AUGUST 2011 64871 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Lessons from the Reconstruction of Post-Tsunami Aceh: KEITH CLIFFORD BELL is a Senior Land Policy Build Back Better Through Ensuring Women are at the Specialist who joined the World Bank in 2003, after a Center of Reconstruction of Land and Property long career spanning more than 25 years in the public and private sectors in Australia, working in land administra- On December 26 2004, a 9.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Indian Ocean tion, land management, land and unleashed a blast of energy, creating a tsunami three stories high. The information, mapping and the geospatial sciences, alongside disaster which claimed more than 228,000 lives had an impact on the lives of a parallel army career in Australia’s regular and reserve more than 2.5 million people causing close to US$ 11.4 billion of damage in forces. He is a licensed land 14 countries. The highest price was paid in Aceh, which had the greatest surveyor and chartered engineer. In the Bank, he death toll of 130,000 confirmed dead and a further 37,000 reported missing. focuses on land administration and management including In Banda Aceh, the capital of the province, the tsunami claimed more than the related key social and ICT one-third of the city’s population. An estimated 500,000 people were agendas for land reform in East Asia. displaced by the disaster and some 250,000 houses damaged or destroyed. More than 500 miles of coastline was affected, with an estimated 53,795 APPROVING MANAGER parcels of land permanently destroyed through erosion or submersion. Magda Lovei, Sector Manager, Social, Environmental and Rural Documentation of land ownership was largely destroyed and physical Sustainable Development (EASER) evidence, such as walls, fences and boundary markers were completely eradicated. The tsunami and earthquake not only shattered housing and other coastal infrastructure, but it also shook the very foundations of the Acehnese society and the social capital that had taken decades to build up, in the midst of a thirty year civil war. As is usually the case during times of disaster and emergency, women bore the greatest burden as the tsunami deprived them of the existing safety nets offered by their families, especially spouses or parents. This SmartLesson describes the experience of the World Bank’s Emergency Response Team who worked to support the reconstruction of post-tsunami Aceh and North Sumatra and how this served as important entry point to address women’s land and property rights. Background community land mapping process to land titling which involved civil society facilitated The Reconstruction of Aceh Land community land mapping. The MDF, through Administration System (RALAS) project was World Bank, provided a grant of US$ 28.5 designed as an emergency response from the million towards the restoration and World Bank and Multi-Donor Trust Fund reconstruction of land property rights, (MDF) for Aceh and North Sumatra to support development of a computerized land records reconstruction of housing and communities in management system, and the development of post-tsunami Aceh. RALAS was the first the land administration system in Aceh project to be prepared by the World Bank to province. In addition, the Task Team Leader support post-tsunami reconstruction. The (TTL) was assigned to Indonesia to complete project design for RALAS included an official project preparation and provide technical SMARTLESSONS — AUGUST 2011 1 • Restoring and securing land rights and tenure (and resolution of land disputes, if any); • Securing land and housing for renters and squatters; • Application of the principles of land use planning and disaster risk reduction; • Securing inheritance of land rights; • Protecting women’s and orphans’ access and ownership rights on land; • Facilitating acquisition of land for infrastructure and resettlement of survivors and former GAM members; The aftermath of the earthquake in Aceh • Information collection and dissemination (related to reconstruction and policy issues); support to the National Land Agency - (Badan Pertanahan Nasional or BPN) for project start-up, and support the first • Confirmation of existing mortgages (mainly in urban year of project implementation. The MDF, through the areas); and World Bank, funded technical assistance by assigning a full- time monitoring team based in Banda Aceh. The project’s • Uncoordinated housing reconstruction efforts, with primary focus was on securing land rights in tsunami incorrect land parcel demarcation, and affected areas and rebuilding the land administration poorly documented community land mapping. system of Aceh province. Aceh continues to have a strong Islamic identity with During four years of implementation, the project completed around 95 percent of the province’s population practicing community land maps.for 317,170 land parcels, contributing Islam, (whilst Nias was predominantly Christian). The to 222,628 land title certificates actually being distributed province uses both civil court and Shari’ah court systems, to land owners, who were either survivors of the tsunami and religious leaders holding positions of social influence disaster or their heirs or adjoining land owners. 275,945 and authority. Shari’ah courts are mandated for resolution land parcels were officially surveyed and adjudicated, with of inheritance cases amongst Muslims, but in the past the 238,758 being registered in the Buku Tanah (official Land practice and interpretation of law varied across the Book or Register). By the end of 2006, the BPN together province. Aceh also has its own traditional adat social with the Bureau of Reconstruction and Rehabilitation for practices relating to land use. Immediately after the Aceh (Badan Rehabilitasi dan Rekonstruksi, BRR) and the tsunami, there were 6,000 inheritance and guardianship Aceh provincial government formulated a Joint Land Titling claims filed in the Islamic Shari’ah courts in Banda Aceh Policy and this was adopted for implementation under alone, while officials anticipated close to 100,000 cases RALAS. Arising from this milestone policy, a total of 63,181 throughout the province. Although the traditional customs, titles were distributed to women owners, individually or as civil and Islamic law decree that the women or her family joint owners with their spouses, representing about 28% of could inherit her husband’s wealth, in practice many women all titles distributed. were not treated the same as the man in the inheritance process. This was a significant achievement given the fact that Aceh province is not only recovering from the devastation of the tsunami in 2004, but also emerging from three decades of civil war and political turmoil. Civil and political unrest continued even after the tsunami until August 2005 when a peace accord was signed between the government and the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM or Free Aceh Movement). The cumulative impact of tsunami and civil strife on social development aspects (such as a reduction in social cohesion and trust, high levels of male emigration to other provinces and overseas and large numbers of males jailed for GAM- related activities) left female members of households to shoulder significant family, social and financial burdens. Conditions in post-tsunami Aceh presented a variety of problems related to land ownership and inheritance, as well as a number of other complicated issues. Critical land- related issues arising immediately after the tsunami, Community Land Mapping process in Aceh included: 2 SMARTLESSONS — AUGUST 2011 The RALAS project was successful through engaging at after a disaster drawing on key lessons learned. The three distinct levels, macro, institutional-policy and following lessons of experience serve as a model for community. At the macro level, RALAS raised public and mobilizing community knowledge and cooperation for the government awareness on land issues immediately after restoration of land rights and the land administration the tsunami which prevented large-scale land grabbing or system in a post-conflict, post-disaster situation. speculation. At the institutional policy level, RALAS provided a set of measures such as the joint titling policy to Lessons Learned enhance women’s access to land and ownership rights as well as developed and disseminated policy guidelines 1) Women and Local Traditions including procedures on inheritance and guardianship (in cooperation with the Shari’ah courts) and facilitated The context of a disaster response is different to that of a engagement of court official at the sub-district levels. regular development response, moreover, natural disasters Importantly the Presidential Decree (PerPu) on the impact women and men in different ways and there are treatment of mortgages and submerged land parcels. At few guidelines to ensure the adoption of a gender-sensitive the community level, RALAS triggered a pattern for approach to disaster management and reconstruction cooperation among families on restoring land and property programs. In Aceh, women sought to re-assert their land rights. It supported a transparent, self-evaluation by land and property rights using a number of different approaches owning families which culminated in securing their which had not been previously used but were nevertheless consensus and agreement on land and property rights. This effective. Temporary markers were used to claim land rights investment in social capital laid a foundation for the and to subvert the pressure, since there is still a certain reconstruction and long-term development programs as amount of dissent with regards to women’s property rights, well. Independent reviews have found that villages exposed the women jumped this hurdle by using the names of their to community land mapping exhibit higher subsequent male family members to mark their land. Women also took levels of social cooperation on land management than great interest in community-level land mapping exercises those in the control group and non-certified areas. and there were high levels of female participation across the province. From the earliest days of the RALAS project, In Aceh, agencies experienced significant pressure to build the Shari’ah courts were engaged and played a key role in quickly, but especially in the first couple of years, supporting the rights of women and their engagement in expectations were unrealistic as land issues were impacted the reconstruction of land and property rights. This is quite by great diversity of complex legal and social challenges. contrary to commonly held beliefs of Islam. Therefore, the opening stages of reconstruction were time- consuming, and initially there were few results to show. 2) Local knowledge is an essential component of However, by the third year, progress was much faster. empowering women Although the overall theme for Aceh reconstruction was “build back better�, the RALAS experience demonstrated During the RALAS project, the promotion of women’s land that it is more than mere reconstruction, and it is about rights required dedicated advocacy and policy dissemination. addressing underlying causes for vulnerabilities and poverty This was because women lacked information on their legal that contribute towards addressing long-term social and rights and the lack of female representation in the local legal risks. committees disempowered them, preventing them from re- establishing access to their land and property rights. Public Our experience has significantly influenced disaster awareness-raising about land titling and property rights is response in other parts of the world, including Haiti. In crucial to ensuring that everyone knows their rights before, addition, RALAS has contributed to a wide range of best during and after an emergency strikes. Without basic practice guidelines prepared by the World Bank and United awareness of these rights, women cannot claim the land Nations agencies on responding to land and property issues and property to which they are entitled. One method of raising public awareness that proved valuable in this context was making local communities own the gender agenda by building on local ideas, customs, proverbs, etc that were favorable to women. These were then integrated into the public awareness campaigns to ensure that gender sensitivity was a local requirement. Through the process we learned that taking into account gender-related factors in land administration can diffuse tensions over identity, status and power that may threaten peace and security in post-conflict societies. 3) Community engagement in every step on land recovery and registration The community land mapping approach used for the project’s reconstruction efforts was not designed by RALAS, Women filling in the forms for adjudication in Bireuen however the team improved it through, and the process acquired official status through official government decree. SMARTLESSONS — AUGUST 2011 3 The tool’s potential for broader application project in that they were critical in resolving was identified by the World Bank, and the inheritance and guardianship issues. Both government during the project preparation Government-coordinated and community- phase. The RALAS experience shows that the based approaches are essential for recovering introduction of community-based processes and restoring land and property rights, which can trigger valuable social cooperation that are key to women’s inclusion in land titling persists after completion of original tasks. projects. Independent reviews have found that villages exposed to community land mapping exhibit Conclusion higher levels of subsequent social cooperation on land management than other areas. Our In emergency responses, striking the right experience also highlighted the importance balance between speed and deliberation is of rebuilding houses according to regulatory crucial. A perfect damage assessment is standards while taking recognized land rights often not required. It is possible to respond into account. This was accomplished by using to a crisis with meaningful interventions, Information and communication technologies such as community mapping, that can begin tools which can harnessed to support and immediately while a broader government strengthen preparedness for and responses to framework is created. However, emergency situations and reconstruction complementary government-coordinated efforts. Tools such as Geographic Information and community-based approaches are Systems and Global Positioning System are required to ensure restoration and recovery very useful if adapted to the context – more so of land and property rights. This is central to if community-based groups (rather than women’s inclusion in the economic system. government employees or private contractors) Government-led coordination efforts result are trained to use them. Public awareness- in the timely delivery of support and minimal raising about land titling and property rights legislation in the face of institutional is crucial to ensuring that everyone knows uncertainties. Most importantly, a well- their rights, before, during and after an functioning, gender-informed approach to emergency strikes. Without basic awareness land and property rights is crucial in the of these rights, women are unable to claim management of the reconstruction and the land and property to which they are development agenda in post-disaster entitled. situations. Taking gender-related factors into account in land administration can 4) Informed and committed leadership is diffuse tensions over identity, status and essential at both community and power that may threaten peace and security government levels in post-conflict societies. During post-disaster reconstruction efforts all the stakeholders need to be on the same page in order for the outcome to be successful. In this context, we learned that the coordination of donors and the CSO community with the government leadership is critical to the success of reconstruction efforts. Primary stakeholders were landowners at the community level and all those affected by tsunami. At the village DISCLAIMER level, local land registration committees SmartLessons is an awards composed of village elders and the village program to share lessons learned in development-oriented advisory leader are the main project partners. At the services and investment local government level, the district and sub- operations. The findings, district authorities were partners for the interpretations, and conclusions RALAS project in each adjudication area. BPN expressed in this paper are those was the implementing agency with its district of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of IFC land offices assuming a facilitation role at the or its partner organizations, the particular site levels. On the government side, Executive Directors of The World the main institutional partner was BRR, which Bank or the governments they had overall responsibility for coordination of represent. IFC does not assume any responsibility for the all reconstruction. Other stakeholders completeness or accuracy of the included the provincial government, the Photo Credits: The World Bank Reconstruction of Aceh Land information contained in this international and national CSO/NGOs Administration System (RALAS) project and Aceh Gender Teams document. Please see the terms engaged in community development, and conditions at www.ifc.org/ livelihoods and housing reconstruction work. smartlessons or contact the program at smartlessons@ifc.org. The Shari’ah courts were also part of the 4 SMARTLESSONS — AUGUST 2011