Quarterly Performance Report, Mercy Corps, January – March 2014

The project's objective was to increase land access and use for 100 women. To achieve this, Afro-Colombian women leaders of the three communitarian Councils, COCOMACIA, COCOMASUR, and COCOMAUNGUIA, led mediation sessions about disputes on land and natural resources. In the reporting period, Mercy Corps implemented a training in Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanisms (MARC) in two major community councils, COCOMASUR and COCOMAUNGUIA. These workshops involved 50 people, of whom 27 were women. The COCOMAUNGUIA mediation team focused on following up and monitoring agreements signed in September 2013 as part of the resolution of a territorial dispute between the Major Council Board and 13 families. The families were given usufruct rights to plots of land for the production of rice. The project also implemented GPS trainings in two Major Community Councils, COCOMASUR and COCOMAUNGUIA, with the participation of 49 people, of whom 26 were women. The topics addressed in the workshop included surveying, use of the field notebook, vertex coordinates, control and verification, adjoining and longitude points, and altitude of the section. The knowledge gained from the workshop was applied by the participants in the demarcation of the area of small villages and farms of families in the community councils. The project's activities and results were monitored and evaluated to ensure that the objectives were being met. The project's indicators included the number of previously existing land and natural resources conflicts resolved, the number of regional exchanges concerning conflicts over land and natural resources, and the number of households that have obtained property rights as a result of USG assistance. The project's progress was reported quarterly, and the results were presented in the quarterly performance report.