Event Type: Event

One year after the launch of the Local Capacity Strengthening (LCS) Policy, USAID is excited to host the first annual Learning and Feedback Forum, which will take place virtually over six days between Tuesday, October 10, 2023 and Thursday, October 19, 2023. The Forum will help inform the direction of Policy implementation for the coming year and consists of 11 virtual one-hour sessions that are open to the public and USAID staff. View the full schedule and register here. Note the sector-specific session on Resilience, Environment, and Food Security on October 12  at 9 a.m. ET. Participants will have the opportunity to join constructive and transparent policy implementation discussions about how the LCS Policy is (or is not) affecting locally-led development in land and resource governance. Additionally, participants will learn about evidence-based guidance and resources to help ensure locally-led development is contributing to strengthening land tenure and property rights worldwide. For questions, e-mail LCSPolicyComments@usaid.gov.

Impact evaluations are critical for understanding whether program and policy interventions are working, why, and for whom. In recent years, the land sector has made significant progress in using impact evaluations to build the evidence base for land tenure programs and improve policy and program effectiveness.

Please join us for a virtual convening, hosted by the Global Donor Working Group on Land, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, USAID, the World Bank, and New America, to discuss the policy and programming implications from the last decade of land impact evaluations.

We will bring together researchers and evaluators, policymakers, practitioners, and donors to discuss the implications of these impact evaluations on land tenure programs and policies, and identify open questions and data gaps that, if answered, could improve our understanding of what works, why, and for whom.

For more information or to register, see here.

This event is supported by the USAID Integrated Natural Resource Management project.

Dec. 1 Agenda:

Welcome Back & Overview (9:00-9:05)

Karol Boudreaux

“Spotlight” Presentation: Ethiopia (9:05-9:30)

Caleb Stevens, USAID
Krista Jacobs, Landesa
Other Presenter(s) To Be Announced

“Spotlight” Presentation: Morocco (9:30-9:55)

Anthony Harris, Mathematica
Matt Sloan, Mathematica
Shauna Clarke, Millennium Challenge Corporation

Breakout Group Discussions: The IE-Policy “Feedback Loop” (9:55-10:25)

Close & Thank You (10:25-10:30)

Karol Boudreaux

Impact evaluations are critical for understanding whether program and policy interventions are working, why, and for whom. In recent years, the land sector has made significant progress in using impact evaluations to build the evidence base for land tenure programs and improve policy and program effectiveness.

Please join us for a virtual convening, hosted by the Global Donor Working Group on Land, the Millennium Challenge Corporation, USAID, the World Bank, and New America, to discuss the policy and programming implications from the last decade of land impact evaluations.

We will bring together researchers and evaluators, policymakers, practitioners, and donors to discuss the implications of these impact evaluations on land tenure programs and policies, and identify open questions and data gaps that, if answered, could improve our understanding of what works, why, and for whom.

For more information or to register, see here.

This event is supported by the USAID Integrated Natural Resource Management project.

Nov. 30 Agenda:

Welcome & Overview (9:00-9:10)

Karol Boudreaux, USAID
Jill Pike, Millennium Challenge Corporation
Thea Hilhorst, World Bank

Reviewing the Evidence on Land: An Overview of Impacts and Lessons Learned (9:10-9:35)

Jennifer Lisher, World Bank
Heather Huntington, University of Pennsylvania

Panel Discussion: Lessons from a Decade of IEs, and What Comes Next? (9:35-10:05)

Caleb Stevens, USAID
Andreas Lange, GiZ
Chris Penrose Buckley, FCDO (Moderator)
Other Panelist(s) To Be Announced

Breakout Group Discussions: Implications of IE findings and Knowledge Gaps (10:05-10:25)

Wrap-Up (10:25-10:30)

Karol Boudreaux

Register for the event

Overview

The USAID Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) Annual Research Symposium will showcase academic research and field experience in Zambia related to land tenure and natural resource management over the course of four weeks (Wednesdays and Thursdays from 13:00 – 15:00 CAT). The presentations with Q & A will be entirely virtual through the Zoom platform (assistance with Internet connection is available.)

Registration

Registration for the symposium is now open. Registration is not required to view the symposium but is requested in order to participate in the discussion.

Agenda

Each week 4-5 presentations + discussion will focus on the following thematic issues:

• • 6 October: Opening and Government Context on Land and Resource Policy in Zambia
  • 7-8 October: State and Customary Land Governance
  • 14-15 October: Land Documentation and Administration
  • 21-22 October: Natural Resource Management
  • 28-29 October: Integrated Development Planning

Participation

The opening session is Tuesday, October 6 at 13:00 CAT (7:00 ET). You can join this session and all subsequent symposium sessions by clicking the link below:

Zambia is rich in natural resources, with vast forests, wetlands, and diverse wildlife populations. Community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) is central to conservation and rural development in Zambia, in seeking to generate incentives and greater economic value for local communities from forests and wildlife. Important changes have taken place in Zambia in recent years, including the passage of the 2015 Forests Act, which provides new mechanisms for community forest management and is spurring establishment of community forests in different parts of the country. Policy reforms and field-level experiments are also creating potential opportunities in wildlife management and conservation approaches.

This webinar will provide an opportunity to learn about policy and legal reforms, and innovative efforts in the field, to advance CBNRM in Zambia. It will share findings from a new review produced by Maliasili and the USAID-funded Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) program, in collaboration with The Nature Conservancy Africa Program. Speakers will include representatives from key government agencies and civil society organizations working on CBNRM in Zambia, including those implementing CBNRM in the field and working on policy reforms.

Speakers: 

Forestry Department
Patricia Mupeta-Muyamwa
The Nature Conservancy Africa Program

Jassiel Msoka
USAID

Rodgers Lubilo
Frankfurt Zoological Society

Hassan Sachedina
BioCarbon Partners (TBC)

Bupe Banda
Zambia National Community Resources
Boards Association

Fred Nelson
Maliasili

Ian Robinson
Wildlife Producers Association of Zambia

USAID’s Land and Urban Office recently hosted a webinar on Digging Deeper into Artisanal &Small-Scale Mining: Gender & Women’s Economic Empowerment. View the webinar recording, and download the presentation.

In this webinar, USAID and development experts discussed on gender-related opportunities and constraints in ASM, with a focus on strategies for transforming gender biases in the sector, and ensuring that women and men have equal access to economic empowerment through ASM-related value chains.

The artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector offers critical economic opportunities for women as well as a unique set of challenges. Women work at all levels of the ASM value chain, from pit labor to international trading and represent 30-50 percent of the global workforce for ASM. The most lucrative opportunities related to ASM, however, fall largely to men. Women often work longer hours for less money, lack rights to important production assets, such as land, licensing and capital, and are more exposed to social and environmental risks, including gender-based violence.

Opening Remarks:

Jeffrey Haeni, Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator, USAID

Jeffrey Haeni is the Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education and Environment (E3), where he oversees the Energy and Infrastructure, Forest and Biodiversity, Land and Urban, and Global Climate Change Offices.

Moderator:

Kimberly Thompson, Natural Resource Governance and Conflict Advisor, USAID E3/Land Team

Kim Thompson is a Natural Resource Governance and Conflict Advisor for the E3/Land and Urban Office. She is a career foreign service officer and leads USAID’s work on artisanal and small scale mining.

Panelists:

Joanne Lebert, Executive Director, IMPACT. Ms. Lebert leads IMPACT’s work to improve how natural resources are managed where security and human rights are at risk. Her work has focused on contributing to responsibly-sourced, conflict-free minerals and she has helped Central African governments launch and implement a regional strategy to tackle conflict minerals.

Jocelyn Kelly, Director, Gender, Rights, and Resilience, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI).  Ms. Kelly is the founding director for HHI’s Women in War program, and currently is a fellow at HHI where she designs and implements projects to examine issues relating to gender, peace, and security in fragile states.

Nathalia Rocio Mendoza Baron, Gender Coordinator, Alliance for Responsible Mining (ARM). Ms. Mendoza is a political scientist and internationalist, coordinator. She leads gender mainstreaming into the projects and processes of the ARM. Previously she worked on promoting women’s rights through gender mainstreaming with the government of Bogotá.