Liberia: Project Concept Note and Implementation Framework

The project is funded by the USAID Land Technology Solution (LTS) project, which is managed by the USAID E3/Land and Urban Office. The LTS project is designed to refine USAID's MAST approach and learning platform and to support the expansion of MAST to further USAID's development objectives. MAST is a suite of innovative technology tools and inclusive methods that use mobile phones and tablets to efficiently, transparently, and affordably map and document land and resource rights. The technology helps people and communities define, record, and register local land boundaries and data such as uses of the land, how the land is occupied, names and photos of people who live on the land. MAST combines an easy-to-use mobile phone application with a participatory training approach that empowers citizens in the process of mapping and registering their land resources and understanding their land rights. The LTS assessment found that MAST presents a cost-effective option for communities to gather and consolidate land and forest resource data, over traditional GIS and GPS technologies that have been used in the past in Liberia. The project aims to support the implementation of the Land Rights Act (LRA), which came into effect in October 2018. The project will be implemented in and around the Bong Community Forest, a conservation area located in Bong County. The implementation framework for the LTS pilot project consists of three phases. Phase I involves forest resource mapping and monitoring, Phase II involves wider landscape resource mapping, and Phase III involves community forest management plan development. The project will be implemented by SSG-Advisors, LLC, in partnership with Green Advocates, a local implementing partner. The project timeline is presented in Annex A. The LTS project offers a suite of services that include technology development, training and capacity building, and ongoing technical assistance and customized evidence-based learning support for sustainment and/or future scaling by host countries. The project aims to provide an efficient and effective mechanism for inventory land and resource rights, introduce appropriate technologies that engage citizens in technical mapping, and implement in an inclusive manner that promotes participation and advocacy to address key development concerns at the local level. The project has the potential to improve resources governance, build institutional capacities, engage citizens, and help communities record their traditional rights and responsibilities in either formal or informal tenure systems, or in areas where these two systems operate simultaneously. Since 2014, MAST has been implemented in Burkina Faso, Tanzania, and Zambia, where it has provided an efficient and effective mechanism for inventory land and resource rights, introduced appropriate technologies that engaged citizens in technical mapping, and implemented in an inclusive manner that promoted participation and advocacy to address key development concerns at the local level.