"National network to Watch land Rights of Farmers Communities - Red Nacional para la Vigilancia de las tierras de las comunidades campesinas"

Local Organization : Grupo ALLPA

Region: Perú - Andean Region

Content: Consolidate the Watch network to monitor and pursue the current processes of land titling for farmers' communities in four regions (Puno, Cusco , Ayacucho, Huancavelica).The project aimed at joining regional organizations and institutions concerned with land and rural development. This activity was generated by the launch of the second campaign of the Special Programme of land titling and rural cadastre (PETT) by the Ministry of Agriculture and with the Inter-American Development Bank support.

Results: The strategy used by Grupo ALLPA comprised three steps:

• the introduction of Watch boards (mesas de vigilancia) and tools design;

• information and discussion (production of information case study on land conflicts, statistical data provided to the participants of the watch boards);

• monitoring and lobbying (reports on PETT and SUNARP performance and recommendations for improvement)

Lessons learned: Completion of the land titling process for farmers' communities is urgent and to achieve this objective, the creation of spaces for dialogue between the government and farmers' associations is crucial.

The main topics for debate are: community land titling; communal versus individual land titling; young landless and mechanisms to negotiate and take fair advantage of the mining activity. In Ayacucho the focus has been on building up public awareness.

Areas for agreement and consensus need to be inter-institutional. The idea is to formulate an agreed strategy with the State which is neither in contradiction nor does it propose an alternative position. Communication between civil-society groups and local public institutions is vital in order to gain influence. When public representatives have been included, discussion becomes a platform for joint action. The reports of the Watch Boards have been presented to PETT and SUNARP.

The sustainability of the four experiences in this project is determined by the commitment of the participants to the boards (the board in Cusco is the most fragile on this respect).