Call for short-term research projects on global governance

Deadline 5 December

Additional tags: Land governance , Grants

The point of departure for the small grants of 2011 is the rush for acquiring land and natural resources that appears to accelerate in the global South, and how land governance can contribute to maximizing opportunities for sustainable development. Land governance is about managing and reconciling, competing interests, claims over land or natural resources. Land governance related policy choices and processes needs to strike a balance between protecting rights and promoting the most productive use of land; between economic progress, sustainable land use and social justice, between “rural” and “urban” interests.. These choices are influenced by paradigms related to agricultural and private sector development, public administration, and law.

Introduction

LANDac is shorthand for the IS-academy ¹ entitled: ‘Land Governance for Equitable and Sustainable Development’. LANDac was launched in 2010 and is as a partnership between IDS (University of Utrecht - leading partner), Agriterra, Africa Study Centre (ASC) (Leiden), Chair Disasters Studies (CDS - Wageningen University), HIVOS, Royal Tropical Institute (KIT- Amsterdam), Triodos Facet and the Department for Sustainable Development of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DDE). These collaborating partners are all based in the Netherlands and together have a broad network of local counterparts, which include universities, producer organizations and other civil society organizations, financial institutions, ministries and embassies with whom they collaborate in the global South.

The guiding question of LANDac is how to optimize the link between land governance, sustainable development and poverty alleviation; and thus how to deal with new pressure and competing claims, while maximizing opportunities for inclusive and equitable development. The approach of LANDac is to generate, analyse, synthesize and disseminate knowledge on how land governance can contribute to equitable and sustainable development in line with the Millennium Development Goals. More information on LANDac can be found on: www.landgovernance.org

Research activities of LANDac consist mainly of PhD research and short-term research projects that cover a period of no more than 12 months.

Small grants for short-term research projects on land governance

Land governance is about managing and reconciling, competing interests, claims over land or natural resources. Land governance related policy choices and processes needs to strike a balance between protecting rights and promoting the most productive use of land; between economic progress, sustainable land use and social justice, between “rural” and “urban” interests.. These choices are influenced by paradigms related to agricultural and private sector development, public administration, and law.

The focus of this call is on land acquisitions in which investment proposals made to local producers, communities, or national government play an important role. We invite organisation to submit research proposals which analyse mechanisms that have been used towards ensuring positive outcomes for livelihoods and sustainable development. Research proposals have to address land governance processes and may focus on the community level, national policy level, on the interface with private sector companies. We expect research proposals to generate insight in what is required from land governance systems, and the various actors involved, for maximizing opportunities for inclusive and equitable development, including the ability to renounce transfer of land. Equitable refers to the rights of women and other groups which may have weaker rights, such as migrants, herders etc.

The research proposals are to focus on one or more of the themes listed below. The focus is on the country level. The selected themes have been suggested in various studies as possible entry points for that the land rush contributes to sustainable development and to mitigate the risk. The first theme focuses on how to strengthen the position of local land users and communities whose rights over land and natural resources are not acknowledged formally. The focus of the second theme is on how negotiations and agreements are made with private sector companies and the role of regulation and oversight. The focus of the third theme is on large-scale land acquisitions by governments for investments, which result in displacement. The fourth theme is an enquiry in the role of diasporas in land acquisitions.

Preference will be given to research proposals that build on existing studies and surveys, or are a systematization of experiences allowing for comparison or generalization. The proposal should elaborate on how the proposed research can contribute to ongoing discussions in your region.

1: Experiences with “fast-track” procedures for securing customary rights

The ability of land users and local communities to take an informed decision on whether to transfer rights, negotiate fair deals and monitor contracts starts with a formal acknowledgement of their rights over the land and natural resources. This will determine whether local people and communities will be consulted, can participate fully in decision making, benefit from revenue sharing or are compensated following land alienation. Customary rights are often not recognized in statutory law.

The 2010 World Bank report “Rising global interests in farm land” recommends that “fast-track” procedures are put in place for those zones that are targeted by investors to secure customary rights over land and natural resources. These may concern intermediary/ temporary measures to improve the chances of local communities and may have to be done on a collective basis to get to scale quickly. It is assumed that the recognition of groups rights will make it possible to provide (more) security in a relatively short period of time.

Under this theme we are welcoming research proposals that present and analyse experience with “fast-track formalization” to provide more security to customary rights over land and natural resources. These may be initiatives taken by for example local actors, with support of CSO or local governments, by projects etc. How does the mechanism work? What is the scale and what resources were required? What kind of registration is taking place and on whose name? What changed with respect to the governance of land and natural resources and acknowledgement of rights? What are the (possible) consequences for entitlements under customary tenure? Who are the winners and losers, in particular with respect to the rights of women and other less advantaged groups? How sustainable are these systems?

2: What mechanisms increase the benefits for local communities from large scale land acquisitions and contribute to sustainable development?

Under this theme we are inviting research proposals that analyse mechanisms used to ensure that large-scale investments in land are producing real and meaningful benefits at the local level, contribute to sustainable development, and do not lead to environmental degradation. These mechanisms can be initiated by government, communities, farmers’ organizations, CSO, private sector companies etc..

How did these negotiations take place and who were involved? What are the most promising mechanisms and why? How is compliance with contract conditions and other regulations ensured? What are the results? What lessons can be learned form these experiences?

3: Land alienation by government for economic development of national importance is another important driver of large-scale land acquisitions in rural and peri-urban areas. Examples are land alienation for large-scale infrastructure (dams, roads), urban expansion, economic zones, tourism development, and settlements schemes (such as for displaced people). At the international level “codes of conduct” have been developed with respect to the processes used, compensation and displacement (World Commission on Dams, other UN resolutions on population displacement). Evidence has shown that these are often not respected, or not adequate for displaced people to gain sustainable livelihoods.

Under this theme we invite research proposal on experiences that identify and analyse conditions which favour respect for local rights in a situation of government-induced displacement? What is the experience with different modalities of compensation for displaced or dispossessed people? When compensation consists (partly) of new land, what are the implications for the receiving communities?

4: The role of the diaspora in dealing with commercial pressures on land

The diaspora - that is members of local communities that have left for the city or went abroad - seem to play an important role in land governance. Often they are mentioned as being involved in land acquisitions and acting as intermediaries for external investors. Locally, they are regarded as sources of information on legislation and asked for advice.

For this theme we are inviting research proposals that analyse the role of diaspora in land governance. We are particularly interested in examples of the diaspora assisting local people and communities in protecting their rights and livelihoods when dealing with commercial pressure on land, and in scrutinizing proposals made by investors or other actors.

Selection criteria

· Only organisations are eligible for submitting a proposal. Examples are research institutes, think-tanks, NGOs, CBOs, producer organizations, civil society organizations.

o Organizations need to demonstrate that they:

§ have a track record in working on land governance

§ have solid experience with applied research

§ have experience with (promoting) dissemination of research results and policy debates

o Joint proposals (which may include members of the IS Academy) are welcomed

· The maximum contribution by LANDac is 15.000 euro per proposal.

· The principle of co-funding applies.

o LANDac will co-fund a maximum of 50% of the total for organizations based in the “global North” (maximum of 15.000 Euros)

o LANDac will co-fund a maximum of 75% of the budget for organizations based in the “global South” (maximum of 15.000 Euros)

o LANDac will fund research costs only;

o Costs of organising workshops or publishing will not be subsidised, but can be included in the co-funding.

o The unit costs applied in the budget need to be reasonable

· A draft research report has to be submitted to LANDAC before the 1^st of September 2011 for review. The final research report has to be submitted before the 1^st of November 2011.

The relevance, quality and feasibility of the proposal will be assessed by a selection committee composed of partners of the IS academy.

Points of attention are:

1. Relevance: The research topic should fit with the thematic focus of this call and show how it will contribute to generating and disseminating knowledge. The proposal should indicate how the research contributes to policy change or collective action. A creative and realistic strategy for sharing the research results with policy makers, advocacy platforms and other stakeholders needs to be included.

2. Quality of research plan: A detailed presentation of the research questions, approach, choice of cases, methodology as well as quality control mechanisms (e.g. peer review, validation workshops, representativity and validity, etc.) need to be included

3. Realism of workplan: work plan, timing and deliverables need to be specified

4. Value for resources, justification of budget: full budget, requested contribution by IS-academy, own contribution should be included

5. Risks: the proposal should indicate possible risks and how these will be mitigated

6. Capacity to deliver: The proposal should include information on the organisation (experience with land governance, with research and networking), CV(s) of the researcher(s), examples of comparable work.

Timeline

· Until 5^th of December 2010: Submission of proposals

· December 2010: Decision by selection committee -

· Contracting January 2011 onwards. Contracts will be signed with organisations (not with individual persons).

How to apply

Organisations interested in submitting a research project are invited send this by e-mail to landac@geo.uu.nl

Deadline for submission: December 5th, 2010