More than 50 people from civil society organisations, NGOs and UN agencies met to discuss LIFT’s REAL DEV land programme call for proposals at a meeting organised by LIFT in Yangon on 18 January, 2019.
REAL DEV is a pilot programme on land reallocation to be implemented in Minhla Township of Magway Region in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation. The programme was designed over 12 months through extensive consultation with stakeholders and technical experts in Myanmar’s land sector, including government, farmers, communities and civil society groups. The REAL DEV call for proposals was released on 10 December, 2018.
LIFT Fund Board member, Markus Buerli, representing the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) told the meeting that LIFT’s Fund Board and Fund Management Office had carefully considered all the suggestions and sensitivities expressed about the REAL DEV programme. Mr Buerli said: “When it comes to land, it is an extremely complex topic in Myanmar. LIFT is committed to continue being engaged on this difficult but important topic. It is important for us to get inputs from all and the most important thing is to value and foster partnership with all”.
A summary of the discussions at the meeting is available in English and Myanmar.
Prior to the open discussion, LIFT met with Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA) and Land In Our Hands (LIOH) to discuss their concerns and requests for clarification, as well as with Earth Rights, the Food Security Working Group (FSWG), Land Core Group (LCG), Metta Development Foundation, and Kuruna Mission Social Solidarity (KMSS). LIFT also met with the Union Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation to discuss the programme and to propose changes to the Vacant, Fellow and Virgin (VFV) law amendment.
A number of comments and questions were tabled by participants as well as recommendations for going forward. Several of these recommendations, particularly around further risk management and conflict sensitivity, are being actioned by the LIFT Fund Management Office.
The Q+A window of the call for proposals is now closed, with the written Q+A available here
The CfP deadline was extended by two weeks to 15 February 2019.
An immediate outcome from these discussion are the following changes to the call:
- The title of the programme has been changed to reflect the overall intent of the initiative and to avoid ambiguities. The new title is: Reallocation and Development of Unused Concession Land Programme.
- Further, the second objective of the programme has been revised to explicitly indicate the category of land that the programme will target. The revised objective is as follows: Improved process for reallocation of unused concession land VFVL to smallholders and landless that is transparent, inclusive and participatory.
More about the call for proposals is available here CfP and updates associated with the CfP can be found at 1 and 2.
