RURAL DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE - Consulting Services



	Capacity Statement & Expertise Curricula Vitae Experience

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.

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

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.

Uganda: Gender/Family Issues and Land Rights Study
Government of Uganda. An RDI lawyer led a team, composed primarily of Ugandan social sciences researchers, in fieldwork aimed at determining the extent to which recent Ugandan legal land reform has affected women’s and orphan’s rights to land and housing. The fieldwork techniques included rapid rural appraisal interviews, key informant interviews, village focus group meetings, and a household statistical survey. Results showed that traditional customary practices and laws continued to shape the situation on the ground and that many of the formal legal reforms had yet to make a significant impact.

Study recommendations included a tiered menu of interventions, including education of men, training of women in their rights and how to exercise them, creation of local village gender trainers and advocates, a re-ordering of agricultural incentives and extension practices, establishing legal aid centers, and a variety of formal legislative changes (widow and orphan laws, succession laws, land demarcation regulations, social safety net provisions, and formal co-ownership legislation). Selected recommendations are slated for inclusion within the government’s Plan for the Modernization of Agriculture and Land Reform Implementation Plan. The study process included a stakeholders’ workshop where government representatives (local, regional, and national), NGO representatives, and villagers from a variety of locales were pulled together to hear preliminary results and to provide comments and ideas. October 2001 to April 2002.