International Institute for Environment and Development 
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| International Institute for Environment and Development |
|
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
IIED Links: |
|
Drylands Project Summary
|
|
Related Links: |
|
|
Theme: Land Rights and Tenure Can land registration work for the poor? Since independence, African governments have adopted policies and programmes aimed at increasing land tenure security for farmers, so as to foster agricultural investment and productivity. These policies have usually been based on systematic registration of land rights, ignoring existing customary and local institutions and largely disregarding the distributive issues underlying tenure security ("security for whom?"). The materialisation of their hoped for benefits has been generally limited, and their implementation has enabled elite capture of land and has resulted in the expropriation of the rights of weaker groups. Over the last decade, new approaches to improving tenure security have been devised, usually paying more attention to local/customary norms and practices and to protecting all rights and interests in land. This research programme ran from September 2002 to June 2005 and examined questions related to the design and practice of the land registration process, how these processes are governed and the equity of outcomes in Ethiopia, Ghana and Mozambique. While registration projects might in theory be expected to help poorer groups confirm their claims to land, in practice registration has often served to re-distribute assets towards the wealthier and better-informed. But, is this inevitable? Can provisions be made which explicitly address the need to level the playing field between poorer and better-off groups as it relates to registration of claims over land? What might these provisions include? How might the poor gain greater voice within local institutions and ensure their broader accountability? While research on the impact of land registration is limited to a few countries in Africa, experience and results from this work are likely to generate much broader interest, given the growing concern to identify ways to bring about more secure systems of land rights management and reduce risks of conflict. The research findings are also relevant to debates on how best to address poverty and the extent to which land issues and local governance should be much more centrally considered within Poverty Reduction Strategy programmes. Findings from the three countries have been written up in the following research reports:
The programme was funded by the Social Science Unit of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). For further information please contact: Lorenzo Cotula: lorenzo.cotula@iied.org Su Fei Tan: sufei.tan@iied.org
Copyright © 2005 International Institute for Environment and Development. |
Drylands Home About
Us Research Themes Drylands
Publications Partners Links Drylands
Staff Contact Drylands
|
||
|
