The USAID’s Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (AMPR) project Y5 Q3 report for FY2023 in the Central African Republic.
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 for Quarter 3 of AMPR’s fifth year of implementation.
Objective I of the project aims to strengthen CAR’s capacity to implement the Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) requirements. To launch the initiative, the AMPR team conducted a gap analysis and identified recommendations to stem the tide of rapidly expanding rough diamond smuggling and to remove barriers to implementing the Kimberley Process (KP) Operational Framework (OF). AMPR supports miner education, awareness raising, and capacity-building measures such as logistical support for local KP Focal Points and the strengthening of local monitoring committees. AMPR is also designing the conceptual framework for piloting decentralized artisanal mining zones (Zones d’Exploitation Artisanale [ZEAs]) with innovations for local revenue management while examining lessons learned and opportunities for miner parcel certification.
Objective 2 strengthens social cohesion and economic development in diamond mining communities. AMPR is building upon lessons learned from PRADD II and expanding local structures and processes for fostering peace and reconciliation. AMPR supports the expansion of local peace and reconciliation committees (Comités Locaux de Paix et Réconciliation [CLPRs]), as well as their efforts to monitor and resolve conflicts and conduct peacebuilding activities. The project is continuing efforts to foster coordination between the government ministries responsible for mining and peacebuilding. Finally, AMPR supports livelihoods activities for women as part of a comprehensive Gender Action Plan to promote women’s economic and social inclusion.
Objective 3 focuses on understanding the artisanal gold supply chain. AMPR, in partnership with the International Peace Information Service (IPIS) and RESOLVE, implemented a baseline assessment of the gold supply chain and created an interactive online map of artisanal gold mining sites. AMPR organized a workshop to present results from the study and facilitate training and discussion aimed at moving toward a national gold action plan. In Y4, AMPR commissioned a study to generate recommendations for improving gold commercialization and export systems in CAR.
Objective 4 involves responding to USAID’s requests for technical assistance with respect to understanding the linkages between ASM and development issues. One recent example is AMPR’s evaluation of the PRADD II project in Côte d’Ivoire, which concluded in 2018. The AMPR project is implementing activities in close coordination with other donors, especially the World Bank (WB) and the European Union (EU), that also have activities in the sector. The project will foster synergies and avoid duplication through local coordination and regular calls between donors.
Mozambique: During this quarter, several implementing partners were able to make significant progress on association recognition and land delimitation, but Cyclone Freddy caused delays across all activities. The Madal agricultural extension initiative and the delimitation of neighboring communities outside of Quelimane were both fully stopped for two weeks while the implementers and the communities focused entirely on recovery from the storm and flooding. Up to 90 percent of homes in the communities next to Madal were destroyed, and a large portion of crops that had been planted in the Madal activity were devastated. However, all service providers quickly took stock of the damage and modified their plans, and work was back underway at the end of March.
Mozambique: During the quarter, ILRG finalized its work with Green Resources AS (GRAS) in Zambezia and Niassa, and continued engagement with Grupo Madal on agricultural extension and land administration, with Green Resources on land delimitation and community management of forests, and on land administration in the context of disaster risk reduction in Sofala. During the quarter, the new National Land Policy was approved, including language underscoring the rights of communities to document local rights according to customary norms. With Grupo Madal, ingrower farmers were supported in raising coconut palms for upcoming planting. Within the outgrower areas, almost 1,000 new parcels were delimited. In the community forest management work, ILRG’s partner is helping the communities inventory their resources and plan for upcoming use of their plantation forests. ILRG supported the updating of previously delimited community lands in Ntacua. In Sofala, awareness-raising meetings were held alongside initial vulnerability mapping. ILRG is working with Terra Nossa to update its plans on disaster risk training. ILRG also began supporting the development of a public geoportal that will accept and show details of community land delimitations.
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.
