Biodiversity loss is one of Central America’s most pressing challenges. The five-year, $13.9 million USAID Regional Program for the Management of Aquatic Resources and Economic Alternatives, implemented by Chemonics International, was developed to strengthen coastal-marine resource management and biodiversity conservation while improving the livelihoods of local populations. Population growth in coastal marine areas, climate change,…
With only 7 percent of its territory arable, Tajikistan’s land is valuable. Although the country took steps to allow citizens to freely buy and sell rights to use the land, the lack of national appraisal standards and professional institutions to support their implementation made it difficult to determine how the land should be priced for…
In August 2012, when Safar Tagoev established dehkan farm “Shohob-1” in Tajikistan’s Yovon District, he planned to use the land to improve his economic livelihood and grow food for his family. In October 2013, however, district authorities seized more than half of his 74 hectares, distributing them to other farms and a commercial entity. The…
From 2016 to 2020, the Feed the Future Tajikistan Land Market Development Activity worked with the State Unitary Enterprise for the Registration of Immovable Property (SUERIP) to streamline the process for land users to formalize their land use rights. This included promoting key regulations, which led to national implementation of a single-window approach and automated…
From November 2016 to September 2020, the Feed the Future (FTF) Land Market Development Activity (LMDA) increased Tajikistan’s agricultural competitiveness and self-reliance by facilitating the emergence of a functioning, gender equitable land market. Focusing on 12 target districts in Tajikistan’s Khatlon region, LMDA worked through four mutually reinforcing tasks to advance reforms, strengthen private and…
Matthew S. Mendis is a clean energy, environment, and finance expert with more than 35 years of experience in more than 45 developing countries. Initially, Matthew spent 10 years of his career at the World Bank, including pioneering innovative financing mechanisms for small-scale energy efficiency and renewable energy initiatives. Subsequently, he founded and grew Alternative…
Payal Chandiramani has 16 years of experience in strategic communications and marketing, operations, project management, and business development. She previously served as the communications and design director for Chemonics’ health and supply chain business line, which includes the $9.5 billion USAID Global Health Supply Chain Program-Procurement and Supply Management project. Prior to that she was the…
Science shows that honey, rich in antioxidants, can lower a person’s cholesterol and promote healing. As a commodity, it can also transform entire communities. Just ask Zoraida Silgado Escobar, legal representative for the Carbebias Honey Producer Association (Asocabebias), in Northern Colombia. Before beekeeping helped to change her community, her father and neighbors earned their livelihood…
Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is an important economic activity in many rural areas, with a long tradition in Colombia. High rates of informality undermine governance, security, and legal economies, and cause significant environmental and social impacts. As the government of Colombia consolidates post-conflict conditions, the United States and Switzerland are providing assistance through…
“Failure is strength. The most effective and innovative organizations are those that are willing to speak openly about their failures because the only truly ‘bad’ failure is one that’s repeated.” —Engineers without Borders, USAID Learning Lab No one wants to fail. And fewer wish to own up to it. Understanding the causes of failure is…