Good Land GovernancePolicy Paper

Progress to date and the way forward…

Presentation Overview• Interest in land governance and FAO/HAB response• Review of potential analytical approaches & findings• Land governance definition & critical elements• Stakeholders, key actors, interests, constraints• Some critical issues in land governance• ‘Good land Governance’ - Principles• Land governance: some good practice and tools• Lessons Learned and Way forward

New interest in land governance?• Land is on the mainstream development agenda

(de Soto, CLEP, slum dwellers, etc.)• Failure to resolve land issues increasingly recognized as

a barrier to achieving other development objectives, including the MDGs (eg. Target 7/11)

• Existing approaches have not been widely successful: technical focus, not pro-poor or gender-sensitive, capacity issues, sustainability issues, etc.

• Recognition of the need for new approaches

Why the interest in land governance?It is now widely realized that the almost exclusive focus on formal title in the 1975 paper was inappropriate, and that much greater attention to the legality and legitimacy of existing institutional arrangements will be required.

Indeed, issues of governance, conflict resolution, and corruption, which were hardly recognized in the 1975 paper, are among the key reasons why land is coming to the forefront of the discussion in many countries.

Source: World Bank PRR 2003

FAO & UN-HABITAT Collaboration on LGOrigins and Objectives

Paradox: increased references to the concept of “land governance”, while no clear understanding of the term

FAO/UN-HABITAT Response: undertake rapid desk review to:(i) review existing literature on governance & land governance(ii) identify potentially useful analytical perspectives(iii) develop a working definition of land governance and principles of good land governance(iv) identify key issues, good practices and tools

Potential Governance Approaches to Land – Three Sources

1. Policy Analysis• Focus: decision-maker & decision-making process• Useful insights: rational model, • Limits: politics exogenous

2. Political Science• Focus: Power, politics and interests• Useful Insights: pluralism, fragmented power, informal, elites• Limits: challenge of application

3. Economic Theory (public choice/rational choice)• Focus: individual behaviour explained by market-based decisions

• Useful insights: self-interest, political market-place, failure of regulatory instruments, rent-seeking behaviour

• Limits: complexity and group behaviour difficult to explain

Potential Analytical Approaches – Broad Findings

1. No agreed definition of land governance, in fact, few definitions

2. Many useful insights into why policy reform does, or does not, succeed

3. No single analytical approach exists to date to operationalize a land governance approach

4. Deeper appreciation of the importance of analyzing actors, interests/incentives, constraints and relationships

Land governance – a simplified working definition

Land governance is the process by which decisions are made regarding the access to and use of land, the manner in which those decisions are implemented and the way that conflicting interests in land are reconciled

Land governance – Some key elements embedded in the definition

• Focus on decision-making, implementation and conflict resolution

• Emphasis on both process and outcomes• Need to understand both institutions (rules) and

organisations (entities)• Recognize statutory as well as customary

informal/extra-legal institutions and organisations• Analyzes stakeholders, interests, incentives

constraints

Land Governance - Stakeholders

Actors with interests in land

• Public sector• Traditional authorities• Private sector (formal & informal)

• Civil society• Households/individuals

Context/Constraints

Public Sector

Private SectorIndividuals

Civil Society

LAND

Trad. Sector

Example of Post-Disaster Land StakeholdersPublic Sector Private Sector Civil Society

PoliticiansMilitary (where appropriate)Disaster Management institutions (existing and specially created)Line Ministries: Land, Housing, Justice, Forestry, Agriculture, Planning, etc.Local Government: state/ provincial, district/ward, village, municipal departments related to land and land managementProfessionals: land professionals, city managers, planners, regional planners, engineers, architects, natural resource managers, finance,

Land developers (formal/informal)Estate agents (formal/informal)Lawyers, notariesSurveyors, Planners, engineers, other professional groups/societiesConstruction industryBankers, savings organisations, micro-finance, money-lenders, Chamber of CommerceMediaSmall holders/ farmer groups

Non-governmental organisationsCommunity-based organisationsCivil society organisations Universities, research institutes, technical institutesReligious and faith-based orgsMedia organisations

Traditional Authorities Households/Individuals Intl Development Partners

Traditional Chiefs, elders, councilsInformal settlement leadersConflict resolution mechanismsInfluential persons (religious, etc)

Women and men across socio-economic, ethnic, religious and other groupingsSpecific beneficiaries of land related programmesSpecific people affected by land management decisions (eg. Expropriation, evictions, etc.)Land owners and leaseholdersPeople on intermediate forms of tenure (certificates, group title, etc)Landlords and tenantsSquattersSharecroppersRefugees and internally displaced people

World BankUN AgenciesBilateral agenciesPrivate FoundationsInternational NGOs/ Charities

Conflicting Interests in Land

Economicgrowth & efficiency

Social justice

Environment protectionThe resource

conflict

The property conflict

The development conflict

LAND

Source: Campbell 1999

Some Critical Land Governance Issues• Land policy and the land policy process• State lands and customary lands management• Slum upgrading and informal settlements• Land use planning• Land conflict resolution• Land reform & land administration reform• Expropriation and compensation• Access to land in post disaster and post conflict situations• Gender and inheritance rights

Good Land Governance –Nine Principles

1. Security2. Sustainability3. Equity4. Effectiveness and Efficiency5. Rule of law 6. Subsidiarity7. Transparency8. Accountability 9. Civic Engagement

Principles for Good Land Governance1. Security

- Security of tenure; no forced evictions- Land and property rights- Post conflict/post disaster contexts particularly sensitive

2. Sustainability- Land use balances social, economic and environmental needs- Land administration systems are affordable, accessible to all,

can be maintained and updated over time, capacity-building

3. Equity- Pro-poor, gender sensitive- Continuum of land rights

Principles for Good Land Governance4. Effectiveness and Efficiency

- Land administration- Simplified rules and procedures- Service orientation

5. Rule of Law- Respect for legal pluralism- Laws, rules and procedures consistently and impartially enforced- Traditional and alternative dispute resolution included

6. Subsidiarity- Decentralization of decision-making and management- Capacity-building needs addressed

Principles for Good Land Governance7. Transparency

- Access to information regarding rules and procedures, costs- Policy-making and decision-making processes- Procurement, recruitment, expenditures

8. Accountability- Land-use planning and management- State-land and communal land management- Prevention of corruption

9. Civic Engagement- Dialogue and consensus building orientation- Actively facilitating participation of all groups; active participation

Land Governance: Good Practice & Tools • Land Administration Domain Model – integrates different tenure forms• Participatory development of eviction guidelines (eg. South Africa)• Community-Driven Adjudication (eg. Indonesia post-tsunami)• Rural Path to Property (eg. Mozambique 1996-97)• FIG’s Land Professionals Code of Conduct• Quebec’s On-line Land Registry (Canada)• Common property demarcation and management (Afghanistan)• Kenya Joint Assistance Strategy for Land and the Development

Partners Group on Land

Example: Kenya Joint Assistance Strategy (KJAS)

Background• Ministry of Lands requests increased donor support for the land sector (2003)• Development Partners Group on Land (DPGL) established (16 partners currently with UN-HABITAT as Chair) to provide more effective and coordinated support• Kenya National Land Policy process established; basket fund support from donors

Lessons Learned and potential good practice• Replace existing donor country strategies (a major shift in current practice)• Consensus-building approach requires long-term commitment, dedicated staff, access to funds and technical capacity• Political and other risk management is major role of DPLG Secretariat• Ensuring on-going process management and tangible delivery of results critical

Lessons-Learned & Way Forward

Lessons Learned• Many of us experiencing slippage in development and implementation of land projects• Reasons for this are not purely technical, managerial, or institutional• Much to do with the political economy of land, nature of vested interests, etc.

Way Forward for Land Governance• Emphasis on the political economy of land to improve quality/efficiency• Renewed focus on understanding land markets, especially urban and peri-urban• Need to develop new tools to support the effective operationalization of a good land governance approach (including political risk management tools)

Thank you