RURAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE - Consulting Services



	Capacity Statement & Expertise Curricula Vitae Experience

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.

Indonesia: Legal Drafting and Capacity Building for Sustainable, Equitable Development of Indonesia’s Rural Sector
USAID and Partnership for Economic Growth. This three-year program focuses primarily on providing legal technical assistance to the National Land Agency on revising the Basic Agrarian Law (land law) and drafting five other new or revised laws or regulations: Law on Land Ownership; Law on Acquisition of Land for a Public Purpose; Law on Land Redistribution; Law on Land Registration; and Law on Land Use Planning. RDI also provides training on legislative drafting techniques to government officials. July 2001 through July 2004.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mongolia: National Land Reform Program Development
World Bank. RDI provided fieldwork, legislative and legal analysis, report, and recommendations for Government of Mongolia Land Reform Commission on comprehensive land reform program. Specific topics covered include: managing and allocating rights to pasture land; introducing private land ownership for arable, urban, and settlement land; land registration and cadastre; land market development; and policy and legal environment for specially protected areas. June 1999 to May 2000.

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.