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

The project is implemented by ZOA Burundi, with funding from USAID, and has a duration of two years, from August 27th, 2018 to August 27th, 2020. The project focuses on three outcomes: land certification services, mediation of land conflicts, and increasing awareness of the population on their land rights, particularly for women. 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, which treats individual requests for land certification. During the reporting period of April 1st, 2020 to June 30th, 2020, the project achieved significant progress. Using the OGR approach, the project measured and registered the land plots of six additional villages, bringing the total to 18 villages demarcated in both districts since October 1st, 2019. The most important activities realized during this quarter include awareness raising on the land certification process, resolution of land conflicts, and establishment and issuing of land certificates. A total of 23,684 persons, including 13,342 men and 10,342 women, participated in sensitization activities to increase awareness on land rights. These activities included awareness-raising meetings, animation of public events, door-to-door sensitization, and sketches performed by theatre groups. The participants were sensitized on different topics relating to land certification, including land rights, the land certification process, and the registration of women's land rights. In addition, 1,025 people, including 685 men and 340 women, were re-trained on the conflict mediation process. The participants in these trainings were Bashingantahe (notables) and members of community structures who are involved in land conflict mediation during the land certification process. The training of CRCs was organized using an adapted approach, which included theoretical and practical training in the field. During this quarter, 25 cases of land disputes were resolved through public mediation sessions organized by the members of the participating village CRCs. A total of 24,709 persons, including 14,027 men and 10,682 women, attended informational sessions on the role of local conflict resolution mechanisms. These people were sensitized during the awareness-raising meetings and were informed about the role of local conflict resolution mechanisms in resolving land disputes. The project has now covered 18 villages out of the total of 49 villages in both communes using the OGR approach. However, the current Cooperative Agreement will end on August 27th, 2020. ZOA received a small additional grant from the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in June, which will be used to cover two additional villages in Kibago district during the July-August period. This pilot aims to explore new and possibly more cost-efficient methods of land registration.