940 villagers of Ilalasimba receives CCRO

An Economic Growth Officer from United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Harold Carey, looking at smartphone used by Trusted Intermediaries, who work alongside members of the village Land Adjudication Committee to map the boundaries of villagers’ land and enter demographic and other information about parcel holders at Ilalasimba Village in Iringa Rural District, Iringa Region yesterday. The intermediaries make certain that parcel holders (or their representatives) and the neighbors of parcel holders are present when mapping occurs. (Photo: Friday Simbaya)

An Economic Growth Officer from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in Tanzania, Harold Carey posing a photo with one of traditional elders during the delivering of Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCRO) to 940 villagers in Ilalasimba Village in Iringa Rural District, Iringa Region yesterday. (Photo: Friday Simbaya)

A cross section of Ilalasimba villagers following the occasion during the delivering of Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCRO) to 940 villagers in Ilalasimba Village in Iringa Rural District, Iringa Region yesterday. (Photo: Friday Simbaya)

An Economic Growth Officer from United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Harold Carey (R) sharing a light moment with Florah Luvanda an Assistant Land Commissioner for Rural Land Administration during the delivering of Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCRO) to 940 villagers in Ilalasimba Village in Iringa Rural District, Iringa Region yesterday. (Photo: Friday Simbaya)

Tanzania Grassroots Oriented Development (TAGRODE) a nongovernmental organization based in Iringa, Executive Director Zubery Mwachulla making a keynote speech during the delivering of Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCRO) to 940 villagers in Ilalasimba Village in Iringa Rural District, Iringa Region yesterday. (Photo: Friday Simbaya) . 

The Iringa Rural Acting District Commissioner, Martin Mlwafu is giving a Certificate of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCRO) to a widow during the occasion of delivering of CCRO to 940 villagers at Ilalasimba pilot Village in Iringa Rural District, Iringa Region yesterday. Looking is Florah Luvanda (L) an Assistant Land Commissioner for Rural Administration and Ilalasimba Village Chairman, Julius Nyangalima (in whit suit). (Photo: Friday Simbaya) . 

By Friday Simbaya, Iringa

At least 940 villagers of Ilalasimba in Iringa Rural District, Iringa Region have received formal documentation of their land rights yesterday, thanks to a USAID pilot project called Mobile Application to Secure Tenure (MAST) launched in 2014.

USAID has developed a participatory methodology to implement the pilot, combining the use of technology with village-wide training on Tanzania’s land laws to build knowledge and strengthen capacity to support dispute resolution.

The pilot tests an innovative approach to mapping and registering land rights. 

Through an easy to use, open-source mobile application, the project empowers villagers with the training and tools to identify parcel boundaries and gather the demographic and tenure information that government officials need to issue formal land rights documents called Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy.

The project was jointly implemented by USAID the financier, The Cloudburst Group the consultant, CARE International and Tanzania Grassroots Oriented Development (TAGRODE) a nongovernmental organization based in Iringa. 

According to the Executive Director of TAGRODE, Zubery Mwachulla, the first phase of pilot is relatively a small village of Ilalasimba which was selected in Iringa Rural District which falls in the important Southern Agriculture Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT,) a zone of interest to both Tanzania and USAID.

He narrated that the most economic activities within the village are focused on agriculture and maize is predominant crop.

The village has several secondary cash crops grown by inhabitants including tomatoes, sunflower and tobacco. 

“The village has an estimated area of 31sq.km and a small population of 325 households or with more than one thousand people,” he said.

He said that Cloudburst Group of America implemented the project of MAST for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

USAID is piloting a project to crowd-source land rights information at the village level in Tanzania using mobile technology. 

On his part, The Cloudburst Group Mobile Technology Lead (Land Tenure and Natural Resources Management), Jeffrey Euwema said MAST project supports identified needs of the Government of Tanzania to improve land governance and lower the cost of land certification programs.

He said that the pilot tests a new, participatory approach for capturing land rights information, as well as a lower cost methodology for quickly building a reliable database of land rights claims. 

“MAST may be particularly helpful to the Government of Tanzania as an alternative to more traditional, and more costly, land administration interventions,” he said.

He said that formal land administration systems (LAS) in developing countries have generally not met the need for accessible, cost effective, and appropriately fine distinction land registration.

Harold Carey, an Economic Growth Officer from USAID in Tanzania, said that large majorities of rural dwellers (and many urban dwellers) live without formalized rights to land and other valuable resources. 

He said lack of documentation may constrain the ability of individuals and communities to leverage their land-based assets for improved economic outcomes, to limit environmental harms, and to engage in collaborative contracting with prospective investors in land that leads to equitable sharing of benefits. 

Simon Elias Salichuma (49) who is one of the beneficiaries of  Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy (CCRO) told The Guardian on Sunday that the coming of MAST project in his village was a savior to them.

He said that before the project there were a lot land conflicts between farmers and animal keepers and also between farmers to farmers.

He said the project will transform their lives for the better because they will use CCRO to get loan from financial institution as collateral.

And also Yolanda Ngunda (51) a widow from same village said she was happy with project because it has demarcated her parcel of land and added that they will be no more boundary conflicts.

Ilalasimba village at Nzihi Ward in Kalenga Division is fairly representative of an average Tanzania village. 

In Tanzania, The Cloudburst Group is working with USAID to design and implement an innovative pilot called the Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) project. 

The Cloudburst Group has developed an easy-to-use, open-source mobile application that can capture the information needed to issue formal documentation of land rights. 

Now the women of Ilalasimba have greater security and protection for their assets; MAST registered 30% of parcels in the names of women alone; 40% were registered jointly to men and women and another 30% were registered to men alone.

Other delegations who were present during the occasion include Florah Luvanda Assistant Land Commissioner for Rural Landa  Administration, Thabit S. Masoud a Technical Unit Director, Natural Resource and Climate Change from Care International in Tanzania, Martin Mlwafu who was the acting Iringa District Commissioner (DC), Patrick Golwike who was Acting Iringa District Executive Director (DED) and Geoffrey Reuben Kaluwa the District Land Officer.