RURAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE - Consulting Services



	Capacity Statement & Expertise Curricula Vitae Experience

Legal Impediments to Effective Rural Land Relations
in Europe and Central Asia: A Comparative Perspective
World Bank. RDI attorneys prepared a comprehensive research report that included the construction of a methodology for officials in Europe and Central Asia to assess the extent to which existing legal and institutional environments effectively support rural land relations. Containing chapters on land ownership, privatization, transactions, restitution, use regulation, mortgage, taxation, compulsory acquisition, and administrative institutions, the report sets out a sampling of applicable comparative law from developed land market countries, and then catalogs the existing legal impediments to land relations in the EE/FSU countries. The report also contains a treatment of gender-related issues and land-related judicial institutions. March to November 1998.

Albania: Land Registration and Land Market Project Evaluation
ARD and USAID. RDI co-conducted an in-country evaluation of the status of an Albanian land registration and land market project. The project included a field evaluation of registration system procedures and processes in six district registration offices and the Tirana central registration office. RDI attorneys also evaluated the process and progress of incorporating old, existing property transfer documents (primarily for apartments) into the new registration system. Also included were a document and statistics review and interviews of representatives from the Albanian government, Albanian NGOs, project teams, USAID, EU/Phare, the World Bank, Albanian private service providers, the Albanian banking industry, Albanian Notaries Association, and Albanian real estate brokers. RDI ultimately provided an assessment of project-to-date accomplishments, made recommendations as to what should yet be accomplished prior to the project’s end, and recommended land market support activities that might be undertaken by USAID after the project’s completion. October to December 2000.

Bulgaria: Land and Real Estate Mortgages
Reform Assessment and Follow-On Review
World Bank. This project included reviewing the institutional and legal framework for mortgages, stakeholder discussions, and an assessment as to legal, financial, economic, institutional, and political feasibility for mortgage law reform. Extensive fieldwork was conducted in both rural and urban areas and included interviews with farmers, bankers, real estate brokers, lawyers, and banking and real estate associations. A paper was written for the World Bank and was presented at the stakeholder workshops held in Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna. The paper was published by RDI. September 2000 to May 2001.

Bulgaria: Land Mortgages Legal Review and Recommendations
World Bank. RDI attorneys provided legal analysis and recommendations focusing on rural finance and agricultural land mortgages in Bulgaria. March to June 2000.
Bulgaria: Land Mortgages Fieldwork, Research, and Recommendations
World Bank. Fieldwork, report, recommendations, and in-country workshop focusing on rural finance and agricultural land mortgages. February to June 1999.

Georgia: Project to Develop Land Markets
USAID/Booz Allen & Hamilton, Inc. RDI provided legal and consulting services on the USAID-financed "Project to Develop Land Markets in Georgia." RDI activities included field research, policy development, and legal drafting related to the development of urban and rural land and real estate markets in Georgia.

RDI lawyers worked closely with the project's team of Georgian lawyers on a variety of outputs, including: a comprehensive assessment of the legal basis for both rural and urban land ownership and land markets; a draft decree on speeding up land registration (this decree was modified and signed by President Shevardnadze); and a policy assessment of whether and how to privatize agricultural land remaining in state ownership. November 1997 to October 2000.

Kyrgyz Republic: Local Customary Institutions
and Their Influence Upon Women’s Access to Land
World Bank. An RDI attorney and a Kyrgyz sociologist conducted extensive field research regarding the local institutions that enforce and implement customary law in the Kyrgyz Republic and how those institutions influence women’s access to land and other agricultural inputs. The team interviewed groups of rural women, village administrators, village heads, members of the court of aksakals, mahallya committees, women’s councils, women’s NGOs, mullahs, schoolteachers, clan leaders, and judges. The results illuminated the variety of institutions that enforce customary law in villages, and obtained the information needed for policymakers and technical advisors to better conduct processes of legal reform and drafting, legal education, and assistance in the exercise of legal rights. RDI prepared a report including a variety of recommendations. May to October 2001.

Kyrgyz Republic: Women’s Access to Real Property
World Bank. RDI organized and led a team of legal and social sciences researchers in rural areas across the Kyrgyz Republic to determine the extent to which Kyrgyz women’s rights to real property had been affected by new land rights and tenure laws. The research focused on determining and contrasting customary rights and laws with the modern, written legislation. Team members interviewed groups of rural women and men, local and regional officials, judges, members of village Courts of Elders, religious officials, rural gender advisors, and NGO activists. The effort included preparation of a findings paper, a presentation to World Bank staff in Washington, D.C., and a 1-day workshop in Kyrgyzstan for government and donor representatives. The World Bank published the findings in June 2001. May to August 2000.

Kyrgyz Republic: Analysis and Development of Legislation
Regarding Private Ownership of Land
ARD/Checchi and USAID. RDI provided legal drafting assistance and policy advice on a package of laws on land and land market development including the: (1) land code; (2) law on registration; (3) peasant farm law; (4) law on cooperatives; (5) law on mortgage; and (6) law on privatization of land. The advice was based on numerous rounds of rural fieldwork conducted through the country. The assistance included extensive review, commentary, provision of comparative information and laws, and legislative drafting. With the passage of the package of laws in late 1999, RDI provided assistance with education and regulatory development. October 1998 to July 1999.

Kyrgyz Republic: On-Going Land Market Development,
Land Reform, and Regulatory Reform Legal and Policy Consulting
ARD/Checchi and USAID. RDI provided ongoing legal regulatory and institutional reform, legal drafting assistance, policy advice, and implementation assistance on the new Kyrgyz land code and laws on registration, peasant farms, cooperatives, mortgage, and privatization of land. RDI also organized and led an extensive field research and survey effort directed at obtaining baseline information on land administration, dispute resolution, land use, servitudes, and zoning to inform the drafting of regulations and institutional reform. The fieldwork and survey results were used in the development of implementing regulations and in public education programs. RDI attorneys then participated in the design and writing of a training program on land legislation and legal issues related to land ownership and land transactions presented to Kyrgyz lawyers slated to staff legal assistance centers. RDI lawyers also participated in the 3-week training session as trainers and facilitators. August 1999 to August 2001.

Lithuania, Poland & Romania: Review of the Legal Basis
for Agricultural Land Markets, and Implications for EU Accession
The World Bank. A RDI legal team conducted a study in Lithuania, Poland and Romania to assess the legal basis for each country's market in agricultural land, and to identify issues relevant to entry into the European Union. The study consisted of gathering the relevant laws, regulations, and other legal materials, and then carrying out field research in each country to gauge the impact of the laws, and to identify unresolved legal issues. During the field research, RDI lawyers interviewed government policymakers, non-government specialists, private farmers, and rural landowners. The RDI legal team prepared a report incorporating its analysis and recommendations from the study. The report also included a matrix comparing the legal bases of each country. These materials were presented at the World Bank and FAO-sponsored "Second EU Workshop" held in Warsaw in June of 1999. The report was published in World Bank Technical Paper No. 465, Structural Change in the Farming Sectors in Central and Eastern Europe (2000).

Recommendations from the study include streamlining administrative and conflict resolution processes to speed up land restitution, completing land privatization, developing registration systems that register all rights and encumbrances to land, eliminating confiscatory penalties for land use violations, and giving the three countries some transition time to change legal rules (such as foreign ownership) which, if changed immediately, could cause disruption and discord in the countryside. February through August 1999.

Republic of Moldova: Land Privatization Program
Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc. and USAID. RDI served as a primary subcontractor for the Republic of Moldova's Land Privatization Program. RDI attorneys in Seattle provided additional support. RDI assisted the Government of Moldova in developing the necessary legal, regulatory, and institutional environment to privatize agricultural and commercial land and remove obstacles to land sales and other transactions. This effort included design and implementation of a nationwide program for mass titling and registration of land. The resident RDI attorney provided the leadership for the project's legal team, and served as the Chief of Party for the final four months of the project. Other RDI activities included advising on new and amended legislation (Land Code, Cadastre Law, Notary Law, and others); preparation of a manual describing the process for sale, lease, bequest, and exchange of agricultural land; and ongoing assistance with publication of a monthly agricultural newsletter for farmers and officials. RDI supervised creation of ten rural-based legal aid centers to help new landowners enforce their land rights. January 1996 to December 2000.

Romania: Rural Land Market Study
World Bank. As part of the process of preparing The World Bank's "Romania Rural Development Project," RDI attorneys conducted a field survey of rural land markets in order to identify measures needed to improve market performance. The survey results and recommendations were presented at a rural development workshop (July 5 & 7, 1999), and subsequently articulated in a written report.

Recommendations from the field survey include reducing excessive notary fees, implementing measures to facilitate mortgage lending, holding land auctions, and simplify and reduce the land tax rates. June through October 1999.
Russia: Policy and Legal Advice on Land Privatization and Land Market Development
USAID. RDI implemented a USAID-financed cooperative agreement to provide comprehensive legal and consulting services to the Government of Russia on policy, legal, and administrative issues of land reform, farm restructuring, land registration, and land market creation. RDI also conducted rural field research and managed two legal aid centers providing advice to rural landowners on how to best use their new land rights. The project included a Moscow office and in-country staff.

Major activities included key inputs into the State Duma deliberations on the draft basic law on land (the "Land Code"), advice to regional governments on development and implementation of regional legislation on private land ownership, field research in several provinces, consultations with high government officials, preparation of multitudes of background and policy documents on a wide range of land-related issues, establishment and management of a legal aid center in Samara Province, and management of a legal aid center in Vladimir Province. August 1997 through February 1999.

Russia and the Former Soviet Union:
Legal Aid for Asset-Based Rural Development
World Bank. As a recipient of a year 2000 Development Marketplace Grant, RDI supported and worked with rural legal aid centers in two provinces of Russia (staffed by Russian lawyers) to help farmers and other rural land owners understand, protect, and utilize their property rights to improve their economic lives. This legal aid initiative helped individual clients, carried out public education activities in neighboring provinces, and culminated in the creation and support of an additional legal aid program in Moldova. All of the legal aid centers continue to operate today through support from RDI and other private donors. April 2000 to March 2001.

Russia: Policy Advice on Russian Federation Land Privatization
USAID/Harvard Institute for International Development. RDI worked under two USAID-financed activities -- a cooperative agreement and the "Legal Reform Project" -- to provide services on policy, legal, and administrative issues of land reform, farm restructuring, land registration, and land market creation in the Russian Federation. RDI also conducted rural field research and established a legal aid center providing advice to rural landowners on how to best use their new land rights. The project included a RDI attorney resident in Moscow from August 1994 through July 1997.

Major activities included key inputs into two presidential decrees on land reform, work on the law on land registration, drafting of a basic law on land, consultations with high government officials, and preparation of multitudes of background and policy documents on a wide range of land-related issues, field research in several Russian provinces, providing expertise to USAID's Regional Investment Initiative, and establishment and management of a legal aid center in Vladimir Province. October 1993 through July 1997.

Tajikistan: Institution-Building Technical Assistance Project
LTC, SOFRECO, and the World Bank. RDI provided consultant services in support of farm restructuring and de-monopolizing the state cotton marketing entity and its ginneries. RDI attorneys conducted rural fieldwork, characterized the status of farm re-structuring, reviewed existing legal framework for the development of an agricultural land market, made recommendations on new legislation that may be required, and provided advice as to a process for the development and enactment of the new legislation, regulations and by-laws. Recommendations included basic tenure reform measures, development of secondary, supporting regulations that would support land market and leasing activity, and a variety of actions that would work to develop and establish the rule of law. September to November 1998.

Ukraine: Land Titling Initiative
Chemonics and USAID. An RDI attorney is serving as legal adviser on a project to privatize 1.8 million parcels of agricultural land and 13,500 parcels of non-agricultural land. Activities to date include preparation of project work plan, completion of a comprehensive legal review and analysis of Ukrainian land legislation and its impact on project activities, and ongoing legal and policy advice related to a variety of laws. Special emphasis is being directed toward a land registration law, a takings law, a lease law, and a number of surveying and cadastre laws. June 2001 to present.

Ukraine: Field Research and Report
on the Prospects for Agricultural Reform
RONCO Consulting Corporation and USAID. RDI performed fieldwork and a study to assess the political feasibility for carrying out meaningful land privatization and breakup of former collective farms into new commercially viable private farms that either own or lease their land from private individuals at fair market rates. September to October 1998.

Ukraine: Legal and Policy Advice on Land Code
RONCO Consulting Corporation and USAID. RDI performed an in-country evaluation and made recommendations on the draft Ukrainian Land Code, undertaken toward the goals of clearly and concretely providing for private rights to own, use, and carry out transactions in land, defining and limiting the government's role as a regulator of private rights, and supporting and protecting the rights to agricultural land that are currently held by the citizens of Ukraine. March to April 2000.

Ukraine: Legal and Policy Advice on Land Code
World Bank. RDI supplied consulting on the drafting of the Ukrainian Land Code, undertaken toward the goals of clearly and concretely providing for private rights to own, use, and carry out transactions in land, defining and limiting the government's role as a regulator of private rights, and supporting and protecting the rights to agricultural land that are currently held by the citizens of Ukraine. May to December 2000.

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyz Republic:
Agricultural Factor Market Research Workshop
USAID. An RDI attorney participated as a consultant in a research workshop on the impact of farm restructuring on land, labor, and financial markets. The RDI attorney analyzed Uzbek land legislation, conducted field research, and provided comparative information on the Kyrgyz Republic. The fieldwork was partially focused on women's rights to land. The RDI attorney wrote a paper regarding the Uzbek land legislation and its impact on farm restructuring and a land market. January to February 1998.