Support To The Establishment Of A Land Disputes Prevention And Resolution System In Liberia - Phase 2

The proposed intervention will continue and consolidate the previously-funded work carried out by UN-Habitat: supporting the design, establishment, implementation and institutionalization of an alternative land disputes resolution system for Liberia, through activities that will strengthen existing land dispute resolution capacity, increase the public understanding of land rights, and overall contribute to peaceful resolution of land disputes and increase land tenure security and social cohesion in Liberia. The project will support the Land Commission in fulfilling its role as the leading agency on reforms in the land sector and in pursuing more effective land governance in Liberia. It will also support much-needed and important outreach and education on the Land Commission's landmark new Land Rights Policy, finalized in May 2013, which provides clear and important guarantees for, inter alia, rights for communities to customary land, and women's rights to land.  New priorities under the proposed project will add an additional and needed new focus on urban land disputes and on concession-related disputes. A combination of activities and research will be undertaken, which will feed into an ultimate policy on alternative dispute resolution, based on Liberian experiences and traditions, human rights principles, and national and international best practices. The policy formulation process will also include attention to differing effects on men and women, rural and urban dwellers, and winners and losers in land disputes.<?xml:namespace>

The main focus of the project is on pilot Land Coordination Centres (LCCs), set up under the last tranche of PBF funding. Research on existing land dispute resolution mechanisms funded by UN-Habitat in 2011 found that multiple community-level mechanisms already existed[1]. Thus, rather than adding a new actor to the mix, the LC decided to set up centres that would provide a umbrella to coordinate all those ad hoc community actors into a system. The LCCs do outreach and education, establish a common documentation system for dispute resolvers, track the work done by all dispute resolvers to avoid forum shopping, keep a repository of documents and data, follow up on resolved disputes to help ensure sustainability, and provide training and technical assistance to community members in their dispute resolution work. The LCCs also collect and document best practices and lessons learned. UN-Habitat and USAID's Land Conflict Resolution Project (LCRP) are jointly supporting the LCCs. LCCs were piloted in 5 counties covering 10 districts determined by LC research to be land dispute “hotspots”.

The project has three major expected accomplishments

EA1.    Development of a system of land dispute resolution, through support to Land Coordination Centres, which are supporting community land dispute resolution services, including coordination with work on concessions

EA2.     Improved understanding of urban disputes, and their effects on women, as well as the displaced, for Land Commission/New Agency

EA3.     Policies and transition strategy established for

alternative dispute resolution services in new Land Agency

Activities

Activities continued from the previous PBF project are:

(a) Core support and technical assistance to the pilot Land Coordination Centres, which are supporting community dispute resolution services (provided by, inter alia: traditional elders, statutory officials, women's groups such as those supported by UN-Women's conflict project, UNMIL-supported Peace Committees, youth, and others); (b) Promoting awareness of land rights, land laws, and options for peaceful resolution of land disputes, through the activities of the LCCs and at LC central level (in partnership with USAID/LCRP); (c) Developing a national land dispute resolution policy, using results from LCC activities and working with interagency Land Dispute Resolution Taskforces at national and local level (bringing together Government agencies, civil society and other stakeholders) (d) Developing a national alternative dispute resolution system for all disputes, with the Ministry of Justice

New activities will include:

(a) Establishment of a new Land Coordination Centre focusing on urban land disputes; (b) Institutionalisation of conflict-sensitive concession agreements with built-in mechanisms for recognition of community land rights and conflict resolution with communities, via the work of a new conflict and concession Program Officer at the Land Commission; (c) Technical assistance to the LC as it begins a transition to a new land agency, to ensure that new land administration and land use and management responsibilities are linked clearly to the nascent land dispute resolution system; (d) Ensuring joint activities are undertaken by LCCs and the PBF-funded Justice and Security Hubs (through, inter alia, LC training and education of Hub staff on land cases; joint outreach and education initiatives; mutual referral systems); (e) Absorbing already-established trusted and professional surveying capacity into the LCCs to improve land dispute resolution capacity (surveyors will be drawn from the Norwegian Refugee Council's land disputes project, which is shutting down)

New studies (focusing on urban land disputes):

(a) Case studies of 1-3 real-time urban land disputes with significant conflict potential, focusing on analysis of ripeness and possible solutions (if cases are ongoing) or sustainability of solutions (if cases have been resolved). Possible solutions will be examined with a special effort to identify mechanisms to help secure agreements through public investments in infrastructure and services. The studies will also include an analysis of institutional framework and gaps. The studies willproduce recommendations on policy solutions (including regarding forced evictions/resettlement), methodologies specifically tailored for urban land dispute resolution, and any institutional changes needed

(b) Identifying the land and property challenges faced by urban women in Liberia, proposing options for addressing them. This study will particularly draw upon the work of the Land and Gender Desk supported by UNWomen in the Ministry of Gender and Development

- Key target groups/beneficiaries:

An alternative land dispute resolution system will primarily benefit the poor and the most vulnerable, including women, who may be financially unable to afford court fees or who may believe court decisions are for sale to the highest bidder. Indigenous people, who have traditional tribal ownership certificates which fall short of full statutory title, will also benefit from an alternative system. An increase in the capacity of communities to settle disputes peacefully will have overall benefits for everyone, increasing social cohesion and reconciliation and reducing flashpoints for conflict. And in addition, any bona fide statutory landowner facing counterclaims or disputes who can regularize their tenure will also benefit, and will be able to use their land with more certainty. This should lead to major economic benefits and stability for the country. The possibility of decreasing the burden on the court system will also have quantifiable benefits. One study in 2008 showed that approximately 1500 land cases were pending in two counties alone, and that land cases in courts can take 8-12 years to resolve. An alternate resolution system will be cheaper, easier to access, and should take much less time.

Studies on urban land disputes and recommendations on solutions for those who may be the “losers” in land regularisation (e.g. squatter communities or communities in concession areas) will also benefit those who may lack strict legal rights but for whom social policy solutions are needed (to avoid the risks associated with creating large groups of angry, dispossessed people with nothing left to lose). Studies targeting women and land disputes in urban areas will help develop land dispute resolution policy and solutions to ensure that women get equal benefit from the dispute resolution system.

Technical assistance to the LC at a time of transition will benefit the staff already serving and will help the new agency take on a wider range of tasks without losing the key achievements already gained in the area of land dispute resolution, thus benefiting the country broadly.

            rovide other supportment of natural resourcesand consequence of Liberi'onflict resolution in Liberia.The project activities aim to build upon existing and traditional systems of conflict resolution in Liberia, while giving disputants other options as well (e.g. women who do not wish to go to a traditional male council of elders will have other avenues); to strengthen or create systems of resolution in urban areas, where traditional solutions may no longer exist or may not always be appropriate; to institutionalize recognition of community land rights and conflict sensitivity in Liberia's concession agreements; and to use the findings of the activities and studies in order to recommend solutions for those who may be on the losing end of dispute resolution. The specific findings collected from the PBF-funded land dispute resolution activities and studies undertaken in 2013 and 2014 will be used to develop overarching policy solutions and administrativeready gained in the area of land dispute resolution, thus benefiting the country broadly.the new agency take  and transition strategies before the end of the life of the LC at end-2014. Thus, tN-Habitat supported and other partners throughout the life of the new project.each and education activities will be continued bhe project will contribute to change in two ways: providing on-the-ground assistance to resolving specific land disputes on the ground, building on the existing capacity within  a national dispute-resolution systems approach (immediate impact), while also allowing for the collection of best practices and lessons learned on which to base policy and administrative solutions which should facilitate better handling of land disputes and alternative dispute resolution overall in Liberia (long-term impact).