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About Us
We envision a world in which land governance systems, both formal and informal, are effective, accessible, and responsive for all. This is possible when land tenure and property rights are recognized as critical development issues and when the United States Government and its development partners demonstrate consistent attention and a firm commitment to supporting coordinated policies and programs that clarify and strengthen the land tenure and property rights of all members of society, enabling broad-based economic growth, gender equality, reduced incidence of conflicts, enhanced food security, improved resilience to climate change, and effective natural resource management.
Mission Statement
The USAID Land Tenure and Resource Management (LTRM) Office will lead the United States Government to realize international efforts—in accordance with the U.S. Government’s Land Governance Policy—to clarify and strengthen the land tenure and property rights of all members of society—individuals, groups and legal entities, including those individuals and groups that are often marginalized, and the LTRM Office will help ensure that land governance systems are effective, accessible, and responsive. We will achieve this by testing innovative models for securing land tenure and property rights and disseminating best practice as it relates to securing land rights and improving resource governance within the USG and our development partners.
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Displaying 411 - 415 of 440Land Governance Support Activity
General
The Land Governance Support Activity (LGSA) supports the establishment of more effective land governance systems, ready to implement comprehensive reforms to improve equitable access to land and security of tenure, so as to facilitate inclusive sustained growth and development, ensure peace and security, and provide sustainable management of the environment. LGSA is applying USAID’s collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) principles through the demand-driven support to the land reform agenda led by the GOL; strengthening of land governance human and institutional capacity; development of a customary land rights recognition model based on the Land Rights Policy that can be scaled up; and support of stakeholder engagement in land governance through communications and outreach and strengthening of local capacity through the provision of land sector services. In all project activities, LGSA, through partnership with government and civil society, is developing a focused and results-oriented approach through innovative yet cost-effective tools and best practices. Activities are implemented through consultative processes with USAID; the Project Advisory Committee (PAC); and government, civil society, and donor counterparts. The use of a gender-sensitive approach ensures buy-in from all stakeholders, leading to a stronger sustainability model. Objectives Strengthen policy, legal and regulatory framework for land governance Improve functionality of GOL land governance institutions Strengthen protection of customary land rights Strengthen stakeholder engagement in land governance
Ethiopia Land Administration Program
General
Ethiopia Land Administration Program (ELAP) worked to strengthen Ethiopia’s land administration system, promote tenure security, increase public awareness of land rights, and strengthen the capacity of federal and regional land administration agencies. Objectives Improve the legal framework related to land use rights at the national and regional levels. Advance public awareness of land use rights. Promote investments by smallholders, medium and larger-scale investors in productivity enhancing technologies and activities. Strengthening the capacity of federal and regional land administration agencies to deliver secure land use rights and land administration services. Outcomes Helped regional governments in Amhara, Oromia, SNNP, and Tigray select high-potential areas for certifying land use rights of families, individuals and legal entities to facilitate beneficial land transactions. A total of 52,300 parcels of land belonging to 40,880 households were surveyed and registered with PIMs produced and high resolution satellite imagery for cadastral surveying field tested. Supported Somali and Afar regional governments with drafting their Land Use and Administration Policy/Proclamations, with submission to regional cabinet for approval, thereby expanding the legal work under a previous USAID project in Ethiopia’s pastoral regions. Participated in national consultative meetings including: the Ethiopia Strategic Investment Framework for Sustainable Land Management; and Enhancing Rural Land Use Rights Transactions and Facilitating Access to Rural Land for Commercial Investment. Provided technical assistance to the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture in drafting white papers: Review of Land Administration and Land Use Planning Policy and Programs in Ethiopia; Ethiopia Strategic Investment Framework for Sustainable Land Management; and a concept note on Ethiopia Land Administration and Land Use Planning Project.
Mobile Application to Secure Tenure: Tanzania
General
Under the Evaluation, Research and Communication (ERC) project, USAID is piloting a project to crowd-source land rights information at the village level in Tanzania using mobile technology. The Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) project (formerly the Mobile Technology Pilot) supports identified needs of the Government of Tanzania to improve land governance and lower the cost of land certification programs. The pilot tests a new, participatory approach for capturing land rights information, as well as a lower cost methodology for quickly building a reliable database of land rights claims. MAST may be particularly helpful to the Government of Tanzania as an alternative to more traditional, and more costly, land administration interventions. Formal land administration systems (LAS) in developing countries have generally not met the need for accessible, cost effective, and appropriately nuanced land registration. As a result, large majorities of rural dwellers (and many urban dwellers) live without formalized rights to land and other valuable resources. This lack of documentation may constrain the ability of individuals and communities to leverage their land-based assets for improved economic outcomes, to limit environmental harms, and to engage in collaborative contracting with prospective investors in land that leads to equitable sharing of benefits. Given rising concerns related to inappropriate and potentially harmful transfers of land rights from vulnerable populations to domestic and foreign investors, many tenure experts view the need to document existing rights in a participatory and efficient way as a high priority. Through the Mobile Application to Secure Tenure project, USAID will test the hypothesis that under certain conditions mobile technologies that support crowd-sourced information about a variety of land rights/tenure claims can be linked to databases that government can use to issue formal documentation in a more cost effective and time sensitive manner or serve as an independent registry of claims, thus, increasing land tenure security. The pilot approach combines relatively inexpensive and readily available mobile technologies (e.g., GPS/GNSS-enabled smart phones and tablets) coupled with broadly participatory crowd-sourced data collection methods in rural and underserved settings. The approach will train civil society representatives and/or local community members to use technology developed for this purpose to gather land rights and tenure information. Source code for the MAST Android application is now available on GitHub.
Kenya Transition Initiative
General
Kenya’s National Accord and Reconciliation Act of 2008 provided a framework for ending the cycle of political violence that erupted again after the 2007 elections and sought to address the causes of the crisis with a schedule of political and development reforms. Although USAID’s Office of Transition Iniaitives’ work in Kenya has touched on all the Agenda items, work through the Kenya Transition Initiative (KTI) aligned the most with the political and societal reforms outlined in Agenda Item 4, which involved addressing long-term issues. National Accord Agenda Items: Take immediate action to stop violence and restore fundamental rights and liberties Take immediate measures to address the humanitarian crisis, and promote healing and reconciliation Determine how to overcome the political crisis Address long-term issues, including constitutional and institutional reforms, land reforms, poverty and inequalities, youth unemployment, national cohesion, and transparency and accountability Objectives Research grants to inform KTI and civil society Technical guidance through USAID/Kenya, the US Embassy, and the Development Partners Group on Lands (DPGL) Support to build the capacity of local communities to address local land issues Outcomes Helped Provincial Administrations in the North Rift Valley, South Rift Valley, Central, South Nyanza, Eastern, Upper Eastern and Samburu North provinces to sponsor a series of local Peace Forums in targeted areas to bolster support among professional elites for the new Constitution and to mobilize community involvement in the referendum. Provided the Eldoret Chief Magistrates Court with case management software and training in a new e-registry system, which included indexing of archived files, expanding file storage space and training magistrates in the use of a new transcription system in order to maintain their efficiency gains. The work in the Eldoret Chief Magistrates Court initiated management changes and increased efficiency in the Kapsabet Court in Nandi Improved and modernized land registries in the Nakuru, Kitale, Kilifi, Kajiado, and Thika regions.
Agriculture and Rural Development Support: Ukraine
General
The Agriculture and Rural Development Support (ARDS) project will support broad-based, resilient economic growth through a more inclusive, competitive, and better governed agriculture sector that provides attractive livelihoods to rural Ukrainians. The project consists of three components: Improve enabling environment and governance of the agricultural sector; Increase investment, productivity, employment, and incomes in the agricultural sector; and Improve welfare of rural communities and marginalized producers. ARDS will create a better enabling environment for agricultural small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by strengthening the capacity of the Ministry of Agriculture to implement sector reforms, by developing a transparent legal framework for agricultural land markets, and by implementing reforms that attract irrigation system modernization investments. The Agriculture and Rural Development Support Project will improve agriculture sector competitiveness by supporting agricultural SMEs to introduce international quality and safety standards and take advantage of the trade opportunities available through the EU Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA). ARDS will support rural development by expanding employment and income opportunities and supporting target rural communities to develop viable economic strategies that stimulate economic growth.