Integrated Land and Resource Governance II (ILRG II) Y1 Annual Report

Introduction

The Integrated Land and Resource Governance II (ILRG II) Task Order supports the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Land and Resource Governance Division in the Center for Natural Environment in the Bureau of Resilience, Environment and Food Security (REFS). The project develops, implements, assesses and evaluates interventions that secure land tenure and resource rights and strengthen governance systems. ILRG II identifies and addresses barriers to secure land and resource governance, supporting a range of development objectives such as combating climate change, promoting food security, conserving biodiversity, advancing gender equality and social inclusion, engaging the private sector, preventing conflict, supporting sustainable urbanization, and enabling localization. The project provides technical assistance to strengthen and secure land tenure and resource rights for women, men, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, youth, persons with disabilities, and other marginalized groups in USAID-presence countries. Additionally, ILRG II enhances the capacity of stakeholders to advocate for their rights and improves the systems responsible for implementing these rights. ILRG II also supports rigorous research and analysis to better understand effective strategies for achieving these goals and the connections between land and resource governance and other development outcomes. Through this work, USAID fosters
equitable and resilient societies where land and resource governance rights are respected and leveraged for inclusive, broad-based growth.

ILRG II is a five-year contract that was awarded in September 2023. This first annual report covers September 2023 to September 2024.

USAID Zimbabwe Resilience ANCHORS Activity Annual Performance Report: Oct 2021 – Sept 2022

Executive Summary

The USAID Resilience ANCHORS Activity continued to strengthen the resilience of communities around protected landscapes in the Southeast Lowveld (SEL) and set the stage for full-scale implementation in the Mid-Zambezi Valley (MZV) landscape. Resilience ANCHORS made significant progress in the training of smallholder farmers in climate-smart agriculture (CSA), supported by the completion of demonstration gardens and water sources for multipurpose use in Mahenye and Maparadze. The Activity also made positive strides towards strengthening private sector engagement (PSE) and ensuring more sustainable impact via locally led development for improved natural resource management and greater resilience.

Resilience ANCHORS conducted a seminal Human-Wildlife Conflict (HWC) Conference in September 2022, see Annex 1, that attracted a wide spectrum of conservation and economic growth stakeholders. HWC remains Zimbabwe’s highest profile challenge around protected areas. The Activity presented key findings from a national HWC assessment and mapped strategies for expanded HWC mitigation interventions in FY23.

“USAID will support holistic community-led approaches that will sustainably address HWC for those living nearby diverse landscapes,” stated the USAID/Zimbabwe Acting Mission Director, Mr. Ramses Gauthier.

Under Objective 1, which covers community-level governance and economic benefits, Resilience ANCHORS trained 561 smallholder farmers, including 421 women, in CSA principles. The Activity also organized a “Look and Learn Tour” for farmers, providing a hands-on experience. The Activity conducted a Horticultural Value Chain–Market Mapping exercise to assess the demand of farmers’ products and the strength of potential value chains to improve their decision-making ability to adapt to climate and market trends. Resilience ANCHORS conducted consultations and trainings on Local Environmental Action Plans (LEAPs) throughout Bikita District to improve and strengthen environmental monitoring and communities’ abilities to manage their own natural resources.

The Activity established cash crop gardens with the aim of building resilience to climatic shocks and stresses. The Activity provided training on market assessment, marketing, book-keeping, and carried out a market mapping exercise. After receiving these trainings and the feedback from the market mapping exercise, the farmers decided which crops to plant to receive the maximum profits from their inputs. Using acquired marketing skills, the cash crop garden committees secured a partnership and market via Flamboyant Hotel, a private sector player. The cash crop gardens are now realizing meaningful income, and the beneficiaries have moved away from subsistence farming to farming as a business.

The Activity improved the capacity of the Nyangambe Wildlife Management Committee in governance, conservation, community engagement, environmental, and natural resource institutional and legal frameworks. The Activity also produced a new constitution for the Nyangambe Wildlife Conservancy and supported the convening of a national dialogue session on HWC, community livelihoods, and food security at the Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba. The Activity developed one land use plan (LUP) for Ward 23 in Chiredzi (Nyangambe). It was adopted by the Chiredzi RDC as a statutory document for rural development and planning for the ward and presented by the community to multiple government stakeholders. The LUP will serve as the blueprint for other LUPs to be developed in the district.

Under Objective 2, involving better access to and management of water, the Activity completed the development of seven water sources for multipurpose use in Chipinge District, each equipped with a borehole, solarized pumping system, livestock water trough, 10,000-liter storage tank and water access points for domestic use and human consumption. These improved water systems will support the CSA conducted in landscapes and act as a multiplier effect on the activities. Resilience ANCHORS leveraged USAID’s Farmer-to-Farmer (F2F) program to train 45 farmers, who form part of the Nyangambe Irrigation Scheme, on crop water demands, irrigation scheduling, and general water management. Resilience ANCHORS conducted a key stakeholder workshop and dialogue meeting on water governance and integrated water resources management (IWRM).

Under Objective 3, focused on PSE and locally led development, the Activity engaged several private sector actors to develop and strengthen value chains for community-based agriculture and products. The Activity facilitated a partnership between The Chili Pepper Company (TCPC) and the Vimbanayi Irrigation Scheme management committee in Chipinge District. Approximately 134 members of the scheme registered to join the contract. The partnership will provide farmers with a minimum gross profit margin of [REDACTED] USD per household each harvesting season and will ensure improved sustainability beyond the Activity.

To further strengthen locally led development, Resilience ANCHORS continued to build the capacity of local implementing partners through a series of finance, compliance, and contracts management workshops, led by ECODIT’s Finance Director, as well as Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) trainings to all partners on developing process monitoring tools and updating existing performance monitoring tools. To support the MEL process, Resilience ANCHORS developed an online MEL database to enhance data quality standards. The Activity successfully facilitated a data quality assessment (DQA) and monitoring exercise with USAID/Zimbabwe.

Resilience ANCHORS produced a draft Community Environmental Governance (CEG) Manual to improve the ability of communities and Ward Development Committees (WADCOs) to overcome environmental governance challenges. The Activity trained community members, focusing on women and youth, from Chiredzi and Bikita Districts, in the use of Envirobot, a digital platform where communities can access environmental information and report on environmental concerns. Resilience ANCHORS also produced and launched the Human-Wildlife Conflict Trend Analysis (2016-2021) to understand the nature and extent of HWC in Zimbabwe. Furthermore, the Activity developed an Environmental and Social Safeguards Framework and Grievance Redress Mechanism.

Resilience ANCHORS carried out a Baobab Resource Mapping exercise (see Annex 2) to accurately assess the state of baobab resources nationwide. The Resource Mapping looked at distribution, density, and dynamics of baobab populations, identified concentrations of baobab trees under threat, as a priority for conservation action, developed protection and restoration measures aimed at mitigating and preventing any urgent threats to baobabs within the areas. It also identified a long-term monitoring program enabling the adoption of rapid corrective measures in the event of negative impacts on the baobab population and explored opportunities for income-generating activities for communities.

As noted, the Activity also created a HWC policy brief (Annex 3) that highlighted policy recommendations, such as the development of an HWC policy or national strategy, a proposed ex-gratis scheme for HWC victims, the establishment of a national inter-agency and ministerial coordination body on HWC, and a national reporting and monitoring system on HWC. An NTFP policy brief (see Annex 4) was created with the aim of understanding the conditions under which NTFP commercialization can make a positive contribution to the livelihoods of the poor, to help build the resilience of communities in anticipation of shocks and stresses, and to help to fulfil the potential contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. It provided policy recommendations related to policy and governance, NTFP production, NTFP sustainability, and those related to value chains and markets.

The Resilience ANCHORS Activity also conducted one last scoping field visit to the Mid-Zambezi Valley landscape. This visit will further inform strategies and activities to be incorporated into the Activity’s Annual Work Plan (AWP) for FY23. After undergoing extended co-creation and exercising significant adaptive management, Resilience ANCHORS positioned itself, through new locally led partnerships, data-driven strategies, and expansions into new landscapes, for its most impactful year to date in FY23.

Lastly, the Annual Performance Report for the Resilience ANCHORS Activity (RAA) clearly demonstrates that the ECODIT Team and Partners excelled in FY22, the first year of actual program implementation for the Resilience ANCHORS Activity (RAA). (NB: RAA’s Year 1 was focused on managing USAID’s Co-Design Process.) Such notable progress was realized despite ECODIT’s Project Coordination Unit (PCU) needing to manage for several major challenges, including but not limited to – working under limiting COVID-19 restrictions for most of years 1 and 2, managing for the withdrawal of two original landscape partners, replacing an underperforming partner – and notwithstanding, the delays encountered in obtaining key USAID approvals for contract modifications, etc. These challenges aside, ECODIT’s PCU and the RAA Partners showed admirable productivity and resilience in FY22, and we’re sure they’ll continue to exceed expectations and ultimately, improve upon their program performance in FY23.

USAID/Vietnam Sustainable Forest Management Activity FY2023 Annual Progress Report: Oct 2022 – Sept 2023

Executive Summary

cover page of Vietnam Sustainable Forest Management Activity FY2023 annual progress reportThis year’s efforts focused on scaling up targeted support to develop forest value chains and strengthen forest enterprises, expanding effective planning and management of community forests, and deepening government engagement to guide, develop, and revise forest policies. To facilitate greater policy influence, the Project shifted from a “bottom-up approach” that provided provincial evidence to guide national policy recommendations, to a more strategic approach that works directly with Vietnam’s top policymaking bodies, to provide recommendations through these bodies with a higher likelihood of adoption. To improve law enforcement efforts, the Project successfully completed the first phase of rolling out the innovative tool to track and monitor forest violations– now ready for nationwide deployment. Despite receiving lower than planned fund obligations affecting mainly the fourth quarter, this fiscal year, the project made notable strides towards reaching Project targets, including 136,339.40 ha of forest land and 2,263.93 ha of non-forest land under improved management, securing USD 30.8 million in investments and commitments, and ultimately benefitting 56,393 people through U.S. government assistance.

FY23 in Numbers cumulatively:
By the end of FY23, the project has reached the following cumulative life of project achievements:

  • 34,010 people trained
  • 109 institutions have improved capacity
  • 57 policies or plans have been developed
  • $33.6 million has been mobilized towards conservation-friendly enterprises
  • 61,356 people have received livelihood co-benefits
  • 45 conservation-friendly enterprises are receiving support through the Project
  • 5,407,714 tons of CO2 emissions have been reduced, sequestered, or avoided
  • 14,926,873 tons of CO2 will be avoided from the adoption of policies supported by the Project.
  • 138,603 ha of forests are under improved management
  • 13,564 people have received support to adapt to climate change
  • 10,984 people have implemented risk-reduction practices.

Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) Annual Progress Report – 2023

The Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) task order under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights II (STARR II) Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract provides support to the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Land and Resource Governance Team under the Development, Democracy, and Innovation Bureau’s Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure Center. ILRG implements interventions in USAID countries, providing technical assistance to improve land and resource governance, strengthen property rights, and build resilient livelihoods as the foundation for stability, resilience, and economic growth. The task order has four primary objectives: 1) to increase inclusive economic growth, resilience, and food security; 2) to provide a foundation for sustainable natural resource management and biodiversity conservation; 3) to promote good governance, conflict mitigation, and disaster mitigation and relief; and 4) to empower women and other vulnerable populations.

To achieve this, the task order works through four interrelated components with diverse stakeholders:

  • Component 1: Support the development of inclusive land and property rights laws and policies;
  • Component 2: Assist law and policy implementation, including clarifying, documenting, registering, and administering rights to land and resources;
  • Component 3: Support the capacity of local institutions to administer and secure equitable land and resource governance; and
  • Component 4: Facilitate responsible land-based investment that creates optimized outcomes for communities, investors, and the public.

The ILRG contract has two mechanisms for providing support on land and natural resource governance: term activities and completion activities. Activities pursued include: 1) support around USAID’s Policy on Promoting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; 2) support to deforestation-free cocoa in Ghana through the creation of a sustainably financed farm rehabilitation and land tenure strengthening model; 3) collaboration with PepsiCo on gender and women’s empowerment within the potato value chain in West Bengal, India; 4) a land tenure and property rights assessment in Indonesia; 5) a deep dive in Colombia with the Global Property Rights Index (Prindex); 6) support for completion of community land protection program activities in Liberia; 7) activities related to the Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE) Fund in Ghana, India, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia; 8) support to the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Minerals (PPA); 9) engagement in Madagascar with the Climate Resilient Cocoa Landscape Program; 10) investigation of conflict financing, due diligence and socioeconomic dynamics in the artisanal mining supply chains in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC); 11) multiple activities in Mozambique including clarification of rights to land and resources related to
responsible land-based investment, as well as disaster response work in Sofala Province; 12) in Zambia support to land policy, customary land administration, and service delivery, as well as community-based natural resource governance around protected areas; and 13) various research and analysis in support of sustainable landscapes.

ILRG was awarded on July 27, 2018 with a three-year base period (through July 2021) and two one-year option periods that were exercised in August 2020. A no-cost extension was awarded to ILRG for five months through December 2023. The project will conclude on December 31, 2023.

The USAID Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (AMPR) Project in the Central African Republic Final Report

The Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (AMPR) project supports the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to improve land and resource governance and strengthen 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 (ASM) in the Central African Republic (CAR) using a multidisciplinary approach. The project focuses primarily on diamond—and to a lesser extent, gold—production as well as targeted technical assistance to other USAID Missions and Operating Units (OUs) in addressing land and resource governance issues within the ASM sector. AMPR builds upon activities and lessons from the Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD I and II) projects. The AMPR contract was signed on September 28, 2018, for an initial base period of three years with two option years, which were granted last year. The present report summarizes progress during AMPR’s quarter 1 of the fifth year of project implementation.

Annual Report Fiscal Year 2021: October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021

Executive Summary

A group of several men wearing blue face masks are gathered for a photo.United States Agency for International Development (USAID)/Ethiopia contracted Tetra Tech as the prime contractor to implement the five-year, $10.9 million Land Governance Activity (USAID LGA) Task Order (TO) under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR) II Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contract. Tetra Tech will implement USAID LGA over a five-year period commencing May 24, 2019 (effective date per Section F.2 of the TO contract).

The goal of USAID LGA is to assist the Government of Ethiopia (GOE), its regions, and its citizens in strengthening land governance, increasing incomes, reducing conflict, and supporting well-planned urbanization, thereby contributing to the country’s Second Growth and Transformation Plan. To help achieve these goals, USAID LGA will work in close partnership with relevant institutions in the GOE, Ethiopian universities and research institutions, and other development partners operating in the land sector to implement activities under two components:

Component 1: Strengthening the land governance system

1. Facilitate policy reforms and strengthen land administration and land use institutions by promoting structural reforms of rural and urban institutions and the land information system.
2. Improve technical capacity for suitable land administration and land use planning activities to address emerging issues, such as urbanization, industrialization, and youth.
3. Conduct policy-oriented research on land governance and provide scalable solutions to improve land governance.

Component 2: Expanding communal land tenure security in pastoral areas

1. Expand communal land tenure security in pastoral areas through improved policy and legal reform.
2. For pastoral community lands, develop a scalable approach for land demarcation and certification in collaboration with community institutions.

USAID LGA commenced implementation on May 24, 2019.

Fiscal Year 2021 proved to be very challenging with the evolving COVID-19 Pandemic, widespread insecurity caused by conflicts in different parts of the country, and the national election that was postponed twice. The cumulative effect of these events was to delay implementation of LGA’s interventions, particularly those designed to expand communal land tenure security in pastoral areas under LGA’s Component 2 (please see Section 3.2 below) that required field work in Afar, Oromia and Somali national regional states (NRSs). To mitigate the impact of these delays, LGA staff travelled as frequently as the security situation would permit to these three NRS to prepare the foundation for implementing interventions to help strengthen land rights of pastoral communities. This included preparation of draft regional legislation that was not passed into law, mainly due to issues connected with the national elections. Additionally, the national integrated land use policy and the federal proclamation to amend the Land Administration and Use Proclamation No. 456/2005 are still pending at the Council of Ministers because the GOE deemed it would be more appropriate to deal with them after June’s national election was completed. This derailed the plan to assist NRSs to amend their laws to comply with the amended federal proclamation. Preparations for a pilot to introduce appropriate, “fit-for-purpose” technologies and streamline and improve urban land rights adjudication and registration processes were less affected. Training of GOE land bureau staff at the diploma and M.Sc. levels to build their capacity to implement legal and institutional reforms and deliver improved land administration services was conducted on schedule.

Land for Prosperity Annual Report (October 1, 2021 – September 30, 2022)

The Land for Prosperity Activity (hereafter “the Activity” or “LFP”) supports USAID/Colombia with the twin objectives of contributing to peace and stability and expanding licit livelihood options while incentivizing illicit crop substitution. The Activity is sustainably improving conditions of conflict-affected rural households through the framework of technical components, guiding principles, and enablers.

The attached document is LFP’s Year 3 Annual Report (October 1, 2021 — September 30, 2022)

Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) Annual Progress Report – 2022

Summary of Year 4

In Year 4, ILRG completed several global pieces, including revisions to the capacity assessment framework, as well as desk-based products on the intersection between biodiversity, zoonosis, and carbon mitigation objectives and on migration and forest condition. Additional analyses are underway. ILRG has coordinated with the Integrated Natural Resource Management program (INRM) on Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST), as well as completed a Property Rights Index (Prindex) report that will be disseminated in the coming year. In addition, ILRG’s cross-cutting women’s economic empowerment work and communications and learning work consolidated global tools and learnings that will be shared throughout FY 2023.

In Mozambique during FY 2022, ILRG managed five service providers in two existing field activities and started four new activities with three service providers. While ILRG’s previous work focused on the delimitation of community lands and household parcels, particularly around an ingrower model and land relinquishment activity, efforts this year focused on gender and social inclusion (GESI) with the associations and grower groups and supporting their effective engagement with private sector partners. After significant negotiation with government, towards the end of the year ILRG was able to start on a land documentation and land use planning process associated with post-disaster resettlement. ILRG was actively involved in discussions with the National Directorate of Land about interpretation and implementation of the existing Land Law, while also submitting comments and proposed language to the National Land Commission for inclusion in the updated National Land Policy. Further, the terms of reference (ToR) for a study comparing CaVaTeCo and the government’s formal methodology for land titling were finalized with the Supporting the Policy Environment for Economic Development (SPEED) project and USAID/Mozambique and discussed with the National Directorate of Land. However, the National Director subsequently indicated that he was no longer interested in this study.

In Zambia, ILRG adapted to the election of a new administration and changes in leadership in most of its partner ministries. With respect to land rights, ILRG strengthened the formal role of the cooperating partners group, completed land documentation in four chiefdoms, and launched chiefdom land secretariats in two additional chiefdoms. ILRG also supported gender integration into Zambia’s National Land Titling Programme. In the wildlife sector, ILRG hosted a series of consultations leading to the redrafting of the Wildlife Act, as well as a new curriculum for community scouts. ILRG also shared its gender work, governance training tools, baseline monitoring and reporting tools, and land use planning experience with new USAID natural resource programs in Zambia. ILRG did not make significant progress in land use planning exercises in Eastern and Central Provinces due to long-standing conflict and distrust in each case. ILRG found significant interest in gender integration from conservation stakeholders through the roll-out of two women’s leadership and empowerment cohorts with mid-level conservation managers. Finally, ILRG continued its engagement with traditional leaders and the House of Chiefs through gender guidelines roll out and completion of a diploma in traditional leaders.

On the Indigenous Peoples portfolio, ILRG is partnering with USAID/Peru to support integration of Indigenous Peoples engagement in their portfolio and is working at the global level to develop an online training module on implementing a process for free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).

In Ghana, ILRG completed its collaboration on deforestation-free cocoa with Hershey and Ecom Agroindustrial Corp. (ECOM). ILRG carried out trainings to help communities resolve disputes over land management and ownership, which marked an end to the land governance work associated with land documentation. ILRG further completed the negotiations with partners over the delivery of a multi-year payment for ecosystem services (PES) initiative that the companies will implement together to support tree planting after the life of ILRG, registering 325 farmers to plant 8,000 seedlings this year. ILRG also finalized an analysis of tree tenure policy, which will be a focus of the project’s final event.

In India, through USAID’s partnership with PepsiCo, ILRG support for WEE in the potato value chain made progress this year despite major floods. Women demonstrated improved skills in potato cultivation, as well as increased brand loyalty to PepsiCo. ILRG engaged with supportive aggregators who often decide which farmers will be most involved in potato cultivation and worked with PepsiCo’s agronomists to build their confidence in working with women farmers. Importantly, ILRG found that PepsiCo staff are much more aware of the relevance of gender to their work following ILRG’s interventions to date. Despite floods and economic losses, women farmers expressed interest in continuing to work with PepsiCo. Over the coming year, ILRG will examine the full package of practices that has been trialed to inform PepsiCo’s potential adoption and integration into their work. ILRG shared lessons with the PepsiCo Global Development Alliance (GDA) team.

In Liberia, ILRG continued support to the community lands protection process through grants to Sustainable Development Institute and Green Advocates International, and engaged a third partner, Foundation for Community Initiatives. This will result in the land documentation of 44 communities with a total population of over 225,000 people over the life of ILRG.

In Malawi, ILRG partnered closely with government to document household land rights across an entire traditional land management area (TLMA), which resulted in the demarcation of almost 8,000 land parcels. The support will ultimately complete customary land documentation across the entire Mwansambo Traditional Authority’s (TA’s) 24 group village headpersons with the exception of leasehold lands within the TA, which are undergoing a review from government. Significant work was undertaken across the area to influence gender norms, as well as provide approaches to gender inclusion in the documentation process.

In Ghana, ILRG has partnered with ECOM to increase its capacity to empower women within the cocoa value chain in Ghana, building on ECOM’s role as one of the largest global cocoa suppliers to dozens of chocolate brands. ECOM hired a Gender and Sustainability Specialist who has led the completion of a GESI strategy for the company for 2023 – 2027, in addition to a series of training materials that have now been integrated across 21 districts in Ghana. ILRG has supported ECOM’s review of their training materials for GESI, as well as establishment of village savings and loans associations that have reached over 1,000 women.

In the minerals sector, ILRG supported RESOLVE, in its capacity as secretariat for the Public-Private Alliance for Responsible Mineral Trade (PPA), as the PPA envisioned its next generation iteration for 2022 – 2027, with increased geographic scope and additional minerals of interest. ILRG is also supporting the work of International Peace Information Service (IPIS) to map artisanal mine sites and document conflict financing in eastern DRC.

The ILRG Madagascar activity continued to contribute to the integration of tenure considerations in the Sambirano Valley into the Climate Resilient Cocoa Landscapes (CRCL) initiative, through support to the multi-stakeholder resource governance platform known as the Sambirano Watershed Management Committee (COGEBS). Work this year focused on training the COGEBS as well as providing feedback to government and COGEBS on a recently started mass land titling process.

Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) Quarterly Report April – June 2022

Key Accomplishments and Challenges

Mozambique: ILRG supported the National Land Policy review, including comments that were made in subsequent drafts. ILRG continued to advocate for Mobile Approaches to Secure Tenure (MAST) for land registration, including a technical meeting with the National Directorate of Land to compare MAST approaches with the MozLand methodology. ILRG completed initial work with Grupo Madal and launched subsequent work on gender and support to agricultural extension and further community delimitation. ILRG also neared completion of work with Green Resources SA (GRAS) on land disinvestment and continued to support community associations on capacity to manage forests. Finally, ILRG finalized agreements in Sofala related to managing displaced communities, which included de-emphasizing household delimitation and focusing on land use planning.

Zambia: ILRG grantees and subcontractors, including Zambia Land Alliance (ZLA), Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS), Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), Wildlife Producers Association of Zambia (WPAZ), and Zambia Community Resources Board Association (ZCRBA), moved forward on customary land documentation and administration, wildlife management and governance, and women’s empowerment. ILRG advanced wildlife governance trainings for community resource boards (CRBs) that will be replicated across the country and developed a program to support non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to combat gender-based violence (GBV) in the wildlife sector. ILRG financed activities to coordinate implementation of the National Land Policy. ILRG worked closely with two new USAID programs to promote the use of USAID-funded tools.

India: Harvest was completed in West Bengal, and ILRG collected quantitative and qualitative data to assess results on WEE, business metrics, and PepsiCo capacity, as well as to inform planning for the activity’s final year. Due to rains and floods, potato output and quality were below expected, and farmers had reduced profitability. Despite these challenges ILRG was able to provide 602 women and 25 men with potato package of practices (POP) training in three phases with positive results: women who attended POP and sustainable farming practice (SFP) training had better gross and net yields than women who did not receive training. Average gross and net yields for women-led demonstration farms plots were higher than for control plots. The effects of floods were devastating for the seven women’s land leasing groups (LLGs), who all experienced a loss. During this quarter ILRG was able to deliver two trainings that had been postponed because of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A group of men and women farmers attended empowered entrepreneurship training, and all PepsiCo staff received GBV training. A survey with PepsiCo staff revealed that their knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions related to gender equality and women’s roles in farming have improved considerably since 2019.

Liberia: ILRG’s support to customary land formalization continued this quarter with the engagement of a new partner, Foundation for Community Initiatives, to carry out a one-year grant to support eight communities in the formalization process. This complements the recently completed activities of Sustainable Development Institute as well as the finalization of customary land formalization activities by Green Advocates. Barriers remain in terms of government completion of confirmatory surveys, inter-community land dispute resolution, and deeds registration despite the completion of all steps incumbent on the community.

Malawi: ILRG continued field demarcation activities with the Malawi Land Reform Implementation Unit (LRIU), finalizing fieldwork in 10 of the 18 group village headperson areas, resulting in over 6,000 parcels completed of approximately 10,000 expected, with over 75 percent registered jointly. Land disputes are under consideration by the customary land tribunals (CLTs), and work on gender norms and women’s leadership and empowerment within customary land committees (CLCs) and traditional leaders continue to build a gender-responsive land documentation process. National learning events will begin in the coming quarter to inform the LRIU, as well as World Bank, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and other stakeholders, on land documentation processes.

Ghana Deforestation Free Cocoa: ILRG carried out final field visits to monitor the payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme. ILRG completed the economic analysis of proposed tree tenure reform that will be further shared in a final Ghana restitution workshop.

Ghana WEE: ILRG supported Ecom Agroindustrial Corp. (ECOM) to develop a draft country-level gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) strategy, based on information from a gender audit survey and discussions with ECOM staff and the initial ILRG gender assessment with cocoa farmers. The draft GESI strategy is going through rounds of consultation and feedback from company leadership. All 135 Ghana field staff received training on key GESI concepts, gender norms, GBV, GESI in the cocoa sector, and best practices for gender-responsive and socially inclusive farmer engagement. Curricula and materials have been developed for upcoming training for 12 management staff and a training of trainers (ToT) for 40 field staff who will deliver gender equality and gender norms change training to men and women farmers. ECOM and ILRG are revising ECOM’s existing gender and Good Social Practices (GSP) training programs to strengthen GESI content and include dialogues to shift harmful gender norms that affect division of labor, control of resources, decision-making, and gender-based violence in cocoa farming households. In keeping with the activity’s target, 2,290 men and women farmers (50/50 balance) have been registered to receive a revised training program starting in July. A total of 39 village savings and loans associations (VSLAs) with 857 women were established as a pathway for women in cocoa communities to take on leadership roles and access financial services and opportunities for diversified livelihoods.

WEE Cross-Cutting: This quarter ILRG supported USAID to prepare a learning session for the Land Advisors Community of Practice on private sector engagement, highlighting partnerships to strengthen women’s land rights in Ghana, India, and Mozambique.

Madagascar: ILRG focused on a series of land rights trainings and field visits for the Comité de Gestion du Bassin Versant Sambirano (COGEBS). A draft of the new Malagasy land law faced considerable resistance from advocacy groups, and ILRG carried out reviews of the implications of the law for USAID to engage in the donor sector. The Malagasy government revised the law, and ILRG is helping USAID document the change and its implications.

Other Activities: ILRG subcontractor International Peace Information Service (IPIS) is undertaking its third cycle of data collection on roadblocks and mining sites across eastern DRC. IPIS has met with USAID and presented at various workshops in DRC in April and June. PPA continued its development of a “next generation PPA” concept that focuses more on direct funding and allows members to more effectively learn from one another on implementation. The new Governance Committee will be selected in the next quarter and will continue focusing on the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the next phase. Progress on Prindex continues with a final draft prepared during the last quarter, which will lead to two upcoming learning events. On Indigenous Peoples work, ILRG has advanced its technical support to USAID/Peru through a national legal analysis of free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) in the country, and subsequent questionnaire and webinar for mission staff to analyze their programmatic engagement with Indigenous Peoples. ILRG is also carrying out additional research under Sustainable Landscapes funding.