English version of land administration programmes M&E toolkit now online
A website featuring the online monitoring and evaluation toolkit for land administration programmes (M&E-LAP) is now available in English. Originally launched in Spanish in October 2015, this English version was unveiled during the annual World Bank Land and Poverty Conference in Washington, D.C., in March 2016.
The website, developed by FAO and the World Bank, is designed for national institutional and civil society actors and other practitioners seeking to strengthen land administration systems or good governance practices on land ownership and service provision.
It provides a wealth of information, including a methodological framework and practical instruments for assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of land administration programmes (LAPs) and their impact on institutions, municipalities, indigenous territories and households. It also includes links to technical documents and related resources, including the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT) and the Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF).
Adapting the toolkit
The M&E-LAP toolkit, comprising five modules, came out of more than 20 years of experience with LAPs in Latin America, particularly in Central America. It was developed to address two major needs. The first was the need to exchange M&E knowledge and methodologies among teams carrying out LAPs in different countries. The second was the need to standardize the process of evaluating these programmes. Other actors seeking to modernize their land administration systems, protect the rights of vulnerable people and strengthen territorial governance and land tenure security can adapt the toolkit to their country context and evaluation needs.
A master’s class during this year’s Land and Poverty Conference at the World Bank introduced the toolkit’s philosophy and structure, and organized an online demonstration and practical exercises. “Sixteen participants representing client countries and academia from diverse regions – Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe – attended the class,” said Fabrice Edouard, an agronomist with FAO’s Investment Centre. “It was a positive learning experience for them and also an opportunity for us to obtain direct feedback from users.”