INVESTOR SURVEY ON LAND RIGHTS RESEARCH AND SAMPLING DESIGN (FINAL)

OCTOBER 2017

This document was prepared by Indufor North America LLC, in collaboration with The Cloudburst

Group for the United States Agency for International Development. It was developed under the USAID

Contract Number AID-OAA-TO-13-00019, Evaluation, Research and Communication (ERC) Task

Order, under the Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR) IQC No. AID-OAA-I-12-00030.

ERC is implemented by:

The Cloudburst Group

8400 Corporate Drive, Suite 550

Landover, MD 20785-2238

Investor Survey on Land Rights Research and Sampling Design (Final)

OCTOBER 2017

DISCLAIMER

The authors' views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States

Agency for International Development or the United States Government.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) i

CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 1

2. SURVEY SCOPE .................................................................................................................... 3

3. SAMPLING METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................ 6

4. DATA COLLECTION METHODS ...................................................................................... 8

IDENTIFY POTENTIAL RESPONDENTS ........................................................................................................... 8

COLLECT CONTACT INFORMATION .......................................................................................................... 11

SURVEY 1 - MASSIVE OUTREACH .................................................................................................................... 11

SURVEY 2 - TARGETED OUTREACH .............................................................................................................. 13

CASE STUDY ............................................................................................................................................................ 14

5. CONFIDENTIALITY AND INCENTIVES FOR PARTICIPATION ............................... 15

CONFIDENTIALITY AND SURVEY BRANDING.......................................................................................... 15

DATA MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY ........................................................................................................ 15

INCENTIVES FOR COMPANIES AND INVESTORS TO RESPOND ....................................................... 15

6. ESTIMATED RESULTS ....................................................................................................... 17

RESPONSE RATE ..................................................................................................................................................... 17

DATA CLEANING AND FINAL DATASET .................................................................................................... 18

ANALYZING THE RESULTS ................................................................................................................................ 19

7. TIMELINE ............................................................................................................................. 21

8. ANNEX 1 SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE COMPONENTS ............................................. 22

9. ANNEX 2 COVER PAGE OF SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE ........................................... 24

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 1

1. INTRODUCTION

Given that at least 93% of concessions in emerging markets are inhabited,1 a substantial increase in disputes

with local communities or indigenous groups over land and resource rights in sectors like mining, energy,

forestry, and agriculture have been witnessed in recent years as land-based investments grow.2 Land

disputes between companies/investors and communities can lead to rights abuses, displacement and food

insecurity for communities. For companies and investors, disputes may lead to construction delays,

interruptions of operations, compensation payments, and/or other additional indirect operating costs.

Despite the best practice guides produced by early movers like USAID, FAO, Rights and Resources Group,

and the Interlaken Group,3 private sector actors call for quantitative information to support investment

decision making and to better understand the complexity of tenure risks. Donors are also increasingly

interested in understanding how land tenure risks are perceived by the private sector and what can be

done to find win-win solutions in areas with weak land governance.

The Investor Survey on Land Rights (“Land Investor Survey”) is a research project conducted by Indufor

North America LLC, managed by the Cloudburst Group, and initiated by USAID.4 The purpose of this

voluntary investor survey is to document and analyze perceptions and practices of investors (with a focus

on US investors with land-based projects) regarding risks related to land tenure and property rights. The

project will produce data and analysis for use by US and other global investors, donors such as USAID,

civil society, and governments. The detailed topics covered by this survey include:

1. Basic organizational information of respondents

2. Perceived importance of land and resource rights in making investment decisions

3. Companies’/investors’ approaches to measuring land tenure and resource-related risks

4. Land-based investments considered but not undertaken in the last five years

5. Land-based investments undertaken in the last five years

6. Risk mitigation strategies for issues related to land and resource rights

7. Case studies of successful land-based investments

8. Perceived benefits among companies/investors from the survey results

This research and survey design component outlines the detailed methodology that will be used to conduct

the survey. The survey aims to include as many US companies and investors as possible, maximize the

number of respondents, ensure feasibility and efficiency, and consider future replicability. With the defined

survey scope, the Project Team proposes sampling methodology and data collection methods with

justification for their selection. The survey design takes into account the confidentiality of information and

situations that respondents may be hesitant to disclose, such as financial or other quantitative information.

1 The Munden Project, 2014, Communities as Counterparties: Preliminary Review of Concessions and Conflict in Emerging and

Frontier Market Concessions. 2 The Munden Project, 2016, IAN: Managing Tenure Risk. 3 Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests; the Principles for Responsible

Agricultural Investment; the Interlaken Group Guide for Respecting Land and Forest Rights; USAID Operational Guidelines for

Responsible Land-Based Investment; as well as the Analytical Framework for Land-based Investments in African Agriculture that

was released by Grow Africa and the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition. 4 The survey is designed to be replicable. This first version of the survey could be referred to as the First Biannual Investor

Survey on Land Rights.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 2

Data management and information security approaches ensure that the final responses are presented

anonymously and analyzed in aggregate form only.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 3

2. SURVEY SCOPE

Existing databases related to land tenure and resource rights focus on cataloguing information related to

geographic area under various forms of tenure and land transactions. Currently, no comparable dataset

exists on investor perceptions of tenure risks and mitigation measures since land tenure risk encompasses

a broad range of factors that are unlikely to be fully addressed by limited elements or indicators. In

addition, global data on elements affecting tenure risks are scarce, likely because aggregating variables

spatially is complex and costly.

While global datasets on land ownership and deals can reveal patterns and trends, national- or regional-

level tenure risk assessments that cover broader geographies may mask nuances at the project level.

Quantitative project-level information and investor perceptions are largely missing from existing datasets.

For private sector investors, having such context- or site-specific data would be more practical, and could

better advise them on potential land-based investments.

TABLE 1 EXISTING DATABASES RELATED TO LAND TENURE AND LAND

INVESTMENTS

Database

Knowledge Gap

Geography Tenure coverage

LandMark5 Global dataset Community and indigenous tenure

RRI Tenure Data and Tool6 Global dataset Forest tenure

Index of Economic Freedom7 Global dataset Property rights

USAID and ARD Inc’s Land

Tenure and Property Rights

country ranking8

85 countries Comprehensive land tenure security

elements

PRIndex9 129 countries Physical and intellectual property

rights

Land Matrix10 Global dataset Large-scale land acquisitions

Open Land Contracts11 14 countries Agriculture and forestry tenure

5 LandMark: http://www.landmarkmap.org 6 RRI, Tenure Data and Tool: http://rightsandresources.org/en/work-impact/tenure-data-tool/#.WWbXbumQxPY 7 The Heritage Foundation, Index of Economic Freedom: http://www.heritage.org/index/about 8 USAID, Country Ranking of Land Tenure and Property Rights: https://rmportal.net/library/content/land-tenure-and-property-

rights-documents/land-tenure-and-property-rights-volume-3-country-ranking-and-issues-maps/view 9 PRIndex: http://www.prindex.net/about 10 Land Matrix: http://www.landmatrix.org 11 Open Land Contracts: http://openlandcontracts.org

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 4

Resource Contracts12 90 countries Petroleum and mineral tenure

The Land Investor Survey project is intended to fill this gap by establishing and analyzing a database on

private sector perceptions of land tenure risks with quantified direct and indirect costs. The project will

reach out to potential survey respondents that might have land-based investments by facilitating two

phases of data collection. First, Survey 1 will be used to identify qualified companies or investors that meet

the general screening criteria. Outreach during a second phase (Survey 2) will primarily target the

agriculture, forestry and energy sectors with companies or investors that have domestic or foreign land-

based investments (See Figure 1).

FIGURE 1 SURVEY SEQUENCE

Due to the scarcity of existing information, the survey will include as many US companies/investors as

possible. Other companies/investors are welcome to participate in this survey. In sum, the main criteria

applied for the typology of respondents are the following:

1. Active companies/investors with recent land-based investments

Companies/investors must have at least one investment or project that is either (1) currently ongoing, (2)

planned to begin within the next 1 year, (3) rejected within the last 5 years, or that (4) closed out within

the last 5 years. The investment or project in a developed or developing country must involve the use or

acquisition of land.

2. Direct investors

Companies and investors with land-based investments and whose ownership stake is large enough (at least

10 percent ownership in a qualified land-based investment) to influence operational decisions will be

considered as qualified respondents.

3. Companies/investors with a sectoral focus on agriculture, forestry or energy

The potential respondents for targeted outreach could include agricultural producers or processors,

timber harvest operators, paper and pulp companies, as well as impact investment funds, institutional

investors, private equity investors, etc., as long as they are actively involved in land-based investments in

the agriculture, forestry, and/or energy (with a focus on renewable energy) sector. Land-based investments

in other sectors (e.g. water, mining) will not be included in the targeted outreach for this first Land Investor

Survey. They might be included in future replicated surveys if significant demand is identified.

4. Companies/investors ranging in size, country headquarters, and public or private ownership

12 Resource Contracts: http://www.resourcecontracts.org

Preparation

Survey 1

• Massive outreach

• Short questionnaire

• Screens for Survey 2

Survey 2

• Targeted outreach

• Detailed questionnaire

• Phone/email follow-up

Response Aggregation and Data Cleaning

Data Analysis

Case StudyFinal

Analytical Report

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 5

The survey will aim to include a range of company types from global multi-national companies to smaller

domestic companies (see Table 4 for examples). The survey will include both publicly-listed and privately-

owned companies.

5. Companies/investors ranging from corporate level to subsidiary level

Given their operational footprints and compliance requirements, large multi-national conglomerates with

subsidiaries will be an important subset of potential respondents. However, the corporate-level

perceptions and policies regarding land-based investments might be different from those at a subsidiary

level, which are more likely to adapt to local laws and culture. The survey will include both types of actors

in the target base of respondents to allow us to compare and contrast between the two groups. The

survey will include questions to identify the role of individuals answering the questionnaire and whether

their answers represent corporate or subsidiary views.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 6

3. SAMPLING METHODOLOGY

The purpose of sampling is to pull a smaller subset (i.e. sample) of the larger whole (i.e. population) to

represent the population from which the sample is drawn. There are two broad ways to draw a sample

for a survey: probability sampling and non-probability sampling. For probability sampling, a full list of the

population is required for randomly drawing samples. In the context of this survey, a list of all

companies/investors that have recent land-based investments in energy, forestry and agriculture sectors

does not exist. Thus, a non-probability sampling approach will be used for this survey while aiming to

maximize the number of respondents.

Unlike probability sampling methods, non-probability sampling does not permit the computation of a

margin of sampling error, which means it is impossible to assign a probability of selection to the members

of the population. The relationship between the sample and the population is uncertain. However, non-

probability sampling methods are used extensively in circumstances in which revealing key information to

understand complex social phenomena through the survey is prioritized over achieving a known degree

of accuracy. Given the lack of existing datasets, this survey will rely on convenience and/or purposive

sampling to research the behaviors and perceptions of companies/investors with land-based investments

regarding land tenure issues.

Most of the debate about non-probability sampling comes from opt-in panels, when

respondents/participants can volunteer to be a part of the panel or are recruited from a variety of sources

that collectively do not represent the entire population. Sample matching and data weighting is possible

to mitigate this type of bias, but may also generate other types of bias. In addition, the respondents

recruited might be used in subsequent surveys to select them for inclusion or to weigh the results, which

may lead to oversampling and substantial sample selection bias during analysis.

Given the sensitivity of information and the level of disclosure required by the survey, other biases may

exist in the final dataset:

• Self-selection bias arises in any situation where individuals select themselves into a group, causing a

biased sample. In the context of this survey, some respondents that do not have recent land-based

investments in the agriculture, forestry, or energy sectors may choose to complete the survey, which

may potentially bias the response. This is mitigated in part through the initial survey which will screen

out respondents based on whether they have considered, undertaken, or closed projects within the

past five years.

• Non-response bias arises if the answers of respondents differ from the potential answers of those

who do not answer. In the context of this survey, respondents with successful land-based investments

tend to be more willing to answer questions, which may lead to positive outcome bias.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 7

• Response bias refers to a range of cognitive human behavior bias that drive respondents away from

reporting accurate or truthful information. In the context of this survey, respondents might positively

or negatively exaggerate the success or loss of their land-based investments.

The biases listed above cannot be thoroughly eliminated through technical approaches. Indufor, project

partners, and other analysts using the dataset should be aware of these limitations and assumptions when

analyzing this dataset and generating findings.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 8

4. DATA COLLECTION METHODS

FIGURE 2 DATA COLLECTION PROCESS

IDENTIFY POTENTIAL RESPONDENTS Based on existing databases (Table 2) including the Indufor internal database, investment databases of

development banks, third-party project databases, sector-specific databases, land contracts database, and

information from environmental-related initiatives and associations (Table 3), the Project Team will first

compile a list of potential respondents that might have land-based investments and are willing to respond

to the survey.

Considering the respondents’ incentives to participate in the survey, companies/investors that have had

prior land acquisition disputes/conflicts could be interested in securing land tenure and mitigating tenure

issues when making investments. Members of environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and

associations are more likely to have key persons that can represent the organization on tenure-related

issues encountered in land-based investments.

TABLE 2 EXISTING DATABASES FOR IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL

RESPONDENTS

Database

Level of information

(company/investor or

project)

Sector Estimated number

of companies13

Indufor internal dataset Company/investor Land, forestry,

agriculture 2,530

Fledge Investor Database14 Company/investor Land, forestry,

agriculture, energy 1,238

13 Numbers as of Aug 18, 2017. 14 Fledge - A database of investors: http://fledge.co/about/investor-database/

Identify potential

respondents

Collect contact

information

Survey 1 –Massive outreach

Survey 2 –Targeted outreach

Case study

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 9

Open Development Mekong Project Land, forestry,

agriculture 308

IFC Investment Database15 Project

Land, forestry,

agriculture, energy,

mining

3,128

Oildex16 Company/investor Land, oil and gas 168

Land Matrix17 Project Land, forestry,

agriculture 1,138

Open Land Contracts18 Project Land, forestry,

agriculture 119

Resource Contracts19 Project Mining 941

Thomson Reuters Eikon

Database20 Company/investor

Land, forestry,

agriculture, mining 10,508

EJAtlas21 Project

Land, forestry,

agriculture, energy,

mining

2,199

World Bank Private

Participation in Renewable

Energy Database22

Project Renewable energy 311

TABLE 3 EXISTING INITIATIVES AND ASSOCIATIONS FOR IDENTIFYING

POTENTIAL RESPONDENTS

Initiatives and associations Estimated number of

companies/investors23

Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)24 1,775

Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)25 802

Development Finance Institutions (DFI)26 16

Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC)27 141

International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN)28 274

15 IFC Investment Services Projects: https://finances.worldbank.org/Projects/IFC-Investment-Services-Projects/efin-cagm/data 16 Oildex: https://www.oildex.com/resources/directory/oil-and-gas-companies/#integrated 17 Land Matrix - an online public database on land deals: http://www.landmatrix.org/en/ 18 Open Land Contracts: http://openlandcontracts.org/ 19 Resource Contacts: http://www.resourcecontracts.org/ 20 Thomson Reuters Eikon: https://financial.thomsonreuters.com/en/products/tools-applications/trading-investment-tools/eikon-

trading-software.html 21 Environmental Justice Atlas: http://ejatlas.org/ 22 WB Private Participation in Renewable Energy Database: http://ppi-re.worldbank.org/data 23 Numbers are extracted on Aug 28, 2017. 24 Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI): https://www.unpri.org/directory/ 25 Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP): https://www.cdp.net/en/investor/signatories-and-

members?anchor=st_member__block_section&authority_type=Signatory&page=1&per_page=all 26 Development Finance Institutions (DFI): http://www.oecd.org/dac/stats/development-finance-institutions-private-sector-

development.htm 27 Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC): http://www.iigcc.org/files/uploaded-

files/IIGCC_Membership_List_June_2017.pdf 28 International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN): https://www.icgn.org/members/our-members

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 10

Investor Group on Climate Change (IGCC)29 60

Interfaith Cent er on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR)30 215

Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR)31 118

United Nations Environmental Program Finance Initiative

(UNEPFI)32 217

Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk and Sustainability

(Ceres)33 136

Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO)34 1,301

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)35 10,406 certified

Interlaken Group36 23

Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN)37 249

Table 4 shows a sample of potential respondents included in the survey process. These respondents

primarily fit into the sectors of agriculture, forestry, energy or investment in capital and are across all

levels of operation, from public multinational corporations to privately owned local companies or

foundations.

TABLE 4 EXAMPLE RESPONDENTS INCLUDED IN THE EMAIL COLLECTION

PROCESS

Company

Type

Operators Investors/Financiers

Agriculture Forestry Energy

Public38

Global Unilever39 Stora Enso40 Ameresco41 AXA42

Private43

Global Mars44 Georgia Pacific45 Arion Energy46 TIAA47

29 Investor Group on Climate Change, Australia/New Zealand (IGCC): https://igcc.org.au/our-members/ 30 Interfaith Cent er on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR): http://www.iccr.org/membership/iccr-members 31 Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR):

http://climateinitiativesplatform.org/index.php/Investor_Network_on_Climate_Risk_(INCR) 32 United Nations Environmental Program Finance Initiative (UNEPFI): http://www.unepfi.org/members/ 33 Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk and Sustainability (Ceres): https://www.ceres.org/networks 34 Roundtable for Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO): http://www.rspo.org/members/all 35 Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): https://info.fsc.org/certificate.php#result 36 Interlaken Group: http://www.interlakengroup.org/about 37 Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN): https://thegiin.org/current-members 38 Refers to companies listed on stock exchanges. 39 Unilever: https://www.unilever.com/ 40 Stora Enso: http://www.storaenso.com/ 41 Ameresco: http://www.ameresco.com/ 42 AXA: https://group.axa.com/ 43 Refers to privately-held companies, i.e. that are not listed on an exchange. 44 Mars Inc.: http://www.mars.com/global/home 45 Georgia Pacific: https://www.gp.com/ 46 Arion Energy: http://arionenergy.com/ 47 TIAA-CREF: https://www.tiaa.org/public

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 11

Public

Regional Illovo Sugar48 Sappi49

Enviva

Partners50

China Overseas

Holdings Limited51

Private

Regional

Triton Logging

Brasil Ltda.52 New Forests Company53 Impsa54 ACRE Africa55

Public

National Alico Inc.56 Fibria57

NextEra Energy 58

Ping An Insurance

Group59

Private

National

Halydean

Corporation60 SAFCOL61

Forest Energy

Corporation62

American Farm

Investors63

Private Local Companhia do

Vandúzi64 Trout Mountain Forestry65

Zilkha Biomass

Energy66

High Net Worth

Individual or SME

lenders

COLLECT CONTACT INFORMATION The Project Team estimates there will be approximately 30,000 companies/investors in total that have

land-based investments, after removing duplicates from the different databases above. We then estimate

the likely number of companies/investors that have investments in relevant geographies and sectors, and

for which we can secure contact information based on previous survey experience at approximately 5-

10% of the total, accounting for 1,500-3,000, companies/investors.

Rather than collecting general organizational contact information (i.e. admin email address), the research

team will prioritize collecting contact information of specific and relevant individuals who likely understand

the context of land-based investments and can speak as a representative of the organization. The key

individuals in the organization could include, but are not limited to Chairperson, Chief Executive Officer,

Chief Investment Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Risk Officer, ESG/Sustainability Officer,

Responsible Investment Officer, and Head of Due Diligence. We will also reach out to junior personnel if

the contact information of a senior person is not available.

SURVEY 1 - MASSIVE OUTREACH

48 Illovo Sugar: https://www.illovosugarafrica.com/home 49 Sappi: https://www.sappi.com/ 50 Enviva Partners: http://www.envivapartners.com/ 51 China Overseas Holding: http://www.cohl.com/en/ 52 Triton Logging Brasil Ltda: http://tritontimber.com/ 53 New Forests Company: http://newforests.net/ 54 Impsa: http://www.impsa.com/es/SitePages/IMPSA.aspx 55 ACRE Africa: https://acreafrica.com/ 56 Alico Inc.: http://www.alicoinc.com/ 57 Fibria: http://www.fibria.com.br 58 NextEra Energy: http://www.nexteraenergy.com/ 59 Ping An Insurance Group: http://www.pingan.cn/en/index.shtml 60 Halydean Corporation: http://www.halydean.com/index.php/en/ 61 SAFCOL: http://www.safcol.co.za/ 62 Foresty Energy Corporation: http://forestenergy.com/ 63 American Farm Investors: http://americanfarminvestors.com/index.php 64 Companhia do Vandúzi: http://www.gatsby.org.uk/africa/programmes/aquifer-limited 65 Trout Mountain Forestry: http://troutmountain.com/ 66 Zilkha Biomass Energy: http://zilkha.com/

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 12

Based on preliminary research on similar surveys and their methodologies, the Project Team believes that

a long questionnaire for collecting detailed data is not suitable for massive outreach, and would result in

a lower response rate. The trade-offs between response rate and detailed data collection need to be well

balanced during the data collection process. In addition, to lower the survey costs, screening out the

ineligible companies/investors should be completed before conducting the full version of the survey.

For these two purposes, the Team suggests a two-step survey approach (See Table 5) to allocate

resources efficiently. All questions will be closed-ended because they need to be coded to produce a clean

dataset. The questionnaires will be pre-tested with three Indufor experts to ensure that questions are

easily understood and provide the respondent with enough information to make accurate responses in a

short amount of time.

TABLE 5 SURVEY STEPS AND MODES

Steps Survey mode67

1. Massive outreach Web survey through email invitations

2. Targeted outreach Web survey plus scheduled phone and email

interviews

All data collection will be desk-based. In addition to surveying companies and investors based in the United

States and other English-speaking countries, Indufor can survey companies and investors in Mandarin

Chinese, Cantonese Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Russian. A second and/or third

language would need to be finalized later once priority countries are determined given the time needed

to translate the initial English version of the survey into other languages and incorporating those into the

survey platform.

Once the Team has the contact information, it will invite all identified investors and companies to the

survey via email. Survey 1 is aimed at selecting qualified respondents and collecting basic data, and will

include 10 preliminary screening questions selected from Annex 1 (provided by USAID), e.g. organizational

information (including contact information that can be used for the phone interviews in the second step),

investment sectors, and whether the respondent has recently made or considered land-based investments.

See Survey Questionnaire for more details.

The Project Team will use Constant Contact68 as the email outreach platform. The platform can be used

to manage the contact list, send emails to the contact list with a set time, and track responses in real time.

Constant Contact enables efficient and standardized email outreach to a large number of companies and

investors, and can be used to determine which contacts have bounced or have in fact opened the relevant

email. This information can be used to refine the follow-up strategy. Template emails will be drafted to

67 The choice of mode can affect who can be interviewed in the survey, the availability of an effective way to sample people in

the population, how people can be contacted and selected to be respondents, and who responds to the survey. In addition,

factors related to the mode, such as the presence of an interviewer and whether information is communicated aurally or

visually, can influence how people respond. 68 Constant Contact platform: https://www.constantcontact.com/index.jsp

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 13

guide interactions with companies and investors, emphasizing sensitivity to any confidential information,

as well as special industry and culturally-specific considerations for certain respondents.

In addition to direct outreach by email through Constant Contact, the Project Team will disseminate the

survey through relevant listservs. For example, IISD listservs: Land-L, Forests-L, Energy-L, AfricaSD-L,

AsiaPacificSD-L, and LARC-L.

As for the online survey platform, we will use SurveyMonkey69 to collect data. SurveyMonkey offers

features comparable to those of other survey platforms such as SurveyGizmo, but has overall higher

customer satisfaction. The Premier level service can provide more advanced survey logic (including piping,

block randomization, and quotas), customizable survey layout and branding with the ability to drop the

SurveyMonkey logo, and a customizable domain link. The Premier level accommodates an unlimited

number of respondents, and allows filtering of results by level of completeness, time period, and

respondent metadata. It provides basic statistical summaries of the results by question, with flexibility to

cut the data in certain ways, for example enabling comparison of results from respondents from different

geographies or sectors. The data can be easily exported for more in-depth analysis using statistical

software. The online survey platform will be used for both Survey 1 and Survey 2 for consistently recording

information and tracking statistics.

Coordination on the timing of email blasts will be implemented prior to the massive outreach process.

Multiple attempts will be made to each contact to complete the web survey. Respondents will be able to

log back in to complete the same survey if it takes more than one sitting. The survey invitations will be

sent through emails over different times of a day and days of a week to maximize the chances of receiving

complete responses. An extra email follow-up will be made to respondents if the survey is started but not

completed. The Team will also be available to answer any questions regarding the survey through email

to increase the number of completed surveys.

SURVEY 2 - TARGETED OUTREACH With an updated organization contact list, the Project Team will reach out to investors and companies

that meet key criteria (see Section 2) from the short survey (Survey 1), using in-depth survey methods.

Survey 2 will be available to fill out online with the ability for respondents to log back in as needed until

they have fully completed the survey. By having respondents fill it out online as opposed to emailing in a

copy ensures that any data that is entered by respondents, even if incomplete, is accessible by the Project

Team.

Survey 2 will be used to collect the detailed data listed in the Annex subject to the proposed modifications.

Survey Questionnaire includes a detailed questionnaire for the second survey. Initial outreach will be

followed by individual outreach to relevant organizational representatives who have not yet responded or

who have only partially completed the survey. If they have not responded, a personalized email will be

sent to remind respondents to complete the survey. If a phone interview is required by the respondent,

the Team will set up a time with the respondent and complete Survey 2 via a phone call. A follow-up

phone call will be made if the interview was interrupted or the respondent needs to dig/validate data

points.

Prior to phone interviews, the Project Team will hold a training session with Indufor’s team of surveyors

to standardize the approach to data collection. In addition to timing coordination and interview language

69 SurveyMonkey platform: https://www.surveymonkey.com/

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 14

guidance, surveyors should be familiar with all survey questions to ensure the ability to troubleshoot any

questions with companies/investors, provide basic quality control on answers, and prioritize certain survey

questions if respondents are only willing to respond to some.

Team members in the United States, Finland, and New Zealand will conduct phone calls to survey

respondents across two or three different time zones to efficiently contact companies/investors in

different regions during reasonable office hours.

The organizational information section of the survey will provide two fields for respondents to fill in their

landline number and work phone number. This will help provide more options to follow up by phone.

When calling, surveyors will politely ask if it is a convenient time for the respondent to take a phone call

and provide an estimated amount of time for the call before starting the phone interview.

CASE STUDY At the end of Survey 2, each respondent will be asked if the company/investor is willing to be presented

as a case study and included in the final report. Some respondents will be selected for a separate phone

interview with a list of open-ended questions, aiming to achieve more organization-level perceptions about

land tenure issues or risks, as well as project-level successful stories of responsible land-based investments

with details.

Prior to conducting the case study interview, the Project Team will conduct background research on the

respondent to inform semi-structured interview questions, which may include, but are not limited to, the

following topics:

1. Brief history of the company/investor in the area

2. Experience dealing with greenfield or brownfield investments

3. Supply chain or portfolio of the company/investor

4. Key land issues faced

5. Internal actions to manage land tenure risks

6. On-the-ground actions to manage land tenure risks

7. Key lessons

The Project Team understands that data validation might be challenging. However, companies/investors

participating in case studies will be required to share documentation to validate the data they provide. A

Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) between Indufor and the respondent will be signed before conducting

case study interviews. Assurances will be made to companies/investors that internal documents would

not be shared beyond the Project Team at any time.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 15

5. CONFIDENTIALITY AND INCENTIVES FOR PARTICIPATION

CONFIDENTIALITY AND SURVEY BRANDING Given that many annual surveys in the land-based sectors compete for the time of companies and

investors, it will be necessary to be strategic about representing the survey during outreach. For example,

we will cite affiliation with USAID, Cloudburst, Indufor, or a third party. To the extent that the survey is

affiliated with the US government, it could raise some red flags with certain respondents who may be

concerned about disclosure to the US government.

Based on discussions with Cloudburst and USAID, the survey will be branded as “Implemented by Indufor

on behalf of USAID” to maximize the number of US respondents.70 We propose to name the survey the

“First Biannual Investor Survey on Land Rights”, or “Land Investor Survey” for short. In addition, the Team

will clearly state that this survey is a research project funded by USAID for the public good on the cover

page of each questionnaire and at the start of each phone interview. The data collected will only be used

in an aggregate form (e.g. aggregated by region), with all identifiable information removed. The original

dataset will not be shared beyond the Project Team. However, it is possible that the dataset (with all

identifiable information removed) will be transferred to a future Project Team for subsequent editions of

this survey. Only the aggregate dataset containing no identifiable information will be shared with USAID

and Cloudburst. See Annex 2 for more details about the survey branding.

DATA MANAGEMENT AND SECURITY The Project Team understands the sensitivity of the data being requested from survey respondents.

Indufor routinely uses SharePoint for file sharing between clients and project teams. SharePoint is

password protected and encrypted. Only project team members will have access to the data.

In addition to using the SurveyMonkey platform, team members are likely to conduct telephone interviews

with respondents. A security and confidentiality protocol will be developed to ensure confidentiality of

the survey information. A coding system will be used to ensure an extra layer of data security. For example,

each respondent will be given a unique identifier that contains no other identifiable information. All survey

notes will be saved in the SharePoint folder and no notes will be saved locally.

INCENTIVES FOR COMPANIES AND INVESTORS TO RESPOND

70 Should other possible project partners wish to co-brand the survey, Indufor is ready to do so (e.g. GIIN).

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 16

Various incentives could be used to increase the response rate. However, stronger incentives would likely

increase the positive bias of those companies and investors who choose to respond. Different levels of

incentives are provided across the data collection process:

• Respondents could choose to include their names at the end of the report in a directory of companies

that have participated, which could be a small form of publicity. The data that they provide would still

be kept anonymous and only reported in aggregate form.

• A high-quality report will be shared to all respondents that have participated in any step of the survey.

The report will provide key insights into investor and corporate behavior on managing land tenure

issues, which would be a good resource for participating companies/investors who care about land

tenure issues.

• A few companies/investors (especially those with case studies) will be invited to attend the launch event

and speak at the public release of the report. The companies/investors invited to speak would be

carefully screened based on how compelling their data and management of land tenure risks are, rather

than randomly selecting participants in the survey.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 17

6. ESTIMATED RESULTS

RESPONSE RATE The response rate defined here is the percentage of companies/investors contacted for which a completed

survey being obtained. The survey aims to contact as many US companies/investors as possible, and

maximize the number of completed surveys with qualified respondents, as well as maximizing the response

rate. There will be two response rates for each step of the survey. For simplicity, we are using a single

estimated response rate to approximate the number of completed surveys at the end of the second step.

𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 = 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑦𝑠

𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑠/𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑

As described in Section 4.2, we collected information from publicly-listed companies and other datasets

to approximate the total number of companies possible to contact for the survey. The total of

approximately 30,000 companies/investors (12,000 public and 18,000 private) would be the maximum

number of companies in the set. We then estimated the likely number of companies that are geographic

and sector relevant (e.g., land-based investments in energy, forestry and agriculture) and for which we can

secure contact information based on previous survey experience at approximately 5-10% (i.e. 1,500-3,000

potential respondents).

To estimate the response rate, we examined the number of publicly-listed companies with CSR

committees, which is approximately 3% of all publicly-listed companies.71 We expect higher response rates

from the other datasets, which reflect some positive bias in the company’s operations or values based on

their interest in environmental and social sustainability. We estimate a range of 5 – 15% response rate72

for privately-owned companies/investors. We therefore established a range of approximately 60 – 300

completed responses for Survey 2.

In addition to the response rate, the Project Team will keep track of other monitoring and evaluation

indicators for this survey and report periodically. The indicators will include:

1. Number of contacts in the original contact list

2. Number of responses to Survey 1

3. Number of follow-up contacts during Survey1

4. Number of completed surveys during Survey 1

5. Number of qualified firms contacted for Survey 2 (targets by criteria listed in Section 2)

6. Number of email or phone interviews conducted for Survey 2

7. Number of completed surveys during Survey 2

8. Number of case studies

71 Thomson Reuters Eikon. Data extracted on Oct 7, 2016. 72 Response rates for Pew Research polls typically range from 5% to 15%. http://www.pewresearch.org/methodology/u-s-

survey-research/our-survey-methodology-in-detail/

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 18

FIGURE 3 ESTIMATING THE NUMBER OF COMPLETED SURVEYS 1 AND 2

DATA CLEANING AND FINAL DATASET Once raw data are collected, the Project Team will use analytical software (e.g. R, Stata, SAS) to perform

data cleaning to avoid human error. Given that it is not possible to fully match respondents from Surveys

1 and 2, the two datasets (collected from the two questionnaires) will be kept and cleaned separately. The

data cleaning process will be used to check validity, accuracy, completeness, consistency and uniformity

of data, according to the following procedure:

• Code categorical and dummy variables and produce a corresponding codebook;

• Clean duplicate cases, match respondent names, and validate data if there is a conflict;

• Label missing or incorrect data points and verify the reason for their existence. If the data was not input

or coded correctly, it could be recaptured. If the data is not known, efforts at recollecting data should

be made to complete the record. If recollecting data is not possible, the missing field needs to be filled

with a valid value (e.g. 99);

• Check the number of validated entries within each category (e.g. size of company/investor, size of

project, project location, company location) to ensure the analysis based on the aggregate version of

the datasets is not oversampling;

• Remove all potentially identifiable characteristics (i.e. organizational info) of all respondents to keep

confidentiality. Aggregate the responses by country or region for submitting to USAID and Cloudburst.

In the aggregate results, averages or aggregate figures for any countries with fewer than three data

points should be removed.

• Check the cleaned aggregate dataset and ensure it complies with the data cleaning standards provided

by USAID.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 19

The proposed original dataset format (Table 6) is designed to be easily used for further statistical data

analysis. Given that each respondent might have multiple land-based investments and a list of variables are

required to be captured for each investment, each row would represent one land-based

investment/project. One respondent could appear in multiple rows with the same company/investor-level

information and different project-level information. Columns will be the list of variables captured in the

questionnaires.

TABLE 6 PROPOSED DATASET FORMAT

Entries Company/investor-level information Project-level information

Variable 1 Variable 2 … Variable 1 Variable 2 …

1 Company 1 Company 1 Company 1 Project 1 Project 1 Project 1

2 Company 1 Company 1 Company 1 Project 2 Project 2 Project 2

3 Company 1 Company 1 Company 1 Project 2 Project 3 Project 3

… … …

X Company 2 Company 2 Company 2 Project 1 Project 1 Project 1

… … …

Removing identifiable information and aggregating responses by the locations of respondents (e.g. country

or region), the aggregate dataset will be in the format of Table 7. Each row will include aggregate results

from the companies and investors in the region or country.

TABLE 7 AGGREGATE DATASET FORMAT

Entries Company/investor-level information Project-level information

Variable 1 Variable 2 … Variable 1 Variable 2 …

1 Region/Country 1

2 Region/Country 2

3 Region/Country 3

… …

X Region/Country X

… …

ANALYZING THE RESULTS Using a fully cleaned aggregate dataset, the Project Team will perform data analysis and data visualization

with software (e.g. R, Tableau). A findings report will then be produced based on the final data with major

topics including:

• Survey purpose, scope and methodology

• Basic organizational information of respondents:

– Number of completed answers in Survey 1 and Survey 2

– Respondent characteristics

• Annual turnover

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 20

• Organization type

• Sector

• General perception of land and resource rights by the private sector:

– Type of investment risks that are most important

– Importance of land and resource rights to the respondent

– Trends in land and resource risks over time

– Major concerns regarding land and resource rights

• Key findings on land-based investments and risks:

– Geographic distinctions in land-based investments

– Magnitude of losses due to insecure land tenure

– Frequency of land tenure disputes by investor type, sector or scale

– Sectoral differences: agriculture, forestry, energy

• Challenges faced by private sector on land disputes

– Types of actions taken to prevent or resolve disputes

– Due diligence procedures

– Risk mitigation strategies that are most and least useful

• Case studies to be decided and dependent on the data collection results will highlight examples of

company strategies to resolve land tenure disputes or promote better land governance and the results.

For geographic analysis, any countries with fewer than three data points will be excluded from the analysis

to ensure confidentiality. The Project Team will share a fully cleaned dataset in aggregate form with no

identifiable information, a codebook (metadata including descriptions of variables), and a final finding

report with USAID.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 21

7. TIMELINE

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 22

8. ANNEX 1 SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRE COMPONENTS PROVIDED IN USAID RFP

These questionnaire components can be modified and expanded upon the suggestions of the

Subcontractor, and with review by Cloudburst.

1. Basic demographic

info

Name

Position

Company

Location of headquarters

Sector(s) company focuses on Investor approach (e.g., private equity,

social impact investor, producer, processor, etc. [check all that apply])

Value of company

2. Importance of land

and resource rights

overall

Please rank your top 5-10 investment risks in order of important.

How important are land and resource (l/r) rights to your investments?

(sliding scale response)

Has this increased or decreased over time?

Any countries or geographies you tend to avoid due to land and resource

tenure concerns?

3. Measuring

land/resource risks

Do you quantify land/resource risks in your pro formas? E.g., use a higher

discount rate if risks are present (and how do you determine the rate),

have a separate budget line for possible costs associated with l/r risks (if

so, please explain)

How else do you include land/resource risks in your due diligence or

project assessment phase?

4. Projects considered

but NOT

UNDERTAKEN

Please list all projects considered but not undertaken in past 2 years

including:

Country(ies)

Sector

Value of investment by your firm

Were land/resource tenure issues (a) main reason, (b) minor reason, (c)

not a reason, for not investing?

5. Investments

UNDERTAKEN in

last 2 years

Please list all projects undertaken/closed in past 2 years including:

Country(ies)

Sector

Value of investment by your firm

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 23

Whether the project has been impeded (i.e., additional consultations

needed, work stoppages, formal complaints, property damage, etc.) by l/r

tenure issues, including (as possible):

-The extent of that impediment (the length of the delay or time until the

project was abandoned);

-The associated costs (e.g., opportunity costs, sunk costs, legal costs,

quantifiable reputational costs, etc.);

-The extent to which due diligence on l/r tenure issues was completed

before the project started, etc.;

-Attempts to correct course and address l/r issues, including successes or

failures;

-The location of such projects.

6. Mitigating

land/resource risks

Please list your main strategies to reduce land and resource tenure risks

(e.g., focus on brownfield versus greenfield investments, undertake

community consultation, review formal land documents, engage local

counsel, etc.)

7. Case studies of

successful land-based

investments

Please describe in detail any/all investments made in the last 2 years in

which you have mitigated l/r risks and/or shared benefits for local

communities. These mitigation efforts may have included robust due

diligence processes to understand l/r issues, consideration of women and

other vulnerable groups in negotiations, creation of revenue, equity

and/or other benefit-sharing arrangements with legitimate landholders,

etc.

8. Survey results Do you anticipate that the results of the survey will allow you to more

accurately and quantifiably calculate the l/r risks and costs in future

investments?

How else do you anticipate benefitting from the results of this survey?

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 24

9. ANNEX 2 COVER PAGE OF SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE

Investor Survey on Land Rights I

Thank you for agreeing to participate in the first Investor Survey on Land Rights (“Land Investor Survey”),

which is being conducted to attain a better understanding of how land tenure risks are considered and

mitigated in agriculture, forestry, and energy (with a focus on renewable energy) projects in the private

sector. Following data collection and analysis, a publicly available report will be prepared adhering to the

confidentiality practices noted below. While not required in order to participate in the survey,

respondents will have the opportunity to have their names featured in the report if they wish.

Instructions:

• This survey is expected to take XX minutes.

• You can save your progress and log back in later.

• Ranges are provided as response options for some questions to avoid revealing any potentially

compromising or confidential information.

• It may be helpful to review the questions first to gather any information and data needed to

respond.

• We will follow up with companies that meet the criteria to complete a more detailed

questionnaire.

Use and confidentiality of your data:

• A dedicated and fire-walled team at Indufor will remove any information that could be used to

identify survey respondents prior to analysis.

• Any financial data reported will be converted into ranges (e.g., USD 0-5 million) or averages to

avoid revealing any potentially confidential or proprietary information.

• A summary and analysis of aggregated data will then be presented in a report available to the

public.

• The original data collected during the survey will only be accessible by the Project Team. USAID,

principal project partners, and the public will not have access to any confidential information

provided in the survey. However, it is possible that the dataset (with all identifiable information

removed) will be transferred to a future Project Team for subsequent editions of this survey. Only

the aggregate dataset containing no identifiable information (e.g. aggregated by region) will be

shared with USAID and Cloudburst.

• All information will be stored securely under dual-factor authentication.

If you have any questions on the survey, please contact survey@indufor-na.com. The Investor Survey on

Land Rights (“Land Investor Survey”) is a research project conducted by Indufor North America LLC,

managed by the Cloudburst Group, and initiated by USAID.

By taking the survey, you agree to the above description of how data will be used.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 25

Investor Survey on Land Rights II

Thank you for agreeing to participate in the first Investor Survey on Land Rights (“Land Investor Survey”),

which is being conducted to attain a better understanding of how land tenure risks are considered and

mitigated in agriculture, forestry, and energy (with a focus on renewable energy) projects in the private

sector. Following data collection and analysis, a publicly available report will be prepared adhering to the

confidentiality practices noted below. While not required in order to participate in the survey,

respondents will have the opportunity to have their names featured in the report if they wish.

Instructions:

• Following up to Survey 1, we select companies who meet criteria to participate in this Survey 2,

a more in-depth survey to better understand the perception and behavior of organizations

involved in land-based investments.

• This survey is expected to take XX minutes.

• You can save your progress and log back in later.

• Ranges are provided as response options for some questions to avoid revealing any potentially

compromising or confidential information.

• It may be helpful to review the questions first to gather any information and data needed to

respond.

Use and confidentiality of your data:

• A dedicated and fire-walled team at Indufor will remove any information that could be used to

identify survey respondents prior to analysis.

• Any financial data reported will be converted into ranges (e.g., USD 0-5 million) or averages to

avoid revealing any potentially confidential or proprietary information.

• A summary and analysis of aggregated data will then be presented in a report available to the

public.

• The original data collected during the survey will only be accessible by the Project Team. USAID,

principal project partners, and the public will not have access to any confidential information

provided in the survey. However, it is possible that the dataset (with all identifiable information

removed) will be transferred to a future Project Team for subsequent editions of this survey. Only

the aggregate dataset containing no identifiable information (e.g. aggregated by region) will be

shared with USAID and Cloudburst.

• All information will be stored securely under dual-factor authentication.

If you have any questions on the survey, please contact survey@indufor-na.com. The Investor Survey on

Land Rights (“Land Investor Survey”) is a research project conducted by Indufor North America LLC,

managed by the Cloudburst Group, and initiated by USAID.

By taking the survey, you agree to the above description of how data will be used.

LAND INVESTOR SURVEY: Research and Sampling Design (Oct 2017) 26

U.S. Agency for International Development

1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20523

Tel: (202) 712-0000

Fax: (202) 216-3524

www.usaid.gov