LAND Quarterly Report No. 14, July 1 – September 30, 2016

Technical and financial assistance was provided to amend Federal Proclamation No. 456/2005, with the draft being presented to the Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MoANR) senior management for comments. The draft will be enriched by incorporating these comments and submitted to MoANR for presentation to the Council of Ministers. A training manual on land and property expropriation, valuation, and compensation was prepared by a consultant and used to train 36 federal and regional experts of rural and urban Land Administration and Land Use (LALU) agencies on July 4-8, 2016. Additionally, a consultant was hired to draft the Afar Pastoral Communal Lands Registration and Management Regulation, with the first draft to be reviewed at a consultative workshop in October 2016. The LAND project also supported the formulation of a comprehensive national land use policy and an integrated national land use plan, following the June 2016 official announcement by the Ethiopian Prime Minister. Three consultants with expertise in rural land use planning, urban planning, and natural resources management were recruited to flesh out the important issues that need to be dealt with in drafting the comprehensive national land use policy. A roadmap document (RMD) is being prepared by a consultant to guide the land use planning process, outlining the scope, key steps, and resources required to prepare the plan. Strengthened capacity in national, regional, and local land administration and use planning was another key area of focus for the LAND project. A consultant engaged by LAND assisted the Ethiopian Mapping Agency (EMA) to resolve telecommunication and power supply issues that hampered the proper functioning of the Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) and trained 16 EMA and four Information Network Security Agency (INSA) staff in installing, operating, and maintaining CORS. The consultant also submitted a final proposal on the expansion of the geodetic network of the country based on CORS Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). The LAND project also supported the revision of the existing local level participatory land use planning manual, with a consultant reviewing different versions of the manual and previous comments made. The consultant produced and submitted a draft revised document based on previous comments at a consultative workshop held on August 6-7, 2016 in Adama, Oromia NRS. Strengthened capacity of Ethiopian universities to engage in policy analysis and research related to land tenure and train land administration and land use professionals was another key area of focus for the LAND project. The first batch of 41 students enrolled in the Institute of Land Administration of Bahir Dar University (ILA/BDU) summer M.Sc. program completed their course work and submitted their theses to their respective advisors for review. The second group of 41 candidates completed course work and are developing thesis proposals in consultation with their respective LALU agencies and advisors through correspondence. The LAND Research grant scheme was also implemented, with closure letters issued to all institutions that were awarded grants. The grantees, with the exception of BDU, completed their research activities and conducted validation workshops. The 2016 Ethiopian Annual Land Conference was postponed indefinitely due to civil unrest in the Bahir Dar area.