Evaluation stages and levels

The processes of titling or the recognition of territorial rights can be evaluated on two levels, according to the chain of results and impacts of LAPs:

• Key result level
  Evaluation of compliance with participatory plans for titling or other forms of recognition of tenure rights.
• Impact level
  Evaluation of the effects of these actions on the strengthening of local governance practices.

Once players with authority have been appointed to plan the process and convene partners, a work plan must be jointly produced, which should identify the following:

• Main stages in the process (e.g. communication, consultation, establishing dispute resolution authorities, demarcation of territory, etc.).
• Expected outcomes for each stage.
• Key activities for each stage.
• Participants.

This is the plan that will be evaluated throughout the process after a monitoring committee has been set up consisting of:

• Local authorities
• institution heads
• and other players such as NGOs, investigators or persons recognized as experts in the field.

The fact sheet Monitoring the titling plan for ICT gives an example of a Territory Titling Plan, based on the experience of the Honduras LAP in relation to Miskito territories.

Although titling, demarcation and indigenous territory recognition efforts are not linked to land purchase, the Guide to respecting free, prior and informed consent can direct the various players when land purchase projects are involved.¹.

These require a previous consultation stage, in the same way as the design of titling plans and other types of LAP intervention. This participatory evaluation also involves establishing jointly with local authorities the methods of participation and representation of the various territory members and the various authorities of which they are composed. According to the size of the territory and the number of population centres, the discussion and diagnosis process can be carried out in different ways. A workshop combining representatives of the various population sectors will sometimes be sufficient. At other times the territory will need to be divided into microregions and workshops developed with representatives (4 or 5 representatives of each population centre) guaranteeing the participation of representatives of local authorities, elders’ councils, women, young people and producers’ groups.

Before beginning the process it is important to carry out diagnoses of the territory and forms of organization; these activities are generally done within the framework of preparatory measures for demarcation and titling work. Secondary information can be used for this, or specific studies conducted for the purposes of LAPs. In this case it is advisable to incorporate the five variables listed above in the diagnoses.

For more details please refer to the fact sheet Assessment of the land tenure regime in indigenous territories (available in Spanish). This methodological fact sheet seeks to provide a guide that contains the information to be obtained, in a participatory way, to conduct a diagnosis prior to a LAP intervention within indigenous territories and communities. 

The ideal period for carrying out this exercise will be once agreements have been reached regarding the titling plan or other forms of recognition of territorial rights and when the population has been informed of the general scope of what it is hoped to accomplish.

The baseline of governance practices should be determined in one or more workshops which will highlight the importance of these five variables for analysing current local governance practices, seeking to illustrate specific aspects relating to specific issues in the territory. It is sometimes useful to display graphical representations of these concepts at the workshops so the population can assimilate them better.

When the workshops have more than 20 participants, working groups should be set up so that each can examine one or two variables. At the end the groups are brought together and ratings adjusted in a plenary session.

The discussion which is conducted around the baseline should be used to construct an improvements plan, on a participatory basis, which will allow the population and its authorities to set goals and a path for achieving them. LAP teams should consider these proposals to try to consolidate the proposed strengthening of local governance after or in parallel with titling plans or recognition of rights.

If the participatory baseline approach needed several workshops or meetings, it will be necessary for a coordinating team to combine the various findings and merge the final results .

After two or three years, the effects of the recognition of rights and the implementation of actions for strengthening governance are expected to have enabled improvements in tenure governance capability according to the five variables established (see fact sheet Analysis of tenure governance in ICT).

To do this, a process similar to that carried out for the participatory baseline approach will be attempted, trying to organize discussions according to the participatory schemes used previously.

During the discussions, the various indicators established for both the five variables and for implementing the strengthening plan will be evaluated. This exercise will also be used to adjust the strategies and actions to be carried out to strengthen the plan itself.

At the end of the project period, a final participatory evaluation needs to be carried out to determine how it has affected local tenure governance practices (see fact sheet Analysis of tenure governance in ICT).

Taking into account that efforts to strengthen governance require development in the medium and long term, this closure exercise should also serve to determine actions to allow continuity of the work done, regardless of the project duration.