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Introduction: LTPR Assessment Tools

by Jean Brennan — last modified 2006-10-14 15:08

Demand for assistance is increasing

Demand for assistance in addressing property rights issues is increasing from both United States Agency for International Development (USAID) field missions and host country governments. The increase in demandis due, in part, to a growing awareness among development practitioners of the role played by property rights (and natural resources access and use) in economic growth, governance, and conflict and resourcemanagement. USAID and its partners have learned a great deal over the last three decades about the relationship between property rights and economic growth, productivity, and, to a lesser extent, natural resource management andconflict. There are several important lessons learned from the last decade of research and policy work onproperty rights with a particular emphasis on land tenure.

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Secure property rights are a critical component of economic development and social stability.

In development programming, property rights are most frequently dealt with in the context of land.

Too often, land tenure and property rights reforms are measured in terms of outputs rather than impacts (e.g., measuring the number of land titles which have been issued as opposed to focusing on marketb performance and investment increases, reduced conflicts, or improved sustainable managementpractices). This focus on outputs prevents USAID from fully understanding the efficacy and potential cross-sectoral benefits of its property rights reforms and programs. Issues regarding property rights vary from region to region, and they will continue to evolve over time. Them most volatile of USAID countries, and those that are often in the greatest need of property rights reforms,are fragile states. Since property rights are so closely linked to development agendas across the globe, there is a need to understand how these rights shift as economies move through the stages of economic growth anddemocratization (and, in some cases, from war to peace) and how these shifts require different property rights interventions.

In light of these common concerns and issues, a Community of Practice on Land has been created by USAID in Washington to serve as a hub of information sharing. In addition, the Land Resources Management Team has been formed within the USAID/Economic Growth, Agriculture, and Trade (EGAT) Bureau to coordinate issues of land tenure and property rights programming with other USAID bureaus and operating units.

In October 2004, USAID awarded ARD, Inc., of Burlington, Vermont a two-year task order, Awareness Framework: Property Rights and Natural Resources Management, under the Broadening Access and Strengthening Input Systems (BASIS) indefinite quantity contract. The task was to develop a land tenure andproperty rights framework, a common vocabulary, and a set of tools that could be used to help guide USAIDthrough future property rights programming.

ARD formed a virtual team of land tenure and property rights professionals from three organizations: ARD,the Rural Development Institute (RDI), and the University of Wisconsin Land Tenure Center (LTC). Eachmember brought to the team strong experiences in the major areas of property rights and developmentprogramming. The team consisted of Safia Aggarwal (ARD), David Bledsoe (RDI), Jennifer Brown (RDI), Renee Giovarelli (ARD), Peter Hetz (ARD), Susana Lastarria-Cornhiel (University of Wisconsin LTC), MarkMarquardt (ARD), Robert Morin (ARD), Ryan Roberge (ARD), and Michael Roth (ARD, formerly of LTC). This virtual team met regularly over the course of one and half years to develop the Land Tenure and Property Rights Framework and tools:

Volume 1: Land Tenure and Property Rights Framework. A conceptual tool for examining land tenure and property rights issues and interventions in USAID programming, which includes a glossary of commonly used land tenure and property rights terms.

Volume 2: Land Tenure and Property Rights Country Issues and Donor Interventions Report. A database on land tenure and property rights issues for each presence country. The data is drawn frombilateral and multilateral literature sources.

The LTPR country issues and donor interventions reports have been developed to provide a profile of LTPR issues and related donor interventions in USAID-presence countries. For each country addressed, the report provides a snapshot of current LTPR issues and the donor interventions that seek to address them. The report alerts readers to current LTPR issues in each country, based on a common set of donor literature. Subsequent research and assessments conducted in each country will further inform this initial snapshot and provide the basis for intervention, if warranted.

The report is based primarily on a desk study and relies almost entirely on donor documents. The LTPR content in many of the documents reviewed is not as complete as it could be. Some entries in the report are limited and others are sparse—an indication that many of the donor programs and/or their reports are not at present focused on LTPR issues.

Volume 3: Land Tenure and Property Rights Country Ranking and Issues Map. An expert ranking of major land tenure and property rights issues in USAID programming countries around the world and an illustration of those issues within “regional neighborhoods” (USAID programming regions).

The LTPR country ranking and issues maps are used to highlight and illustrate key LTPR issues and draw attention to how these issues affect development and development programming. To this end, the LTPR country ranking process was developed to evaluate the severity of LTPR issues in each USAID-presence country.

The country ranking process used an LTPR ranking tool to collect informed judgments on the severity of land tenure issues in each USAID-presence country. Ranks generated from this exercise are then used to illustrate country-specific LTPR issues in a visual tool— the LTPR issues maps. The ranking process is still experimental, but increased use of the tool and process will validate the methodology and inform future refinements.

Volume 4: Land Tenure and Property Rights Assessment Tools. A collection of materials that be used by USAID missions to expand upon land tenure and property rights issues in their respective countries and determine how these issues contribute to or impede development programming. These materials include both an LTPR pre-assessment tool and an LTPR assessment tool. Both of these are aimed at standardizing the format and content addressed in USAID property rights assessments andfacilitating development of potential programming in this area.

As part of the LTPR framework, LTPR assessment tools are used to guide USAID mission efforts to review and/or analyze LTPR issues in their respective countries. These tools include guidelines and methodologies for two assessment exercises: (1) a relatively short exercise that can be used by missions to pre-assess LTPR issues and prepare for a more intensive assessment exercise, and (2) a tool for a full LTPR assessment that guides an analysis of LTPR issues in a country. The assessment tools are designed to contribute to the design of an LTPR component, project, or program. They can also be used to analyze the interventions associated with USAID’s ongoing LTPR programming efforts.

In addition, the assessment methodology can be used to assure USAID that individual country property rights systems are functioning adequately, or that problems are being addressed by the government and other donors. Land tenure and property rights are often the basis for sustained transformational development or a source of conflict and instability. Such a fundamental relationship makes LTPR assessments important for identifying some of the key issues that support transformational states or the root causes of conflict to be mitigated before they deteriorate.

Finally, the LTPR framework is augmented by additional tools necessary to ensure its internalization and perpetuation. To secure its place as a development programming cornerstone alongside good governance, economic growth, and rule of law, LTPR programming must be supported by knowledge management and complemented by active capacity building among USAID staff and partners. Investments made in these LTPR tools will pay dividends down the line and allow USAID to create effective programming synergies with other bilateral and multilateral donors.

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This team was also afforded the opportunity to meet with both USAID’s Community of Practice on Landand the Land Resources Management Team on various occasions. These meetings were used to critique and improve the different editions of the LTPR Framework and associated tools. In addition, various renditionsof this framework and tools were used to steer land tenure and property rights assessments in four of USAIDprogramming countries—Ethiopia, Kosovo, Angola, and Kyrgyzstan. The task order was managed and supervised by Dr. Gregory Myers. For more information or technical assistance, please contract Dr. Gregory Myers, Senior Land Tenure and Property Rights Specialist EGAT/Natural Resources Management Land Resources Management Team, USAID, gmyers@usaid.gov

The four-volume set described above are part of ARD, Inc.’s international work in land tenure and property rights prepared for USAID under contract number LAG-I-00-98-00031-00, Awareness Framework: Property Rights and Natural Resource Management, under the Broadening Access and Strengthening Input Market Systems (BASIS) IQC.