HONDURAS RURAL LAND MANAGEMENT PROJECT Public Disclosure Authorized SOCIAL ASSESSMENTAND PARTICIPATIONPLAN OBJECTIVES 1. A social assessment was carried out as part of project preparation with the following objectives: (a) to evaluate existing patterns of resource ownership, management and use among different groups and institutions in the project area; (b) to identify stake-holders who should be involved in preparation and implementation and to obtain their inputs on project scope and design; (c) to identify potentially negative impacts of proposed activities on vulnerable groups in the population, including women Public Disclosure Authorized and indigenous groups, and design measures to prevent or mitigate these impacts; and (d) to identify opportunities to build local capacity of NGOs, producer and traditional organizations and local government to plan and carry out project activities. A Participation Action Plan was prepared as one product of that social assessment. This annex summarizes the findings of the social assessment and the recommendations that have been included in the Participation Action Plan. This includes findings and recommendations on indigenous peoples and gender concerns and a matrix extracting costs of activities related to participation and incorporation of special interest groups from the overall cost tables. SOCIALASSESSMENT PROCESS Public Disclosure Authorized 2. The social assessment included: (a) analysis of the stake-holders in the land administration and natural resources sector; (b) a participatory rural appraisal of representative communities in the Natural Resources Management component area by a multi-disciplinaryteam; (c) analysis of an extensive secondary literature on social impacts of the land titling program; (d) meetings with NGOs working with upland farmers and forest producers throughout the country; (e) meetings with members of the national indigenous federation and with traditional leaders, including indigenous leaders, in the project area; and (f) a workshop with women's organizations to elicit their views on project design. An international gender specialist and two international indigenous/social specialists participated in preparation to oversee in-country work on these aspects of project design. Because there would not be significant potentially negative impacts on indigenous groups, no separate Indigenous Peoples Development Plan was prepared, but Public Disclosure Authorized instead the activities related to indigenous peoples development have been described within the overall plan of participation. * V 2 a PROFILE OF PROJECT BENEFICIARIESAND LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS POPULATIONIN THE UPLANDSAND THEPROJECT AREA 3. There are, according to the 1993 agricultural census, 237,863 farm families with less than 10 hectare covering 587,576 hectares of land and 227,642 farms of less than 5 hectares with 384,078 hectares in Honduras. Most of the farmers with less than 5 hectares are found in the marginal uplands. Families with less than 10 hectares farm 17.6% of all agricultural holdings in the country, and comprise 54.3% of the population. These small holders produce mainlywhite maize, beans, a creole variety sorghum (maicillo), and rice. Maize is produced by 75 % of small-scale farmers and beans by a third. Sorghum is produced by 52% of farmers in the south and is used primarily as cattle feed. There is little reliable data on the extent of cattle pasture, but it is extensive--1993 census figures are 1.5 million hectares under pasture while extrapolations from 1991 regional data estimate 2.6 million hectares under pasture. In comparison to other Central American countries, the cattle expansion phase began later and continued after political conflicts had checked expansion in neighboring countries. 4. Many of the upland farmers cultivate land classified as part of the public forest estate. As described in Annex B, Land Administration Component, farmers cultivating lands classified as public are eligible for title should the land be judged of agricultural vocation. All other lands are classified as forest vocation and can be cultivated through usufruct, but not titled. The main forested areas of the north and west are the agricultural frontier. Many of the upland farmers in this area migrated from poorer regions in the south and east or moved into the hilly areas after selling their plots to cattle ranchers. Since 1982, Honduras has had an active land titling program to give title to smallholders settled on agricultural lands within the public estate. Through this program, 77,000 titles have been given for about 660,000 hectares. In addition, some cooperatives were given titles, but by 1993 only 993 of these remained with 144,697 hectares, mostly in the valleys. Most of the former cooperative members are seeking individual titles from INA. The number of farm families still without title is estimated to be around 200,000 of which about one half would not qualify for title since their holding is less than 1 hectare or classified as urban areas. The first phase of the land administration pilot in 15 municipalities alone is predicted to identify 6,000 farms eligible for title. 5. The small-farmer population in the 14 public forest management field unit boundaries of the three Departments included in the project area--Yoro, Olancho and San Francisco Morazon--is 14,775 families. These are the majority of families in the project area. While land holding figures are not available for the upland areas of these Departments, more than 95% of the families in the rapid rural appraisal communities were small-holders with less than 2.5 has. and the majority had some land holdings in addition to their homesteads, however marginal. Most did not have title to their agricultural holdings. Apart from limited mid and larger sized farmers in the valleys and some uplands of the project Departments, therefore, the large majority of the upland farmers are small, subsistence farmers with marginal holdings, both in size and quality. The upland fund would provide support to landed farmers in agriculture and agro- 3 forestry and to landless residents in municipal or social forestry initiatives on ejido and public lands. INDIGENOUSPEOPLE 6. In Honduras, the indigenous population (including black Caribbean communities) is organized in eight separate indigenous groups, numbering about 293,000 inhabitants and comprising 12.8 percent of the total population (1988 Census). Membership to a specific group is determined by language affiliation. The eight groups and their location are the following: * Lenca in the La Paz; Intibuca; Lempira and Santa Barbara Departments, with 100,000 inhabitants * Xicaques or Tolupanes, with 28 tribes distributed in 6 municipalities of Yoro Department; and 19,300 people in Orica and Marales of Francisco Morazan Department. * Garifuna or "caribes negros" in Cortez; Atlantida; Col6n; Gracias a Dios and Islas de la Bahia, with a estimated population of 98,000 inhabitants, distributed in 38 communities * Miskitos, in Gracias a Dios Department with about 49,000 inhabitants, distributed in 107 communities * Pech or Paya, distributed in the Dulce, Nombre de Culmi and San Esteban municipalitiesin the OlanchoDepartment; and Brus Laguna in the Graciasa Dios Departmentwith 2,600 inhabitants * Tawahka or Sumus, with 900 inhabitants in 7 communities along the Rio Patuca River * Chorti, in Copan and Ocotepeque Departments with about 4,200 inhabitants. * Islefios or Black Population with a distinct language found in the Litoral Atlantico in the Ceiba, Tela, Puerto Cortez and the Islas de la Bahia with about 20,000 inhabitants 7. In the area of influence of the natural resources component there are 16,800 indigenouspeople, makingup 21 percent of the total populationof the area. In addition, the protected areas component would strengthen staffing in the Mosquitia Region to complement the proposed GEF project under preparation. The protected area in this regionincludes a significantportion of the 49,000 Miskitosand Tawahkasdistributed in 107 communities.While there are no indigenouspopulations in the pilot areas of the land 4 administration component of Comayagua and Siguatepeque, Olancho--programmed for year 2 of the project--includes Tawahka, Pech, and Garifuna. INDIGENOUSORGANIZATIONS 8. Indigenous organizations in general combine elements of their traditional culture with those of the non-indigenous society, including economic strategies, politico- administrative aspects and religious factors. The levels of organizations go from the community (village, township) to tribal and regional ethnic organizations. Particularly in recent times, the lower level organizations have formed federations at the ethnic level. Nevertheless, these organizations are still fairly weak and vulnerable to outside factors. The relative weakness affects the federations' capacity to carry out effective actions in favor of their members and this in turn makes them more susceptible to criticism. The Lenca people are represented by the Organizaci6n Indigena Lenca de Honduras (ONILH), formed by the Consejos Indigenas Locales (Indigenous Councils at the municipal level) and the Consejo Indigena Departmental (Indigenous Council at the departmental level). This organization is still in process of formation and has only 4,000 members, belonging to 36 communities. - The Tolupanes are represented by the Federaci6n de Tribus Xicaques de Yoro (FETRIXY), whose first-tier organizations are the Asambleas de Tribus (Tribes Assemblies), Congreso