When regulatory and technical reforms are needed, MCC should ensure dialogue and partnership with government agencies start very early in the project life cycle. To sustain and expand the Village Boundary Setting (VBS) activity post-Compact, reforms of the Ministry of Home Affairs regulations and technical specifications were needed. However, engagement with the Ministry was started far too late in the Participatory Land Use Project (PLUP)/VBS implementation process to achieve agreement on the reforms needed to ensure the VBS process was affordable to local and village governments. The evaluation found that, 71% of PLUP villages were formally recognized by local governments and 69% of government respondents indicated that PLUP supported their district spatial plans. However, other technical requirements made it too costly for national and sub-national governments to replicate in full. Instances of civil society organizations and district governments adopting VBS to fit within budget constraints were reported, however, there was no link between VBS and development planning at the village despite 25% reporting access to soft or hard copies of village maps.
Lesson Learned