I tell them that women have the same rights to appear on a property title as a man,” says Velandia.

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure

“The Regional Land Office in Bolívar represents rural development.”

Q&A with the Mayor of San Juan Nepomuceno, Wilfrido Romero, and Bolívar’s Habitat Secretariat, Jorge Luís Valle

Regional Land Offices

USAID is promoting an innovative land administration strategy that supports the creation of Regional Land Offices (RLOs) in partnership with regional governments across Colombia. RLOs address issues of land formalization in municipalities with limited resources. RLO land formalization teams, which include a land surveyor and legal expert, rotates around the department, working in municipalities where local leaders have limited budgets and experience with titling property. The strategy takes advantage of economies of scale, allowing municipal leaders to share costs, and strengthens land use planning between municipal and regional leaders. RLOs interface with Colombia’s property registry authority, the Superintendence of Notaries and Registers, which is often located far from rural municipalities. They also assist with the titling of properties in urban areas, including public properties with schools and health centers, and provide technical assistance and training.

In October, USAID’s largest land tenure investment, Land for Prosperity, was on hand for the launch of the Regional Land Office in the Department of Bolívar, located in the Montes de María region of northern Colombia.

At the event, regional leaders delivered 146 land titles to landowners in the municipalities of Arjona, Calamar, Cartagena, El Carmen de Bolívar, Magangué, Mahates, María la Baja, San Jacinto, San Juan Nepomuceno, Santa Rosa del Sur, and Simití. RLOs ensure gender equality and a total of 108 land titles benefited women. The Bolívar RLO plays a central role in the Departmental Land Working Group, which coordinates tasks related to land administration and property formalization in the department in efforts to increase the efficiency of land titling and promote a culture of formal land ownership.

In this interview, the Mayor of San Juan Nepomuceno, Wilfrido Romero, and Bolívar’s Habitat Secretariat, Jorge Luís Valle, shared their insights on how the Bolívar RLO can ensure sustainable land administration in the department.

What does the launch of the Regional Land Office mean for Bolívar’s communities?

W.R: A well-organized office brings people closer to the habits of legal land ownership so that their land titles can be passed from generation to generation and from owner to owner. It is an invitation to the community to align itself with the office, to resolve their doubts with clear and accurate information, and to learn how to do land transactions moving forward.

J.V: In a word, it represents rural development. It means formalized property. It is the opportunity for the residents of Bolívar who still live on untitled land to own a property that they can feel with the security that it belongs to them, because it has the legal support of the state.

How does the launch of the RLO impact the San Juan Nepomuceno community?

W.R: It means that finally, the people who are in this territory can have property titles because this is something that people always dream of, having something of their own and knowing that no one will kick them out of their territory.

What other benefits does the RLO bring to the community when completing land transactions?

W.R: In San Juan Nepomuceno, this is an opportunity to boost agricultural development. Property titles allow families to access credit and other resources, which will facilitate investment in their farms and the development of our municipality.

How can the RLO be sustained into the future?

J.V: Without a doubt it can and will be over time. The Bolivar Regional Land Office is a strategic ally to reach each of the municipalities and the villages in corregimientos, and veredas in Bolívar. I believe the office is the critical link to continue formalizing land and properties, and to convert registered property titles into a positive habit of the community.

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure

 

Explore the Redesigned SERVIR Global Website

Visit SERVIR’s newly redesigned website, which showcases the breadth and impact of SERVIR’s global network. 

SERVIR combines cutting-edge science and data from NASA with development expertise from USAID to connect space to village. Our work in Africa, Asia, and Latin America supports locally led efforts to strengthen climate resilience, food and water security, forest and carbon management, and air quality. 

The new design includes new pages highlighting SERVIR’s work across five service areas:

The updated website also highlights two cross-cutting areas important to the work of SERVIR: Climate Change and Gender Equality and Social Inclusion

To access information about SERVIR service areas and cross-cutting themes, go to the new SERVIR Global homepage and select “What We Do” in the navigation bar. Within each service area page, you will find featured services, key related resources, and the most recent news and impact. 

The website redesign also includes the updated and fully integrated SERVIR Service Catalog and a new and growing Resource Library. With these new features, it is now easier for anyone who is interested in SERVIR’s work to search for relevant resources, information and tools.

Please help us spread the word about the refreshed website! You can:

  • Bookmark your favorite page and share it with your contacts;
  • Share our announcements on X and LinkedIn and tell us which content is your favorite by tagging @SERVIRGlobal;

Contact the SERVIR Support team and let us know what you think of the redesign. We welcome any feedback on how to improve the user experience for our community.

To Farm on Titled Land

With USAID support, plantain farmers in Fuentedeoro obtain secure land tenure and find new business opportunities.

Fuentedeoro is known for plantains. The municipality is located in Colombia’s eastern plains, a vast region of large rivers that drain the Andes into the Amazon basin. In this landscape, Luz Dary Mendoza learned farming from her father, who grew a variety of crops in the fertile plains. But his livelihood and family’s future always depended on the revenue generated from the region’s cash crop: the plantain.

Today, Luz Dary has her own farm in the village of Sardinata Alto, Fuentedeoro, and in 2018, she helped create AGROSARDI, an association consisting of 40 farmers who grow plantain on 40 hectares of land. Like all plantain farmers in Colombia, Luz Dary and her colleagues are challenged with pest management, an unpredictable and erratic climate, and intermediary buyers who pay low prices. But none of these obstacles are as important as secure land tenure, which has silently stymied progress for years.

In Fuentedeoro, an estimated 6 out of 10 parcels lack a registered land title. In fact, none of the 40 members of AGROSARDI have a property title. In most cases, landowners hold what are known as cartaventas, or notarized letters declaring the many details about the land they purchased. No cartaventa is exactly the same, and they are not legally supported by the government. The pervasive lack of land tenure is a disincentive for women like Luz Dary to invest in their plots and agribusinesses.

“We have never had a title to our farming plots. The only thing we have is the cartaventa, and that doesn’t give us any security,” explains Luz Dary.

Historically, landowners in Colombia are responsible for titling and registering their properties with the state, but due to costs, complicated land laws, and the absence of government services in rural areas, only wealthy landowners end up formalizing their land.

The Rural Property and Land Use Plan, known by its Spanish acronym POSPR, seeks to change this paradigm. The initiative, which surveys and updates the cadaster for every parcel in the municipality, was recently carried out by Colombia’s National Land Agency with USAID support. Land formalization teams surveyed almost 4,500 rural parcels, covering Fuentedeoro’s more than 56,000 hectares. The land administration plan discovered that some 2,000 plots are ready to be formalized. Among these plots are the farms of Luz Dary Mendoza and 19 AGROSARDI members.

“Thanks to the parcel sweep and USAID’s initiative to increase land security, we are finally going to own the land, receive a property deed. Many of us will now feel better about investing in other crops such as fruit orchards that will generate even more income,” says Luz Dary.

This year, the National Land Agency will deliver the first batch of 200 rural property titles, thanks to land formalization efforts and USAID investments to strengthen land tenure in Fuentedeoro, Meta. Luz Dary and the members of AGROSARDI will celebrate their land titles, the basis for building a plantain agribusiness.

Building New Partnerships

Under Luz Dary’s leadership, AGROSARDI joined a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) focused on plantain agribusiness. The PPP, which was facilitated by USAID Land for Prosperity, is valued at more than USD $250,000 and links critical investments from the public and private sectors to nearly 200 plantain farmers in and around Fuentedeoro.

Thanks to the PPP and the regional government, AGROSARDI will be able to access tools such as tractors and loading equipment to improve post harvest handling and moving plantains to new market channels. The PPP also has the support of Agrollanos as a commercial ally, which will purchase its plantains for distribution through final products to large food companies such as Pepsico.

The PPP is part of USAID’s comprehensive strategy to mobilize regional actors and the private sector and foster licit economic opportunities in areas where land tenure security is being strengthened. The strategy looks for strategy value chains in regions where USAID is working with the government to survey and formalize informal property in a handful of municipalities. Since 2021, Land for Prosperity has facilitated more than 27 public private partnerships, which have mobilized more than USD $90 million in public funds and investments.

Thanks to the plantain PPP, farmers are learning Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). AGROSARDI will generate cleaner, agrochemical-free crops. GAP also promotes soil recovery through the use of organic fertilizers, resulting in cleaner plantain suitable for human consumption.

“I always invite young women to get involved in farming. I know that if they live this experience, they too will fall in love with it and will continue to fight for a stable crop that allows us to support our family.” says Luz Dary Mendoza, plantain farmer, Fuentedeoro.

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure

From Landless to Landowner

Violence in Colombia has displaced families towards informal settlements. USAID is helping the government to deliver land titles to these families and respond to their needs.

Before 9 de Agosto was a barrio, it was open land on the edge of Tierralta, a town in Colombia’s Caribbean plains. The more than 40 hectares of land belonged to a local power company, and then one night, on August 9th, it became home to 3,000 desperate people. They arrived and never left.

The invasion occurred in 2010, and Jairo Gómez was there. He was one of a multitude of victims and families displaced by the violence that had engulfed their region and pushed them out of their homes. Gómez pounded in wooden posts, hung a tarp and hammock, and braced himself for the inevitable backlash. In less than a week, the police showed up with teargas and violence to evict the families. Gómez stood his ground.

 

A City of Cambuches

“It was a city of cambuches,” Gómez says, using the local word for shelters made from plastic sheeting.

Social leaders emerged, and soon they were laying lines to create the lots for dwellings and future roads. By the end of the first year, 5,000 people lived in 9 de Agosto, which anywhere else was known as the barrio de los desplazados, or displaced people.

That’s how a neighborhood is born in the 21st century Colombia, as shanty towns built with plastic coverings and scrap wood and carved out of open lands along major roads or near towns. The county has grown this way over the last 20 years due to the conflict that has made Colombia home to a population of more than 6 million internally displaced people (IDP)—second only to Syria—and made Colombia the country with the highest number of IDPs and the least number of refugee camps.

In 2017, the local power company traded the land to the municipality, and local leaders set up services like electricity for some of the more than 4,000 parcels. Today, many shacks and tarps have been replaced by cinder blocks and bricks. Those who can afford it, have added zinc sheets to their roofs to protect them from the heavy tropical rains. Others remain the same as they were in 2010, plastic sheeting, wooden planks, and dirt floors, simple cambuches.

Titling the Properties

This year, with USAID support Tierralta made a giant step towards incorporating the neighborhood into the town’s masterplan by titling more than 260 parcels. The event featured Mayor Daniel Montero delivering property titles to a packed auditorium, and was significant on several levels. First, as a clear example of the government providing families with a tangible asset that will inevitably lead to improvements in their neighborhood; second, the event represents the single largest delivery of land titles made by a municipal administration in the history of Colombia. “The wait times for government services are slow and you can never get everything done, but today we have fought for something beautiful,” Montero said to the crowd. “A land title will bring you new opportunities and hopefully bring peace, happiness, and hope to your homes.”

Local Land Administration

The Colombian government has struggled to facilitate land planning in areas affected by the conflict or to provide residents with services to legalize the properties of informal settlements like 9 de Agosto.

In 2021, USAID helped Tierralta reactivate its Municipal Land Office, which employs a team of land experts and surveyors who live in the municipality and work under the municipal Secretary of Planning. Under Colombian land law, municipalities have the power to process the titling of urban properties, including public properties like schools and health centers.

With USAID’s support, Tierralta’s Municipal Land Office has improved its capacity to title urban property and reduced processing times from multiple years to just a few months. Key to the process is the improvement in communication and work flow between land agencies, or in this case with Colombia’s property registry authority, the Superintendence of Notaries and Registers (SNR). By working directly with the regional SNR office, Tierralta’s Land Office can title dozens of properties at a time.

For every single property, the SNR requires a physical verification of the property as well as the property’s history. Municipal Land Offices are fulfilling these tasks.

“In municipalities with land offices supported by USAID, we see that we are delivering more titles, and our goals are achieved in a more agile and comprehensive manner.It is really important that there are professionals working in these municipalities, because this work will not be done from Bogotá. Municipal Land Offices are facilitating the cooperation between our offices,” says María José Muñoz, who works in the SNR as a Delegate for Land Protection, Restitution and Formalization.

Since 2020, 42 USAID-supported Municipal and Regional Land Offices delivered over 6,800 land titles to families living in the urban areas of rural municipalities. In addition, the land offices have formalized more than 1,600 public properties and provided land and property services to more than 16,000 citizens.

Cross-posted from USAID Exposure