“Support to the restitution of land and to the rural development institutional reform” in Colombia

Description of the project and Services provided:

The General goal is to  support  the initial phase of the implementation of the Public Land Restitution and Rural Development Policy by increasing the capacities of institutions and communities at the local and national levels, with the help of local public and private players, to help improve the living conditions of rural communities.

This general goal is implemented at the local level in cooperation with the local authorities; by increasing the latter’s institutional powers, on the basis of coordination between the public and private sectors, to improve the living standards of farmers. Launch of the Public Land Restitution and Rural Development Policy at the national and local levels, with the support of the requisite third parties.
In particular, this Technical Assistance seeks to  design, validate and strengthen the procedures and instruments required to start up the Public Land Restitution and Rural Development Policy, by encouraging dialogue between the national and regional levels and promoting active participation by social and community organisations in the town-and-country planning processes, self-government and the implementation of policies, programmes and projects.

Services Provided:

• Supply of Technical Assistance (AT) services to support the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADR) as well as its adjunct bodies INCODER and the Special Administrative Unit for the Restitution of Appropriated Lands. Instrumentalisation of the rural-development and land-restitution policies to enable their effective implementation with a regional and differential focus.
• Regulation of policies: support the instrumentalisation of the policy by means of technical/legal suggestions, technical studies, measuring campaigns and assessments (management, results) to guide the design and implementation of policies.
•   Strengthening of institutions: support the government bodies in the identification and adoption of the organisational mechanisms and instruments required for adequate implementation of the actions based on the regulations relating to public policies.
•   Strengthening of community participation: support the policy-decentralisation and community-participation processes, especially the implementation processes for the restitution/property-rights formalisation and rural-development policies in prioritised areas by working with relevant local players: authorities, governments, farmers, forums for discussion and agreement between the public and private sectors, etc.