For a Precious Resource like Water, Good Governance Matters

In complex environments with political challenges and evolving conflict dynamics, equitable access to water and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) services is increasingly critical and yet often constrained by ineffective or outdated governance systems. Not only are governance initiatives central to meeting the challenges that rapid urbanization poses for the provision of WASH services, but…

World Water Week 2022

During this session our panel of experts presented an overview of prevailing groundwater development and management challenges in the South African Development Community (SADC) region and discussed interventions for groundwater governance through improvement of policy, legal and institutional frameworks, effective groundwater knowledge management, and mainstreaming groundwater governance into River Basin Organizations.      The USAID…

Building Evidence on Cross-Border Conflict to Inform Effective Responses

Conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia are rarely confined within state borders. Instead, they extend through the transnational flows of people, weapons, and resources, creating intricate cross-border conflict systems that span the formal and informal, licit, and illicit. These systems empower armed actors, enmesh conflict in crime and violent extremism, and ensnare local…

Protecting the Natural Wealth of the Colombian Amazon

The government’s presence in Colombia’s Amazon is limited because of the region’s geographical remoteness and because illegal groups have historically occupied the Amazon, driving and contributing to illicit economic activities. Land grabbing, intensive cattle ranching, illegal mining, and unsustainable agriculture have proliferated in the region. As a result, deforestation has increased, native vegetation and biodiversity…

Final Report: Colombia Artisanal Gold Mining – Environmental Impact Reduction Activity

Oro Legal was a bold response to the governance and environmental challenges posed by artisanal and small gold mining (ASGM) in Colombia. Between September 2015 and April 2021, Oro Legal improved the social, economic, and environmental performance of ASGM operators through legalization and formalization and mitigated the environmental liabilities from past illegal mining. This final…

The First Seven: Women Leadership in Tajikistan’s New Generation of Appraisers

With only 7 percent of its territory arable, Tajikistan’s land is valuable. Although the country took steps to allow citizens to freely buy and sell rights to use the land, the lack of national appraisal standards and professional institutions to support their implementation made it difficult to determine how the land should be priced for…

After Six Years, Justice and a Future for “Shohob-1”

In August 2012, when Safar Tagoev established dehkan farm “Shohob-1” in Tajikistan’s Yovon District, he planned to use the land to improve his economic livelihood and grow food for his family. In October 2013, however, district authorities seized more than half of his 74 hectares, distributing them to other farms and a commercial entity. The…

A Farmer’s Confidence in His Future: Fostering Secure Tenure for Land Users in Tajikistan

From 2016 to 2020, the Feed the Future Tajikistan Land Market Development Activity worked with the State Unitary Enterprise for the Registration of Immovable Property (SUERIP) to streamline the process for land users to formalize their land use rights. This included promoting key regulations, which led to national implementation of a single-window approach and automated…

Final Report: Feed the Future Tajikistan Land Market Development Activity

From November 2016 to September 2020, the Feed the Future (FTF) Land Market Development Activity (LMDA) increased Tajikistan’s agricultural competitiveness and self-reliance by facilitating the emergence of a functioning, gender equitable land market. Focusing on 12 target districts in Tajikistan’s Khatlon region, LMDA worked through four mutually reinforcing tasks to advance reforms, strengthen private and…