Quarterly Progress Report: Promoting Land Ownership Certification in Kayogoro and Kibago Districts, Burundi

The project aimed to establish and operationalize communal land services in Makamba district and prepare Nyanza-Lac district for the future establishment of a communal land certification service. The project was initially implemented in two years, from September 2016 to August 2018, and results motivated USAID to extend the project to Kibago and Kayogoro districts. The project's current phase, which began in August 2018, focuses on land certification services, mediation of land conflicts, and increasing awareness of the population on their land rights. The project uses the systematic OGR (Opération Groupée de Reconnaissance) approach to identify, register, and certify land plots in the Kibago and Kayogoro districts. The OGR approach is carried out in combination with the OIR (Opération Isolée de Reconnaissance) approach, through which individual requests for land certification are treated. Between July 1st and September 30th, 2020, the project achieved significant progress in awareness-raising activities, reaching 22,083 people (9,634 men and 12,449 women). The awareness-raising activities were conducted by MIPAREC and extension workers, who sensitized people on the importance of land certificates, the principle of non-discriminatory registration of plots, and the registration of land transfers. The project also piloted a new approach in two villages, Gikama and Nyarutuntu, where the population was structured into small groups of 50 households (G50) to facilitate awareness-raising and electronic payment of land certificates. The project management team decided to send MIPAREC and extension workers to continue their work in the pilot villages, while also conducting the usual sensitization methodology in the other villages. The awareness-raising sessions started with a message about respecting protective measures against COVID-19 and social distancing and hygiene measures. The project also made available hygiene equipment to allow participants to wash their hands. The project's progress in land certification services is also notable, with 21 villages covered and 6 villages in progress. The project aims to cover 16 additional villages between September 2020 and March 2021, making a total of 37 villages covered. The project's implementation is ongoing, with a focus on increasing awareness of the population on their land rights and local land conflict resolution mechanisms. The project's geographic focus is on Kayogoro and Kibago districts in Makamba Province, Burundi. The project's timeframes are from July 1st, 2020 to September 30th, 2020, with a contract period of 1 September 2016 to 28 March 2021. The project's implementation is led by ZOA Burundi, with MIPAREC as a subcontractor. The project's funding is provided by USAID, with additional co-funding from ZOA's constituency in the Netherlands and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (EKN).