Handling Land

Handling land
Innovative tools for land governance

and secure tenure
SECURE LAND AND PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR ALL

Handling land
Innovative tools for land
governance and secure tenure
Handling Land:
Innovative tools for land governance and secure tenure
Copyright© United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), 2012

An electronic version of this publication is available for download from the UN-Habitat website at
http://www.unhabitat.org
HS Number: HS/023/12E
ISBN Number: (Volume) 978-92-1-132438-9
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ii
Contents
Acknowledgements............................. vii Local records of land transactions........... 36

Foreword............................................. viii Other approaches accepted by
governments.......................................... 37
1
Next steps in addressing tenure security.. 37
Introduction............................................ 1
4
Land, power and people........................... 2
Managing land......................................... 3 Gender and inequality......................... 41
The Global Land Tool Network.................. 4 Not everyone’s rights to land are secure.. 41
How this book was produced.................... 5 The GLTN gender agenda ....................... 42
Other types of inequality......................... 46
2
Next steps in addressing inequality.......... 49
The Global Land
5
Tool Network.......................................... 7
Land tools................................................. 8 Strengthening the role of
Benefits of GLTN support.......................... 9 grassroots communities...................... 53
Filling the land tool gap.......................... 10 Not about us without us......................... 54
Continuum of land rights........................ 12 Meaningful engagement......................... 55
Themes, tools and cross-cutting issues.... 14 Community-led disaster mitigation
How GLTN develops land tools................ 14 in Lima, Peru .......................................... 57
Advancing the GLTN agenda Empowering grassroots women in
through partnering................................. 16 Tanzania................................................. 59
Community forests as an alternative
3
to titling in the Philippines ...................... 61
Towards tenure security through Scaling up participatory mapping to
non-conventional land recording citywide level in India.............................. 63
tools...................................................... 23 Next steps in promoting grassroots
Limitations of formal land participation........................................... 64
administration systems............................ 23
6
Forms of tenure...................................... 24
Measuring tenure security....................... 27 From training to capacity
Threats to customary Rights.................... 29 development........................................ 69
Dealing with different forms of tenure.... 30 GLTN’s capacity development strategy .... 70
Social Tenure Domain Model................... 32 Dealing with corruption in land
Participatory enumeration....................... 35 administration......................................... 72
iii
Handling land: Innovative tools for land governance and secure tenure
Testing the gender-responsiveness of 10

land tools in Uganda............................... 73 Enabling land policy processes......... 115
Capacity development on land in the Why policy matters............................... 115
Muslim world ......................................... 73 Promoting aid effectiveness.................. 116
Next steps in capacity development ........ 75 GLTN’s approach to policy processes...... 117
Land Policy Initiative in Africa................ 117
7
Harmonizing donor activities in Kenya... 118
Making room for sustainable Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible
urban expansion ................................. 79 Governance.......................................... 120
Challenges of rapid urbanization............. 79 Integrated land policy development
Rethinking urban planning and land in the Caribbean................................... 121
management.......................................... 81 Next steps for land policy processes...... 122
Next steps in promoting sustainable
11
urban expansion..................................... 88
Way forward...................................... 125
8
Sound land governance........................ 125
Land-based financing for local Scaling up land tools to the country
governments and land services.......... 91 level...................................................... 128
Considerations in land-based finance...... 92 Capacity development.......................... 129
GLTN solutions........................................ 95 Further integration of cross-cutting
Available land tools................................. 97 issues.................................................... 130
Tools under development........................ 98 A new perspective on land
Next steps in land-based financing.......... 99 administration ...................................... 131
Adapting tools for rural areas................ 134
9
Using land-based revenue systems to
Security of tenure in disasters scale up delivery.................................... 137
and conflict......................................... 103 Going to scale with land readjustment.. 138
Crises and land..................................... 103 Natural disasters and conflicts............... 139
New approaches to land issues in Conclusion............................................ 140
crisis contexts........................................ 106
12
Huairou Commission’s community
resilience campaign............................... 109 References.......................................... 143
GLTN tools support Haiti reconstruction.109
An innovative approach to post-
conflict land sector reform in Liberia..... 110
Next steps for security of tenure in
disasters and conflict............................. 111
iv
Figures 11. Tenure types identified by the

1. Institutional framework of GLTN..... 8 Land Governance Assessment
2. The logic behind GLTN’s work....... 10 Framework................................... 27
3. Continuum of land rights.............. 12 12. International Land Coalition
4. Different stakeholders responses to the increased
contribute to developing land commercial pressure on land ........ 30
tools............................................. 15 13. Rural land certification in Ethiopia.31
5. Six steps in developing a land tool.16 14. Urban land registry in Benin.......... 32
15. Social Tenure Domain Model:
Tables A pilot project in Mbale, Uganda . 34
1. GLTN themes and issues for 16. Land regularization in Rwanda...... 36
developing land tools.................... 13 17. Land inventory in Botswana.......... 37
2. Cross-cutting issues addressed 18. Applying the gender
by GLTN........................................ 14 evaluation criteria to the
3. Options to assess tenure security.... 29 master plan process Ponte do
4. Examples from the gender Maduro, Recife, Brazil................... 44
evaluation criteria......................... 43 19. Evaluation of impact of
5. Potential for land-sector legislation on Hindu women
reforms in natural disaster in India......................................... 46
and conflict contexts................... 104 20. Strengthening land rights of
6. Guidelines for crisis situations..... 108 Muslim women............................. 47
21. Assessing the impact of land
Boxes certifications on women in
1. Defining “land”.............................. 2 Ethiopia........................................ 48
2. What do land management 22. Criteria for assessing and
and administration do?................... 3 promoting grassroots
3. Examples of African tenure participation in large-scale
innovations................................... 11 land tools..................................... 55
4. Global Land Tool Network 23. Lessons from grassroots
partners........................................ 17 participation................................. 65
5. The African Union and GLTN’s 24. GLTN’s capacity development
principles...................................... 18 goals and objectives...................... 71
6. Bamako Action Plan 2010–12....... 18 25. Examples of recent evictions ........ 82
7. UN-Habitat’s commitment to land .19 26. Analysis of metropolitan Port
8. UN-Habitat Governing au Prince, Haiti............................. 83
Council resolution guiding the 27. Why land readjustment? .............. 85
work of GLTN............................... 20 28. Challenges to land readjustment... 87
9. Active and passive tenure security.24 29. Land-based revenues.................... 91
10. Limits of conventional 30. Types of land-based revenues........ 92
approaches: An example from 31. Self-financing of
the Caribbean............................... 25 administrative land services in
Georgia........................................ 94
v
32. Ward development planning

and occupancy rights in Zambia.... 97
33. Raising revenues through the
urban land registry in Benin.......... 98
34. Capacity assessment for land
sector in Kenya........................... 119
35. Responsible land governance
and the Millennium
Development Goals.................... 126
vi
Acknowledgements
Task manager
Co-authors
Åsa Jonsson, UN-Habitat Lantmäteriet, Sweden
Tommy Österberg
Contributors
Danilo Antonio, Ombretta Tempra and Remy Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sietchiping, UN-Habitat and Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, USA
Tim Bending, Consultant Yu-Hung Hong
Sheela Patel, Slum Dwellers International
Ministry of Environment Housing and
Editing and layout Urban Planning, Benin
Paul Mundy, www.mamud.com David Houssou
Wycliffe Omanya, International Institute of
Rural Reconstruction Slum Dwellers International
Åsa Jonsson and Esther Njeri Kihang'ah, Jack Makau
UN-Habitat
UN-Habitat
Facilitation Clarissa Augustinus, Jean du Plessis, Szilard
Isaac Bekalo and Janet Nyaoro, International Fricska, Mary Gachocho, Solomon Haile,
Institute of Rural Reconstruction Åsa Jonsson, Rasmus Precht
Logistics University of East London, UK

Nyachomba Kariuki and Ryosuke Siraj Sait
Kawabe, International Institute of Rural
Reconstruction University of the West Indies and
Victor Wainaina and Naomi Mukora, Caribbean Network for Urban and Land
UN-Habitat Management, Trinidad and Tobago
Asad Mohammed
Co-authors
Aalborg University, Denmark University of Twente, Faculty of
Stig Enemark, past-president of the International Institute for Geo-
International Federation of Surveyors Information Science and Earth
Observation (ITC), The Netherlands
Brigham Young University, USA Jaap Zevenbergen
Larry Walters
The World Bank
Food and Agriculture Organization Victor Endo
Babette Wehrmann
Huairou Commission
Katia Araujo
Ayse Yonder (Pratt Institute, USA)
vii
Handling land: Innovative tools for land Our land: Tools
governance andfor land tenure
secure governance and secure tenure for all
Foreword
E veryone has a
relationship to
land. It is an asset
GLTN recognizes that conventional ways
of managing land are not realistically
going to meet the needs of millions of
that, with its asso- people. By law, practice or custom, many
ciated resources, individuals find themselves unable to own
allows its owner land or to make decisions on how to use
access to loans, to it. Women and young people tend to face
build their houses disproportionate barriers in accessing land.
and to set up Without secure rights to the land they live
small businesses in cities. In rural areas, land on, these residents have little incentive to
is essential for livelihoods, subsistence and invest in their homes. Poor farmers become
food security. unable to invest in their land, further
aggravating environmental degradation,
However, land is a scarce resource governed which may greatly affect their harvest, their
by a wide range of rights and responsibilities. income and, in turn, their survival.
And not everyone’s right to land is secure.
Mounting pressure and competition mean This book celebrates the first five years of
that improving land governance – the GLTN’s work. It features the “land tools”
rules, processes and organizations through that GLTN has developed – practical ways to
which decisions are made about land – is solve problems in land administration and
becoming increasingly urgent. management. These range from a simple
checklist for conducting a survey or a set of
Every country has some form of land software and accompanying protocols, to
management and administration, but these a broad set of guidelines and approaches.
often serve only a small proportion of the The emphasis is on practicality; users should
population, usually the more wealthy. be able to take a land tool and apply it (or
Huge numbers of people are still to have adapt it) to their own situation. The book
their relationship to land documented and also emphasizes a number of values such
protected. as gender-responsiveness, affordability,
grassroots and youth engagement, that are
These are the problems that the Global needed to ensure a land tool benefits the
Land Tool Network (GLTN) is working to poor and disadvantaged and is available to
solve. With its Secretariat in UN-Habitat, use at large-scale.
viii
Also featured in this book is an outline of partners who today constitute the Network,
the critical next steps for the Network. These in particular those partners who have
include giving continued attention to the contributed directly to this book.
challenges that urbanization poses to the
availability of land, and that globalization Secure land tenure and property rights
and competition for arable land pose for are fundamental to a wide range of
small-scale farmers. The book also presents development issues: housing, livelihoods,
an opportunity to rethink the issue of urban human rights, poverty reduction, economic
planning and management, as well as to prosperity and sustainable urban and rural
explore what innovations such as land development. GLTN is promoting a global
readjustment have to offer as potential paradigm shift in the approach to secure
solutions. land tenure. The ideas and tools represented
in this book illustrate what this paradigm
My special thanks go to the Governments shift is about and how all land stakeholders
of Norway and Sweden for their belief in can play a role in handling this critical social
the Global Land Tool Network and their change towards equitable access to land for
continued financial and technical support. all.
I also want to thank the 45 international
Dr. Joan Clos
Under-Secretary General of the United

Nations and
Executive Director, UN-Habitat
ix
x
Maasai women learning about their land rights under the Village Land Act, Tanzania
Photo © UN-Habitat/Åsa Jonsson
xi
Rural-urban flow of people and goods, Myanmar
1 Introduction
M illions of people around the world face

difficulties related to the land where
they live, work, grow crops, tend animals
water and energy, and the effects of conflicts
and disasters. Changes in land use affect the
economy, society and ecology of the areas
and run businesses. Even though they or around cities. The divide between urban and
their families may have lived on the land for rural is diminishing. These areas are today
many years, it is a serious obstacle that they interconnected by flows of goods, money,
have no formal relationship to it. Perhaps it is resources and people. Climate change and
too expensive to get the official paper that different land-use patterns also affect rural
documents their claim, or possibly inheritance areas, including farmland, drylands, wetlands
laws or local customs prevent them from and forests.
even making a claim. There are many reasons
for insecure tenure and women and young Half of humanity now lives in cities and by
people in particular face major barriers. the middle of this century 70 per cent of
the world’s people will live in urban areas.
In developing countries, conventional ways to Developing countries currently account for
manage and administer land have a history over 95 per cent of global urban population
of failing to deliver what is expected of them, growth and, while their urban populations are
that is, secure tenure, fairness and broad expected to double in the period from 2000
coverage at a price that is affordable for to 2030, the built-up area of these countries is
both landholders and governments. Existing expected to triple in size. Cities need to adapt
technical solutions are too expensive, they are to urban expansion (Angel, 2011) and there
inappropriate for the range of tenure found is an urgent need to prepare for growth and
in developing countries, they are financially its related land requirements. This calls for a
unsustainable, and they are unfeasible given realistic projection of urban land needs and
the available capacity to manage them. At the innovative responses. Failure to do so will only
same time, the need for workable systems to worsen slum development and poverty in cities.
manage and administer land is now greater However, there are also immense opportunities
than ever, with new challenges being added for tapping the positive transformation of
to the problems that already exist. cities, including the potential of economies of
scale, governance, and land and property tax
Land is a finite resource and competition systems to self-finance cities.
for it is intensifying because of rapid
urbanization, growing populations, economic Rural land also needs to be managed
development, persistent insecurity of food, cautiously. Pressure on rural land is increasing
1
as a result of a rising world population (now in developing countries, secure access is

at seven billion), climate change, declining becoming less certain than ever.
soil fertility and the need for global food and
fuel security. With countries and businesses Ultimately, the failure to reconcile competing
now recognizing the potential for growing interests in land across the rural-urban
biofuel crops on land that cannot sustain continuum can contribute to the outbreak
food crops, even less-fertile land can have of violent conflict. This is the most acute
greater value. Globalization is also increasing outcome of failed efforts to manage the
the demand for such land for tourism. opportunities that land provides.
These trends offer developing countries an
opportunity to attract foreign investment, but Land, power and people
they also threaten the land rights of small-
scale producers and indigenous communities.
When irrigation is introduced into previously Land (Box 1) involves a wide range of
rain-fed farmland, or roads are built to link rights and responsibilities. It is in demand
farmers to markets, the new economic by a wide range of users, institutions
potential of the land makes it more attractive. and interest groups for different and
Small-scale producers can then lose their land often conflicting reasons, for example,
to more affluent or powerful interests. For housing and livelihoods, access to credit,
many of the world’s rural women and men investment, cultural heritage, and political
power. Competing claims over land often
occur under conditions of unequal power
Box 1. Defining “land” and resources. Rich people and the middle
classes have the means, knowledge and
While the definition of land may seem connections to buy and sell land, register
obvious, distinctions are often drawn it officially, demand services, use land as
between: collateral to borrow money, and defend
 Land that is unimproved except for their rights to it.
any municipal services delivered to
the property boundary line. The situation is different for people with low
 Land that has been improved incomes, and especially for poor women
through the installation of build- and young people. They lack the resources
ings or other permanently attached to do these things. Also, most land
constructions on the land.
management and administration systems
When GLTN refers to “land”, the ref- are biased against poor people and often
erence is generally to land without
ignore realities on the ground. For example,
permanent improvements.
an area designated as “open land” may
Permanently attached structures in reality be an informal settlement that is
and other improvements are usually
home to thousands of people. Without any
referred to as property, though in
some countries the term property
official rights to the land they live on, these
can also include the land under any residents have no security of tenure, little
improvements. incentive to invest in their homes, and no
way of getting loans to do so. Getting their
2
Chapter 1 Introduction
paperwork into order means navigating a Young people have few chances to control
costly bureaucratic and legal maze. the land they need to build their lives or to
use what is perceived to be an “adult-only”
Women are particularly at a disadvantage. resource.
In many countries, by law, practice or
custom women cannot own land or make Managing land
decisions on how to use it. Widows and
single mothers are particularly vulnerable;
when her husband dies or leaves her, a The responsibility of managing and
woman may lose the rights to her home and administering land (Box 2) is the task of a
to the land she farms. Often, women are range of formal and informal organizations
not allowed to buy land or register it in their and institutions. These include government,
own name, even if they have the money. private and non-government actors.
Young people face a similar situation; in “Government” can be the national
many places, decisions are made by groups government (typically the ministry in charge
of elders – almost all of them men. of land affairs or its equivalent), district or
Box 2. What do land management and administration do?
What do land management and administration cover?
 Land tenure: Securing and transferring rights in land and natural resources.
 Land value: Valuation and taxation of land and properties.
 Land use: Planning and control of the use of land and natural resources.
 Land development: Implementing utilities, infrastructure, construction
planning, and schemes for renewal and change of existing land use.
How do land management and administration benefit society?
 Support of governance and the rule of law

 Alleviation of poverty
 Security of tenure
 Support for formal land markets
 Security for credit
 Support for land and property taxation
 Protection of state lands
 Management of land disputes
 Improvement of land-use planning and implementation
 Improvement of infrastructure for human settlements
3
city councils, and a range of local authorities. politicians, commercial interests, land-
They have many functions, including land owners and developers, while people with
administration, taxation, planning and low incomes lack political clout, information,
infrastructure provision. Private-sector and the technical background and resources
providers include lawyers, notaries, estate they need to make their voices heard. This
agents (realtors), surveyors, valuers and is especially the case for women minorities,
financial institutions. “Non-government” can and indigenous peoples.
be informal leaders, academics, residents’
associations, and interest groups that focus These problems occur mainly (though not
on the land rights of marginalized groups, exclusively) in the developing countries
and on specific aspects such as forests, of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the
irrigation water or pasture. Caribbean as well as in the transitional
economies of Central Asia and Eastern
Unfortunately, conventional government Europe. Most of the developed world has a
land administration systems do not provide long history of formal land management and
security of tenure to the majority of the administration, so systems are established
world’s people. They rely on documents and are adequately resourced. Also, it is
or computerised systems that record the developing world that is experiencing
information such as who owns (or has rapid population growth and urbanization.
rights to) what land, the existing or planned Its land management and administration
land use, and land values. This information systems are being tested as never before.
is the basis of a land management system
and is what public- and private- sector The Global Land
land managers and decision-makers need
Tool Network
to manage cities, local revenue streams,
irrigation schemes, watersheds and
ecosystem services. This book shows how the Global Land Tool
Network (GLTN) is setting an international
But most people do not have legal agenda on land through a global network
documents for the land they occupy or use of partners. This agenda focuses specifically
and fall outside the formal management on the concerns of poor women and men.
system. This means that most decisions It is developing a set of “land tools” that
are made without information. Limited are practical ways to solve problems in land
land records and lack of information cause administration and management, and that
dysfunctionalities in the management of are affordable and capable of being scaled
urban and rural areas, from the household up to be used in the whole country.
up to national government level, which
impairs the lives of billions of people. The Global Land Tool Network was
established in 2006, and has just completed
Decision-making processes about land are its first phase of operations towards ensuring
also biased against poor people. Choices that urban and rural poor have better access
about land-related policies and about to land and security of tenure. This book
individual parcels of land are made by celebrates the Network’s achievements
4
Chapter 1 Introduction
so far and outlines its global mandate to produce numerous books and information
continue developing land tools for equitable and training materials.
access to land for all.
During the writeshop, each of the co-
How this book authors presented a manuscript about
one of the topics in the book. After each
was produced
presentation, the other participants made
suggestions on how to revise the manuscript
This book is the result of an intensive and enrich it with case examples. They then
participatory “writeshop” held in Naivasha, formed small groups, one for each chapter,
Kenya, on 8-12 November 2011, involving and with the assistance of the editors,
20 representatives of GLTN partners (listed reworked the materials into a coherent text.
on page viii), along with editors, facilitators They presented these revised versions to the
and logistics staff. The writeshop was plenary for further suggestions and revisions.
facilitated by the International Institute of After the writeshop, the complete text was
Rural Reconstruction, which developed edited into the form you see in this book.
the writeshop process and has used it to
5
An overview of Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya
Photo © UN-Habitat/Julius Mwelu
2 The Global Land
Tool Network
G LTN was started in response to

requests from governments and local
communities worldwide to UN-Habitat.
 Knowledge management: improving
knowledge to support the realization of
equitable land rights.
Together with several partners, UN-Habitat
inaugurated the Network in 2006. It has  Advocacy: increasing awareness of and
since grown to 45 partners. commitment to equitable land rights.
GLTN partners recognize that secure  Tool development and capacity

land tenure and property rights are development: strengthening capacity
fundamental to housing and livelihoods, to enhance quality of land governance,
and for the realization of human rights, management and administration
poverty reduction, economic prosperity through pro-poor land tools and training
and sustainable development. Secure land activities that respond to both women’s
rights are also important to address gender and men’s needs.
discrimination and the disadvantages faced
by the poor, indigenous peoples and other  Institutional capacity: strengthening
vulnerable groups linked to inequitable and GLTN’s own institutional capacity
insecure access and tenure to land. to secure equitable land rights,
including supporting the operations
The vision of GLTN is to provide appropriate of its International Advisory Board and
land tools (see below) at global scale Steering Committee.
to implement pro-poor land policies
and land reforms. Its mission is to assist The second phase of operations (from
national governments at the global level 2012 on) has a similar goal: to contribute
in implementing land policies that are pro- to poverty reduction and sustainable
poor, responsive to both women’s and development through promoting secure
men’s needs, and at scale. land and property rights for all. The future
direction of the Network is discussed in
In its first phase of operations (2006–11), more detail in Chapter 11 of this book.
GLTN’s overall goal was to ensure that urban
and rural poor have better access to land GLTN has so far been funded by the
and security of tenure. Its work covered four governments of Sweden and Norway and
functions: by the Cities Alliance. The International Fund
for Agricultural Development has now joined
7
International
Advisory Board
7 members, each Steering Committee
representing a cluster/
segment of stakeholders From different
UN-Habitat units
Advice, guidance
Decision making
Partners
Global stakeholders
that contribute
substantial knowledge
or financial resources
Secretariat
Research, tool development,
Hosted by UN-Habitat
testing, evaluation, capacity
development Network coordination,
collaboration with partners
Members
Individuals registered
through www.gltn.net
Information, feedback,
use of outputs
Figure 1. Institutional framework of GLTN
as a development partner. The institutional Land tools may complement each other, or
framework of GLTN comprises an International they may offer alternative ways of doing
Advisory Board and a Secretariat, the latter something. For example, one tool may
hosted by UN-Habitat (Figure 1). give overall guidance on how to address a
land-related issue, while another may give
Land tools detailed instructions on how to deal with a
particular aspect of the same issue, such as
checking whether the different needs and
A land tool is a practical way to solve situations of women and men are taken
a problem in land administration and into account.
management. It is a way to put principles,
policies and legislation into effect. The term For land tools to benefit the poor and
covers a wide range of methods: from a disadvantaged, they need to have certain
simple checklist to use when conducting a features:
survey, a set of software and accompanying
protocols, or a broad set of guidelines and  Pro-poor. They should aim to reduce
approaches. The emphasis is on practicality: poverty. That means taking the situation
users should be able to take a land tool and and needs of the poor into account, and
apply it (or adapt it) to their own situation. giving them a voice in decisions.
8
Chapter 2 The Global Land Tool Network
 Equitable and gender-responsive. range of situations, and capable of being

The land tools should seek to treat replicated easily and at little cost.
everyone fairly, with particular attention
to inequalities faced by women as Figure 2 shows the logic underlying GLTN’s
compared to men. work. The interplay between supply
and demand results in competition for
 Affordable. They should be cheap land. Imperfect institutions are unable
enough both for the poor to afford to cope with this, leading to Scenario 1:
(if they are required to pay user and poverty, social exclusion, tenure insecurity,
maintenance fees), as well as for the environmental degradation, vulnerability,
government or other body that manages conflict and corruption.
them.
GLTN’s work aims to overcome institutional
 Sustainable. They should be capable problems by providing pro-poor, gender-
of being implemented into the future responsive “land tools”. These make possible
without large-scale inputs from outside. an alternative, Scenario 2, with equitable
Where possible, they should be self- economic development, social inclusion,
financing through fees or taxes. secure tenure, greater environmental
sustainability and resilience in face of
 Subsidiarity. To ensure they are disasters and climate change, improved
sensitive to local situations and needs, social stability and greater transparency.
the land tools should be capable of
being applied at the lowest appropriate Benefits of GLTN support
level of authority: by the community or
at the lowest level of local government.
The GLTN partnership provides a range of
 Governance. The process of tool value-added support at the country level:
development should take into account
how decisions are made regarding  A network of experienced and
access to and use of land, how those committed people, with many
decisions are implemented, and organizations having both global and
how conflicting interests in land are national representation.
reconciled. Key elements of this include
decision-making, implementation and  Advocacy in favour of pro-poor
conflict resolution, with emphasis on and gender-responsive land policies
both process and outcomes. through dissemination of research and
evaluation findings; dissemination of
 Systematic, large-scale. The land good practice and reference to national
tools should be capable of being used and international experts; provision
at a large scale – city-wide or across a of normative guidelines, training
whole country, not just in a one-off, material, and capacity-development
local manner. That means they must methodologies.
be flexible enough to deal with a wide
9
N
LT
D ply
su
ec o
p
G
lin f l
in an
g d
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRONG INSTITUTIONS

Economic development, social Appropriate frameworks and procedures
inclusion and equity, adequate Adequate institutional capacity
access to land, housing and Social inclusion and participation
Increasing services, environmental Transparency
sustainability, resilience to disasters
competition and climate change, social equity
for land and stability
UNSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WEAK INSTITUTIONS

Poverty, social exclusion, Low institutional capacity
Inadequate social representation
d nd
difficult access to land,

housing and services, Inadequate land governance and
an a
r l em
environmental degradation, administration mechanisms and frameworks

fo g d
vulnerability to disasters and Lack of transparency

climate change, conflicts
sin
Ri
Figure 2. The logic behind GLTN’s work

By developing institutions and providing them with pro-poor land tools,
GLTN promotes sustainable development
 Knowledge management by Filling the land

documenting best practice and
tool gap
evaluation methodologies.
 Capacity development through scaling The agenda for GLTN was inspired by the
up good practices, development and land tool gap in Africa, which was validated
piloting of new tools, strengthening land- as a global concern through a number of
related institutions and organizations, multi-stakeholder meetings.
and enhancing skills of land sector staff.
In the 1990s, many African countries
 Strengthening the land sector by developed pro-poor land policies and
promoting improved coordination recognized a range of tenure types,
and harmonization of land sector alongside land ownership by individuals,
interventions. the most common type of tenure in the
developed world. Box 3 summarizes some
of these innovations.
Introducing these new types of tenures

meant adapting land management and
administration systems so they could deal
with them. That revealed gaps: the land
10
Box 3. Examples of African tenure innovations
Tanzania: residential licenses in urban Act of 2010 stopped short of legalizing

areas can later be converted to full title these innovations.
deeds.
Mozambique: has made a lot of progress
Rwanda: the law specifies that formal towards innovative forms of tenure and
registration at the national level is neces- land administration. The 1997 Land Law
sary only for plots larger than 5 hectares. accepts occupancy rights as equivalent
Otherwise, local registration methods are to registered land rights. Oral evidence
to be used. is equated with title evidence. An inves-
tor can obtain a land title only after
Ethiopia: certification in two phases is
thorough adjudication to check that
under consideration: a less complex form
the rights of occupants are taken into
and a more comprehensive form.
account and that they have reached
Lesotho: three forms of leases are under agreement with the investor. This is a
consideration with different levels of very pro-poor approach, but it has not
technicality: “primary”, “demarcated” yet been applied to urban areas as the
and “registrable”. The creation of land necessary regulations have not yet been
records prior to land registration is also passed.
under consideration; however the Land
tools needed to implement these policies land titling approaches have largely
and approaches did not yet exist. New failed to deliver their expected results:
tools were needed which were pro-poor existing technical solutions are too
and affordable for both governments and expensive, inappropriate for the range
individuals, particularly the poor who were of tenure found in developing countries,
the majority in most African countries. unsustainable financially or in terms of
The type of tools lacking included those available capacity. Instead a range of
associated with legal tenures, property and land tenure options is more appropriate.
land tax, land administration systems, land-
use planning and law enforcement.  Limited coordination and partner-
ships. Land-sector work cannot success-
We can summarize the types of gaps as fully be done at scale in many countries
follows: without the combination of various
factors and strategies in place. These
 Limited implementation. While there include good donor coordination,
are many examples of good land policies, strong partnerships of key land actors,
there are few policies that have been fully capacity-development initiatives, and
implemented due to lack of pro-poor, continuous communication among
gender-responsive and large-scale land key stakeholders: various levels of
tools to do so. government, land professionals, civil-
society groups, academic and research
 Inappropriate and inflexible ways to institutions, grassroots and target
provide tenure security. Conventional communities.
11
Perceived
tenure Adverse
approaches Occupancy possession Leases
Informal land Formal land

rights rights
Customary Alternatives Group Registered

to eviction tenure freehold
Figure 3. Continuum of land rights
 Limited capacity. Developing countries may not be clearly marked on the ground
lack the tools, systematic strategies or on a map, and there may be no official
and support necessary to address these paperwork certifying who owns or has what
challenges and deliver secure land and rights to the land.
property rights for all.
In between these two extremes are a wide
Continuum of range of rights. Figure 3 illustrates this in a
highly simplified way: in reality, the rights do
land rights
not lie on a single line, and they may overlap
with one another. Tenure can take a variety
A key aspect of GLTN’s work is the of forms, and “registered freehold” (at the
continuum of land rights. We can view formal end of the continuum) should not be
rights to land as lying on a continuum. At seen as the preferred or ultimate form of land
one end are formal land rights, where the rights, but as one of a number of appropriate
owner is an individual, who holds a set of and legitimate forms. Registered freehold, for
registered rights to a parcel of land that are example, requires a sophisticated (and costly)
enshrined in law: the parcel is delineated on administration system, a reliable survey of
a map; held in a record office; the owner the land parcels and good land governance.
has the right to occupy the land, build on
it (subject to approvals), sell it, rent it out, The most appropriate form depends on
transfer it to his or her heirs, and prevent the particular situation: customary rights,
other people from coming on to it. for example may be superior to registered
freehold in certain situations. Land tools
At the informal end of the continuum are have to take this continuum into account.
informal rights: a group of individuals (such This idea is gaining increasing acceptance
as a clan) may have traditional rights to use internationally (see below).
a piece of land. The boundaries of the land
12
Table 1. GLTN themes and issues for developing land tools
Theme, issue Summary, purpose of land tool See also

1 Access to land and Strengthening citizens through access to land
tenure security and property
1a Enumerations for tenure Participatory methods of gathering information on Chapter 3
security population size, ownership and infrastructure in a slum
or other area
1b Building on the continuum Taking the range of types of rights to land, from formal Figure 3,
of land rights to informal, into account to improve tenure security Chapter 3
1c Maintaining deeds or titles Systems of recording or registering formal land docu- Chapter 3
ments and keeping them up to date
1d Socially appropriate Ensuring the process of ascertaining the rights to par- Box 13
adjudication cels of land is fair for women and other disadvantaged
groups
1e Statutory and customary Linking customary tenure into formal land administra- Chapter 3
tenure tion systems
1f Co-management approaches Joint management of land by local communities with Chapter 3
other actors: such as a government agency, the private
sector or an NGO
1g Land record management Simplified ways of keeping land records to allow land Chapter 3
for transactability to be bought, sold, rented, etc.
1h Family and group rights Ways to allocate tenure rights to families or groups In process
rather than to individuals
2 Land management and Securing land and property rights for all
planning
2a Citywide slum upgrading Improving infrastructure and basic services for slums, Chapter 5
and regularizing tenure arrangements
2b Citywide spatial planning Planning the use of land in a city in collaboration with Chapter 7
local residents
2c Regional land use planning Planning land use in a larger region Chapter 11
2d Land readjustment (slum Rearranging the land ownership and use to improve Chapter 7
upgrading and/or post crisis) conditions and develop an area
3 Land administration Creating opportunity through property rights
and information
3a Managing information on Developing new approaches to obtaining and man- Chapter 3
spatial units aging spatial information about land and people’s
relationships to it
3b Costing and financing of Improving the budgeting of land agencies Chapter 8
land agencies’ budget
approach
4 Land-based financing Transforming society by raising funds from land
4a Land tax for financial and Ways to tax land that raise revenue, discourage specu- Chapter 8
land management lation, and encourage improvement
5 Land policy and Changing structures through land policies
legislation
5a Regulatory framework for Designing laws and regulations within a public–private In process
private sector partnership that also benefit the poor
5b Legal allocation of the assets Ensuring that the property of people who die without In process
of a deceased person (estate leaving a will is dealt with fairly
administration, HIV/AIDS
areas)
5c Expropriation, eviction and Preventing evictions, and compensating evicted people In process
compensation for their loss
13
Table 2. Cross-cutting issues addressed by GLTN
Cross-cutting issue Summary, purpose See also
Capacity Building the capacity of all stakeholders in land-related policies Chapter 6

development and practices.
Conflict /disaster Building the capacity to address land in post-crisis and post- Chapter 9
disaster situations
Environment Utilizing land to promote environmental sustainability, including Chapter 11

climate change
Gender Ensuring that land tools take the needs of both women Chapter 4
and men into account and involve both in land matters and
decision-making
Grassroots Ensuring grassroots participation in land matters, tool develop- Chapter 5

ment and decision-making
Islamic aspects Considering Islamic dimensions of land as an option Chapter 6
Land governance Improving the rules, processes and organizations through which Chapter 10
decisions are made about land
Youth Involving youth in land matters, tool development and Chapter 4

decision-making
Themes, tools and How GLTN develops

cross-cutting issues land tools
GLTN is developing land tools on 18 subjects, Land issues are notoriously complicated, and
grouped into five broad themes: access to they involve extensive vested interests. To
land and tenure security; land management design land tools that are pro-poor, gender-
and planning; land administration and responsive and usable at scale requires
information; land-based financing; and land inputs from various disciplines, professions
policy and legislation (Table 1). and stakeholder groups (Figure 4).
These tools cannot be implemented in The land tools must be able to be applied
technical isolation. GLTN has identified a broadly across different fields. That means
number of critical cross-cutting aspects to the inputs from the various specializations
be integrated as part of the development must be integrated, not merely co-existing
and use of land tools to make them effective in “silos”. For this reason, land tools are best
(Table 2). developed by multi-disciplinary teams. This
requires openness both to the content and
14
Technical
Land surveying
Computer science
Forestry
So Ec tical raph logy s

Geology
cia ono sci y

ta y d Planning
Po Geo rop tud try

nd rt l
No law y an
la ope ga
l s mi enc
Pa Jud ries ers Valuation
li
c cs e
Pr Le
An nde l for
ie
Engineering
Ge cia
n
th r s es
g o
le s
So
ls
ce
ra ge
ga
s
ie
LAND
Inter gencies l
era
l
traini
orga rnmenta
Train
Inter agencies
Resea acy
ltilat
Acad stitutions
Unive h and
ral & ations

organ institutes
nizat al
TOOLS
ions
advoc ions
ation
ng in
ing
u
rc
rsities
m
gove
niz
emic
izat
ra
UN
n
dono
orga
and
Bilate
G
org rassr al
an oo t i on nts t
Re izat ts Na nme istric
s
ass iden ions ver d
go cial & ents s
Na ociat ts’ vin rnm itie
t
int iona ions Pro gove thor rities
ern l a u o s
at nd al a th der
Civ NGOsional Loc ge au l lea t
a
Vil dition men
i la
l so
cie
ty Tra vern
Go
Figure 4. Different stakeholders contribute to developing land tools
to new ways of working so that different  Consultations. The team consults with
views can be accommodated. a wide range of stakeholders: technical
specialists, government, academics and
The team of GLTN partners working on a grassroots organizations.
land tool generally follows six generic steps
(though these may be in any order) (Figure 5):  Tool development. The team designs
and drafts the land tool.
 Scoping studies. These aim to discover
the current situation and needs regarding  Piloting and testing. The new land
the issue, the global knowledge about it, tool is tested on a small scale in one or
and current initiatives. more cities or countries, together with
partners.
15
consultations
scoping product
studies development
revision
piloting
capacity adoption
testing
development dissemination
Figure 5. Six steps in developing a land tool
 Revision, adoption and dissemi- Regional platforms

nation. In the light of these tests and
after consultations with partners, the GLTN is also advancing its agenda through
tool is revised and enhanced. When regional platforms. One example is the
complete, it can be published and support that the Network has received from
distributed for use. the African Union and African ministers
of housing and urban development. This
 Capacity development. This includes support is a result of Network members’
the development of training packages, efforts to sensitize governments about the
training trainers, and conducting training need for a paradigm shift in land policies
courses of practitioners. (Boxes 5 and 6).
Advancing the GLTN UN-Habitat

agenda through
partnering UN-Habitat, the host of the GLTN Secretariat,
is the United Nations agency with the global
mandate for sustainable human settlements
GLTN partners and urban development. Its commitment
to land is outlined in several international
GLTN is advancing its agenda through its agreements (Box 7).
wide range of partner organizations from
academia, the land-related professions, As an international organization and
civil society and the grassroots, as well as part of the United Nations, UN-Habitat
bilateral and multilateral organizations (Box is responsible to its Governing Council,
4). which brings together representatives of
58 governments, along with observers
16
Box 4. Global Land Tool Network partners1
Rural/urban international civil society International professional bodies
Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, Commonwealth Association of Surveying and

www.agra-alliance.org Land Economy, www.casle.org
Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, Fédération des Géomètres Francophones,
www.cohre.org www.fgf-geo.org
FIAN International, www.fian.org International Federation of Surveyors,
International Federation of Women Lawyers, www.fig.net
www.fidafederation.org International Union of Notaries,
Groupe de Recherches et d’Échanges www.uinl.net
Technologiques, www.gret.org International Union for Land Value Taxation,
Hakijamii Trust (Economic and Social Rights www.theiu.org
Center), www.hakijamii.net Lantmäteriet (National Land Survey of Sweden),
Huairou Commission, www.huairou.org www.lantmateriet.se
Habitat International Coalition, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors,
www.hic-net.org www.rics.org
International Land Coalition, Statens kartverk (Norwegian Mapping
www.landcoalition.org Authority), www.statkart.no
Slum/Shack Dwellers International, Bilateral organizations
www.sdinet.org
World Vision International, www.wvi.org Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
www.gatesfoundation.org
International training/research German International Cooperation,
institutions www.giz.de
Millennium Challenge Corporation,
Institute for Housing and Urban Development
www.mcc.gov
Studies, www.ihs.nl
Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
International Alliance on Land Tenure and
www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/ud.html
Administration, www.ialtanetwork.org
Swedish International Development
International Institute for Environment and
Cooperation Agency, www.sida.se
Development, www.iied.org
International Islamic University Malaysia, Multilateral organizations
www.iium.edu.my
International Research Group on Law and Cities Alliance, www.citiesalliance.org
Urban Space, www.irglus.wordpress.com Food and Agricultural Organization of the
Landesa, www.landesa.org United Nations, www.fao.org
Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, International Fund for Agricultural

www.lincolninst.edu Development, www.ifad.org
Network-Association of European United Nations Economic Commission for

Researchers on Urbanisation in the South, Africa, www.uneca.org
www.n-aerus.net United Nations Environment Programme,
Terra Institute, www.terrainstitute.org www.unep.org
Technical University of Munich, www.tum.de United Nations Human Settlements

Programme,
University of East London, www.uel.ac.uk www.unhabitat.org
University of Twente, Faculty of International UN-Women, www.unwomen.org
Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth
Observation, www.itc.nl The World Bank, www.worldbank.org
University of the West Indies,

www.sta.uwi.edu.com
1 As of December 2011
17
Box 5. The African Union and GLTN’s principles
Joint Conference of African Union  Develop appropriate systems of docu-

Ministers of Agriculture, Land and mentation and securing land rights
Livestock to facilitate ease of recognition and
proof of access/ownership of land;
This conference recommended member
states to:  Harmonize and clarify linkage
between land and sectoral policies;
 Recognize the multiple types of land
tenure and their complementarities in  Identify and resolve conflicts arising
policy development; from contestation of land as a result
of diversity of uses;
 Strengthen security of land ten-
ure for women which merits special  Ensure that land laws provide for
attention; equitable access to land related
resources among all land users
 Recognize and properly plan the
including women, the youth, and
diversity of uses of land in rural and
other landless and vulnerable groups
urban contexts;
such as displaced persons.
Source: UNECA (2012).
Box 6. Bamako Action Plan 2010–12
Third African Ministerial Conference on  Anchor land interventions in land

Housing and Urban Development governance frameworks. This entails
emphasizing both technical solu-
This conference made these recommen-
tions and focusing on improving land
dations to governments on the subject of
governance;
land:
 Legislate and enforce new innovative
 Promote security of tenure for all
laws to improve women’s’ and vul-
by identifying intermediate tenure
nerable groups access to land and to
arrangements to facilitate access to
secure their property rights, establish
land and security of tenure for peo-
measurable national goals to assess
ple living in informal settlements and
progress.
move away from individual titling
alone; On capacity building on land, recom-
mends governments to:
 Develop innovative land adminis-
tration systems that are based on  Design and implement innovative
cost-effective technologies and the human resources and capacity devel-
human resource realities of Africa; opment programmes commensurate
land records should be simplified and with the new land governance and
developed in an incremental manner; urbanization challenges.
More information: AMCHUD (2010).
18
Box 7. UN-Habitat’s commitment to land
UN-Habitat’s mandate includes address-  Resolution 59/239 (Implementation of

ing land issues to improve the lives of the outcome of the UN Conference on
poor people in urban and rural areas Human Settlements (HABITAT II) and
by securing land and property rights for strengthening of the United Nations
all. The following documents outline the Human Settlements Programme (UN
mandate of the Agency and the compo- General Assembly 2005).
nents of its programme:
UN-Habitat Resolution 23/17 on sustaina-
The Vancouver Declaration on Human ble urban development through expand-
Settlements and the associated Vancouver ing equitable access to land, housing,
Action Plan (UNCHS 1976). basic services and infrastructure (United
Nations 2011).
The 1996 Istanbul Declaration on Human
Settlements and the Habitat Agenda UN-Habitat’s commitment to the land
Goals and Principles, Commitments and agenda was reaffirmed in its restructur-
the Global Plan of Action (UN-Habitat ing in 2011, which created a Land and
1996a and b). GLTN Unit in its Urban Legislation, Land,
and Governance Branch.
The Millennium Declaration and Millen-
nium Development Goal 7 targets C and UN-Habitat is reporting against the
D (United Nations 2010). Medium Term Strategic and Institutional
Plan for 2008–13 on focus area 3 (access
Various United Nations General Assembly
to land and housing for all). It will report
resolutions, including:
against the strategic plan on focus area
1 (city, regional and national authorities
 Resolution S-25/2 (Declaration on cit-
have established systems for improved
ies and other human settlements in
access to land, adopted enabling legisla-
the new millennium) (UN General
tion, and put in place effective decentral-
Assembly 2001).
ized governance that fosters equitable
sustainable urban development, includ-
ing urban safety).
from other governments, international This resolution was a breakthrough for

organizations, local governments, NGOs, GLTN: it was the first detailed resolution
the private sector and academia. At its 23rd in the United Nations on underlying land
meeting in 2012, the Governing Council systems (as opposed to specific land topics
passed a resolution to recognize a “plurality such as evictions and climate change).
of tenure systems” (i.e., a continuum of While it is important to have good land
land rights) and to promote security of tools, such political support for GLTN’s work
tenure for all segments of society (Box 8). is vital as the Network expands its work to
The resolution also applauds GLTN’s work the country level in its next phase, which
and its engagement with civil society. begins in 2012.
19
Box 8. UN-Habitat Governing Council resolution guiding the

work of GLTN
Resolution GC23-17 on “sustainable intensifying efforts to achieve secure

urban development through expanding tenure in post-conflict and post-disas-
equitable access to land, housing, basic ter situations;
services and infrastructure”
(c) To review and improve urban land
“7. Encourages Governments and Habitat governance mechanisms, including
Agenda partners, with regard to land land/spatial planning administration
issues: and management, land information
systems and land-based tax systems,
(a) To implement land policy develop-
so as to strengthen tenure rights and
ment and regulatory and procedural
expand secure and sustainable access
reform programmes, if necessary, so
to land, housing, basic services and
as to achieve sustainable urban devel-
infrastructure, particularly for the
opment and to better manage climate
poor and women;
change, ensuring that land interven-
tions are anchored within effective (d) To create mechanisms for broadening
land governance frameworks; land-based revenue streams, includ-
ing by improving the competencies
(b) To promote security of tenure for all
and capacities of local and regional
segments of society by recognizing
authorities in the field of land and
and respecting a plurality of tenure
property valuation and taxation, so as
systems, identifying and adopting,
to generate additional local revenue
as appropriate to particular situa-
for pro-poor policies and to finance
tions, intermediate forms of tenure
infrastructure development.”
arrangements, adopting alternative
forms of land administration and Source: UN-Habitat Governing Council, 23rd
land records alongside conventional Session, April 2011 (United Nations 2011).
land administration systems, and
20
Urban cityscape in Tirana, Albania
Photo © UN-Habitat
Recording land information in Ethiopia
Photo © Jaap Zevenbergen
3
Towards tenure security
through non-conventional
land recording tools
L and administration systems document

and map people’s tenure rights to
“parcels” (pieces of land) in different ways.
a formal land administration system. No
precise number is known, but an often used
ballpark figure is that at least 70 per cent
Examples are cadastral maps, land registries of the land in developing countries is not
and other forms of land records. covered by a land administration system.
For sub-Saharan Africa it is thought to
Having your rights registered or recorded be even higher. The lack of recorded land
in such a system brings various benefits. rights affects women the most. Formal,
In general, it gives you greater security of conventional land administration systems,
tenure, and reduces the chance of your and especially their land-recording or
losing your land or being evicted from it. registration components, cover only a
You will be more willing to invest in or on limited part of the territory and reach only
the land and can sell the land more easily certain segments of society, usually the rich
(often at a higher price). You can get credit and well-connected.
by using the land as collateral. Local (and
national) governments can more easily plan There is substantial research on and
and manage land use, and collect revenue evaluation of individual titling of
from it in the form of fees and taxes. Not all ownership. This examines the relationship
these advantages need emerge at the same between individual ownership and
time, and there are also drawbacks – but agricultural production, investment, conflict
these will not be discussed here. management and gender relations. It is often
used to justify large-scale land titling and
Limitations of formal registration programmes. Despite numerous
land administration titling projects and programmes around
systems the world, the coverage has increased
substantially in only a few countries. The
results of such projects are limited mostly to
Everyone has some kind of relationship pilots or a few priority areas, often linked
to land – after all, we all have to live to commercial activities or large, often
somewhere. And every country has some foreign, investments. Allocating individual
form of recording of land rights. But many ownership titles to the huge numbers
people in the world, especially the poor, of people who do not have them would
women or otherwise marginalized, do not take decades (or even centuries in some
have their relationship to land included in developing countries) at current rates. And
23
final information can be entered or updated.

Box 9. Active and passive The form in which the information has to be
tenure security reported is prescribed in a very detailed and
complex way. It is either practically or legally
Active tenure security means being impossible to prepare this information in
able to perform transactions on a par- the right way without using gatekeepers:
cel of land – e.g., to buy, sell or lease it.
notaries or conveyancers to handle the legal
Passive tenure security means being aspects; land surveyors to do the maps;
free of the risk of being evicted from
the land. planners to deal with changes in land use,
and valuers to decide how much the land
is worth.
even where they have been introduced,
land administration systems capture only For the poor and even the lower middle
the more formal types of tenure, not the class, playing by these rules is impossible:
whole continuum of land rights (Chapter 2, the services cost far too much. Both public
Figure 3). and private service providers have limited
capacity. Private practitioners often protect
Land registration is not as neutral as is their professions by keeping their numbers
often claimed. Attempts to expand these low. Clients often have to pay “facilitation
systems usually benefit the elite, with many fees” or other forms of informal payment
of the poor ending up with less security and to access government agencies. In addition,
access to land. Most titling and registration land administration systems are often
interventions aim to support active tenure subject to vested interests that make fair
security: they try to make it easier to transact outcomes impossible.
in land that has been formalized and
documented (or “titled”) (Box 9). But for Expanding the coverage of formal systems
most of the poor, the first order of business can be slow and costly. In those countries
is to get passive tenure security, where the where the formal land-recording system is
intended result means no more fear of being being expanded, it will take decades or even
evicted or losing one’s existing rights. centuries to cover the whole country. Even
then, changes such as the inheritance or
As a concept, land administration systems sale of land are not fully processed.
sound simple enough: they describe who
has what relationship (often a right) to Forms of tenure
which resource, and where. The system
needs to collect, store and update this
information. Techniques to do so have In many countries, the land administration
been developed throughout history, and system deals only with formal, statutory land
modern technologies have made them rights, usually subject to legislation passed
more efficient. during the colonial period. But the poor
typically hold their land through customary
But most conventional systems introduce or informal tenure systems.
many hoops to jump through before the
24
Chapter 3 Towards tenure security through non-conventional land recording tools
Statutory or formal tenure Such tenure is common (though by no

means universal) in developed countries
Statutory or formal tenure is where and in well-off urban areas of developing
someone’s right is specified in the law. That countries. But it is difficult to maintain, as
enables the owner or rights-holder to use the paperwork must be kept up-to-date (for
the law to defend his or her rights. In most example if the rights-holder dies or transfers
cases, for land rights to be truly seen as the rights to someone else). Failure to do so
formal tenure, they need to be reflected in may mean that the land switches to a more
legal records, which are often kept either informal form of tenure.
as paper documents or computer files.
Box 10. Limits of conventional approaches: An example from the

Caribbean
Despite the relatively high income lev- the title of a resident on state land, sub-
els in the region, levels of informal and ject to certain limitations. Even though
traditional tenure in the Caribbean are no progress has since been made in issu-
similar to those in other developing ing formal title deeds, these certificates
countries. Documentation varies widely have improved the tenure security for
but is generally bad: while only around their holders, many of whom have made
10 per cent of the land in Barbados is physical improvements to their property.
undocumented, as much as 90 per cent While the certificate holders would like
in Haiti lacks documentation, so falls into to have their tenure regularized, many
the “informal” sector. feel secure enough, and are more inter-
ested in improvements to services and
In the region as a whole, informal land
infrastructure.
includes:
“Family land” is an intermediate form
 Generational (family) land, where the of tenure security – one that is subject
issue is largely of poor documentation to problems in management, proper use
of intergenerational transfers. and inter-family conflict. Some countries
have tried to resolve these problems by
 Public and private land occupied simplifying the title through compre-
illegally. hensive adjudication and titling. St Lucia
undertook such an exercise in the 1980s,
 Customary and communal land. but the adjudication and titling tools
In Trinidad and Tobago, one of the rich- did not resolve the problems, and the
est countries in the region, most of the amount of family land actually increased.
informal tenure falls into the first two Comprehensive adjudication and indi-
categories. Documentation remains a vidual titling are still being proposed
problem: a 1991 study found that 40 as a solution to family land by many
per cent of households had good doc- Caribbean countries, even though they
umentation of title, but this percent- lack any clear means to resolve the man-
age had slipped to 35 per cent in 2005. agement issues.
The proportion of people with no docu- Even when countries are relatively small,
mentation at all was reduced dramati- the conventional land administration
cally during the same period, from 28 approach cannot be scaled up in a
per cent to 16 per cent. This was primar- sustainable way.
ily due to the issuing of a Certificate of More information: Griffiths-Charles and Opadeyi
Comfort, an undertaking to regularize (2009), Williams (2003).
25
Customary tenure government agencies or the courts, if their

rights to the land are threatened. Threats
Customary tenure is mostly, but not always, may come from many sources: government
found in rural and peri-urban areas. It is projects, large developers or local elites may
adequate when the customary institutions claim a right to the same land. They may be
are strong and outside pressures are few. able to get their interests registered if the
But outside pressures may change this: registration procedure does not include a
for example, if an area is subject to urban thorough check in the field (which is quite
development, government investment in normal since the procedure relies on paper
infrastructure or large-scale land acquisition, trails). Sometimes, projects that aim to help
the holders of customary tenure may find people with low incomes by formalizing or
themselves in a weak position. Even if the regularizing their rights to land may even
law recognizes customary tenure, such lead to them losing their land.
people may find they cannot prove their
rights according to the conventional rules. Other forms of tenure
A study of Georgia, Ghana, Nigeria and All these forms of tenure focus on the right
South Africa by the World Bank-funded of use by an individual or family. In many
Land Governance Assessment Framework countries, public or state land also exists –
(Box 11) found that the legal framework indeed, sometimes all land is seen as such,
recognizes tenure rights of more than 90 and other, limited, forms of tenure exist on
per cent of the rural population in these four top of it.
countries, but less than 10 per cent of the
area under communal or indigenous land Many other tenure types exist, often co-
has boundaries demarcated and surveyed existing with the other rights. Examples are
and the associated claims registered. A rental, leasing, easements, sharecropping,
defence against such outside pressure is to and various forms of community or group
demarcate and map the outside boundaries ownership. The various types may overlap.
of the customary area. Mozambique is one For example, someone may have the rights
country where this is being done. to harvest fruit or gather firewood from
a parcel of land, while someone else can
Informal tenure graze their animals there. A third person
may have the right to chop down the trees
Informal tenure is often found in slums, or build on the land. We can think of these
but also in areas where not all legal and different types as falling on a continuum of
planning requirements have been met land rights, from formal to informal (Figure
during the development and building 3).
period. The tenure rights of people who
possess them are not entered into the Different forms of tenure are common in
land administration system. People whose different countries. The Land Governance
rights are not registered find themselves Assessment Framework (Box 11) attempts
in a weak position, without support from to classify these different forms.
26
Box 11. Tenure types identified by the Land Governance

Assessment Framework
The Land Governance Assessment rural communities (Andean traditional

Framework is a diagnostic tool to evalu- peasant groups and Amazonian indig-
ate legal structures, policies and practices enous groups). Legislation on land
regarding land governance. It has found formalization identifies several types
that most of the tenure types it has iden- of tenure for which special adminis-
tified are recognized by the legal frame- trative procedures and requirements
works in the countries where they occur, for regularization apply. But it misses
either explicitly in the constitution, or out new types of tenure, such as that
through legislative provisions. Such pro- practised by settlers in the Amazon
visions may be interim in nature: they do area who are not members of tradi-
not necessarily recognize full rights, but tional native communities.
allow for compensation in case of evic-
Other uses
tion. Despite this legal protection, it is hard
for vulnerable land holder groups or indi- The framework has a wide range of addi-
viduals to enforce the recognition of their tional uses. Some examples:
rights because of weak formal institutions.
 Identifying pilot activities to improve
The project has also identified several
tenure security.
tenure situations where the rights of
minorities were simply ignored. It has  Providing a basis for stakeholders
raised awareness about the possibility of (nongovernmental organizations,
protecting these rights. For example: the private sector, and academics) to
monitor policy reforms.
 In Georgia, rural communities’ tra-
ditional use of pastures is not rec-  Identifying areas that change rela-
ognized by law. But it is deemed a tively quickly and where more fre-
legitimate practice. quent monitoring will be useful.
 In Nigeria, the Fulani pastoral group’s The Land Governance Assessment
rights are recognized by settled Framework is run by a partnership of
customary tenure systems. But rec- the World Bank, the International Food
ognizing these rights legally faces dif- Policy Research Institute, UN-Habitat,
ficulties because the legal framework the International Fund for Agricultural
was designed with crop farming in Development, and the Food and
mind, not livestock herding. Agricultural Organization of the United
Nations.
 In Peru, the constitution recognizes
More information: Deininger et al. (2011).
land rights for both individuals and
Measuring tenure land, people’s relationship to it, and the

policy environment governing it: who has
security
what rights, where, how much, since when,
whose rights are (un)protected, whose
One cannot manage the unknown. rights are threatened or not, and what
Informed policies and decision making laws and policies exist for securing various
require a clear picture of the status and relationship to land. Adequate, reliable
state of land: the key facts and figures on
27
indicators are needed to measure progress The framework comprises of five thematic
(or lack thereof) in tenure security. areas:
Unfortunately, data and indicators on land,  Legal and institutional framework.

people and policies are often missing,
inaccurate, unreliable and incomplete. In  Public land management.
most of the developing world, less than 30
per cent of all lands are recorded in public  Land use planning, management and
registries. If a land information system is taxation.
to be effective and useful to the general
public – and especially to people with low  Dispute resolution.
incomes – it must be accessible, complete
(e.g., including all types of land rights and  Public provision of information.
arrangements), transparent and affordable.
Additional modules are available, including
The Land Governance Assessment on large-scale land acquisition and on
Framework also monitors improvements forestry.
over time. As part of the analysis, local
experts create an exhaustive classification For specific measures of tenure in urban
of their countries’ tenure types. This areas, GLTN is developing a framework to
classification reflects the continuum of track land rights and tenure security based
rights that are held in practice, from formal on the continuum of land rights. A working
to informal, the different uses of the land, paper on this framework (UN-Habitat and
and the rights associated with each one. It GLTN 2011b) recognizes that a one-size-
aims to cover both urban and rural areas. fits-all approach is not appropriate since
a tenure arrangement that is reasonably
Each country’s tenure typology is unique, secure in one situation may be insecure in
as it reflects specific historical and socio- another. Secure tenure can include both
economic conditions. To allow for this in formal and informal tenure arrangements,
a worldwide scheme, the tenure types and residents themselves may under- or
commonly cover three broad forms of over-estimate how secure their situation
tenure: public ownership and use, private is. The measurement methodology draws
ownership and use, and indigenous and from experiences in selected cities in South
non-indigenous community tenure. Africa, Iraq and Brazil, as well as on two
previous UN-Habitat methods: the Legal
The framework estimates the total land and Institutional Framework Index and
area under each category and the number Urban Inequality Surveys. It makes use of
of land holders involved. It also covers the different types of surveys, national statistics
governance of each type and the policy and population censuses, and incorporates
issues that are likely to arise. lessons from previous and on-going
initiatives to improve tenure security.
28
Table 3. Options to assess tenure security
Option Explanation
Individual level
Urban Inequities Survey Sample survey consisting of three instruments - house-

hold, women and community questionnaires.
Household survey/added Security of tenure module added on to household

question surveys
Census /added question Question about the type of tenure document each
household has added to the national population census
form
Small sample survey Small-scale sample surveys or qualitative methods
Community level
Informal settlement Assessments based on satellite imagery, rapid surveys

assessment and sampling
Rapid tenure security Assessments based on digital imagery, focus-group

assessment interviews and consultants’ studies
Household survey clusters Questions about the community added to household

survey
Qualitative assessment Review of secondary data plus interviews with experts

and local key informants
National policy level
Legal and Institutional Assessment of national and local government policies

Framework Index for urban areas
Adapted from UN-Habitat and GLTN (2011b).
The framework suggests that tenure security Threats to

be measured at three levels: individual or
customary Rights
household, community or settlement, and
national policy, and outlines various options
for each level (Table 3). It shows that there There has recently been a massive increase in
is more than one route to security, as commercial interest in rural land and natural
illustrated in the continuum of land rights. resources in developing countries. This is
stimulated by several factors: increasing
food prices, rising demand for food, animal
29
feed and biofuels, as well as carbon-trading Because the government does not recognize
mechanisms that place a commercial value (or overrides) the customary rights, the
on standing forests and rangelands. These local people lose access to the land. The
all have pushed up demand for land and investment may create new employment,
have led to large-scale foreign and domestic infrastructure and services, but even so,
commercial investment in land. the jobs may be taken by outsiders, so local
people do not benefit. Large-scale land
Governments often welcome such deals as investments may even threaten national
much-needed investments in agriculture food security as most production is for
and the economy. But they place new export. Food prices go up, harming poor
tensions on land-tenure systems, and can people living in cities too.
create further inequality in economic and
political power. Box 12 lists some ways that the International
Land Coalition, a GLTN partner, is responding
This is because of different views of the land to the increased commercial pressure on
in question: land.
 According to statutory law it is state land Dealing with different

that the government can lease out for
forms of tenure
productive use.
 Local people – poor smallholders, Formal land administration systems are

pastoralists and indigenous peoples – not sufficient to cater for the continuum
use it to grow crops, graze livestock and of rights: they are too cumbersome and
collect firewood according to customary expensive. We need innovative alternatives
rights. Women constitute the majority of that are cheaper and simpler in every way.
these groups. New technologies using computers, satellite
Box 12. International Land Coalition responses to the increased

commercial pressure on land
Commercial pressures on land portal. Monitoring of land transactions. Aims

Provides an open space for sharing knowl- to better understand the extent, trends
edge, information and perspectives. and impacts of land-related investments.
It is a systematic stocktaking of current
Global study on commercial pressures
investment projects worldwide.
on land. Analyses the causes and mecha-
nisms of land acquisitions and explores Widening the dialogue. A debate by key
the risks and opportunities for local poor stakeholders with diverging perspectives
land users. It includes individual case on large-scale land acquisitions.
studies, regional overviews and thematic More information: www.landcoalition.org, www.
studies with a global scope. commercialpressuresonland.org
30
images and geographical positioning tenure security. Four such tools are described
systems can help: pro-poor does not below:
necessarily mean low-tech.
 The Social Tenure Domain Model –
Several local or national initiatives have a pro-poor system to manage land
introduced new approaches. These have information.
had varying degrees of success. An attempt
to introduce pro-poor alternatives in the  Participatory enumerations through
laws in Uganda, for example, has run into community-led data collection.
implementation problems, and it has had
little impact so far. Initiatives in Ethiopia  Attempts to build on local records of
and Benin (Boxes 13 and 14), on the other land transactions.
hand, have been quite successful.
 Other non-conventional approaches that
GLTN has studied, documented and governments have accepted as valid.
developed various land tools to improve
Box 13. Rural land certification in Ethiopia
Participatory enumerations have been As a result, farmers felt their tenure was
used in Ethiopia for adjudications for more secure, and they had more incen-
rural land certification. To enhance rural tive to invest in the land. Their partici-
tenure security, four regional states pation in the land market went up. The
(Amhara, Oromiya, Tigray, and Southern number of conflicts over land fell, and
Nations, Nationalities and Peoples) reg- women were empowered (for example,
istered the land-use rights on approxi- a photo of each spouse appears on the
mately 25 million parcels in village land certificate in several of the regions).
books. This programme provided land-
Although updating procedures have not
holders with certificates that record and
been well developed, the first phase of
identify the boundaries of parcels by list-
the programme reached millions of peo-
ing the people who have rights to the
ple at a cost of about $3.50 per house-
adjoining parcels.
hold or $1 per parcel.
This programme was carried out in a
The second phase (to add maps) has prov-
decentralized, participatory, equitable,
en slower and much more difficult. The
and transparent manner through an
World Bank documented this process as
elected land administration committee
part of its work with GLTN.
of local people. It handled the massive
numbers of registered holdings quickly More information: Deininger et al. (2008)
and at low cost.
31
Box 14. Urban land registry in Benin
In Benin, as in most sub-Saharan coun- To establish such a registry system, it is

tries, customary land tenure coexists necessary to speed up the registration
with statutory land rights. During the procedures and to regularize irregular
late 1980s, some of the customary rights occupations on a large scale. The inven-
holders of farmland on the edges of cities tory has to identify the land holders
sold their land. The land was subdivided along with the nature and a detailed
and converted to urban use. The new description of their tenure rights. A con-
owners were given occupancy permits. tinuum of graduated land rights is being
To broaden the tax base, the government considered.
combined information on all the tenure
The land taxation system has improved
types from different sources, as well as
as a result of the registry. However, the
from participatory field surveys involving
other applications are not sufficiently
the local municipality, community organi-
implemented: only three  components
zations and specialized companies.
are generally in place: piecemeal map-
This resulted in the Urban Land Registry ping, a database resulting from field
(Registre Foncier Urbain). This is a surveys, and tax implementation. The
municipal land information system used land-information and urban data-use
for taxation purposes. It makes it possible components are still in their initial stag-
to have an address-based parcel map of es. Because it does not yet operate to
a city, to create an urban database, and its full potential, its benefits for land
to develop tax, urban and land applica- management are limited and it does not
tions. The local government can use the yet contribute to tenure security or to
data to assess and collect taxes, as well as financing urbanization. The community
in urban and land-management projects has been slow to recognize its value. It is
such as service provision, land-use plan- important to adapt the law to enable the
ning and infrastructure upgrading. registry to provide tenure security for the
majority of the population.
These registries have been implemented
in 16 municipalities in Benin, and are See Box 32 for the revenue-generating
being created in two more. They now aspects of the registry.
include more than 201,000 addresses.
More information: Perier and Houssou
(2012).
Social Tenure  A new way of thinking about land

records.
Domain Model
 A software package based on free,
The Social Tenure Domain Model, com- widely used and open-source systems to
monly known as STDM, is a pro-poor land record information about land.
information system developed by GLTN
partners UN-Habitat, the International  A method of collecting data about land.
Federation of Surveyors and the Faculty
of Geo-Information Science and Earth  A way of using and disseminating
Observation at the University of Twente. The information about land and property.
concept includes four related components:
32
A new way of thinking A software package

about land records
The second component of the model is a
The model makes the basic notions of land software package that can cater to these
administration flexible enough to serve non- ideas. A prototype to demonstrate the proof
conventional situations. of concept was launched in 2010, and a
revised version was prepared based on a
 Instead of using parcels, it thinks in terms widely used, open-source, geographical
of spatial units that can be approximately information system. It is currently being
identified by one point in the middle of used in a pilot in Uganda with Slum/Shack
the land in question, or by an address Dwellers International (Box 15). A further
of the dwelling on it. It is not necessary pilot is planned in an informal settlement in
to divide up an area completely into Kenya in 2012.
mutually exclusive parcels: the spatial
units may overlap or have gaps between A data-collection method
them.
The model is a rather broad approach to
 Instead of owners, it thinks in terms of collecting data in the field.
parties that can take many forms: a group
without an immediately clear set of Information at the household level may
members, a group with listed members, be collected by representatives of the
a company, a family or household, or community using a pre-determined and
even an individual person. A party may tested questionnaire. This follows the steps
be part of a broader group, making in participatory enumerations – one of
up a group of groups, with different, GLTN’s tools (see below). Information about
overlapping, land areas associated with the name of the enumerator, witnesses,
them. individual persons, family members,
gender, age, social tenure relationship and
 Instead of ownership, the model thinks development priorities for the communities
in terms of social tenure. This may be is collected and linked to specific spatial
any form of relationship between a units. The length of the questionnaire
person (or people) and the land: formal, depends on the purpose of the enumeration,
informal and customary. It need not be but it is advisable not to have a lengthy and
exclusive to one piece of land, but may comprehensive questionnaire in most cases.
include “secondary” rights (such as the
right of way over another’s field, the Information on spatial units may be hand-
right to collect fruit, use a common toilet drawn on a piece of paper, marked on an
or water point). existing map, or indicated on an aerial photo
or satellite image. The position may be
This approach has been widely documented surveyed with hand-held global positioning
and discussed, and forms a basis for dealing system equipment, with traditional or
with the continuum of land rights. modern surveying equipment, or digitized
from a pre-existing map. At each location,
33
Box 15. Social Tenure Domain Model: A pilot project in Mbale,

Uganda
A pilot project is on-going in two slum on the land, the reasons for moving there,
settlements in Mbale, Uganda, with where they work or attend school, what
involvement from local women and men, kind of houses they have built, and so on.
community organizations, the municipal The software enables this information
government, the relevant ministry, as to be shared with the community, local
well as Slum/Shack Dwellers International authorities and the ministry. The software
and UN-Habitat as GLTN partners. The package has two major components: a
city and the two settlements were care- satellite imagery map, which shows the
fully selected to ensure full participation existing structures, roads and the settle-
and co-ownership of the project. The ments, and a database where the details
pilot is funded by Cities Alliance with of each household, pictures, photocopies
technological and financial support from of documents, and even fingerprints can
the International Federation of Surveyors be stored.
Foundation.
Once the residents have collected and
The pilot aims to test the Social Tenure validated information about themselves,
Domain Model as a way to help people they will discuss and develop plans for
to plan their development priorities and how services, better housing, and the
to get the government to recognize their right to continue living on the land can
informal settlements. Efforts now focus be delivered. The data and plans will be
on how the authorities can issue “certifi- presented to the local or national author-
cates of residency” to improve the resi- ities via their slum dwellers’ movement
dents’ tenure security. Such recognition and the city’s citizens’ forum.
would also mean that the government
UN-Habitat and Slum/Shack Dwellers
would provide basic services and infra-
International are monitoring and docu-
structure such as water, sanitation, elec-
menting the process so they can refine
tricity and roads.
the process further for use elsewhere
The Uganda project team trained leaders on a larger scale. Slum/Shack Dwellers
and residents of the two settlements how International facilitates peer exchanges
to use the approach. They are now using it with slum dwellers from other cities in
to do a participatory enumeration, which Uganda and elsewhere in Africa and Asia.
is recording details of the settlements,
More information: GLTN and UN-Habitat
who lives there, how long they have lived
(2011).
it is possible to link the party (group, The software allows the data to be updated.
household, person) to the appropriate It is simple enough to be run locally. It is also
spatial unit. This information is collected possible to use paper rather than electronic
from the land holders or occupants in the devices to record the information. A mobile
presence of their neighbours – who act team helps the local women and men collect
as checks, witnesses and validators of the the data and shows them how to manage
information. The information gathered is and periodically update the records.
publicly displayed in the local area so it can
be corrected and validated.
34
An information A central idea in participatory enumerations

dissemination method is to go into the field and ask people (in the
presence of their neighbours) about their
Because the data are computerized, it is relationships to land and buildings. That is
easy to analyse them and make them widely conceptually very similar to the original, and
available. Better information means better most successful, first data collections for
decisions on land management and better- conventional systems (called adjudication).
designed land policies.
Despite this, many modern adjudication
The Social Tenure Domain Model is a procedures do not prefer such oral
promising approach for use even in areas evidence. Indeed, they may ignore it, even
where records already exist, where tenure when it is supported by other people in
security is not threatened, and where the community. The Land Governance
authorities and communities have limited Assessment Framework found that in
resources. Nigeria, non-documentary forms of evidence
are almost never used to obtain recognition
Participatory for property claims. In Ghana and South
Africa, non-documentary evidence has to
enumeration
be supported by other documents, such
as tax receipts or informal purchase notes
The third component of the Social Tenure (unpublished LGAF reports, 2011).
Domain Model involves gathering data on
various aspects of the community. GLTN has The more enumerations are done by people
been developing ways to do this together with sufficient basic training, and the more
with local people – through what is called they are documented, the more likely the
participatory enumeration. This is a data- formal sector is to take the approach and
gathering process which is to a significant the data it produces into account. Making
extent jointly designed and conducted this too restrictive, however, brings us back
by the people who are being surveyed. to the trap of the conventional systems –
There are various ways such surveys can be too formal, too expensive, too inflexible. A
designed, and the data can be used for many balance is needed.
purposes, by local communities as well as by
government agencies. Enumerations may An example of the potential contribution
be done on paper or using computers. They of such enumerations – and the problems
may use existing maps or create their own, that may arise in melding it with formal
or aerial or satellite photos – or not use maps systems – was in the aftermath of the 2004
at all. They may use sophisticated global earthquake and tsunami in Aceh, Indonesia.
positioning equipment and geographical Here, bottom-up village mapping and
information systems software – or may community-driven adjudication were used
be entirely paper-based. The range of to identify land parcels and their owners
approaches and techniques is described in and to enable houses to be rebuilt. Extensive
the GLTN book Count me in (GLTN 2010b). instructions and guidelines were prepared
for this work. But the resulting information
35
Box 16. Land regularization in Rwanda
Land plays a central role in the social and on paper copies of aerial photos, which
economic development of Rwanda, a are later entered into a computer. The
densely populated country that is recov- para-surveyors receive a short train-
ering from the legacy of the 1994 geno- ing and move from community to com-
cide. In 2007, the government launched munity. Although challenges in data
a national programme to issue registered maintenance and updating are to be
land titles to every landholder. This land- expected, progress has been impressive.
certification programme is one of the Information on more than 3 million par-
most ambitious in the region. It aims to cels has been collected. The acceptance
register all of the country’s land at a rate of realistic accuracy levels and the use of
of no less than 3–4,000 parcels a month, aerial photos and para-surveyors have
and in a highly cost-effective manner. been key to this. There appears to be only
one licensed surveyor in the country, who
The programme involves teams of para-
heads the land agency.
surveyors who collect the data in the
field, including drawing boundary lines More information: Ayalew Ali et al. (2010).
was not included into the conventional land These “little papers” (petits papiers in
administration system until the gatekeepers French) are increasingly found in West
(in this case staff from the national land Africa, Uganda and elsewhere.
agency) revisited the field and had checked
pre-existing documents. GLTN documented GLTN has started developing a land tool to
this experience in preparing guidance for capitalize on these records. It aims to build
how to deal with land issues after disasters. on the local bodies that act as gatekeepers
in documenting the rights. Their local
Local records of knowledge and the community institutions
are the basis for verifying the transfer.
land transactions
They check who is selling, who is buying
and what is transferred – for example,
In areas not covered by conventional land how much land, how strong a right (e.g.,
administration, some form of local land merely a use right for a limited time, or
records may be kept such as through: customary ownership). Apart from acting as
the gatekeeper, the community leadership
 An informal land office in an informal should also set up a basic repository to store
settlement (as in Kibera, a large slum in the information. This repository should be
Nairobi). maintained by a grassroots recorder, who
ideally gets some training.
 Non-standardized writings to document
land transactions. A copy of such Such a bottom-up set-up will gain formal
documents is usually given to a recognition only if the government has an
customary, local or informal leader who influence on it. One possibility is some form
acts as a witness to the transaction. of co-management, which might include
36
Box 17. Land inventory in Botswana
In 2010, GLTN studied the process, the limited infrastructure and with a lack of
steps and key features of land inventory- qualified staff. Paper-based solutions, the
ing in Botswana’s tribal (customary) land. study suggests, are often better in such
The study focused on the Tribal Land situations. They should be designed to
Integrated Management System, a com- make it easy to migrate to a computer-
puter-based land administration scheme. based system if conditions allow at a later
stage to avoid double work and unneces-
It documented various challenges
sary costs.
facing this system, including a reliance
on complex computing systems that were More information: GLTN and UN-Habitat
difficult to maintain in rural areas with (2010b).
a joint annual inspection of the records by the World Bank, Box 16). The perils of
representatives of the government land over-reliance on computers in rural areas
sector and the local community. are illustrated by a GLTN study of a land
administration system in Botswana (Box 17).
The workability of this approach needs to be
explored further: for example, to determine How these non-conventional land-recording
in what types of communities it might tools are developed is as important as their
work (or not), and how to set up the co- outcomes. It is necessary to overcome vested
management while still leaving ownership interests linked to conventional systems, at
of the system within the community. A first the same time as overcoming local people’s
round of discussions with a diverse group suspicion of information going outside their
of legal registry experts has taken place. communities. The answer is to develop the
Further consultations, studies and piloting land tools step-by-step in a consultative and
will follow (see Zevenbergen 2011). participatory process.
Other approaches Next steps in addressing

accepted by tenure security
governments
Continuum of land rights. Tenure security
Innovative ideas on how to improve tenure is a central part of GLTN’s work, and the
security more cheaply and quickly have been Network will continue to develop and
around for decades. Some have been piloted promote solutions that respond to different
successfully, and a few have even been scaled needs, including those of both women
up. GLTN has documented some of these and men. Key to this is getting widespread
initiatives. They include an urban land registry recognition of the continuum of land
in in Benin (documented by UN-Habitat, Box rights. GLTN will continue to advocate for
14), and an ambitious land regularization its recognition in political, professional and
programme in Rwanda (documented by grassroot circles.
37
Indicators of tenure. Understanding and Land-recording systems. Developing pro-

measuring different aspects of tenure are poor land-recording systems is a further
vital for rational interventions, policies and area for attention. GLTN will document and
comparisons across locations and countries. analyse the institutional issues associated
GLTN will continue to implement security with local land-record management, before
of tenure frameworks, such as the Local undertaking a pilot project. Work is also
Governance Assessment Framework and needed on organizing data collection for local
rapid tenure security assessment, along land records, such as customary land rights.
with tools and guidelines for measuring
key land indicators. It will further test, pilot Two other areas would benefit from GLTN’s
and implement other components in the attention:
framework, such as rapid tenure security
assessment and the legal and institutional Alternative dispute-resolution mecha-
framework index. GLTN will promote the nisms at the local level. Mediation
development of common indicators to allow mechanisms can help to increase tenure
rational policymaking and comparisons security for women and men even without
across locations and countries. It will further a system of recording (though it is a good
the development and implementation of idea to document the outcomes of the
a global monitoring mechanism on land resolution). Land recording nonetheless
access, rights and governance within the needs to be embedded in broader land
framework of the continuum of land rights. governance and dispute mechanisms.
Social Tenure Domain Model. The tool Increasing the acceptance of non-
needs to be piloted in different circumstances conventional land-recording tools. It is
(urban, peri-urban and rural), as well as for important to find ways for the public sector
informal, customary and statutory tenure – especially the courts and land agencies
types. The software will be further developed – to accept information from these non-
and the approach tested and adapted at the conventional approaches, for example, to
community level. GLTN will seek to embed accept them as evidence in a court case, or
it in an institutional framework and press to use them for land management. A next
for government acceptance so it can be step would be to set up land information
implemented at scale. systems that cover larger areas and that rely
on information from both conventional and
Participatory enumerations. The Network non-conventional sources. Such systems
will also continue to document participatory would provide a basis for land readjustment,
enumerations and other community-driven land taxation and other purposes, similar to
data-collection methods. It will develop the urban land registry in Benin described in
guidelines on how to collect data using such Box 14.
methods, and how to manage and update
the information that has been collected.
38
Validation exercise as part of testing STDM, Mbale, Uganda

Photo © UN-Habitat/Danilo Antonio
39
Community mapping exercise by grassroots women in Peru
Photo © Huairou Commission
4 Gender and inequality
M ost discussion about land policies has

focused on how they work to the
advantage of the rich, and how to make
credit. In urban areas, people need land to
build their houses and set up their shops
and workshops. Without secure rights to
them work for the poor. There has not been land, people have no incentive to invest in
enough attention on how even land policies their homes or workplaces, and little reason
that are pro-poor may affect women and to take care of their environment.
men differently. Most societies are dominated
by men, and women have limited access and Many women are doubly disadvantaged: by
control over land and property. poverty and by gender. Women make up at
least half the world’s population but two-
Gender is not the only barrier to people thirds of the world’s poor. In many places,
gaining access to, control over, and national laws, social customs and patriarchal
ownership of land and natural resources. tenure systems prevent many from holding
Other groups have also been historically rights to land. In sub-Saharan Africa, for
denied rights to land: young people, example, just 2–3 per cent of the land is
indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, owned by women. Women often rely on
religious groups, persons with disabilities, their male relatives for access to land. If their
and non-citizens of a country. relationship with the man breaks down, if
they get divorced, if their husband dies, or if
This chapter discusses GLTN’s work in the male land owner decides to use the land
relation to inequality, with a focus on in another way, they find themselves with
gender. no land, and no way to support themselves.
Women in rural areas, informal settlements
Not everyone’s rights and slums, indigenous and black women,
elderly, disabled, widows and refugees are
to land are secure
among the most marginalized.
Poor and marginalized people need land The United Nations’ Millennium
to survive. In rural areas, land and related Development Goals see meeting the
resources (such as water and trees) are basic needs of women as central to the
a fundamental source of livelihood, development process. Access and control
subsistence and food security. Land is a over land and related resources is often
safety net in times of hardship and crisis, essential for the well-being of women and,
and an asset base that enables access to where applicable, their families.
41
Most poor women carry a triple burden: they The agenda underscores the need to ensure
have to earn money, care for their families, gender-responsiveness in all stages of tool
and make up for the lack of infrastructure development. (See Figure 5)
and services in their communities. A lack of
secure tenure makes it hard not only for the GLTN has so far evaluated land issues and
women themselves, but also threatens their tools from a gender perspective, developed
families, including the children the elderly capacity on gender and land issues, and
and the sick. studied the tenure rights of women and
legal reforms that affect them. In the longer
Women’s access to land needs first and term, it also aims to ensure that gender is
foremost to be seen as a universal human considered in all the land tools, and to pilot
right, independently of any other arguments and scale up these tools. GLTN is aware that
in favour of it. women are often more marginalized than
men, but it takes a gender approach to
Improving the rights to land of women and ensure that the particular vulnerabilities of
other marginalized groups has many other men are also appreciated and addressed if
benefits, just as it has for men. Land rights necessary.
enable women to invest in improvements
(such as better housing or irrigation) without Gender evaluation criteria
fear of losing them. Land rights may also
enable women to use the land to get credit, Land tools should not just benefit the poor:
giving them more money to invest in land, they must also improve the situation of
property and businesses. Women become women. They cannot do this if they ignore
less dependent on men, and their social women – for example, if they assume that
and economic status improves. As land- men and women are treated the same, or
holders, they are empowered to take part if they do not enable gender-disagregated
in making decisions in the household and information to provide comparisons. To
the community. They become recognized make sure that land tools do not suffer from
as active agents in the development of gender-blindness, GLTN has developed a set
their communities rather than as passive of gender evaluation criteria. These criteria
recipients of such programmes. can be used to check whether land tools
incorporate gender issues, and to show
The GLTN gender agenda how they can be adapted. They are a flexible
framework that can be adapted to a wide
range of different situations. The criteria
Gender is one of GLTN’s cross-cutting themes were developed through consultations
in developing land tools. GLTN’s gender among various GLTN partners: the Huairou
agenda was adopted at a Roundtable at the Commission, the International Federation
World Urban Forum in 2006. This serves as a of Surveyors, the University of East London,
framework of methodologies and strategies and UN-Habitat.
for developing land tools that promote
equal tenure security for women and men.
42
Chapter 4 Gender and inequality
Table 4. Examples from the gender evaluation criteria

Criteria Example of evaluation questions for the criteria
Equal participation by women Is the decision-making process in developing the
and men and gender-responsive land tool, and in using the land tool itself, transpar-
governance ent and inclusive for both women and men?
Capacity development, organiza- Is the information clear to, and does it empower
tion and empowerment of women both women and men to utilize the tool, and to
and men to use, access, and ben- know their rights related to this tool?
efit from the tool
Legal and institutional consid- Does the tool provide gender-responsive dispute
erations in regard to women and resolution?
men’s access to land
Social and cultural considerations Does the tool take into consideration statutory and
in regard to women and men’s customary laws and practices affecting women’s
access to land land rights?
Economic considerations in regard Does the tool promote economic opportunities for
to women and men’s access to land both women and men?
Scale, coordination and sustain- Can the tool be implemented consistently (rather
ability to reach more women and than ad-hoc)?
men
There are six criteria and 22 questions with  The existence of pro-poor legislation
possible indicators to use. (See sample does not necessarily ensure successful
questions in Table 4). implementation at the local level, or lead
to equitable access to land for women.
Several grassroots women’s organizations,
all members of the Huairou Commission,  The testing of the criteria was a process
have tested the gender evaluation criteria: of learning and empowerment for
in Brazil (by Espaço Feminista), Ghana grassroots women and strengthens their
(Grassroots Sisterhood Foundation) and negotiation power.
Nepal (Lumanti). These tests focused on
large-scale land tools: municipal master Developing capacity on
plans, land reform commissions, and land gender and land
administration systems. The results were
presented during the GLTN Roundtable at GLTN has produced two training packages
the World Urban Forum in Brazil in 2010. addressing gender equality:
The tests were useful for the women who
conducted the analysis: they were better  Improving gender equality and
able to understand how land tools might grassroots participation through good
be biased towards men, and how this might land governance (GLTN and UN-Habitat
harm women. 2011a) frames gender inequalities as
a land governance concern and builds
The case of Brazil (Box 18) highlights some skills required including communication,
important lessons: negotiation, mediation and social inclusion.
43
Box 18. Applying the gender evaluation criteria to the master

plan process IN Ponte do Maduro, Recife, Brazil
Brazil suffers from an acute shortage of plan worked and how it would apply to
affordable housing: the current shortfall them. They also had to learn how to dia-
is thought to be around 8.2 million units. logue with and lobby government offi-
As a result, many urban residents live in cials and policy makers. Espaço Feminista
slums or informal settlements, known did two things to help them.
as favelas, built on marginal lands and
First, it organized workshops for the
in vulnerable areas. Much of this land is
women to build their capacity and lead-
government-owned.
ership. These covered public policies in
Under an amendment to the constitu- relation to land and food security, safety,
tion passed in 2000, the government has rights to the city, gender and race/ethnic
a responsibility to provide housing to all relations, democratic participation, the
citizens. One way to meet the housing history of the area, and details of the
shortage is to consolidate existing infor- master planning process. These work-
mal settlements on public land through shops enabled women to articulate their
a regularization process. The City Statute needs and priorities clearly to govern-
(Law No 10.257 of 2001) recommends the ment officials and experts.
use of public lands for “social purposes”.
Second, it organized seminars and round-
It allows for special master plans to be
tables, where women leaders could get
prepared to regularize each informal set-
information from officials and experts,
tlement. Municipalities have to prepare
and where they could express their
these plans with the participation of
needs, concerns and priorities in relation
local residents and community
to secure tenure.
associations.
Several male leaders of the community
Espaço Feminista, a non-governmental
without formal education, but with a
organization under the umbrella of
long history in the struggle for land
the GLTN partner Huairou Commission,
rights, were also involved in this process.
works to strengthen the capacity and
leadership of grassroots women. It vol- The pilot process demonstrated that
unteered to coordinate a pilot project to benefit women, the regularization
in Ponte do Maduro, a 50-hectare settle- process had to have an explicit gender
ment in the city of Recife that is home to dimension. Local women are often una-
10,000 low-income families. The project ware of the provisions of master plans,
tested the gender evaluation criteria and how they might benefit, and how to
evaluated whether the city’s master plan demand that certain spaces be demarcat-
was gender-responsive. Local residents ed for particular functions. Dialogue with
have struggled for their settlement to be officials led the State of Pernambuco, in
regularized for nearly 50 years. Espaço which Recife is located, to recognize the
Feminista knew from its earlier work in leading role of the women, and the need
the settlement that tenure insecurity to give women a central role in the reg-
was a major concern for local women: “it ularization process in Ponte do Maduro
hung over them like a sword”, they said. that started in October 2011.
To evaluate the master plan using GLTN’s More information: Huairou Commission
gender criteria, the women of Ponte do (2012), Espaço Feminista (2012).
Maduro first had to understand how the
44
Ponte do Maduro, Brazil undergoing gender-responsive regularization

Photo © UN-Habitat/Malcolm Boorer
45
Box 19. Evaluation of impact of legislation on Hindu women in

India
The World Bank, a partner of GLTN, stud- This study furthers GLTN’s work in two
ied the impact of inheritance laws on ways:
Hindu women in India. A 2005 amendment
 It will help refine a number of land
to the Hindu Succession Act 1956 pro-
tools: on land rights, records and reg-
motes equal rights for males and females
istration; and on land management,
in inheritance. The study found that the
administration and information.
this change significantly increased aware-
ness of rights and women’s probability of  It has developed a way of reviewing
inheriting land, but it did not achieve full how women are affected by chang-
gender equality in inheritance. The study es in the law. This approach will be
also found improved property rights had useful in other countries that have
led to a big increase in girls’ educational revised their laws on inheritance and
achievements, as well as in aspects such other subjects.
as empowerment – even in households
More information: World Bank
without any land assets. (forthcoming).
 A training package (UN-Habitat and Other types of

GLTN 2011a) to build the capacity
inequality
of land professionals in applying the
gender evaluation criteria in a systematic
way (see Chapter 6). Inequality between men and women is a
major form of discrimination, but it is not
A similar flip-chart-based training the only one. GLTN has also been studying
package is being prepared for grassroots other aspects of inequality in land rights.
groups who can also lead this evaluation. Two of these concern discrimination against
indigenous peoples and against younger
Research on gender and land and older people.
Women (and men) are not homogenous. Indigenous peoples

Different groups of women have different
interests and face different situations. GLTN Land rights for indigenous peoples is a
partners have studied the tenure rights of relatively new area for GLTN. In 2011, the
women from various religious groups and Network produced a Policy guide to secure
regions, and looked at how legal reforms land rights for indigenous peoples in cities.
affect their access to land. Examples of this (UN-Habitat and GLTN 2011c). Produced
are given in Boxes 19 to 21. in partnership with UN-Habitat’s Housing
Policy Section and the United Nations
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, this
guide describes the challenges and rights
of indigenous peoples in relation to land
46
Box 20. Strengthening land rights of Muslim women
GLTN is looking at two particular aspects GLTN has been building knowledge
of land in relation to Muslim women. on compensatory schemes that ensure
One is to analyse the land and property Muslim women's access to all their prop-
rights that women have under Islamic erty rights. Such a scheme could pro-
law and practice. The other is to address vide them equal property rights to men.
the patriarchal attitudes and other forms GLTN’s Islamic training package has ses-
of discrimination that Muslim women sions and case studies on Muslim wom-
face. en’s property rights, inheritance and
gender dimensions in other property
The University of East London, a GLTN
dimensions. Several GLTN events, includ-
partner in the United Kingdom, has
ing a side-event at the Commission on
found that in theory, Muslim women
Sustainable Development in 2008 and
enjoy extensive rights to acquire, pos-
UN-Habitat’s Governing Council in 2011,
sess, manage, enjoy and alienate prop-
have addressed the property rights of
erty in their own name. They possess
Muslim women. GLTN’s gender evalua-
independent legal rights to land and
tion criteria (see main text) and other
property, without restrictions. But under
outputs are potentially capable of main-
Islamic inheritance rules, women usually
streaming gender into land issues in
get half of what a similarly positioned
Muslim communities.
male receives. Because the inheritance
rules are derived from the Qur’an, they More information: Sait and Lim (2006).
are seen as sacred. For this reason, legal
reform has bypassed them.
and property in cities. It aims to serve as a This policy guide can also be used to raise
tool for policymakers at the national, local awareness about the land and property
and indigenous government levels who are rights of indigenous peoples in urban
responsible for promoting a human rights areas. It provides the underlying principles
framework to protect the land, security of on how to ensure such rights, as well as
tenure and property rights of indigenous recommendations for national, local and
peoples. This guide highlights the unique indigenous governments.
challenges facing indigenous women,
children and youth, people with disabilities, Age dimensions of inequality
elders and sexual minorities, in the context
of urbanization, migration and urban Land laws, policies and tools focus almost
expansion. It looks at key areas of concern: exclusively on adults. They tend to ignore
dispossession of land, forced eviction and the rights and development needs of the
displacement caused by development, lack majority of the world’s population – children
of recognition of indigenous land-tenure and young people, as well as the elderly.
systems, environmental concerns (including There are currently 1.2 billion youth in the
climate change and natural disasters), world, the largest number ever to have
economic factors, and armed conflict. existed. It is estimated that as many as 60
per cent of all urban dwellers will be under
18 by the year 2030 (UN-Habitat 2012d).
47
Box 21. Assessing the impact of land certifications on women in

Ethiopia
GLTN commissioned research in two of first on the certificate with his first wife.
the regional states of Ethiopia (Oromiya,
In southern Ethiopia, the reform has con-
and the Southern Nations, Nationalities
tributed to increased perceptions of ten-
and Peoples) to study the impacts of
ure security for both women and men.
land registration and certification, which
have been implemented there since 2004 The research showed that the land reg-
(see also Box 13). In the Southern region, istration and certification has been
rights to land were based on inheritance wealth-neutral in its implementation.
through the male line and the father’s Poorer households have had the same
place of residence. The reforms includ- probability of receiving land certificates
ed the joint certification of land in the as less-poor households. This in itself is
names of husbands and wives. a big step in the right direction as com-
pared to many reforms in other countries
The GLTN study looked at how these
that have been de facto anti-poor. The
changes had affected women, and rec-
de jure changes in land proclamations
ommended ways to strengthen women’s
have been pro-poor in the sense that
land rights further by improving the
they have strengthened the land rights of
quality of the land reform. Key findings
women who are among the poorest (due
of the study are the following:
to inequitable distribution of rights with-
When the land laws were first intro- in households). The law is also pro-poor
duced in the two states in 2002 and in the sense that the family’s consent is
2003, they stated that the husband could required before the head of the house-
have his name on only one certificate. hold can rent out land, and in relation to
But resistance to this provision resulted inheritance, as priority should be given to
in a change: certificates could be issued family members who depend on the land
jointly to the husband and his wives, or for their livelihoods.
the husband’s name could be included More information: World Bank (2011),
below the name of his second and subse- Holden and Tefera (2008)
quent wives, while his name could come
Dramatic shifts are also occurring with classes, ethnic groups and income levels,
increasing life expectancy, smaller family and between boys and girls (and elderly
sizes and changing household structures. men and women).
These changes call for an increased policy
focus on older people as well as the young. The Global Land Tool Network has carried
out a scoping study (UN-Habitat 2011f)
There are big differences in how the young and engaged with youth representatives
and the old are treated in terms of land and other stakeholders to guide the work
rights and housing conditions. That is no on youth and land. Many organizations
surprise: after all, our expectations on what (including UN-Habitat) regard people
the young and old can do are coloured by between the ages of 14 and 35 as “youth”.
culture, economics and politics (just as is the Relationships between this group and land
case for gender). That makes for variations are not well understood, and rights to land
from place to place, among different are generally considered an adult privilege.
48
The conventional idea has been that an

approach based on “land rights for all” Next steps in addressing
would eventually lead to better rights for inequality
youth. But young people face considerable
obstacles in accessing land in both formal Gender mainstreaming. GLTN has made
and customary systems. A clearer focus on notable progress in addressing inequalities,
youth land issues is necessary: it empowers particularly related to gender. But as is
youth during their transition to responsible frequently the case with mainstreaming
adult roles, and can break the cycle of gender, it takes time to change deeply-
poverty. rooted beliefs and practices. More work
is needed to ensure that land activities
The University of East London and UN- are consistently integrating a gender
Habitat have been leading GLTN’s work on perspective. This remains a challenge within
youth and land so far. Dialogue with young many GLTN partners and for the Network
men and women involved in youth issues in itself.Future activities on gender include
different parts of the world has highlighted integrating the gender lens in all stages of
distinctive needs and ideas on partnership tool development: design, implementation,
towards improved land security. The monitoring and evaluation.
principle is now widely accepted that we
must not merely work for youth, but also Capacity development. More focus will
with youth as partners. Youth are not only be given to developing capacity for GLTN
potential beneficiaries, but also designers, partners to more effectively integrate
evaluators and drivers of tool development. gender aspects in their work and for
It is clear that multi-stakeholder approaches grassroots groups working on gender issues
also need to include youth. to discuss and negotiate on technical land
issues (see Chapter 6). The Network has
Despite a few successes at local or city level, already produced and piloted a number of
youth have not been fully or consistently effective training products on gender and
engaged in land governance or decision land, and further dissemination of these will
making in any region or country. GLTN is also be prioritized. Training-of-trainers will
currently exploring how to most effectively be a method to do so, as well as to utilize
engage in this area. An expert-group individual partner’s channels. Research will
meeting on this theme was held in Norway also continue on current trends in gender
in January 2012 in collaboration with to recognize the heterogeneity of women
the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and men (for example based on age,
and the University of East London (GLTN race, ethnicity, religion and marital status),
forthcoming). and to identify specific bottlenecks and
opportunities.
Youth. In line with the United Nations

Secretary-General’s call for more focus on
youth, GLTN will continue to explore the
relationship between youth and land. This
49
includes research (ideally by young people land requirements of older people, and
themselves) on youth dimensions of land, the relationships between age, gender and
such as inheritance, rental housing, public land, such as the land rights of girls, widows
space, or the links between land and income and older women.
generation.
Indigenous peoples. There is also a need to
As key beneficiaries and users, of land tools ensure that indigenous people’s perspectives
such as the Social Tenure Domain Model, are built into land tools. Further research
more explicit recognition of young people may look at how to mitigate insecurity of
as change agents will also be made. GLTN’s tenure for indigenous peoples, including in
products will be adapted to more youth- urbanizing areas and after conflicts.
oriented language, and space will be created
for young people to actively participate in Tenure vulnerabilities. To effectively
land tool development and GLTN events. address inequality, research and tool
Several GLTN partners already have specific development may also explore factors
youth networks, which will be utilized. creating particular tenure vulnerabilities
such as the impact of disease, disaster,
Other age dimensions. Work on other conflict, migration, disability or family
areas of inequality may include exploring disruption.
other age dimensions, such as the specific
50
Youth finding a space to play in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

51
Training on mapping in Orissa, India
Photo © Slum/Shack Dwellers International
5 Strengthening the role of
grassroots communities
L and interventions are often based on an

exclusive, top-down approach. They fail
to involve the grassroots communities that
 Grassroots communities can provide
essential information. Using tools
such as self-enumeration or participatory
they are meant to serve. Implementation mapping, grassroots communities can
is also often top-down. Grassroots generate and provide information on
communities play a purely passive role: they issues such demographics, social and
are seen as objects of data gathering, and economic conditions, natural resources,
later as beneficiaries. and informal tenure systems that are a
necessary basis for successful tool design
But this is one of the major reasons that and implementation, and that can
land policies remain so poorly implemented, otherwise be very difficult and expensive
and why implementation tools are often so for government agencies to acquire.
ineffective. Excluding the grassroots leads
to legislation, policies and tools that are  Grassroots communities can mobilize
not well designed, difficult to implement, time and resources. Where policies
and not representative of the real needs and tools are seen as legitimate and
and interests of those they are supposed potentially effective in addressing their
to benefit. Failure to allow for grassroots needs, grassroots communities will be
involvement in processes of implementation willing and able to contribute time and
and management often means that these resources, including financial resources,
processes fail. to implementation processes such as
land regularization and slum upgrading,
Active grassroots involvement in land helping overcome cost bottlenecks.
administration and management is
necessary for the following reasons:  Implementation often depends on
uptake by the grassroots. Policies
 Pro-poor means demand-driven. If and tools often create opportunities
land policies and tools are to address the for grassroots communities, such as to
real needs and priorities of the poor, it is register land tenure or participate in
essential that people with low income, planning processes. Where communities
grassroots women and men be actively remain unaware of these opportunities,
involved in defining these needs and or lack the capacity to make use of them,
priorities, and in designing the land implementation will falter.
policies and tools to be implemented.
53
These are the reasons why GLTN has, from involved in supporting the Network’s
the outset, emphasized the importance grassroots work.
of grassroots involvement in land
administration and management. The role of the grassroots in GLTN was first
discussed in a workshop in Oslo in March
Not about us 2006. The partners then came together in
2007 to develop GLTN’s strategy for working
without us
with the grassroots. The main outcome
of this meeting was the report Not about
GLTN has focused its work on five themes us without us: Working with grassroots
(Table 1), but it also recognizes that some organizations in the land field (UN-Habitat
issues cut across all of these areas. Grassroots 2007c). This report proposes four functions
participation is one of these. There is a for GLTN’s strategy for working with the
space and need for grassroots participation grassroots:
in the design and implementation of all
tools that GLTN works on, from across the  Ensuring grassroots participation in
five thematic areas. large-scale land tool development.
For this reason, grassroots communities  Scaling up community-led initiatives.

have been involved with GLTN partners in
the development of various tools, such  Strengthening the capacity of the grass-
as the Social Tenure Domain Model and roots to engage in land administration
participatory enumeration (Chapter 3), and and land management.
the gender evaluation criteria (Chapter 4).
Grassroots organizations have played a  Promoting grassroots participation app-
role both in advising design and in piloting roaches amongst GLTN partners.
these tools. However, GLTN has also
pursued activities specifically directed at Not about us without us defines grassroots
strengthening the involvement of grassroots participation as “a planned process whereby
communities in land administration and local groups are clarifying and expressing
management. their own needs and objectives and taking
collective action to meet them.”
GLTN’s work on grassroots participation
has been based on collaboration between As a step towards ensuring grassroots
a number of partners that have grassroots participation in the design and
organizations as members. The Centre on implementation of large-scale land tools,
Housing Rights and Evictions, Hakijamii the report sets out criteria for assessing the
Trust, Huairou Commission and Slum/ extent and quality of grassroots participation
Shack Dwellers International were involved in tool implementation (Box 22). These
from the beginning, and were joined later criteria were developed based on case
by the International Land Coalition. Other study analysis of a number of large-scale
GLTN partners, such as the International landpolicy implementation processes that
Federation of Surveyors, have also been
54
Chapter 5 Strengthening the role of grassroots communities
Box 22. Criteria for assessing and promoting grassroots

participation in large-scale land tools
Land tool development should be evalu- Contains

 effective information
ated according to whether it: strategies.
Gives sufficient control to grassroots

 Meets immediate needs and resources

participants. to avoid participation fatigue.
Builds on existing networks, commu-

 Invests in capacity of grassroots

nity processes, customs and norms. participation at an early stage.
Initiates new networks to include the

 Addresses need for political support

most marginalized groups. and social transformation.
Focuses on community strengths and

 Adopts minimum standards for par-

land systems. ticipation process.
Uses representative mechanisms as

 Contains accountability for par-

processes are scaled up. ticipation and includes dispute
resolution.
Is clear on objectives.

More information: UN-Habitat (2007c).
have sought to give grassroots communities approaches, it became clear that the different
an active role. functions proposed for GLTN’s grassroots
work are interconnected. In seeking to
GLTN has so far focused on understanding scale up, all the projects worked to develop
the most effective ways to scaling up the capacity of grassroots communities to
community-led initiatives. The grassroots engage in large-scale land administration
cluster of partners met again in 2009 to and management processes, and sought
decide how GLTN could support efforts to promote grassroots participation within
by grassroots groups to expand their these processes, and engaging with
engagement in land administration and government actors at different levels.
management. This led to the selection
of four pilot projects for support in 2010. Meaningful
Financial and in-kind support for these
Engagement
projects came from GLTN core funds and
from the International Land Coalition,
the Huairou Commission and Slum/Shack The grassroots pilot projects have revealed
Dwellers International as partners, and some of the common challenges faced
drew on large voluntary inputs of time by by grassroots communities as they try to
grassroots community members. While strengthen their participation and influence
these grassroots pilot projects, described within land administration and management
below, were conceived as interventions to processes. It is possible to group many of
assist grassroots groups to scale up their these challenges into three key areas.
55
MANY DEGREES of participation links between communities to build social

movement organizations, and they may
There are many degrees of participation, seek to build alliances with other political
ranging from tokenistic processes, simply and social actors such as NGOs, religious
informing, consulting to some form of shared institutions, academia, media, international
decision-making or even the delegation organizations and donors.
of significant decisions. Thus participation
may be manipulative in seeking to placate Reconciling local and
or diffuse opposition, extractive in seeking technical knowledge
information whilst reserving decision-
making powers, or may be empowering. Grassroots groups can provide information
State actors under pressure to achieve that government authorities need, yet
implementation targets may be under often the value of this information is not
pressure to instrumentalize and “water recognized because it does not match the
down” participation to extract information technical standards of land professionals,
or “achieve buy-in”. Grassroots actors too for example in geo-referencing accuracy.
may instrumentalize participation, tactically At the same time, government authorities
withholding or distorting information (such hold information that communities may
as, hiding taxable assets or exaggerating need, such as maps, planning documents or
need) in an attempt to influence outcomes. the texts of legislation and implementation
In both cases, the value of participation is guidelines. Yet this information may not
reduced. Participatory processes should be widely accessible nor meet grassroots
therefore not be seen as a quick fix. standards of comprehensibility (for
They rather long-term relationships that example, by using technical or non-local
need to be well managed to strengthen language). This can be a barrier to effective
communities’ land rights. participation, and particularly to informed
consent. Bridging the gap between local and
Managing competing interests technical knowledge may involve efforts to
make information more accessible, to build
Meaningful engagement between the confidence or technical specialists in
communities and government inevitably the value of local knowledge, and to build
means that community interests must the capacity of communities to produce
encounter other vested interests, such as big information at an improved technical
land owners. Such conflicts cannot always level, for example through participatory
be surmounted, and there is a need to look enumerations or mapping.
for political windows of opportunity, and to
take best advantage of these by building Four grassroots pilot projects
political support, particularly through
networking and alliance-building, as well The four grassroots pilot projects were
as through the mobilization of popular implemented in 2010-2011, and are now
support. Communities may seek links the basis of further learning on the role
with political representatives and parties, that grassroots groups can play within
they may seek to strengthen horizontal land administration and management
56
processes. These findings were shared at a themselves if they are aware and organized,
debriefing meeting by all involved partners such as ensuring that garbage does not block
in November 2011. The four projects are river courses, that escape and evacuation
described below: routes are clear, and that plans are made
for households where children are left alone
 Community-led disaster mitigation in during the day. Other measures are largely
Lima, Peru. beyond the capacities of communities and
require government support, such as slope
 Empowering grassroots women in reforestation, or building retaining walls
Tanzania. and river-bank defences.
 Community-based forest management Government programmes do exist for

as an alternative to titling in the risk reduction. Funds for risk mitigation
Philippines. should in theory be provided by municipal
authorities, with the National Institute
 Scaling up participatory mapping to of Civil Defence (Instituto Nacional de
citywide level in India. Defensa Civil) playing a technical role in
assessing risks and recommending remedial
Community-led disaster measures. The involvement of this institute
and the implementation of risk-mitigation
mitigation in Lima, Peru
measures are the first stage in the process of
formalizing tenure under the Commission
Informal settlements in Lima, Peru, are for the Formalization of Informal Property
exposed to various natural hazards, (Organismo de Formalización de la
including earthquakes, landslides and Propiedad Informal, COFOPRI), which is
flooding. The vulnerability of these responsible for the national titling program.
settlements is compounded by factors such
as poor quality and unplanned housing, However, these agencies have insufficient
lack of risk awareness and readiness among capacity in a city of 8 million people. Funding
communities, and a lack of structural is also a critical bottleneck. Communities
remedial measures such as retaining walls. are in theory able to influence municipal
Another factor compounding the problems spending through participatory budgeting
of many of these communities is their lack under the “framework law on participatory
of secure tenure. budgeting”, but this has not been envisaged
to cover risk mitigation measures. The
Solving or mitigating these problems is not agencies involved in the process also have
an easy matter. Some communities may a top-down and technocratic approach
be in high-risk locations where the only that does not respond well to the needs of
recommendable solution is relocation. In communities. The communities themselves
others, however, a number of measures can lack awareness of the risks they face, of the
be taken to mitigate risks. Some measures measures that can be taken, and of their
can be taken by community members
57
rights and the opportunities that are created Training also focuses on the obstacles to the
by the legislative and institutional context. formalization of settlements, and on how to
improve tenure security for women and the
It was in this context that the Huairou community as a whole.
Commission and UN-Habitat as GLTN
partners supported GROOTS Peru, a One community where this process was
Huairou Commission member made up of implemented is Vista Alegre, in the San
several grassroots women’s organizations.1 Martin de Porres district of Lima. The
The aim of the project was to support, help settlement has a population of 250 families,
scale-up, and begin to learn from the work located on a rocky slope at risk of landslides.
of GROOTS Peru in promoting community The situation is worsened by poverty –
planning and accountable governance in the housing is very poorly constructed,
Lima. and residents do not have water supply,
sanitation, or close access to schools and
The project works like this: the members health-care facilities. To make matters
of GROOTS Peru couple awareness- worse, the community lives under threat of
raising strategies with practical training to eviction following the sale of the land by
empower communities in Lima. Volunteers the state to a private developer. Having lived
from the community conduct a participatory there for over 20 years, the community is
assessment by mapping community seeking to acquire the land through a court
resources, capacities, vulnerabilities and process.
risks. This forms the basis for negotiations
with local authorities and the development Another community involved in the process,
of a community risk-prevention plan that called Paraiso, lies in the floodplain of the
fits with existing local area planning. This Rimac River in the Chaclacayo district of
plan in turn guides collective action by the Lima. Established in 1987 by 8 families, the
community, both in addressing problems settlement has grown to 19 families and
internally (e.g., maintaining evacuation a population of 100 people. Although the
plans or keeping escape routes clear), and in municipality recognized the settlement as
conducting advocacy and discussions with a neighbourhood in 1995, residents have
municipal and national authorities through struggled to obtain basic services, getting
a series of local-to-local dialogues. water only in 2007.
This process is driven by community leaders. In both communities, training was provided
It aims to engage with local authorities on natural hazards and their linkage to
and channel resources to implement the eviction issues. Grassroots groups conducted
action plans to prevent and manage risks. community mapping and developed risk-
prevention plans. The communities created
risk-management committees to carry
1 Mujeres Unidas para un Pueblo Mejor, National Federation
of Women Organized for Life and Integral Development forward these proposals, represent residents
(CONAMOVIDI), Network of Women Organizing East Lima
(REDMUORLE), Bancos Comunales and Servicio Educativos in negotiations with the local authorities,
El Augsutino (SEA). These grassroots organizations worked and press for allocations for community
in collaboration with Estrategia and the Lima and Callao
Neighbourhoods Federation (FOVELIC). plans in the municipal budget.
58
In Paraiso, for instance, the risk-management Act creates opportunities both for Maasai
committee suggested building a retaining communities as a whole to enhance their
wall to protect the settlement from flooding. communal security of tenure in the face
A representative presented this proposal of competing demands for land in the
to the Municipal Assembly, a forum of Arusha and Manyara areas of Tanzania.
civil society and 42 mayors that allocates It also enables women to enhance their
a budget for community development security of tenure over land, and thus their
in metropolitan Lima. As Paraiso already economic and political status within these
has basic services, its main priority is to communities.
implement and monitor the risk-prevention
plan. That should enhance the community’s Despite the law, however, Maasai women
capacity to avoid flooding, improve public are marginalized in terms of decision-
safety, and remove obstacles to formalizing making and denied their rights to land
tenure rights. and property. Effective implementation of
More information: GLTN (2012b), Servicios Educativos
the Act is limited, particularly among the
El Agustino (2011, 2012). Maasai who, as pastoralists, do not have a
long tradition of land rights at the village
Empowering or household level. Provisions supporting
grassroots women the rights of women, in particular, lack
in Tanzania effective implementation, and women are
effectively excluded from village, ward and
district development plans. This situation
The Tanzanian Village Land Act of 1999 seeks is attributed to many factors: cultural
to give customary rights of land occupancy attitudes, a lack of the required knowledge
equal legal standing to statutory rights of and skills, disempowerment, low literacy
occupancy. It sets out procedures for the levels, as well as poor knowledge of their
management and administration of “village legal rights and prescribed procedures.
land” under customary tenure. As well as
seeking to protect the occupancy rights of As part of its work to improve the
land users within customary regimes, it also women’s livelihoods, the Maasai Women
contains provisions to promote and protect Development Organization facilitates the
the rights of women within these regimes. certification of village lands in a way that
It provides for both men and women to be expressly defines the rights of women, and
registered as land owners, either together not solely those of men. It fosters women
or separately, and promotes gender- leaders and promotes women’s participation
balanced representation on local land- in village governance. The idea behind
related decision-making bodies. its approach is that if women know their
rights, they will be empowered to change
The Global Land Tool Network supported their living situation. That will benefit them
the work of the Maasai Women as well as their households and community
Development Organization, a member of as a whole.
the Huairou Commission, to capitalize upon
the opportunities provided by this law. The The approach has eight steps:
59
 Supporting the organization of women’s In this pilot, the Maasai Women Development
groups within the umbrella of the Organization worked with 500 women and
Pastoralist Women’s Forum. 250 men in ten villages, and helped some
850 women to gain individual and collective
 Training on the Village Land Act and land land allocations. This demonstrates
administration processes for women’s the village land committees’ effective
groups. negotiation and monitoring process. It has
also been a learning opportunity: a way for
 Training on leadership skills for women’s the organization to investigate obstacles
groups. to implementing the Village Land Act, and
to ensure it is gender-responsive. That will
 Awareness-raising activities within the guide its strategies in the future.
community on women’s rights to land,
e.g., on women’s rights to representation One difficulty is resistance by husbands
within village decision-making bodies. and male community leaders to women’s
applications for land. Progress on this front
 Local-to-local dialogues between has been made by explicitly including men
women’s groups and local officials and in the process at an early stage to build their
government authorities on a range of support, and by raising awareness on gender
development issues (UN-Habitat and issues. But instances of discrimination
Huairou Commission 2004). continue. That underlines the need to
ensure that both men and women see the
 Support in preparing applications for benefits for households and communities.
land under the Village Land Act.
Another difficulty is that community leaders
 Facilitating plot demarcation with group do not understand the Village Land Act, even
members and the district land officer. though they are supposed to implement it.
Educating them about the Act also needs to
 Ensuring that land documents are safely be part of the approach.
stored.
A lack of the right paperwork is another
The organization of women’s groups forms problem. In many places, village officials do
the starting point to give the women not have the correct forms and certificates.
confidence by acting together. Men are In other cases, letters and meeting minutes
more ready to accept their actions when have been used as (legally acceptable)
women act in a group, rather than as documentation of occupancy rights – but
individuals. The approach is also much more many officials do not know that this is
than helping women to apply for land: the possible. Plus, some villages and districts
groups’ awareness-raising and dialogue do not keep land registries. The Maasai
activities aim to inform and change the Women Development Organization has
attitudes of communities as a whole, of supplied some village officials with forms
community leaders, and of land officials up from the district office, and works with the
to the district level.
60
Pastoralist Women’s Forums to advocate for commercial pressure on customary

land registries to be established. territories is increasing.
Many villages in the area do not have a Task Force Mapalad is a national federation
certificate of village land issued by the of farmers, farm workers and individuals
Land Commissioner. Without this, land working for agrarian reform and rural
allocations within the village have no legal development. It sees “community-based
standing. Some village councils are also forest management” agreements as an
reluctant to allocate land before the village alternative, interim way to secure indigenous
land-use plan is completed, as envisioned land tenure rights. These agreements are for
by the Land Use Planning Act of 2007. a term of 25 years, renewable for another
That implies a strategic need to ensure 25, and do not prejudice the consideration
that village lands as a whole are secured, of on-going applications for an ancestral
and that village land-use planning takes domain title. Applications for a forest-
place and adequately reflects the needs of management agreement also face severe
women. face bottlenecks, but the NGO thinks they
are likely to be approved more quickly.
While Tanzania has a legal framework and
land administration which could facilitate The obstacles are numerous, however. To
access to land for Maasai women, a apply for a forest-management agreement,
number of obstacles need to be overcome. a community must form a legally constituted
Communities need to be empowered with organization, get endorsements at the
knowledge on the law and how the land barangay (ward) and municipal levels, do
administration system works. They need a perimeter survey, and get endorsements
to be in a position to put pressure on the from no less than five national agencies.
government systems which create plans and Applications are further hindered by the lack
undertake land certification. of organizational and legal capacity among
More information: GLTN (2012b), Maasai Women
communities that could benefit, and vested
Development Organisation (2011 and 2012). interests that often thwart endorsements.
The net result is that applications may never
Community forests be made, or that they may become mired in
as an alternative to local politics.
titling in the Philippines
Surveying is a key bottleneck, as are
problems with overlapping departmental
Attempts by indigenous communities in responsibilities and tenure instruments that
the Philippines to secure title to customary can delay applications at the national level.
lands has so far focused on applications for Applications get referred back and forth
Certificates of Ancestral Domain Titles. But between agencies, stalling the approval
the process of allocating these certificates process.
has stalled, in part due to the high costs
of surveying the land. At the same time, Task Force Mapalad’s project, which was
supported by the International Land
61
Coalition (a GLTN partner) aimed to find to the formation of the National Task Force
ways to unblock the forestry-management with the NGO as a member, along with
applications. Key elements are: several national government agencies. The
Department of Environment and Natural
 Capacity building focusing on paralegal Resources has also committed to fund one
training and local-level organization. The survey per month for applications backed by
primary target groups are key members the NGO.
of community-based organizations. The
government is involved at an early stage: Although applying for the forest
for example, Department of Environment management agreements is still a lengthy
and Natural Resources officials assist in and difficult process, significant progress
the paralegal training. has been made in the two years since
implementation began. Ten applications
 Support for forming an organization to have been supported, covering 19,577
make the application. Often multiple hectares and 4,583 individual applicants. Of
organizations exist, requiring dialogue these, ten have been endorsed at the local
on how to merge and formalize these. level, four have been surveyed, and three
have received national endorsements.
 Networking and dialogue with key local
stakeholders, including local and central From Task Force Mapalad’s perspective,
government officials, and influential the point of the pilot is not mainly to test
local figures. This requires knowledge community-based forest management as
of networks and informal patterns of an interim alternative to the certificates
influence, which are unique to each of ancestral domain titles. Rather, it is to
locality. develop and test an approach for facilitating
the approval of various types of collective
 Local and national-level advocacy by tenure instruments – not just for forest
applicant communities to help mobilize management.
political will for endorsements and to
overcome vested interests (applicants The project has shown that organizations
are also voters). like Task Force Mapalad can play an
important role in building capacity and
These methods help overcome barriers at in facilitating local consensus to unblock
the local level. The project also engages decentralized land administration and to
with national government agencies. Task enable communities to use the tenure
Force Mapalad was involved in forming regularization options available. It also
the National Task Force on Public Lands to reveals how such organizations can explore
promote coordination between agencies obstacles to policy implementation by
in dealing with forest-management and engaging in implementation processes – so
related applications. The NGO was sceptical enabling them to engage constructively and
at first, fearing a delaying tactic, and called effectively in policy dialogue.
for a public dialogue on the terms of
reference of this task force. This dialogue led
62
This work has shown the importance of process. Plus, the guidelines assume that
empowering communities with legal and slums are “static” – so data gathered at a
technical knowledge. Engaging directly specific moment is frozen and forms the
with and influencing government systems basis of all state intervention. In reality, slums
are key to the delivery of security of tenure. grow, households move and multiply, and
More information: www.tfmnational.org/tfm, GLTN
databases change. Basing state intervention
(2012a). on outdated data could distort all planning,
leading to “non-starter” projects. All this
Scaling up participatory threatens to exclude communities and civil
mapping to citywide society organizations from participating
level in India in planning and decision-making. The
technical requirements could become a
pretext for excluding these stakeholders.
In 2009 the Indian government unveiled a
scheme for urban development and slum These are some of the criticisms levelled
rehabilitation, known as Rajiv Awas Yojana. by an Alliance composed of the Society
This was designed as a participatory way for the Promotion of Area Resource
to create city-development plans, including Centres (an NGO based in Mumbai), the
plans for upgrading and tenure security of National Slum Dwellers Federation, and
all slums. Mahila Milan (a social movement of slum
and pavement dwellers and women’s
In early 2010, technical guidelines were savings groups). This Alliance has more
issued to cities for generating “slum-free than 20 years of experience promoting
city plans” as a prerequisite for receiving alternative approaches to implementing
funds from the scheme. The idea was urban policies in India. It works with the
that working at a city scale would force government as a critical partner, using a
municipalities to find solutions for those combination of community-based action,
slums that have the most serious problems, experimentation and precedent-setting.
rather than prioritizing better-off slums for That forces discussion and negotiation with
which tenure security is not a issue. the government along the blurry edges of
the policy in question.
However, the scheme’s technical
requirements are unwieldy. The technical The Alliance has developed a proactive
guidelines say that the city-wide slum maps approach to reinterpret the Rajiv Awas
should be based on remote sensing, and Yojana guidelines in a pro-poor way. It
an in-depth household-level survey should involves the urban poor as both participants
generate socio-economic data to use in and decision-makers. The Alliance has
planning. But this methodology is expensive piloted a phased approach that is more
and inaccurate: it requires massive investment accessible for NGOs and communities.
in surveying, produces data that are out of This approach begins with members of
date by the time upgrading is implemented, the National Slum Dwellers Federation
and excludes slum communities from and Mahila Milan mapping the boundaries
the data-gathering and decision-making of all slum settlements in the city using a
63
cheap, hand-held global positioning system time for which NGOs were not eligible.
device and freely available internet-based The Alliance continues to oppose these
maps. At the same time, they collect overall restrictions as exclusionary.
community data for each slum. A city slum
map and database are then created using At the national level, the Alliance has been
open-source geographical information effective in building support for the role
system software. The Alliance reasons that of NGOs and community organizations in
such maps are enough for developing surveying, database creation and planning
a slum-free city plan and the accessing under RAY. However, the challenge
of funding under the Rajiv Awas Yojana still remains in balancing the need for
scheme. It says that more detailed surveys municipalities and states to produce data
are necessary only in specific slums selected quickly and still engage local communities.
for upgrading.
Efforts are now being made by the Alliance
Through the process the Alliance has sought to expand the Cuttack experience to
to challenge the practice of consultant- other cities by connecting with networks
driven data collection and management. of other NGOs and setting up exchanges
This completely negates the participation of between Federation members and other
poor communities in collecting information communities, local governments and
to use in planning, project design and civil society. The aim of the Alliance is to
implementation. continue to demonstrate successes such as
in Cuttack.
Slum/Shack Dwellers International and UN- More information: GLTN (2012a), www.sparcindia.org
Habitat (as GLTN partners) have provided
finacial and technical support to the Alliance Next steps in
in the mapping of 340 informal settlements
promoting grassroots
in Cuttack, a large city in the eastern state
participation
of Orissa.
The project has been an important influence The pilot projects have been valuable both
on the scheme’s official implementation in supporting grassroots engagement in
approach in Cuttack and elsewhere in India. land policy implementation, and in learning
There are also useful lessons internationally. about the role and the need for grassroots
At the end of the survey, the local federations participation in this area (Box 32). Looking
had discovered almost 70 more slums than forward, the challenge for GLTN is to
the official number, and use this as a tool for integrate these lessons in its work without
dialogue with the municipality to carry out losing its specific emphasis on grassroots
joint verification. In April 2011, the Alliance participation.
was selected through a tendering process
to carry out the slum surveys in Cuttack. A Building relationships. In the medium
GIS tender was also released at the same term, GLTN will aim to identify spaces for
64
Box 23. Lessons from grassroots participation
These pilot projects allow us to iden- at the highest levels. Engagement in

tify some key lessons for promoting and implementation is always a learning expe-
strengthening the role of grassroots rience. It allows grassroots-based organi-
organizations in land administration and zations to go beyond advocacy based
management. on simple demands, to interact critically
and constructively on policy formulation
Demand for effective, pro-poor policy
and the formulation of implementation
implementation needs to come from the
guidelines, including on technical issues.
grassroots, otherwise it may not happen.
Another good example of this is the use
Grassroots mobilization and advocacy
of the gender evaluation criteria in Ponto
can be critical in unblocking stalled but
do Maduro, Brazil (Box 18).
potentially pro-poor policies and laws
by generating political will, overcoming It is complex for grassroots organizations
local vested interests, and making sure to go to scale within the land administra-
that implementing authorities respond to tion environment because of the inflex-
the priorities of grassroots communities. ible nature of government institutions.
Grassroots communities can contribute Empowering grassroots with knowledge
information that is essential for effec- about how law and land administration
tive implementation, including insider systems work is critical for successful
information about informal settlements, engagement by grassroots with govern-
local natural resources and customary ment land administration.
tenure systems, information that is dif-
Formal land administration systems are
ficult, if not impossible, for outsiders to
a serious block to grassroots upscaling
obtain without genuine collaboration
because of their inflexibility, weak capac-
with communities.
ity, and exclusionary legal and technical
Grassroots communities can contribute standards.
time and resources to implementation,
NGOs and community organizations
including significant investments of time
have to commit extensive political capi-
in mapping and surveying processes.
tal and human resources to engage in
Grassroots organizations are the foun- this arena of securing land tenure.
dation of effective engagement in land
NGOs and community organizations
administration and management pro-
need to increase their knowledge in land
cesses. All of the projects built upon
administration and law to improve their
and invested heavily in strengthening
negotiating power.
community-based organizations. This is
essential to give community members There are numerous risks. Local cases
the capacity and common voice neces- may be blocked by national policies or
sary for effective and critical engage- weaknesses in policy implementation.
ment and negotiation at local, municipal The dominance of high-tech and legal
and higher levels. Because many of the top-down approaches has to be com-
organizations were led by women, the batted with practical technical and legal
idea of women’s empowerment is also alternatives. Because vested interests in
supported. this area are very strong, there is often
too little space for NGO or grassroots
By engaging with implementation pro-
engagement without very high levels of
cesses, grassroots organizations gain an
grassroots mobilization.
ability to critically inform policy-making
65
cross-fertilization of ideas and building (Chapter 3) and the gender evaluation

of relationships between grassroots and criteria (Chapter 4) with grassroots
technical partners such as land surveyors. organizations. The lessons coming out
This will be critical as the Network continues of such documentation will be shared in
to strengthen dialogue across stakeholder various ways, such as grassroots group
groups in land tool development. exchanges and by promoting effective
grassroots participation with governments
Developing capacity for meaningful and development partners in different
engagement. GLTN will continue to forums.
reconcile local and technical knowledge
through different capacity development Scaling up. There is clear untapped
efforts. This will include building the potential for constructive engagement
competencies of technical land specialists between formal structures and grassroots
to more effectively listen and communicate communities for delivering land-related
with grassroots groups. In paralell, efforts interventions that are cost-effective and
will go on to build more technical land large scale, and that reach those who need
knowledge for grassroots to articulate their them. But realizing this potential to the
needs. full requires scaling up beyond the pilot
initiatives. GLTN’s role is to continue to act
Documenting experience. The Network as a catalyst, share lessons, develop capacity,
will also continue to document experiences provide seed-funding and build confidence
in grassroots participation, including its among stakeholders from different sectors
tests of the Social Tenure Domain Model towards this goal.
66
Land rights ritual in the Philippines
Photo © Task Force Mapalad
First steps in the development of a training course
6 From training to
capacity development
G LTN was formed in response to

significant capacity gaps in the land
sector. There is a shortfall in both the
land tools aimed at improving security of
tenure at scale cannot be implemented
without good governance, sustained
quality and quantity of capacity needed political will and institutional support. A
to make land tools work. For example, weak land governance framework simply
technical training that land institutions enables the powerful to dominate the
typically offer invariably fails to relate to competition for scarce land resources.
the complex socio-political realities on the Capacity is needed not only to formulate
ground. On the other hand, the impact of sound policies, laws and programmes,
important land rights work by civil society but also to implement them effectively.
and grassroots groups, often using a more Without effective land administration and
social and political approach, tends to be management, land access and security of
constrained by limited technical capacity. the poor, women and marginalized groups
are at risk. Without a citizenry aware of its
An important shift in emphasis is underway rights and obligations, good governance
in capacity development, which calls for and accountability are jeopardized. Capacity
more inclusive, better integrated and development to improve land governance
multi-dimensional capacity interventions. requires an exchange of knowledge, skills
To achieve sustained, transformational and attitudes. It is about increased individual
change, rethinking on innovative capacity- competence as well as the capacity of
development strategies to support land organizations and groups to analyse and
rights will be pivotal. Capacity development negotiate political and structural dynamics.
is required to scale up good practices, to
develop and pilot new tools, to strengthen There are multiple challenges. Marginalized
land-related institutions and organizations, groups – often poor women, youth or
and to enhance the skills of key actors in indigenous peoples – need recognition
the land sector. and empowerment. The direct involvement
of local communities, with a particular
What is being demanded of GLTN is emphasis on these groups, is vital for the
facilitation of more “hard” technical skills sustainability and success of land reform
into “softer” non-technical approaches and management processes. At the same
– and vice-versa, strengthening “soft” time, capacity development must focus on
governance components in technical obstacles inhibiting the ability of individuals,
training. In addition, pro-poor and gendered groups and institutions to achieve their
69
development objectives. These obstacles has designed and implemented training

include the ever-present problem of courses on how to use land tools by multiple
corruption. Land services rank among the stakeholders, how to build competencies
most corrupt sectors in most developing such as communication, negotiation and
countries. From bribery to land-grabbing, mediation to improve gender equality and
corruption undermines efficiency and grassroots participation in land governance;
rule of law as well as public confidence designing and evaluating land tools with
and participation in formal land systems. a gender perspective; land, property
Governments grappling with this challenge and housing rights in the Muslim world;
can benefit from sustained capacity and transparency in land administration.
development support. GLTN has also provided capacity-building
support to governments formulating and
In the chapter that follows, we show how implementing land-reform policies. In
GLTN has designed and implemented addition, GLTN’s tool-development process
training and capacity building programmes includes powerful capacity-development
to address some of these challenges, and elements (see the case studies below).
has in the process commenced a shift
towards a more integrated, comprehensive The Global Land Tool Network has
capacity development approach. recognized the need to move from ad hoc
or added-on training and training-related
GLTN’s capacity products, to a more comprehensive strategy
rooted in all its key activities, and particularly
development strategy
the process of developing land tools. This
prompted a review of past practices and
The Global Land Tool Network’s work is at the initiatives and the drafting of a capacity
forefront of an emerging global paradigm development strategy for implementation
shift: away from seeing land as a purely during the next phase of work in 2012–15.
technical matter, towards pro-poor, gender-
responsive, accountable and sustainable The strategy is based on five guiding
land management, which makes provision principles:
for a range of legitimate, inclusive tenure
forms. The global land sector includes many  Continuous joint action-learning: every-
actors, playing many different roles. It will one involved works together to generate
take considerable time and effort before all learning for improvement and scaling
actors understand, accept and apply this up.
new paradigm as the guiding principle.
Promoting and implementing this approach  A comprehensive approach to capacity
create an array of capacity needs and development for the target group.
challenges for all different stakeholders.
 Appreciation of culture, context and
GLTN’s training work has been closely linked existing local capacity.
to achieving the Network’s agenda. Good
progress has been made in this regard. GLTN
70
Chapter 6 From training to capacity development
Box 24. GLTN’s capacity development goals and objectives
Ultimate goal national and global change towards

secure land rights for all.
Sufficient capacity among all the key
actors (including governments, non- Strategic objectives
state actors, GLTN partners, capacity
Key capacity developers (national and
developers, multi/bi-lateral agencies) to
international universities, training
promote and implement secure land and
institutes and others) have moved from
property rights for women and men, for
conventional technical training cur-
poverty reduction and economic growth.
ricula to include also pro-poor, gender-
Intermediate goal responsive, multi-disciplinary approaches.
Strategic partners have the capac- Within each country, the relevant group
ity to develop, promote and implement of partners has the capacity to adapt,
priority pro-poor, gender-responsive land pilot, evaluate, use, and disseminate each
tools for specific countries as drivers of tool.
More information: UN-Habitat (2011a).
 Appropriate attention to cross-cutting This work will be supported by:

issues and related competencies,
required such as better communication  Advocacy to bring about change at the
skills. policy level of the land sector.
 Recognition of technical skills as one of  Good practice for training activities

a number of important components of (including careful selection, intensive
capacity in complex settings. preparation, and sustained follow-up
and support).
The strategy identifies long-term and
intermediate capacity-development goals,  Integration of capacity-development
as well as the strategic objectives that principles, techniques and insights into
will contribute towards their achievement all relevant GLTN activities and outputs.
(Box 24).
The following case studies illustrate how
A key to the success of the strategy GLTN’s capacity development work is an
will be a focused and resource-efficient integral part of its land-tool development
approach, aimed at producing concrete and activities: dealing with corruption in
measurable results. Priority attention will be land administration, testing the gender-
given to: responsiveness of land tools in Uganda, and
capacity development on land in the Muslim
 Action learning practices embedded into world.
GLTN tool development activities.
 A focus on a selection of target countries.
71
were customized for specific audiences.

Dealing with A consolidated trainers’ guide is due for
corruption in land publication soon (GLTN 2012c).
administration
Among the distinctive features of this training
GLTN training on transparency has have been its participative methodology, its
shown a need for tools and capacities to use of locally produced and appropriate
ensure transparency and accountability. case studies, and its efforts at post-training
Sensitization, awareness creation, engagement. About 160 senior change
documentation of case studies and agents from 30 countries have so far taken
assessment of corruption are some of the part in this training in sub-Saharan Africa,
knowledge-exchange aspects. Greater South Asia and Southeast Asia. They include
public participation, a right to information, government officials, land professionals,
and tools to reform organizations and civil society, UN-Habitat regional officers,
create accountability are needed. Attitudes training institutes and universities. Trainers
are important too: professional ethics and from, UN-Habitat and the International
integrity are values that should underpin Institute for Geo-information Science and
professional approaches. Earth Observation teamed with national
training institutes and universities. Ministers
Corruption is a difficult issue to address and local government leaders were also
because the most powerful in society, who involved in several courses.
are the source of the problem, hold the
key to the solution as well. It raises legal, Feedback after the courses has been
political, social and ethical dimensions in positive, and there is evidence of post-
a way that requires hard technical skills as training impact and follow-up.
well as soft capacities of both individuals
and institutions. In some respects, Training participants from Malawi, with
acknowledging and tackling corruption in the approval of the Ministry of Lands and
the land sector was a no-go area until GLTN Natural Resources, launched a one-day
commenced training on transparency in event in 2008 which attracted 40 members
land administration. of the Surveyors Institute of Malawi – land
administrators, land surveyors, quantity
Before the training began, a group of surveyors, estate agents and valuers.
experts helped assess the capacity gaps that The Natural Resource College of Malawi
needed to be filled (UN-Habitat 2007a). The is incorporating the materials into an
course was designed in a collaborative way. upcoming on-the-job training programme
Partners and stakeholders were involved in that aims to upgrade the qualifications of
generating case studies, setting the agenda all district land officers from certificate to
and identifying content. This generated diploma level.
a sense of shared ownership. Hands-on,
practical training workshops generated new Nigerian participants also held a follow-up
knowledge, thinking and methodologies. training event which was attended by 120
Toolkits, trainers’ guides and case studies land professionals. This training has since
72
become a part of the mandatory continuous The next step will be to select and test the
professional development activities of the gender criteria in 10 districts in Uganda.
Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Institution This will be followed by a validation meeting
of Estate Surveyors and Valuers. Workshop early in 2012 to confirm the degree to
participants initiated the drafting of which the land tools respond to both
an anti-corruption code of conduct for women and men’s needs. At all stages,
estate surveyors and valuers and land the process will involve close collaboration
administrators. The event received extensive between structures from grassroots to the
television and newspaper coverage. national level to get information and to
validate findings. The Alliance will convert
Testing the gender- GLTN’s generic gender package into a land
responsiveness of land tool adapted to the Ugandan situation.
tools in Uganda
Of particular note is that the Alliance
undertook this initiative by raising the
Capacity development and the practical use money for the training, without any
of GLTN land tools go hand in hand. A good financial support from the GLTN. This
illustration of this is the roll-out of the GLTN example represents an optimal win–win
gender evaluation criteria, jointly developed solution for demand-driven roll-out of and
by a number of partners notably the capacity development for land tools.
Huairou Commission, the University of East
London and the International Federation of Capacity development
Surveyors (Chapter 4). The Uganda Land on land in the
Alliance, a consortium of 48 NGOs formed Muslim world
in 1995 to advocate for fair land laws and
policies, approached GLTN for tools that
could mainstream gender in the country’s Muslims make up one-fifth of the world’s
land system. In particular, the Alliance was population, yet there is little information
interested in the gender evaluation criteria about land issues in the Islamic world. GLTN
and related training for land professionals work on Islamic land tools is in response to
(UN-Habitat 2011a). The Alliance was first demand for ways to approach these issues.
exposed to this tool at the pilot of the GLTN Its capacity development initiatives in the
gender evaluation criteria training course, Muslim world are an example of multi-
held in Mombasa, Kenya, in November dimensional involvement in a sensitive but
2010. significant arena. They cover four streams:
knowledge exchange, lobbying and political
In September 2011, the Alliance trained a will, methodology, and technical skills.
25-member multi-stakeholder team using
GLTN’s gender training package. The team Research by the University of East London,
included representatives from the Ministry a GLTN partner, resulted in the book, Land,
of Lands, local governments, civil society law and Islam: Property and human rights in
organizations and community organizers. the Muslim world (Sait and Lim 2006). This
Staff from GLTN advised the course. offers a global overview of how Islamic land
73
UN-Habitat office in Tripoli, Libya - satellite hardcopy image (Quickbird) used for spatial planning.
Photo © UN-Habitat
74
concepts work, covering the Islamic land the East London guiding principles. Through
framework, land tenure, land and human this approach, GLTN has made Islamic
rights, Muslim women’s rights, inheritance, law accessible to new audiences and
waqf (endowments) and finance. It also provided fresh perspectives for traditional
discusses how to negotiate pluralist systems players. Instead of Islamic arguments being
in Muslim countries where customary, monopolized by fundamentalists, GLTN
religious and statutory systems exist. A has brought together a range of Muslim
booklet, Opportunities for engagement: and non-Muslim actors to confront their
Islam and land? (GLTN, UN-Habitat and misuse. For example, efforts are explored
UEL 2011b) summarizes these issues for to guarantee “equal” property rights for
policymakers. Muslim women despite the particular
inheritance regime (Box 20).
GLTN partners undertook a series of GLTN has converted its knowledge base into
consultations within the Muslim world in a comprehensive training programme on
order to gain acceptance and ownership of Islamic land, property and housing rights in
the research and proposals. At a side-event the Muslim world in cooperation with the
at a UN and Arab League meeting, a group University of East London (GLTN, UN-Habitat
of Muslim experts agreed on the Cairo and UEL 2010). The package was enhanced
initiative on Islamic land tools (UN-Habitat through partner consultations, peer review
2005). This was followed by the East London by leading experts, and a regional pilot
guiding principles (UN-Habitat and UEL testing in Asia with the International Islamic
2007) and the Kuala Lumpur action plan University of Malaysia, in which participants
(GLTN, IIUM and UEL 2009). Al-Azhar from government and other stakeholder
University (regarded as the world’s major organizations from over a dozen countries
centre of Islamic learning) has also endorsed took part. This training package was further
GLTN’s work. This support has led to GLTN’s endorsed at a GLTN side-event at the 23rd
material being widely accepted as a basis UN-Habitat governing council in April 2011.
for tool development and interventions GLTN has offered technical assistance to
in the Muslim world. It has contributed some Muslim countries, provided training in
to enhancing capacities for lobbying, countries such as Somalia, and the training
awareness creation and policy inputs on package has been adopted for roll out in Iran.
Islamic land dimensions. More information: GLTN and UN-Habitat (2012a)
A key feature of GLTN’s approach has been to

address Islamic land concepts not as a matter
Next steps in capacity
of faith but pragmatically and professionally development
– similar to GLTN’s engagement with
customary systems. This has contributed to GLTN has capacity expectations at three
the harmonization of Islamic and universal levels:
approaches. For example, an expert group
meeting on cross-fertilization of universal  It promotes the capacity needed for
and Islamic principles was the theme of a stakeholders to engage effectively in the
GLTN expert group meeting which adopted tool-development process.
75
 It works towards generating capacity for tool development and required institutional
implementation or delivery of tools. change. Such an integrated, multi-
dimensional methodology can connect
 It envisages broader capacity – beyond these elements into learning loops.
tools – to deal with wider socio-political
challenges necessary to lobby, build Collaboration. The evolving strategy will
and sustain effective pro-poor land also entail extending capacity development
management systems. aspects of GLTN’s advocacy interventions.
Dissemination will be increased by working
Whose capacity? GLTN capacity develop- with partner organizations’ own training
ment approaches have rightly shifted from and capacity-development departments to
ad hoc or add-on training packages to a familiarize them with the range of GTLN
more sophisticated and multi-dimensional training packages, publications and tools.
approach. This will entail clarifying whose Training of trainers is also an important
capacity is to be prioritized by thorough element here to expand the pool of available
pre-training assessments and well-targeted facilitators to roll out training packages.
participants that can serve as change agents.
The materials used will be directly relevant to Networking. Utilizing the facilitating power
context and continue to be based on realistic of the Network, capacity-development
and locally generated case-studies. activities will continue to convene and
facilitate learning exchanges and learning-
Capacity development strategy. To meet by-doing opportunities across partners and
the scale of the capacity development actors in the land sector. It will cross-fertilize
demands, GLTN will adopt a comprehensive ideas and learn from, strengthen and
capacity development strategy, already support the capacity development activities
underway, with clear objectives methods of its partners. For example, gender and
and goals. This strategy will recognize, land governance training for technical
build on, integrate, improve, expand and people and land administration training for
measure existing capacity development grassroots and civil society. The expertise
aspects of GLTN work. It will reinforce the of people in the different land areas will
explicit values of GLTN of promoting be built on, including the grassroots.
pro-poor solutions and considering women Communication with different audiences,
and men’s specific needs. including non-experts, will continue to be
part of GLTN’s strategy to target (among
Integrating capacity development. At others) politicians, land professionals, civil
the same time, GLTN will more consciously society and grassroots.
incorporate and promote capacity
development into its work. This will include Documentation. GLTN will also more
ensuring that capacity needs and activities consciously document, record and promote
accompany every stage of the development capacity development inputs as a continuous
and implementation of tools, such as in feedback cycle. This includes incorporating
initial research on a land issue, product lessons from pilot projects into capacity
development, in-country piloting, and final development programmes.
76
Participants post their expectations at a Social Tenure Domain Model Workshop in Uganda
Photo © UN-Habitat/Solomon Njogu
Favela Rocinha in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
7 Making room for sustainable
urban expansion
C ities play an increasingly dominant

role in the global economy as centres
of both production and consumption.
city planning, and urban sprawl eats into
prime agricultural land around the cities.
It is not possible to build key infrastructure
But rapid urban expansion throughout to set the spatial framework and guide
the developing world is outstripping the urban development. In many cases disaster,
capacity of most city governments to conflict, inner city redevelopment and
provide planning and adequate services for settlement upgrading, poor tenure records,
their citizens, especially for the urban poor haphazard settlement structures and low-
and for women. quality infrastructure make reconstruction
complex and expensive.
We need win–win solutions to address these
challenges. Existing policy, strategies and Lack of investment in
tools do not seem capable of fully resolving public infrastructure
these problems. This chapter discusses good
practices and strategies explored by GLTN In many developing countries, national
for managing rapid urban expansion. and city governments do not have the
capacity and fiscal means to designate
Challenges of rapid appropriate land for development, service
it, or provide urban residents with decent
urbanization
living, employment and amenities. The
outskirts of cities lack basic services and
Unmanaged urban growth key infrastructure to guide the location
and nature of new settlements. Public and
Generally, governments have responded private mechanisms for anticipating and
slowly to rapid urbanization. Traditional providing living spaces and services to urban
urban and land-use planning exercises dwellers lag behind demand. House prices
take too long, and they ignore rapid and rents in the formal sector rise rapidly –
change and the needs of people with low and low-income households cannot afford
incomes. Master plans, if they exist, are housing.
inappropriate, outdated, or not rigorously
enforced. They tend to be rigid: they lack New businesses are important for creating
the flexibility needed to address issues of jobs and reducing urban unemployment.
neighbourhood development and mobility. But the cost of starting and running
New development and settlement outrun a business has gone up due to a poor
79
regulatory environment, lax enforcement To make room for urban expansion,

of property rights, and poor urban services some governments try to relocate
and infrastructure. Businesses cannot informal settlements to the periphery
make money without the support of public using compulsory purchase (or “eminent
investment in transportation, water, sewers, domain”), or by forcefully evicting them. The
and other public utilities. As state resources impact of the resulting loss of property and
are limited, the private market and the rich social capital is phenomenal (UN-Habitat
out-compete the poor for infrastructure and 2012a: pp. 3–5). And as democracy spreads
services, further exacerbating inequality in around the world, people are pressing for
living standards within cities. their rights to adequate living space, secure
tenure and protection from forced eviction.
Proliferation of slums Attempts to take land by force for urban
expansion and redevelopment have come
Inadequate infrastructure and a lack of up against strong legal opposition and
affordable land and housing lead to the public protests. Governments are finding
growth of slums. About one-third of the that coercion is becoming more and more
urban populations in developing countries problematic as a way to clear land.
live in slums or informal settlements, where
residents occupy vacant public or private Depending on the market to facilitate
land illegally, without secure tenure, and voluntary land transfers is also problematic
under unsanitary and hazardous conditions. (see below). In some countries where
Informal settlements are often located on market mechanisms have not yet fully
land unsuitable for development in the developed, unequal access to information
formal market – on steep slopes, near has led to market speculation and land
swamps, along riverbeds, or on agricultural grabs by local elites. As a result, the urban
land in peri-urban areas. Poor land-use poor are either forced out, or bought out,
practices lead to air or water pollution from their neighbourhoods and relocated
from nearby agricultural or industrial sites. to remote areas, far from employment and
The physical location of settlements makes public services.
them highly vulnerable to disasters, such as
landslides, storm surges and flooding. Urban land markets
Without secure tenure, slum residents face Land markets are a major mechanism
a constant threat of eviction. They are not regulating the exchange of land and property
recognized officially as residents of the city, in cities throughout the world. Markets
so cannot get access to clean water, power, tend to be more open than traditional land
sanitation, and public education. Some have regimes, but are influenced by the political,
informal access to such services, but they economic, cultural and institutional context.
have to pay a lot more than the rich. Public For example, in several regions women
health and safety issues in these informal cannot take part in market transactions,
settlements thwart future development of even if they have the constitutional right to
other parts of the city. do so: they may be hindered by customary
or statutory laws, social norms, or a lack of
80
Chapter 7 Making room for sustainable urban expansion
resources. The co-existence of traditional 1993). All evictions, including “legal”

land regimes and informal markets alongside economic evictions, affect people’s lives and
the formal land market further complicates destroy communities and social networks
the situation. that they rely on for survival.
Urban land markets tend to be “imperfect”. The justifications for evictions are many
This is because land is a unique commodity: (Box 25). They include urban development
each lot has a specific location, and the supply and expansion into adjacent rural areas,
cannot increase with demand. Even if an big projects (such as dams and highways)
efficient exchange mechanism exists, markets undertaken for the “public good”,
do not necessarily address distributional municipal master plans and mega-
issues or meet the needs of the poor. People events, regeneration and slum-clearance
with low incomes, and particularly women, interventions (often to make space
tend to have less information and less power for corporate developers and increase
to influence regulations, so the operation municipal property tax revenues), and the
of urban land markets end up aggravating local impacts of the global financial crisis.
existing inequalities. Even if land titles are Big land acquisitions for tourism, mining or
distributed to residents, the poor can still lose agricultural projects displace large numbers
access to their land: local authorities often of people (Chapter 3). Relocation or
encourage upscaling property development resettlement policies after a crisis such as a
and investments that benefit tourism. conflict or disaster can also lead to the poor
Gentrification has become a global urban being evicted (Chapter 9).
policy.
Rethinking urban
Institutional arrangements are needed to planning and land
make urban land markets more efficient and management
to ensure that development patterns take
urban and peri-urban linkages into account.
Innovative approaches are also required to To address these problems, GLTN has
secure tenure and land-based financing for developed (and is developing) a number of
affordable housing and infrastructure. land tools. These include enumeration for
tenure security (Chapter 3), the continuum
Evictions of land rights (Chapter 2, Figure 3), slum
upgrading, city-wide and strategic land-
An estimated 15 million people are displaced use and settlement planning, and land
annually as a result of development readjustment. Previous chapters have
programmes. Most of these are implemented discussed the first two approaches. This
without the people affected having recourse chapter focuses on the other tools.
to legal or other remedies, and would
qualify as forced evictions as defined in According to the UN-Habitat Global report
international law (UN-Habitat 2012a, p.1). on human settlement (2009), the most
“The practice of forced eviction constitutes obvious problem with traditional urban
a gross violation of human rights” (UNCHR planning is that it fails to recognize the
81
Box 25. Examples of recent evictions
Urban development Economic evictions and the global finan-

cial crisis
Zimbabwe: Evictions because of city
beautification/clean-up destroys informal United States: Millions of houses have
settlements. been foreclosed in the last four years,
resulting in a sharp increase in the home-
Natural disasters and climate change
less population.
Sri Lanka: The 2004 tsunami led to regu-
Discrimination
lations of a buffer zone where no con-
struction is allowed, leaving displaced Italy: Roma communities evicted with no
people with no alternative locations. alternatives provided.
Mega-events Large-scale development
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Evictions related to Karachi, Pakistan: Evictions related to the
the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics. constriction of the Lyari Expressway.
Source: Adapted from UN-Habitat (2011c) pp.
34–35.
way of life of the majority of inhabitants At the local level, for example, increasing
living in rapidly growing and largely poor stakeholder participation in urban
informal cities. That indirectly contributes to profiles and assessments have improved
social and spatial marginalization. Outdated the authorities’ understanding of residents’
planning approaches may fail to take into problems, and has made residents more
account important challenges such as aware and able to contribute to proposals
climate change, city residents’dependence to solve them. That should make plans
on fossil fuels, food insecurity, informality, more responsive both to rapid urbanization
and inadequate community and stakeholder and to residents’ needs. GLTN’s work on
participation. Excessive planning regulations participatory enumerations is an example of
may also encourage segregation of this.
communities. New approaches to planning
are therefore needed to enable cities to At a more strategic level, GLTN has worked
respond better to challenges of the 21st on citywide planning. In Port au Prince in
century. Haiti, GLTN analysed urban trends and
planning approaches, and recommended
Providing a planning that an agency be established to implement
framework planning citywide (Box 26). The damage by
the 2010 earthquake showed that largely
Urban planning takes place at different unplanned urban areas are more vulnerable
levels: regional, city and community. GLTN to natural disasters. Especially widespread
has developed a range of land tools to informal construction in risk zones and the
address the limited capacity of traditional low level of basic services made the suffering
planning at these levels. caused by the natural disaster worse.
82
Box 26. Analysis of metropolitan Port au Prince, Haiti
Port au Prince is home to 40 per cent of The analysis was conducted by local actors
Haiti’s population. The city faces many with partnership and coordination from
challenges: poverty, weak governance, foreign technical experts. The project was
poor infrastructure and lack of coherent to identify projects that could be quickly
urban planning. It is also susceptible to implemented in order to build commit-
natural disasters such as hurricanes and ment. It attempted to map key stake-
earthquakes, as was so clearly demon- holders. Fundamental principles were the
strated in January 2010. “right to the city”, local resource mobili-
zation and continuous capacity building.
GLTN analysed the urban planning in
the city before the earthquake. It aimed The process produced an analysis of urban
to provide a more holistic, inclusive and trends, human settlement patterns, basic
integrated approach of urban planning services and infrastructure needs, and
with pro-poor and gender-responsive human and natural risk. It also catego-
focuses. It attempted to assess the status rized the challenges and opportunities.
of urban planning in Haiti and to formu- The report suggested the establishment
late a strategic plan and implementation of a metropolitan agency to implement
methodology. citywide planning.
More information: GLTN and UN-Habitat (2010).
This is part of a broader tool development 2008) shows how land-based finances
process by GLTN and published as two guides and resources can be mobilized to
on citywide strategic planning (Mohlund upgrade slum conditions.
and Forsman 2010a and b). These materials
have provided a useful framework for other  Effective slum upgrading requires active
GLTN tools to facilitate informal settlement involvement of the community from the
enumeration and redevelopment. beginning: this is promoted by GLTN’s
participatory enumeration land tool. The
Community-level planning case study on Haiti (Box 26) illustrates
and upgrading of this approach.
informal settlements
Experimenting with
Cities grow quickly as people move into land readjustment
slums. GLTN is involved in a number of
initiatives to deal with planning in such areas: Slums seem packed and chaotic: every square
metre appears to be used for something.
 Citywide strategic planning: A step There is no room for infrastructure such as
by step guide (Mohlund and Forsman roads, drainage ditches or open space, or to
2010b) presents the rationale and put in services such as sewers and electricity
approach to citywide strategic planning. lines. But in fact, many slums have lower
population densities than other urban areas
 Improving slum conditions through because most of the buildings have only
innovative financing (FIG and GLTN one or two storeys.
83
Therein lies an opportunity. If the land  Increasing the supply of serviced land
parcels can be pooled, the area can be at urban fringes through orderly and
redeveloped: roads can be widened, negotiated process for land acquisition.
infrastructure upgraded, and higher-quality
(but still affordable) multi-storey housing  Increasing density and rationalizing
built. It is not necessary to resettle residents, land use in inner city neighbourhoods
as the same people can be allocated rights to and urban fringes according to citywide
the re-parcelled land, so they can continue strategic planning.
to live in the same area afterwards. This
approach is known as land readjustment,  Providing finances for all or part
land pooling, land consolidation, or land of infrastructure and basic service
sharing. It is an alternative to compulsory investments.
purchase (eminent domain) and voluntary
exchange through the property market, Land readjustment can be effective when
which have consistently failed to solve existing property boundaries conflict
problems to the benefit of the poor, women with a land-use plan, so impeding project
and disadvantaged. implementation. Land readjustment can re-
parcel, or readjust, the land more efficiently
It is particularly well-suited for public–private and equitably to suit updated urban
development. For example, in Germany, planning schemes.
Japan, the Netherlands, and Taiwan, land
readjustment has been used to reparcel The owners (or occupants) contribute their
fragmented agricultural land for more land to the project. In return, each one gets
efficient use. It has even been applied in a a new parcel proportionate in size or value
vertical manner in Hong Kong to redevelop to what they put in. The size of the land
housing towers to their maximum allowable returned is typically smaller than the one they
floor-area ratio. In the inner cities of contributed, but it is worth more because
Bangkok and Manila, informal settlements of the improvements and infrastructure
were regularized by pooling land, improving that have been put in. In this manner, land
the infrastructure, and then re-parcelling it readjustment generates more desirable
to land users. The original slum dwellers and efficient development, increases land
received a formal title to the returned, values, and limits displacement.
serviced land, or a modern apartment unit.
That improved their tenure security and It is sometimes possible to self-finance
living standards. urban expansion or redevelopment through
land readjustment. In some cases, the
In land readjustment, landowners or land administration and infrastructure costs
holders act collectively, in cooperation with can be recovered by selling portion of the
a municipality and/or a private developer, serviced land. Most importantly, this aim
to pool their land, to implement a clearly will be achieved with minimal need to evict
defined redevelopment project. Land people from their neighbourhoods. Where
readjustment may offer a flexible procedure there is less potential for land values to rise,
to make space for urban expansion by: public subsidies may be needed to cover the
84
Box 27. Why land readjustment?
Three main motivations exist for adopt- participating in the project.

ing land readjustment in the South:
 Reliable ownership and tenure
 Cities must change to meet current records.
and future demands for basic services
generated by urban expansion.  Trained and credible assessors.
 They need options that engage, not  Access to effective dispute resolution
marginalize, property owners and legal provisions and procedures.
users.
 Community organizers with good
 They need solutions that create less negotiation skills.
public opposition than the traditional
These conditions are not always present.
methods.
So how to strengthen land markets and
Land readjustment is not a quick fix. good governance to facilitate land read-
justment? And how can this land tool be
Success depends on several conditions: employed if people do not have formal
land rights?
 A strong land market.
 A belief by land owners and users

Source: Expert group meeting and learning event
in the ultimate financial benefit of for land readjustment, UN-Habitat.
costs of providing basic infrastructure and governance for managing rapid urban
services. growth. Implementing it requires developing
a legal framework, clarifying and recording
In June 2011, UN-Habitat organized land rights, and establishing a system of
discussions about land readjustment as land and property valuation. Conventional
part of an expert-group meeting, with the land records and surveying, valuation and
support of GLTN. The specialists shared planning are usually required for land
knowledge about the land-readjustment readjustment. But where they are absent,
approach, as well as to plan pilot projects GLTN’s pro-poor tools will make it possible
in selected developing countries (Box 27). to undertake land readjustment in informal,
Participants agreed that land readjustment un-parcelled and customary areas as well.
could facilitate city extension and That means it can be used with various
densification, and could create public space other GLTN land tools designed for these
and streets in overcrowded slums and city purposes.
centres.
UN-Habitat has completed research on
Land readjustment is now a key entry land readjustment in 11 countries based
point for UN-Habitat in its engagement on secondary information, and is currently
with cities. It has unique potential to documenting case studies and good practices
address urban planning, land management, in India, Colombia, Turkey, and Angola. It
infrastructure finance, legislation, and is developing an urban legal database and
85
Availability of land for community use is also critical in informal settlements, Lima, Peru
Photo © UN-Habitat/Claudio Acioly
86
Box 28. Challenges to land readjustment
Land readjustment is not simply a techni- simple methodology. The legal validity
cal matter, but also a political issue. While of this approach should be guaranteed
there is potential for successful land read- in an appropriate way, through law or
justment in many developing countries, regulation.
diverse institutional contexts create many
Before any land readjustment exercise,
challenges:
put appropriate measures in place to
Urban planning in most developing coun- avoid land speculation.
tries lacks public participation.
Pay special attention to any potential
Many developing countries do not have manipulation of land-record systems by
the capacity to maintain ownership powerful interest groups.
records.
Recognize that land and property rela-
Land readjustment reduces plot sizes. tions are in constant flux. Land read-
This would cause problems in many infor- justment can be used as a platform for
mal settlements where people rent out negotiating property interests and to
spare space, or use it for farming or to clarify land rights at a large scale.
run a business.
Proposed actions
Professional skills and institutional capac-
Further examine the concept of land
ity are lacking in developing countries.
readjustment from multiple perspec-
Urban legislation is often too rigid to tives, ranging from political economy or
allow land readjustment. anthropological approaches to cultural
interrogation.
People may value assets differently: they
may value possible improvements in their Study land readjustment experiences in
living conditions, neighbourhood ameni- the developing world to illustrate the
ties, social networks, and the cohesive- importance of local context and the flex-
ness of the community and society more ibility needed to adjust the approach.
than the monetary value of their land. Search for a best fit among different
Women and men, young and old may approaches, rather than promoting a
value these things differently. single best practice.
How to make land readjustment work Distil land readjustment into its basic
components and supporting factors to
Despite these challenges, there are
improve understanding of the approach.
several ways to make land readjustment
work in developing countries: After this, identify countries where land
readjustment could be used, then devel-
Understand the context in which land
op, test and refine the approach.
readjustment will be implemented and
adapt it to fit that context. Disseminate information about land
readjustment within UN-Habitat and the
Involve affected people (women and men
GLTN.
of different ages) in making decisions,
and emphasize the need for participation Test the land readjustment approach
and consensus. in an incremental way, and adjust it as
needed where politics or the local con-
If there is no cadastre or land records
text demands.
system, first create a credible and
acceptable record of land rights using a Source: UN-Habitat (2011e).
87
constructing an urban legal network. GLTN facilitate implementation of plans and

is planning a strategic forum for taking its proposals that combine planning tools with
work on land readjustment forward and enabling finance and dispute resolution,
address the challenges identified (Box 27). such as land readjustment.
With support from GLTN, UN-Habitat is
mainstreaming land readjustment into its Preventing future unplanned growth. It
work at country level. is easier and cheaper to address problems
of rapid growth if the growth takes place
Next steps in promoting in a planned framework. Unplanned
sustainable urban settlements should be identified and
expansion addressed early in the settlement process.
Mechanisms to address these include rapid
planning of settlements on the edges of
As cities continue to grow at the margins cities, and participatory tools to facilitate
in largely unplanned and mostly informal new settlements in a planned manner and
ways, there is need for a two-pronged to settle tenure issues and infrastructural
strategy. The first is to refine the tools services early on. Because of new concerns
already discussed to manage and regularize about the relationship between city
this growth in an equitable way. The expansion and sustainability, this may
second is to limit and contain such growth involve street layouts and public–private
in a planned manner. The tools are similar partnerships to facilitate higher densities
but need to be developed with different than are normal in informal settlement at
emphases. the periphery.
For both of these strategies, pro-poor, Experimenting with land readjustment.

gender-responsive urban planning GLTN should further develop concepts of
legislation is needed. land administration systems in support of
poverty reduction, secure land rights for
Managing existing growth. Three groups all, gender equity, and economic growth.
of tools need to be developed, tested and Land readjustment can be a tool to achieve
institutionalized. First, citywide planning multiple goals.
that is timely and responsive to the need
for urban space and services for different New tools. To make land readjustment
needs both in the private and informal work, GLTN will consider developing the
sectors. Second, participatory community- following tools and principles: an instrument
level tools for regularizing existing informal to assess the legal framework and develop
settlements, such as participatory evaluation legislation needed for city extension
and the use of GLTN’s gender evaluation and densification, a sourcebook on land
criteria (see also the case from Ponte do readjustment, and a capacity-development
Maduro, Box 18). Third, mechanisms to programme on land readjustment.
88
Pressure on vacant green woods land in Sofia, Bulgaria
Photo © UN-Habitat/Claudio Acioly
Jubillee Hills, Hyderabad, India
Photo © Larry Walters
8
Land-based financing
for local governments
and land services
O ne of the core challenges in cities

across the world is raising the revenue
necessary to provide key public services and
flowing to the national government. Local
authorities do not control sufficient revenue
sources, so cannot respond to unique local
improvements in urban infrastructure and needs. Local officials are not accountable to
services. The challenge is particularly acute local residents.
in cities in developing countries. This chapter
focuses on land-based financing tools for One on-going dilemma is the extent to
land administration, public infrastructure which poor households and informal
and other public services in such countries. settlements should be included in the
revenue system (Box 29). There is a tendency
As cities grow, the pressure to improve on the part of some governments to simply
services and provide essential infrastructure exclude the households which are seen
can be immense. Because land cannot be as administratively difficult to identify and
moved, it can be a unique foundation for from which the revenue yield is expected
local revenue. But it also presents important to be low. Such policies may undermine
challenges for local officials. In many grassroots community engagement and
developing countries, revenue systems are allow local authorities to focus attention
largely centralized, with most of the revenue and resources outside areas of critical need.
Box 29. Land-based revenues
Few developing countries take full treated similarly. Transparency contrib-

advantage of land-based revenues. Even utes greatly to the perceived fairness of
when land-based taxes are assessed, citi- land-based revenue.
zens often simply do not pay the tax. The
Potential taxpayers must also see the
policy and administrative aspects of land-
connection between the monies they
based revenue systems can be improved.
pay and the services they receive. If land
Developing a culture of compliance by
holders see clear improvements in the
taxpayers requires two developments.
quality of services and infrastructure in
Potential taxpayers must see the tax or their immediate communities, they are
fee as fair. Fair, in this sense means that much more likely to pay their obligations
land holders in similar circumstances are willingly.
91
Another challenge is the need to create, The challenge is to organize and financially
maintain and operate institutions to provide support land-related services efficiently and
a range of services related to land, property sustainably.
and property rights, including taxation.
Crucial to protecting property rights in Considerations in
general and tenure security in particular is
land-based finance
the ability to publicly register and defend
those rights. Generally, land-administration
organizations are essential for good land Implementing land-based revenue tools has
governance. These organizations support two central objectives:
both security of tenure and the development
of transparent property markets, including  Cities need to mobilize the financial
access to collateral. They also provide resources necessary to provide service
information to support land-use policies. and infrastructure improvements in a fair
Quality land administration is vital if the and balanced way.
objective in a society is to implement land-
use policies which are transparent, equitable,  Providers of land-administration services
gender-responsive and sustainable, and need to finance the necessary land-
which promote economic development. related services.
However, these objectives must be achieved

within a complex environment: different
Box 30. Types of land-based
revenues land rights and tenure arrangements,
various organizations with responsibility
for different aspects of land, evolving land
Land-based revenues can take many
forms. They are often called taxes markets, and differing ability to pay land-
(we use this term throughout this related taxes (Box 30).
chapter to represent the entire set of
options). But the range includes one-
time transaction fees and charges such
To illustrate some of these interactions, we
as betterment levies, transfer fees, will look at three categories of land-based
development fees, as well as recurrent financing: the administration of the land-
charges related to the cost of service
based revenue system, the assessment of
provisions. Some transaction fees are
intended to recoup the administrative taxes and fees, and the allocation of the
costs, but some, like betterment fees resulting revenues.
and capital gains taxes, are intended
to capture a portion of wealth crea-
tion for the state. The range of fees Administration
can also include various in-kind pay-
ments, such as labour contributions. Inter-organization coordination issues.
The language also varies somewhat Who does what? That is one of the
from country to country. For example, central questions in administering land-
what is called a property tax in one
setting is known as rates in another.
based revenue systems. Countries allocate
the coordination of land-related tasks
differently, from the neighbourhood to
92
Chapter 8 Land-based financing for local governments and land services
the national government. Plus, in much administration organizations are inefficient

of the developing world there is no in that they do not deliver cost-effective
clear demarcation between national and services to the majority of the population.
municipal functions in the implementation The services are often inaccessible, unreliable
and financing of municipal services. and not transparent. Procedures are not well
defined and are frequently lengthy. They may
 Africa, Asia and Latin America often include the requirement to use expensive
have strong municipal governments land professionals (such as surveyors and
with local land administration and lawyers). Further, information is often not
taxation systems. But some countries secure. As a result, land administration
separate the responsibility to implement organizations often fall short in their
municipal and land services and the objective to provide security of tenure.
financial means to do so. In such cases,
central governments collect property Containing the cost of services is a related
taxes, then disburse the money to issue. Some tasks can be performed more
municipalities. cost effectively at a larger scale, but that
implies centralization. That often leads
 In some smaller developing states such to less access for women and vulnerable
as in the Caribbean and the Indian and members of society, and runs counter to
Pacific oceans, municipal governments are GLTN’s pro-poor, gender-responsive and
weak, and the central government taxes subsidiarity values. Efficient service delivery
property and delivers municipal services. must ensure that services are available for all.
Sometimes these differences are the result An important issue in this regard is the
of differences in capacity. In other instances need to compensate the organization for its
they are simply a matter of policy choices. services. Many land administration org-
The GLTN value of subsidiarity argues anizations are financed largely through
for assigning tasks to the lowest level of government grants. Such arrangements often
organization with the capacity to efficiently limit their management’s ability to improve
and effectively carry out the task. But organizational capacity through training,
effective land administration and policy staff retention and recruitment programmes,
also require coordination of these tasks. For or to invest in modern technology without
example, while participatory enumeration complicated negotiations with the Ministry
can quickly record claims to property rights, of Finance and other ministries in charge
the information collected still needs to be of public staffing, information technology
integrated with other sources of such claims. and coordination. Box 31 gives an example
of how Georgia has been able to overcome
Land administration services. Admin- this problem.
istrative tasks for land may also be distributed
among different levels in government. Assessment
Efficient land administration lowers the
cost of acquiring, holding or transferring Fiscal cadastre. An efficient collection
land in a market environment. Many land of taxes and fees requires accurate
93
information about who is obliged to pay,

how much, where, and by when. If the Box 31. Self-financing of
collecting organization has access to the administrative land
services in Georgia
needed contact information, the payer can
be invoiced. Unfortunately, many agencies
lack a complete list of spatial units and the Self-financing of administrative land
services with a results-based manage-
associated contact information.
ment system has been introduced in
several countries in Europe, among
Property taxation is based on information on them Sweden. One success story is
real properties in the form of fiscal cadastres Georgia, which within a period of
5 years improved its position in the
or valuation rolls. These rolls include World Bank’s Doing Business ranking
information about the land and property, from near the bottom to near the top.
the owner (or beneficiary) of the property, It did this through more self-financing,
improved management and financial
and a value on which the tax is based. These systems, and through improved staff
information systems are all too often badly planning, training and remuneration
out of date. They also often stand alone and programmes.
are not linked to other information systems More information: Lantmäteriet (2012).
in the country, such as the legal cadastre
and cadastral maps. One result is that the
possibilities for more effective updating of inequalities in land ownership. For example,
land information in all record systems are the Nepalese government has a policy of land
not realized. Failure to maintain reasonably and property tax exemption to encourage
complete fiscal cadastres often results in women’s land and property ownership. This
greatly reduced collections and substantial has translated into 30–50 per cent increases
inequity. in the proportion of women who have their
names in land and property registers. Such
Valuation. The central function of the initiatives could be further documented and
valuation system is to assess land and explored (Shrestha unpublished report).
property values fairly and accurately. These
values are then used to allocate the total Allocation of revenue
tax revenue that is desired to land owners
or occupants. “Fair” in this instance can Allocation of land-related revenues.
be related either to benefits received, the Taxes are often used to redistribute resources
ability to pay, or a combination of both. from one group to another. Such policies are
Success in collecting revenues and in the often justified on the basis of ability to pay.
public accepting this tax requires that the This can be true for land-related revenues
valuation system be seen as reasonably as well. In such a framework property taxes
accurate and fair. A timely, accurate and collected from richer neighbourhoods and
transparent process for determining taxable regions can subsidize poorer areas. Even
value is essential for this. when subsidies and transfers are justifiable,
transparent collection and distribution
Incentives. Assessments may also build systems are desirable to ensure the proper
on an incentive such as to address gender targeting of beneficiaries.
94
In poor neighbourhoods, the level of This means that municipalities always have
property taxes possible is likely to be an infrastructure deficit to finance. Even
insufficient to finance the minimum when reduced standards for appropriate
service levels, and keeping the cost to infrastructure and incremental approaches
residents at an acceptable level may be to infrastructure improvement are used,
more important than full cost recovery. it would be difficult to use standard rates
Taxation and cost-recovery become more of land and property taxes as a means of
complicated when dealing with informal finance.
and quasi-market settlements where the
state or municipality is undertaking an A range of finance mechanisms are needed
upgrading or regularization programme. It to deal with this infrastructure deficit. Land
is well known, for example, that in many and property tax options are required that
informal settings, residents are both willing are suited to different land and property
and able to pay a small tax if doing so also rights regimes in both formal and informal
establishes a recognized interest in the land. contexts. A shack dweller who has only an
Many households in such circumstances can occupancy right and someone who resides
pay part of the upgrade costs, and many in an upmarket neighbourhood which
perceive the payment of taxes as a means benefits from all kinds of public investments
of documenting their claim to the land. But and services cannot be expected to operate
their contributions may fall far short of the and function under similar tax regimes.
full upgrading costs in the short run. Thus,
the revenue possibilities in the medium and GLTN solutions
long-run may be much larger than what can
be immediately realizable.
GLTN’s efforts to improve local land-based
Timing of land-related revenues in revenues and to finance land-related
relation to need. Urban development services include conferences, the publication
may not always occur on the same time of various guides, and support for various
schedule as infrastructure development activities that impact land-related revenues.
or the improvement of urban services. In
developed countries, urban development Capturing land value
occurs within a regulatory system which
establishes what infrastructure and physical Participants at one such conference,
services are needed, and which then requires in Warsaw in 2009, agreed that urban
coordination between the creation of these development should be financed, at least in
services and urban development. On the part, by capturing the increases in land value
other hand, much of the development in the resulting from public investment or broad
cities of developing countries takes place urban trends (Mennetrier and Romanowicz
outside of the regulatory system, whether 2010). There was also substantial agreement
it is in the private or informal sector. Urban on essential aspects of how to implement
growth and housing development often such a system. These included:
take place well before the infrastructure
networks and basic services are in place.  Strong political support.
95
 The adaptation of tools and policies to  The maturity of local land and property
local conditions. markets.
 Fitting land-valuation methods to local  The administrative capacity of

administrative capacity. those public agencies charged with
implementing the system.
 The inclusion of informal settlements in
any system to capture land value. Improved land administration
The available land tools need to be tested Land administration organizations tend to
and demonstrated in a variety of small- transition over time from a system mainly
scale political and economic environments. financed through governmental grants to
Countries should be encouraged to more direct funding through fees paid by
improve their data collection, analysis service users. There are several reasons for
and documentation on land and property this: those who actually use the services (the
taxation. The data and evidence derived land users) pay for the services, and not the
from current land and property tax systems broader public; the organization becomes
remain insufficient. As a result, decision- less dependent on political decisions; and
makers often lack the information they staff are more willing to accept changes and
need to make good decisions. deliver more efficient services if they realize
that their income and employment depends
Two recent UN-Habitat/GLTN publications on the quality of the services they deliver to
on land value capture are a scoping study customers.
and a land and property tax guide. The
scoping study (GLTN and Development The GLTN partner Lantmäteriet (the Swedish
Action Group 2010) highlights the need for mapping, cadastre and land registration
a political champion, a good property tax law authority) is currently working on the
and decentralized authority to implement costing and financing of land administration
the system. The land and property tax services in developing countries. This will
guide (GLTN 2011) elaborates on several allow land administration organizations to
of the themes that emerged in the Warsaw be more independent of political decisions
conference. In particular, it notes that in and more demand-driven from the market. It
designing a land-based revenue system, will create possibilities for more transparent
decision-makers should carefully consider costing of various services. It should also
four aspects of the local environment: improve access to services for the poor and
contribute to the regularization of informal
 How land and property rights are defined settlements.
by different groups in the community
(such as women, men and different age Boxes 32 and 33 give examples of the impact
groups). of improved land administrative processes.
 How such rights are publicly recorded, or

at least recognized, and defended.
96
Box 32. Ward development planning and occupancy rights in

Zambia
In Lusaka, Zambia, a comprehensive The ward development planning results

approach has been introduced to provide in prioritized demands on infrastructure
security of tenure and to plan and imple- improvements, which are included in
ment upgrading activities in peri-urban the city council’s strategic planning and
areas (wards). This is based on participa- budget. A new revaluation of proper-
tory planning from the community. It is ties with statutory titles has been made,
currently being replicated in all wards in resulting in a doubling of the income for
the city. the city council. Part of this income is allo-
cated for infrastructure improvements in
The occupancy rights are subleases on
accordance with the ward development
municipal land. They are defined by the
planning.
extent of the building, are renewable on
a 30-year lease, and can be transferred The project, titled “Building capacity for
and mortgaged. The lessee has to pay urban development and effective land
a ground rent, which is partly available tenure management in Lusaka”, was
for infrastructure improvements in the implemented by Lusaka City Council with
ward. The occupancy licenses as well as support from Sida and UN-Habitat.
the ground rents are collected at local
More information: Lantmäteriet (2011).
site offices.
management systems can also support

Available land tools
land-based revenue systems.
Three GLTN land tools which have already Participatory enumeration

been developed and tested are relevant
to land-based finance: the Social Tenure This land tool (Chapter 3) also focuses on
Domain Model, participatory enumeration collecting information that can inform a
(Chapter 3), and the gender evaluation fiscal cadastre or valuation roll. Potential
criteria (Chapter 4). for tension exists between using the results
of a participatory enumeration process for
Social Tenure Domain Model building a fiscal cadastre and other uses of
the same information. If residents think that
The focus of this model is on building a if they take part in the survey their taxes will
pro-poor land information management go up, they may be hesitant to do so. This
system that models the relations between concern does not preclude the use of the
people and land, independent of the tool in a fiscal capacity, but does suggest
level of formalization or legality of those that attention be paid to the incentives that
relationships. The aim is to develop a land participants face.
administration system that can support all
forms of land rights, social tenure relations
and overlapping claims to land (e.g., in
post-conflict areas). Such land information
97
Box 33. Raising revenues through the urban land registry in

Benin
The Urban Land Registry in Benin offers materials. Residents can get municipal
a useful example of how practical solu- occupancy permits either by showing
tions to some of the land-based revenue some type of acceptable documentation
issues can be addressed (see also Box 14). or simply by neighbourhood recognition.
The registry is a land information system Registration establishes a recognized ten-
which aims to improve substantially the ure right, which can be converted to a full
management capacity of local authorities title. The registry was not carried out sole-
to respond effectively to urbanization. ly by local authorities, but also involved
The period 1991–2002 was marked by a community-based organizations.
low yield of local taxes. At the same time,
The impacts on local finances are sub-
administrative districts faced significant
stantial because it enlarges the tax base,
needs for infrastructure, public facilities
increases knowledge of the tax base,
and urban services in addition to facing
and improves collections. Even if the tax
the issue of tenure insecurity. A reliable
potential is still far from fully mobilized,
information system became necessary
tax revenues of the communes which
to improve local resources. Launched in
are testing registry procedures have
1992 in Parakou, the land registry has
increased considerably. In Parakou and
now been implemented in the three
Cotonou, tax revenues have more than
largest cities - Cotonou, Porto-Novo and
quintupled since the registry was put into
Parakou – in addition to many smaller
effect. Results have been slower in Porto-
towns.
Novo. The registry is seen as a useful way
The implementation of the registry in to mobilize fiscal resources in communes
an area begins with aerial photos and involved in securing land and financing
maps. Field surveys collect information urbanization.
on occupants, land use and construction More information: Perier and Houssou (2012).
Gender evaluation criteria

Tools under
development
This land tool provides a gender evaluation
framework that could be applied to assess
the different impacts a land-based revenue Valuing unrecorded land
system may have on women and men.
It could also be useful to build global The GLTN partner, the Royal Institute of
knowledge on revenue systems that include Chartered Surveyors, is developing a tool
incentives for women or other marginalized for valuing unregistered land interests in
groups, such as the example of Nepal (see informal settlements.
above), and to ascertain their effectiveness.
Financing of land administration
This land tool will provide suggestions

for more self-financing mechanisms to
strengthen management. One objective
98
of this tool is to help local authorities tax price for these public services: hence the
become more independent of higher levels name“benefit tax”. Thus, both concepts,
of government within a goal and result- value capture and benefits received, can be
based management system. The proposed used to justify billing a household.
financial systems will be activity-based and
allow the management to keep track of But how much should households pay?
the costs related to different services and A land tool to assess residents’ financial
thus also develop a more efficient service obligations would have several benefits. It
delivery. The tool is intended to be piloted would:
in cooperation with an interested land
administration organization.  Make it easy to determine how much
residents should be charged.
Next steps in land-
 Make it easy for taxpayers to understand
based financing
how the amount is calculated and why
the payment represents good value.
Looking to the future, GLTN should consider
investing in further land-tool development  Give policymakers a way to evaluate
in several areas related to land-based alternative financing plans.
revenue.
The public is more likely to accept a tax if
Assessing residents’ they see that the charges depend on the
financial obligations cost of services that they receive, as well as
the benefits they get from improvements to
How much to charge? The idea behind their land.
land value capture is that public investments
result in private gains. For example, a new Some of the components of this approach
road or sewer line increases the value of already exist. The valuation tools to evaluate
nearby land, benefiting the holder of that the impact of public projects on private
land. The public (i.e., the government) land values are well known. But the tools to
should reasonably be able to share in assess the cost of providing general services
those gains so it can finance further public to land and property need to be developed.
investments.
Developing and integrating these two
Land-based taxes and fees are sometimes elements will be worth the effort.
called “benefit taxes”. Land and property Policymakers will better understand how
holders get benefits such as roads, police the services and investments they make
and fire protection from local governments, affect land and therefore citizens. And
but they generally do not pay direct citizens will see more clearly the connection
fees for such services. Instead, the local between what they pay and the value they
government charges them an amount receive from public services.
roughly proportional to the value of the
benefits they receive. This is considered the
99
Self-assessment. This has proven effective Without doubt, not all the people who
in assessing land and property values occupy land in a city can easily pay their
in established land markets. It may be tax bill. The city may choose to adjust
useful when combined with participatory the bill due based on ability to pay. But
evaluations for the poor and informal such adjustments require additional
land holders in the developing world. In administrative infrastructure (and costs)
Latin America and the Caribbean, it has for tasks such as processing claims for
been found that some of these people are exemptions. Rather than simply granting
able and willing to pay taxes as this helps such adjustments, it would be possible,
establish their claim to the land or housing particularly in informal settlements and
they occupy informally or illegally. other more established communities, to
allow land occupants to pay all or part of
A how-to guide would be a valuable addition their tax bill in kind, through some type
to the GLTN resource library and would of community service. How might such a
facilitate knowledge transfer from those programme work? How might community-
areas which have successfully employed based groups or communal owners
self-assessment to those considering using be involved? These questions should
the approach. be explored and guidelines developed.
The potential for mobilizing human
Alternative tenure arrangements. A resources through this type of community
range of possible tools can be applied engagement holds sufficient promise to
to assessing land values and collecting merit further consideration, especially if the
contributions to land and municipal services. added resources can be engaged within
These do not have to be the normal fees their own neighbourhoods.
and property taxes, and can be related to
the continuum of land rights. Examples Building capacity for
of such alternative tenure arrangements land-based revenue
include community land trusts, community
savings and development funds, and non- GLTN will work towards the acceptance and
monetary contributions. use of such systems by developing capacity
in five areas:
Payment in kind. Where there is no strong
community coherence or collective action, Tool development. One way for valuation
individuals can contribute to the cost of systems to work is to base them on capital
services to their spatial unit or community market value (as advocated by the Land
by providing labour. The self-help or Governance Assessment Framework). But
sweat equity model has been utilized in many land markets are simply not mature
squatter upgrade programmes in Jamaica enough for such an approach. We need
and Trinidad and Tobago. This method of land tools to enhance land-based revenues
contribution in labour can be combined in whatever market conditions a country
with collective mechanisms, but can be may be experiencing – for example, for
problematic if people have little spare time. the valuation of unregistered land. Such
100
a non-market-based system should also agents are are necessary such as awareness-
provide for an orderly transition to a more creation seminars, study visits and peer-to-
market-based approach as markets evolve, peer exchanges.
data becomes available, and local capacity
is developed. The approach described in the Expertise. Local officials often lack the
GLTN publication Land and property tax: capacity to improve land-based revenue
A policy guide (GLTN 2011) will be further systems. Education and training are needed
developed. on valuation, land-record management, and
other skills to operate an effective revenue
New financial tools for land administration system. GLTN aims to build the number and
to enable ministries of land to improve their expertise of practitioners in countries that
financial management are also needed. The seek to implement or reform their land-
proposed financial systems will be activity- based revenue systems.
based and allow the management to keep
track of the costs related to different land Grassroots support. Public acceptance of
services and thus deliver services more land-based revenues is essential. GLTN efforts
efficiently. to educate and engage the public on these
issues should focus on two considerations:
Institutional reviews. In many countries, helping the public understand standards
current institutional arrangements do not of fairness and transparency in land-based
favour improving land-based revenues. revenues, and getting the public to help
The information needed for effective choose the projects to support.
administration either does not exist, or it
is spread among multiple ministries and
departments which have little or no incentive
to cooperate. The nature of relationships
between local and central authorities
also often undermines the potential for
improvement. GLTN will identify and
promote best practices in information- and
responsibility-sharing.
Upstream change agents. The under-

standing and support of key actors and
opinion leaders must be built in countries
that seek to implement or enhance
land-based revenues. Without high-
level champions and strong political
support, there is little chance of successful
implementation or public acceptance of
change. Capacity development activities
that secure the backing of upstream change
101
Enumeration team in Haiti
Photo © UN-Habitat
9 Security of tenure in
disasters and conflict
I n the past decade, humanitarian

organizations have recognized the need
to understand and address land issues in
This chapter builds on the recognition that
disasters and armed conflict are tragic
events that destroy the lives of many
crisis contexts. If it is not clear who “owns” innocent people. But such crises are also
the land, delays can occur in the delivery historic opportunities for change. The
of emergency shelter, the establishment chapter discusses the failure of conventional
of camps and broader reconstruction. approaches to land issues and describes
Displaced persons and refugees often GLTN’s contribution to date. It concludes
cannot return home as someone else has by highlighting the need for a more
occupied their land or property. Mine- comprehensive strategy to address land
clearance programmes have found that issues from crisis prevention to post-crisis
cleared land does not always end up in reconstruction.
the hands of the original occupants. Land
disputes have even threatened the safety of Crises and land
humanitarian workers.
Whereas once the humanitarian community When considering the land-related

regarded land issues as too complex, challenges arising in crisis contexts, it is
technical and political, the past five years important to bear in mind several differences
have seen renewed interest in tackling between natural disaster and armed conflict
land issues. The linkage between poor land (Table 5). While natural disasters tend to
use and increased vulnerability to hazards, be more localized geographically, armed
particularly for poor women and men, is conflicts tend to have a more widespread
widely understood. Land grievances are impact, including on people’s willingness
recognized as a root cause of conflict, as to collaborate and the national capacity
fuel that perpetuates conflict, and as a to recover. Where they exist, traditional
potential spoiler to peace-building efforts. authorities and organized communities
This does not mean that land-based risks are more resilient to the impacts of both
are now systematically addressed, nor that disasters and conflicts. As a result of these
land conflict prevention is now a priority. and other factors, there is less potential for
Much more work remains to be done. The systemic reforms after a disaster than after
prospects, however, are promising. a conflict. But sustaining reforms after a
conflict presents its own challenges. Sadly,
the threat of natural disaster or of violent
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Table 5. Potential for land-sector reforms in natural disaster and

conflict contexts
Issue Natural disaster Violent conflict
Crisis impacts Relatively localized More widespread
State Initial surge of support is com- Legitimacy is violently contested by

legitimacy mon, but if response is poor, one group
legitimacy will be lost quickly
Land records Localized loss and destruction Widespread loss, destruction and
Backups likely fraud
Possible theft/destruction of register
Land manage- Government is damaged, but Government weak to non-existent

ment capacity functional Traditional authorities (where they
Traditional authorities (where exist) weaker, but often no short-
they exist) weak, but resilient term alternative
Reform Less political will and fewer More political will, significant
potential resources for systemic reforms resources, but competing donor
Political economy of “building visions
back better”
Conclusion Short window for limited Greater potential for reform, but
reforms vested interests and post-war
political economy will quickly reduce
opportunity for change
conflict is not enough to mobilize the interests converge to close the window of
political will for preventative land-sector opportunity for reform.
reforms.
The assumption that humanitarian action is
Many challenges exist to addressing land neutral does not always apply with respect
issues in a crisis. Some of the most common to land. Many de-mining agencies, for
ones are discussed below. example, believe that every mine or explosive
remnant of war that is removed represents
Most fundamentally, the international a positive contribution to recovery. This has
community has seen land as a development not always proved true. Where cleared land
issue, not as a humanitarian one. Land is the subject of a dispute, the land can
issues have not been regarded as life- be re-mined, resulting in additional deaths
saving, so have not been prioritized in and injury and the need for another round
early deployments, response planning and of expensive de-mining. Leaving disputed
humanitarian funding. It is only months or land contaminated is not an option, as this
years later that the failure to address land can also lead to loss of life. An additional
issues is recognized, but by then it is too late. challenge is that cleared land dramatically
Political, economic and institutional vested increases in value, sometimes leading to
104
Chapter 9 Security of tenure in disasters and conflicts
the dispossession of the original occupants, Land disputes are common in both disasters
often poor women and men. and conflicts. In the early aftermath there is
an urgent need for additional mediation and
Humanitarian programming has often been dispute-resolution capacity. These efforts,
based on the assumption that most land or however, are largely ad-hoc, unconnected
property is individually owned and legally to government or traditional institutions,
registered. Oriented towards the delivery and result in negotiated “agreements”
of urgent assistance, humanitarian actors that cannot be enforced. Over time, if
prefer – or are required by their donor these efforts are not institutionalized, they
– to have legal proof of land ownership gradually lose their effectiveness and may
before they deliver expensive goods such even contribute to open conflict.
as transitional shelter. In many cases,
however, the occupant is in fact a renter or On the part of land professionals and donors,
has no legal record of their land right. Legal there has been a tendency to focus on
evidence may have been lost or damaged, formal land records and land administration.
or simply never existed. As a result, many New titling or cadastral programmes are
people have not been entitled to receive promoted without recognizing that they
humanitarian assistance or the delivery of may be inappropriate. After a crisis, the
their assistance has been delayed while their situation is often fluid. There is a real risk
status is clarified. In many cases, renters and that registration processes will extinguish
informal rights holders never receive any the rights of informal rights-holders, be
assistance, despite being among the most used to override historical grievances, and
vulnerable part of the population. disinherit women (particularly widows) and
children whose rights are claimed by male
Post-disaster or post-conflict relocation or relations. With the focus on the formal
resettlement policies may lead to the poor system, often very little is done to secure
being evicted. Without secure tenure rights, the rights of the some 70 per cent of the
they do not qualify for compensation. population who have informal land rights.
Residents and humanitarian organizations
challenge evictions through legal actions, Coordination has been another area where
political organizing, and using media to international assistance has failed. The lack of
gain visibility and to mobilize global and coordination has led to the recommendation
local efforts to address the housing and land of inappropriate approaches – such as land
needs of refugees and displaced people. registration programmes in countries with
But long-term solutions are needed, both limited existing land record coverage – or
to reduce tensions before, during and after the preparation by external consultants
evictions, and to address the root causes of of multiple national land policies.
the problems. Developing alternative plans, More fundamentally, this competition
another strategy for challenging evictions, undermines government leadership and
involves institutional arrangements for national ownership of land issues within the
secure tenure. reconstruction agenda.
105
new cadastre in Haiti, the government,

New approaches humanitarian agencies and UN-Habitat are
to land issues in adopting a more incremental approach. The
crisis contexts enumeration process under way in Haiti has
been explicitly designed to secure tenure
GLTN’s establishment in 2006 happened and also contribute towards first legal
to coincide with a recognition by the evidence of land rights. A more flexible
humanitarian community that they had approach to evidence is also being adopted
limited capacity to engage with land issues. – recognizing, for example, community
validation, private contracts and utility bills.
In 2007, the global humanitarian
coordination body, the Inter-Agency Ensuring coordination. Given the fragm-
Standing Committee, called for the ented nature of the land sector, and the lack
development of simple guidelines to of coherence among development partners
enable humanitarian actors to understand and donors, coordination is a prerequisite
land issues, and to incorporate them into for effective external engagement in the
improved programming. GLTN responded land sector. Coordination support at the
by developing a broad strategy and specific country level is now a standard UN-Habitat
guidelines for addressing land issues in crisis operating practice in crisis contexts, as
contexts. demonstrated in the Democratic Republic
of Congo, Liberia, South Sudan, Haiti,
Elements of a strategy Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
to address land issues
after a crisis Promoting grassroots leadership.
Reconstruction begins the day after a
The broad strategy, derived from GLTN disaster, often with organized communities
values, includes the following elements: and grassroots groups led by women
leading the way. For example, linking
Recognizing the continuum of land enumeration to security of tenure and
rights and developing responses that the future land administration system
address the range of land and natural is increasingly recognized as critical to
resource rights. Current interventions, for reconstruction. Grassroots women are also
example in Haiti, the Democratic Republic promoting resilient communities through,
of Congo, South Sudan and Liberia, are for example, the Huairou Commission’s
developing programme responses that Community Resilience Campaign (see the
address the full range of residential and case study below).
natural resource rights. Some new and
innovative approaches are emerging which Analyzing legal and institutional
merit documentation and evaluation. aspects. It is important to undertake a
comprehensive analysis of the policy, legal
Adopting a flexible, incremental and institutional framework for land. After
approach to securing land rights. the 2001 earthquake in Gujarat, India, and
Rather than immediately implementing a the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, national
106
specialists found innovative solutions within  Humanitarian organizations operate

the existing legal frameworks for land. By under severe constraints: 6–9-month
contrast, some issues arose in Banda Aceh, project time frames, the need to deliver
Indonesia, after the 2004 tsunami due to a physical goods, no capacity development
lack of appreciation of the legal framework orientation, limited awareness of laws
for land administration. and policies, and the need for very
specific guidance related to their primary
Strengthening local institutions in a areas of work.
dispute-resolution system. Regardless
of whether the crisis is a natural disaster  Land programmes are 5–25 years in
or an armed conflict, there is no substitute duration, focus on institution-building,
for investing in existing local institutions. are bound by law, and implemented to
Targeted capacity development strategies high technical standards.
should be implemented for each relevant
institution, as well as to strengthen The two communities have rarely inter-
the connections between institutions. acted, and even less so in a crisis context.
Traditional authorities, local government, The few land professionals who work in such
the courts, NGOs, civil society as well as contexts, mostly as consultants, are usually
external actors such as the United Nations from the developed world, where there is
must all work together in order to address less tenure complexity and informality. They
complicated land conflicts. are unable to meet the demand. As a result,
guidelines on land have experienced delays
Investing in communication and and delivery problems, highlighting the need
outreach. Misinformation and even for more specific advice for humanitarian
disinformation are common after a crisis. organizations.
Significant investments must be made to
ensure a two-way flow of information to GLTN’s guidelines have played an important
avoid conflict. role in helping to shape the approach of
humanitarian actors at the global and
Guidelines for dealing country levels. In the Democratic Republic
with land after a crisis of Congo, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia and South
Sudan, UN-Habitat is piloting the broad
Beyond the articulation of this broad strategy, approach to land issues developed in the
GLTN’s focus has been on developing and GLTN guidelines. Coordination mechanisms,
applying guidelines on how to deal with land policy processes and an emphasis on
land issues in crisis situations. These target systems to resolve land disputes are being
different audiences on different topics (Table piloted, in different ways according to the
6). Some of these guidelines are completed local context, in each country.
but some are still required.
The GLTN guidelines have also been used to
There is a significant difference in mainstream land issues into humanitarian
approaches between land professionals and assessments, policy documents and training
humanitarian actors: materials. Land issues are now incorporated
107
Table 6. Guidelines for crisis situations
Title Target audience Purpose
Addressing land issues Humanitarian actors Understand the disaster context and
after natural disasters: with some background common land issues
Guidance for in land issues Identify potential interventions
practitioners Land professionals
Quick guide to land and Humanitarian actors in Understand relationship between

conflict the field land, conflict and humanitarian
action
Identify practical options to address
common humanitarian challenges
Land and natural United Nations and Focus on linkages between land
resource conflict: humanitarian organi- rights and natural resources conflict
Guidance note zation country teams From conflict prevention to recovery
Post-conflict land Land professionals More detailed technical guidance on

guidelines land interventions in post-conflict
setting
into or used to develop the Sphere Project momentum to strengthen women’s land
standards (a multi-stakeholder project to tenure.
develop standards for disaster response)
(www.sphereproject.org); a rapid protection Case studies
assessment tool (UNHCR, in preparation);
shelter in recovery guidelines (IRP 2008); The case studies below illustrate how
a web-based training package on land GLTN’s approach and tools have been
and natural resource conflict; and training operationalized in post-crisis contexts.
material for South Sudan.
 The work of the Huairou Commission
One of the challenges has been to monitor illustrates how grassroots women are
the application of these guidelines by other building resilient communities.
partners, their impacts and lessons that
could inform future revisions.  The example of Haiti demonstrates how
a range of GLTN land tools are being
Crises create new opportunities for women used to help that country recover from
and men that can positively change gender the 2010 earthquake.
relations with respect to land. These in
turn can lead to structural change in  The Liberia example describes how GLTN
gender equality and the realization of has been working with the government
women’s rights to land. GLTN partners to build a sustainable set of land
are implementing initiatives that are using institutions after decades of civil war.
disaster preparedness as well as the post-
disaster recovery and reconstruction
108
below). That has given them skills they can

Huairou Commission’s
replicate in other communities.
community resilience
campaign
GLTN tools support
Haiti reconstruction
The Huairou Commission, a partner of the
GLTN, is comprised of global and regional
networks of NGOs and grassroots groups Post-disaster needs assessment. After
and their partners. Its Community Resilience a massive earthquake struck the Haitian
Campaign helps communities affected capital Port-au-Prince on 12 January 2010,
by climate change and disasters (Huairou a post-disaster needs assessment was
Commission and GROOTS International carried out at the request of and under the
2011, www.huairou.org/resilience). It has direction of the Government of Haiti, with
refined a set of strategies for grassroots the technical support of the United Nations
women’s groups, including collective action and other agencies. Two GLTN publications
and negotiation with local and national provided vital information: Land and natural
governments. disasters: Guidance for practitioners (UN-
Habitat 2010c), and Strategic citywide spatial
These strategies aim to enhance the planning: A situational analysis of
communities’ ability to organize themselves metropolitan Port-au-Prince, Haiti (GLTN
to cope with, resist and recover from natural 2010).
disasters. Before a disaster, that means
reducing their exposure, vulnerability and Participatory enumeration to inform
risk. After a disaster, it means organizing the reconstruction process. The lack of
effective relief and recovery. reliable land records made it impossible to
determine which household was eligible
The member groups have identified for reconstruction assistance. Participatory
priorities by mapping their risks, vulner- enumeration offered the possibility to
ability and capacity. They have also trained rapidly generate basic tenure information.
other groups to use mapping as a way to Guided by the GLTN tool Count me in –
mobilize communities, build consensus on Surveying for tenure security and urban
priorities for action, and to negotiate with land management (UN-Habitat 2010b), UN-
local and national officials. The groups Habitat with the government and partners
combine their efforts to build resilience with developed a participatory enumeration
their development activities. For instance, methodology for Port-au-Prince, consisting
improving sanitation is a development of the following steps: community
action; it also reduces health problems if the information and mobilization, definition
area floods. of neighbourhood boundaries, mapping
of houses and other built environment,
In Haiti since the 2010 earthquake, women household survey, community validation of
belonging to the Huairou Commission results.
network have taken part in UN-Habitat’s
participatory enumeration exercises (see
109
By the time of writing, 30,000 households

An innovative approach
(135,000 persons) had been enumerated.
to post-conflict land
The government is now scaling up
enumeration to cover the entire earthquake-
sector reform in Liberia
affected zone. With UN-Habitat assistance,
it is assessing the possibility of using the Unequal access to land was at the core
enumeration data on land ownership, of almost 20 years of civil war in Liberia.
validated by the community, as first evidence The conflict severely undermined many
of land rights. of Liberia’s key land institutions, and land
disputes are widespread. International
Community planning for reconstruction support was initially uncoordinated,
and disaster-resilience. Based on externally-driven and piece-meal in
enumeration data, UN-Habitat facilitated approach.
community planning for reconstruction
and upgrading in 10 neighbourhoods of In 2009, the Government of Liberia
Port-au-Prince. GLTN’s Land and natural established a Land Commission to spearhead
disasters: Guidance for practitioners (UN- land-sector reforms. The Land Commission
Habitat 2010c) provided useful direction has been adamant that Liberians, not
on how the community could best identify international staff, lead the reforms. UN-
land for infrastructure and relocation Habitat and GLTN have supported the
projects. No-build zones were identified commission through a combination of
in neighbourhood reconstruction plans as technical assistance and tools. Simple
part of a risk-mapping exercise. UN-Habitat tools such as How to develop a pro-poor
intends to promote land readjustment for land policy (UN-Habitat 2007b) and How
settlement upgrading in the reconstruction to establish an effective land sector (UN-
context. Habitat 2008a) as well as other guidelines
have been useful sources of international
Strategic planning of the metropolitan experience to support national action.
area of Port-au-Prince. UN-Habitat is
supporting the government in conducting Initial results have been positive. The Land
a strategic planning process for the Commission coordinates external support
metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince. to the land sector based on its five-year
Following consultations involving all major strategic framework. Individual agency
stakeholder groups, this aims to provide programmes are aligned to this framework
coherence to the various on-going urban independently of their source of funds.
planning and reconstruction efforts at In addition, all international partners
various levels. The idea is that reconstruction interested in the land sector participate
of the capital city needs to contribute to the in their own Land Partners Group, where
country’s long-term development. The GLTN they can discuss the interventions, align
tool Citywide strategic planning: A step by them to the Land Commission framework,
step guide (Mohlund and Forsman 2010b) and coordinate their efforts. The group
provided useful guidance to this process. is informal and very flexible; its members
include bilateral donors, United Nations
110
agencies, international non-government for intake and referral of cases, public-

organizations, and private consultancy awareness campaigns, the coordination of
firms that are implementing land projects. local actors, an early warning mechanism,
A coordinated approach from donors and record keeping and documentation of
and partners has helped ensure Liberian proceedings.
ownership and leadership in reforms and
has helped diminish the burden related to This has several rationales:
different reporting requirements.
 To make existing organizations and
With funding from Sida, UN-Habitat provides mechanisms to resolve land disputes
technical, financial and administrative more accessible and effective.
support directly to the Land Commission,
building its capacity and paving the way  To coordinate among alternative
for a flexible land-sector pooled fund dispute resolution organizations and
(where funding is managed through one procedures.
pot). The Land Commission now hires its
own staff and manages its own budget.  To harmonize formal and informal land
That contrasts with post-crisis governments dispute-resolution systems.
in other countries, which are poorly
resourced compared to their international What already exists will be built into a
counterparts. This new approach called coherent system for resolving land disputes.
“assisted direct implementation” enables Other donors have recognized the value of
the government to do its job while providing the approach and are implementing their
permanent technical support to ensure own programmes to further expand the
enough capacity is in place to comply system to achieve greater coverage.
with funding requirements. The Land
Commission broke new ground in 2010 Next steps for security
with the publication of its audited financial of tenure in disasters
report, the first of its kind for a government and conflict
commission in Liberia.
The Land Commission, with UN-Habitat While significant progress has been made
support and funding from the United in mainstreaming land issues within the
Nations Peacebuilding Fund, has designed a humanitarian aid sector, the result is an
nationwide system to resolve land disputes. increased demand for land expertise. The
A wide range of parallel systems deal with challenge for GLTN will be to develop an
land disputes: customary, local government, effective strategy for leveraging existing
Ministry of Justice, and civil society. Land capacity in the short term, while building
coordination centres are being established additional capacity over time.
in five of Liberia’s 15 counties to link the
individual systems and form a coordinated Comprehensive approach. The most
network. This will cover a range of functions: significant gap that remains is the need to
databases of disputes, common procedures articulate a comprehensive approach to land
111
issues from the pre-crisis stage (land-conflict the impact of land interventions, especially
prevention and disaster-risk reduction), on marginalized groups and poor women
through the immediate aftermath of a in crisis contexts. Indicators are needed to
disaster, and linking to the longer term measure results at all stages of anticipating
reconstruction agenda. This is elaborated in and dealing with a crisis using a pro-poor
Chapter 11. and gender-responsive perspective.
Documentation and evaluation. In Capacity development. This is a critical

the short term, GLTN can support the priority. Targeted strategies should
strengthening of humanitarian action with be developed to support the work
respect to land issues in several ways. Many of humanitarian organizations, land
useful experiences and lessons are never professionals, women’s organizations and
documented or disseminated, leading to a grassroots communities. A roster of land
situation in which many organizations are experts from developing countries is needed
forced to reinvent the wheel. Improved who can support humanitarian actors in post-
documentation and evaluation would crisis activities, particularly in crisis-prone or
include case studies and guidelines to help hotspot areas. Simplifying, translating and
humanitarian agencies understand the local improving the dissemination of existing
situation around land. This would link their guidelines will ensure that they meet
efforts to long-term land-related solutions the needs of humanitarian organizations
early on, and to documenting innovative operating in difficult conditions.
approaches that address land-conflict
resolution or improve security of tenure for Piloting tools. Specific land tools should
urban tenants. be piloted in crisis contexts: suitable tools
include participatory enumerations and a
There is also an urgent need to develop a land information system based on the Social
more robust methodology for evaluating Tenure Domain Model.
112
Aftermath of the tsunami, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Photo © UN-Habitat/Clarissa Augustinus
Negotiations around the Voluntary Guidelines
Photo © FAO/Giulio Napolitano
10 Enabling land
policy processes
L and-related problems are common in

many countries around the world, and
pose particularly difficult policy problems
and marginalized (the majority of people in
developing countries) – are left on their own
to solve their land-related problems from
for governments. In many countries, the day to day, without any help from either the
ministry responsible for land focuses on national or local governments. They cannot
delivering titles to the middle classes and get land-dependent services such as water
to commercial concerns. They try to pursue supplies or roads; and they have little say in
business as usual, despite being bombarded decision-making.
by a range of land-related problems and
crises. In other countries, the government Why policy matters
is weak, and there is often limited capacity
to handle land issues at the national level.
In still more countries, conflict within the Unfortunately, many countries have
country or region prevents any systematic not changed their land policy and land
initiatives to solve the land problem. management approaches to fit the 21st
century. They tend to share several problems:
These situations have many consequences.
A lack of adequate frameworks for fiscal  Over-centralization. Responsibilities
management of land and land based for land are concentrated in the central
resources contributes to poor planning government, rather than decentralizing
and land use, speculation, rapidly growing it to local authorities or sharing
informal settlements, a lack of services responsibilities with the private sector
and infrastructure, and a loss of land- or NGOs. Decisions about services are
based revenue for the government. These made far from the poor populations that
in turn lead to food shortages, health are supposedly served.
problems, urban planning challenges, and
land disputes between individuals and  Lack of coordination. Organizations
groups, between citizens and the state, and responsible for managing land are
between countries. poorly coordinated and lack the capacity
to deal with the complex problems they
There is a gulf between the legal framework face.
for land on one hand and actual land-
tenure practices for most people on the  Low levels of participation. These
other. They, and especially the poor, women countries often have a weak civil
115
society in the land sector. Well-meaning

changes have been hampered by a lack Promoting aid
of stakeholder consultation and fail to effectiveness
incorporate the needs of poor women
and men. Donor agencies are tending to move away
from conditional lending and project-based
 Lack of concern for equity. Existing support, and towards general budget
policies and laws largely neglect to support for governments. That aims to
integrate equity, efficiency and gender allow governments to use their own
concerns. In particular, gender inequality systems and strengthen their ownership of
is not on the agenda. and responsibility for aid in line with the
principles outlined in the Paris Agenda on
 Corruption and poor governance. Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda
These countries often suffer from a for Action (OECD 2008). Donors are also
lack of transparency, high levels of exploring ways to reduce transaction costs
corruption and poor governance. In and become more efficient in aid delivery.
part this is because so few land titles This trend is also affecting the land sector:
are available, encouraging title holders donors are becoming more interested in
to push up prices, and increasing the building land institutions in developing
incentive for backhanders. Accountable countries to enable them to establish land
and transparent institutions oriented administration systems on a sustainable
towards citizens’ requirements are basis. But that introduces its own problems,
rare, and administration procedures for both developing country governments
for land transactions are lengthy and and donors:
bureaucratic.
 Coordinating and aligning the
 Limited capacity in land institutions. contributions from multiple donors,
A low level of capacity in land institutions each with their own accounting systems
poses huge challenges. Improved and reporting mechanisms, can be a
capacity is crucial for effective policy challenge.
implementation, but is often viewed as
of secondary importance.  Weak coordination hampers the
implementation of land programmes and
 Conflict among competing actors. slows the transition to new institutional
Disagreements among different arrangements.
stakeholders are inevitable in land
issues. But vested interests and power  Aid flows can be unpredictable.
differences mean that the principles
of equity and justice are neglected.  It is harder for donors to monitor how
Land institutions lack the capacity and their assistance is used and to discern its
incentive to find harmonious solutions impact.
to disputes.
116
Chapter 10 Enabling land policy processes
Overcoming these problems requires  Governance of tenure of land, forests

rethinking of how partners are organized and fisheries.
and managed.
 Integrated land policy development in
GLTN’s approach to the Caribbean.
policy processes
Land Policy Initiative
in Africa
Existing policies and laws on land often
pursue economic productivity at the
expense of other equally important values, The Land Policy Initiative is a tripartite
such as equity, sustainability, transparency consortium of the African Union Commission,
and efficiency. GLTN tries to ensure that the United Nations Economic Commission
these neglected issues are incorporated for Africa, and the African Development
in improved policymaking processes. In Bank (AUC, ECA and AfDB 2010, UNECA
particular, that means reducing the overall 2012). It aims to ensure all land users have
role of the state and investing more power equitable and secure access to land. It does
in lower levels of government and in citizens this by facilitating partnerships, dialogue
at large (UN-Habitat (2007b). and capacity building for participatory and
consultative land policy formulation and
That is an enormous challenge. Reforms implementation, and to foster efficient
require a high level of sensitivity to and transparent land administration in
political, social, cultural and economic both customary and statutory jurisdictions.
factors. Progress depends on appropriate GLTN supports this initiative and uses it as a
constitutional and legal frameworks, public platform to influence national and regional
consultation and political will. Coordinated land policy processes.
mechanisms and structures need to be set
up to institutionalize public consultation and The Land Policy Initiative has developed
access to information. Coherent linkages, a framework and guidelines that set the
harmonization and feedback are needed agenda for land policy processes in Africa.
between the national and local levels. These provide a clear overview of the
Innovative ways are required to ensure historical, political and social background of
that laws guarantee rights to marginalized the land question in Africa, and highlights
groups such as women and children. the role of land as critical for economic
development and reducing poverty. The
Below we describe four ways that GLTN is guidelines urge governments to pay
addressing this challenge: attention to land administration issues,
including land rights, delivery systems and
 The Land Policy Initiative in Africa. land governance structures and institutions,
and to ensure adequate budgetary
 Support to donor coordination in Kenya. provision to land policy development and
implementation.
117
The Land Policy Initiative process provides a land agenda by looking at specific issues in
broad framework for African governments in each region.
land policy formulation and implementation,
and acts as a foundation for popular Harmonizing donor
participation in improved land governance.
activities in Kenya
Dialogue and consultations have examined
a range of factors: geopolitical, economic,
social and demographic. Governments are Harmonization and alignment of donor
moving towards a shared vision on the main activities is good for everyone – the donors
land issues in the continent. A platform has (since donors are less likely to duplicate
been created to lobby for political will and activities or work at cross-purposes), the
high-level leadership to develop or overhaul government (it can use aid more effectively),
land policies and land laws in line with the and beneficiaries (they are more likely
Initiative’s guidelines. This platform is also to see actual benefits). For the last eight
used to engage development partners in years, UN-Habitat/GLTN has coordinated
mobilizing resources and building capacity the Development Partners Group on Land
to support land policy development and in Kenya, a group of development agencies
implementation. GLTN has helped this interested in land-related issues that includes
process by supporting the thinking around UN-Habitat, the World Bank, and bilateral
land issues, land governance, indicators and aid organizations from the European
capacity, and continues to support it in the Union, Italy, Japan, Sweden, the United
area of capacity development. Kingdom and the United States (UN-Habitat
2008a). This coordination aims to promote
As they make changes in their land processes, ownership, efficiency, effectiveness and
many African governments are making a sustainability. It is increasingly facilitating
conscious effort to link to the Land Policy collaboration across traditional boundaries
Initiative process. GLTN has also helped link in the land sector by bringing on board
countries such as the Democratic Republic government, development partners, civil-
of Congo, Liberia, South Sudan, Kenya and society organizations and the private sector.
Burundi with a range of support and donor GLTN’s role has been to provide technical
coordination. advice, coordinate policy dialogue on sector-
specific issues, coordinate donor assistance
Additional links have been made with and monitor their performance in the land
other intergovernmental bodies: the sector. This is generating useful lessons on
African Ministerial Conference on Housing how to deliver land reforms to the poor and
and Urban Development is mobilizing to vulnerable groups in Kenya (GLTN et al.
additional support from governments to 2008).
implement the guidelines. Collaboration
with regional economic bodies (the West Coordination mechanisms include a
African Economic and Monetary Union, joint secretariat, memorandums of
the Economic Community of West African understanding, agreed partnership
States, and others) helps to promote the principles, joint declarations, meetings, and
118
Box 34. Capacity assessment for land sector in Kenya
With the Ministry of Lands and Sida- the national land policy/land reforms
Kenya, UN-Habitat initiated a capacity in Kenya.
assessment for the land sector in Kenya.
This assessment involves the government,  Prepare a way to assess human
training institutions and non-state actors. capacity development needs that can
It has three aims: be used to guide other developing
countries in planning and implement-
 Assess human capacity development ing their land-reform policies.
needs. More information: Ministry of Lands,
UN-Habitat and Sida (2011).
 Design a human resource development
/training programme to implement
coordinated funding of non-state actors house by collecting, analysing and sharing

and pilots. information at the sector level. That
increases awareness about key thematic
The harmonization and alignment of areas: secure land rights, equitable and
development assistance is closely linked to efficient institutions as key to good
the formulation of Kenya’s national land governance, and a focus on both urban and
policy and preparations for implementing rural land. GLTN’s technical assistance has
it. This is being done through a consultative enabled partners to benefit directly from
process led by the Ministry of Lands. The the acquired knowledge. Its coordination
development partners and the government and advocacy work provides partners with a
have forged strong relationships and engage way to move the land agenda forward and
in dialogue on land reforms. A first informal inform the policy work.
meeting in 2003 between the government
and development partners interested in To complement participatory mechanisms
the land sector led to an exercise to map in the land sector, GLTN has explored
the development partners’ interests and mechanisms for multi-stakeholder
on-going land initiatives. That resulted in participation and for building capacity (Box
an agreement on a common land agenda 33). Close collaboration with non-state
between the development partners and actors provides a significant operational
the government, and a commitment by presence on the ground. That allows
development partners to fund the sector. coalitions to be built and strengthens the
voice of people with low incomes, and
GLTN’s coordination activities ensure enables it to be fed back into the national
that land remains high in the agenda of policy process. Examples of this include:
development partners, and that they stay
on course throughout the process. GLTN  Non-state actors have lobbied for the
also serves as an information clearing national land policy to cover pastoral
119
land issues, gender and equity principles,

and the land rights of vulnerable and Voluntary Guidelines on
minority groups. Responsible Governance
 In rural land use planning, the land Global Land Tool Network partners have
policy includes a commitment to help joined the Food and Agriculture Organization
communities to achieve optimum of the United Nations in developing a set of
productivity. “Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible
Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and
 Non-state actors have lobbied for the Forests” (FAO 2012). These set out principles
adoption of the land chapter in the and internationally accepted standards for
Constitution of Kenya, a watchdog governing tenure. They are intended to
role on land decisions affecting land- assist governments, civil society and the
dependent communities, and capacity private sector to improve the governance
development of land control boards and of tenure to help to alleviate hunger and
tribunals. poverty, empower the poor and vulnerable,
enhance the environment, support national
This work in Kenya offers lessons for other and local economic development, and
countries that are trying to develop or revise reform public administration. They provide a
their national land policies: framework that governments can use when
developing their own strategies, policies,
 Multi-stakeholder consultations help legislation and programmes. They allow
to build consensus, build synergies and government authorities, the private sector,
overcome difficulties. civil society and citizens to judge whether
their proposed actions and the actions of
 Closer collaboration with non-state others are acceptable.
actors provides avenues for reaching the
poor and women. The voluntary guidelines have been
developed through wide-ranging, inclusive
 Innovative mechanisms and tools to consultation. About 1,200 land experts from
guarantee rights for the poor and governments, local administrations, the
women are critical. Land policies do not private sector, research institutes and non-
always equate to rights for these groups. government and community organizations
from 133 countries discussed governance
 Political will is essential and will require shortcomings and solutions. The process
continuous assessment of interplay included ten regional consultations,
between power and politics. four consultations with community
organizations, a private-sector meeting and
 Strong local leadership and ownership is an electronic consultation. That allowed
critical for land reforms implementation. the draft to build on initiatives such as the
African Land Policy Initiative (see above).
 Capacity development is a key integral The draft is the basis for intergovernmental
component. negotiations led by the Committee on
120
World Food Security, a United Nations One of the few good examples of
forum for reviewing and following up on comprehensive land policy development
policies concerning world food security. in the Caribbean is an exercise by the
Discussions on the draft started in 2011, Jamaican government in the late 1990s
including stakeholders from 70 member and early 2000s, which in 2002 culminated
countries, 45 community organizations and in a national land policy. This policy was
as well as representatives from the private exemplary both because of its comprehensive
sector. Negotiations are continuing. and integrated nature, and because of the
participatory way it was developed. In a
The voluntary guidelines are expected to small population of 2.5 million, over 2,000
serve as an umbrella for pro-poor land public officials, professional and civil society
related initiatives at country and regional representatives took part. Institutional
level. Although the voluntary guidelines reforms in the government have facilitated
are not yet adopted, they have already the implementation of elements of the
had an effect. For example, the Philippines policy. Political changes and economic
Land Sector Development Framework problems have limited its overall success,
was based on documents prepared for but both its content and the way it was
the voluntary guidelines. This framework developed remain a model in the region.
was subsequently taken up in parts of the
Philippine government’s development plan Recent attempts by the Organization of
for 2011–16. Eastern Caribbean States (which covers
the smaller islands of the English-speaking
Integrated land Caribbean) to create a sustainable land
policy development management framework for its members
in the Caribbean have created new opportunities to apply
GLTN’s land tools. Land policy in these
countries faces some classic problems,
The islands of the English-speaking including a lack of comprehensiveness and
Caribbean generally have small land areas a short-term framework of thinking. As
and high population densities. Land use a result, land policies do not address their
is often inefficient, and the land is easily development needs.
degraded. Many areas are susceptible
to natural disasters such as hurricanes, The Organisation of Eastern Caribbean
earthquakes and volcanoes, as well as to States has developed a comprehensive
climate change. At the same time, small understanding of the problems faced by
populations mean limited human and the land sector. But this emphasizes the
institutional resources to develop and environmental and carrying-capacity issues
implement comprehensive land policies. around land management, and tends to
That makes these countries dependent neglect the social issues. For example, many
on external technical resources and donor of the countries are still to recognize the
financing. extent of the relationship between poverty
and informal settlements. With funds from
GLTN, UN-Habitat is engaging with the
121
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States to Institutional transformation coupled

develop land policies for all nine countries with capacity development. This is
in this regional body, starting with three. essential in assisting land institutions to
The land policies will be linked to climate- respond more effectively to increasing
change issues, as concerns about disaster demands of land administration and
risk management and climate change management. This means enhancing
have dominated the land policy agendas the ability of individuals, institutions and
in these countries. These countries have a systems to perform their functions and
tradition of “family” landholdings that have deliver efficient, cost-effective and equitable
not been addressed successfully at scale land services. That can take a long time, so a
through systematic titling approaches. The long-term commitment is needed.
continuum of land rights (Chapter 2, Figure
3) and the Social Tenure Domain Model Engaging stakeholders. Engagement
(Chapter 3) can help regularize this type of with stakeholders at all levels of developing
tenure. land policies helps ensure that they are
informed about the issues and can express
The existing policy frameworks are being their opinions in developing policies. That in
used as a basis for identifying land-sector turn will ensure that the policies are more
problems and developing a preliminary appropriate, can help overcome resistance
programme of action by the University and difficulties, and will promote consensus,
of the West Indies as a GLTN partner. political will and a feeling of ownership for
Because the countries are small and human the policies. An inclusive process makes it
and institutional resources limited, the easier to deliberate controversial issues and
approaches used to develop land policies agree on the way forward.
in larger countries may not be applicable.
Regional collaboration through the
Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States
and the University of the West Indies seems
to be the solution.
Next steps for land

policy processes
GLTN’s work on policy processes offers a

platform for promoting a fundamental
change in how land problems are addressed.
Land issues are complex as illustrated in
this book. That means strategic thinking is
needed on what has to be included in policy
discussions. Two areas in particular need
further attention.
122
Rural land in the Philippines
Photo © UN-Habitat/Danilo Antonio
Joining hands in addressing land related issues, Nairobi, Kenya
Photo © UN-Habitat/Julius Mwelu
11 Way forward
G LTN was launched in 2006 to fill the

gaps in the conventional approaches to
land administration and management – in
transparency and land governance, where
the idea of land governance was debated
and agreed upon. The concept of sound land
particular, their failure to ensure land rights governance has now taken hold globally
for the poor and for women. It focused with many governments, regional bodies,
mainly on ways to enable land systems to partners and individuals championing it:
serve more people, thereby also allowing
sustainable land management. GLTN has  The Land Policy Initiative (Chapter 10),
been a joint effort by many partners at supported by the African Union, the
international, national and local levels. United Nations Economic Commission
Much has been accomplished – as this for Africa and the African Development
book shows. But much remains to be done. Bank, uses the land governance approach
Below, we discuss nine key areas in GLTN’s in its framework and guidelines.
upcoming work. While some of the tasks
can be completed in the Network’s second  The World Bank has developed a Land
phase (2012–15) others might only be Governance Assessment Framework
started in the short- to medium-term and (Box 11) as a foundation for work in
will be completed in later phases, depending various countries.
on availability of resources.
 The Food and Agriculture Organization
Sound land of the United Nations is developing a set
of Voluntary Guidelines on the respon-
governance
sible governance of tenure of land,
fisheries and forests in the context of
Improving land governance, one of GLTN’s national food security (Chapter 10).
cross-cutting issues (Table 2), is critical
to achieving worldwide sustainable land Civil society and grassroots involvement
management and, in turn, to achieving the are integral to sound land governance.
Millennium Development Goals (Box 34). People with low incomes, and particularly
When GLTN was formed, the term “land women, suffer disproportionally from
governance” was rarely used – though the weak land governance systems because of
idea of governance associated with land was three key factors: land is often distributed
already in circulation. In January 2007, GLTN inequitably, they do not generally have
convened the first expert group meeting on formal land documents, and conventional
125
Box 35. Responsible land governance and the Millennium

Development Goals
Land governance is the set of formal or sustainability. Sustainable land man-

informal rules, processes and structures agement is essential. It can contrib-
through which decisions are made on ute indirectly to achieving the other
access to, transfer of and the use of land. goals:
It includes the manner in which decisions
 Goals 2 and 5: Education and health.
are implemented, and the way that con-
Legally recognized land rights are
flicting interests in land are managed.
often critical to establishing legal
Responsible land governance contributes identity, which in turn is linked to
directly to the achievement of several access to services such as education
Millennium Development Goals: and health.
 Goal 1: Eradicating extreme poverty  Goal 6: HIV/AIDS: Secure land rights
and hunger. Land rights are critical for help ensure that women, men and
food security and livelihoods. children do not lose their land when
a partner dies from AIDS-related
 Goal 3: Promoting gender equality
diseases.
and empowering women. Access and
control over land and resources are  Goal 8: A global partnership for
essential. development.
 Goal 7: Ensuring environmental More information: Enemark et al. (2010).
land administration systems are often Transparency. GLTN and partners (mainly
not transparent or user-friendly for most the International Federation of Surveyors
citizens. and the Faculty of Geo-Information Science
and Earth Observation at the University of
Approaches to improve Twente) have developed and pilot-tested
land governance training materials and tools on “trans-
parency in land administration” (Chapter
Scaling up grassroots land projects. 6). GLTN will continue to work on designing
Scaling up successful grassroots approaches transparent land information and record
is vital to address these issues. GLTN’s systems that work at the local level, and
four pilot projects on expanding their through advocacy, training and capacity
engagments in land administration and development. Empowering civil society with
management (Chapter 5) have produced knowledge on how land administration
valuable lessons. They have also revealed systems work, and empowering land
the tension between including grassroots professionals with knowledge on how
groups in land processes on one hand, to improve governance, are vital to
and the structure and complexity of land sustainability.
processes (which are difficult for grassroots
groups to understand and participate in) on Evaluation framework to support the
the other. GLTN needs to explore this further continuum of land rights. A key tool
to find ways to facilitate this engagement. to develop is a comprehensive evaluation
126
Chapter 11 Way forward
framework to analyse the continuum of land  Officially recognized tenure types, as

rights (Figure 3). This would demonstrate well as other informal, extra-legal or
how a range of tenures have improved illegal categories.
gender relations, agricultural productivity,
conflict management, investment, and  The levels of government (central,
so on. The Land Governance Assessment region, local) and informal or customary
Framework, led by the World Bank as authorities, and how they relate to each
a GLTN partner, is developing such an tenure type.
evaluation framework, along with the
required indicators (Box 11). Pilots have  The levels of tenure security (both passive
been done in over 18 countries and a and active) provided by each category;
large body of knowledge has already been and the range of activities (occupying,
created. This makes it possible to assess the being compensated in case of eviction,
effectiveness of formal institutions in getting selling and giving as collateral) that the
legal recognition for all groups of land owner/user can exercise.
users, in enforcing the recognized rights by
compensation in case of expropriation, and  The documentation available for each
in providing land administration services. category, and its accessibility, especially
for the poor.
The concept of the continuum of land
rights has also been embedded in the A key challenge for land projects is the
methodological framework to monitor availability of land data – because so much
tenure security in cities, spearheaded by land is outside the formal system. Digital
UN-Habitat. This methodology assesses data covering the whole country and all
tenure security across the continuum and tenure types would be the ideal solution.
also at three levels: individual or household,
settlements or community, and policy Measuring land governance. The
or institutional. Various types of tenure Social Tenure Domain Model (Chapter
arrangements are also embedded in the 3) could ultimately be used to measure
methodology. land governance more rigorously at local,
regional and national levels. This tool is
A robust evaluation framework and currently being piloted for the upgrading
methodology are needed to allow objective of a slum, but in the next phases it could
tenure typologies to be built, to describe their also be used to strengthen “passive” land
characteristics, to assess their effectiveness rights (for example, for protection against
and flaws, and to gauge their impact eviction and losing rights). It may also be
on investment. A systematic framework possible to use it to scale up pro-poor land
would facilitate the design of pro-poor administration mechanisms, for example by
land-tenure strategies, policies and specific strengthening the functions performed by
interventions. The tenure typologies should traditional authorities, or by the formal
consider the existing statutory or customary courts and land-sector agencies accepting
regime in the country under analysis. They information it generates.
should take into account:
127
If the Social Tenure Domain Model goes to responsive tool to achieve secure land
scale along these lines it will generate more rights for all.
rigorous data for the Land Governance
Assessment Framework’s country  Promote the Land Governance
assessments. That would in turn help Assessment Framework (Box 10) to assist
governments to monitor and manage their governments to identify shortcomings
land governance systems better over time. in land governance. Help governments
GLTN partners are committed to go to scale improve governance by developing
through these kinds of activities and in that human resources and institutional
way build better land governance. capacity.
Other approaches. GLTN will continue Scaling up land tools

to use multiple entry points to tackle land
to the country level
governance. It will:
 Present the land tools in a way that shows GLTN was created to fill a gap: to dev-
how they can improve land governance elop a series of land tools that did not yet
and contribute to the achievement of exist. That meant it was not possible to
the Millennium Development Goals. start implementing immediately. First, it
was necessary to create the tools – and
 Assess which additional land tools may progress has been made as shown in GLTN’s
be needed to improve land governance, list (Table 1). Much of this development
and then develop them. That includes work had to be done at the global level –
incorporating lessons learned from reviewing the current situation around the
testing the gender evaluation criteria world, identifying promising approaches,
into existing and future land tools, and so on. Some of the tools have now
indicators and training programmes. been piloted in particular countries and the
foundation has been laid to implement the
 Link the core content of training and tools at country and regional levels. While
capacity development to the broader GLTN will continue to run pilots where
objective of responsible land governance. necessary, scaled-up implementation will be
the major focus of the next phase of GLTN's
 Increase the space for grassroots and work. The goal of such a new approach is
civil society organizations, including to help governments improve land policy
international NGOs, to engage with development, programme design and
governments and GLTN partners on the implementation. Engaging at regional level
topic of land tools, both at the global through bodies such as the African Union’s
and country levels. Land Policy Initiative and the Organisation
of Eastern Caribbean States will facilitate
 Promote the Voluntary Guidelines on the scaling-up of activities. Currently there
Responsible Governance of Tenure are failures in this area because the poor
(Chapter 10) as a pro-poor, gender- and women are not taken sufficently into
account.
128
The GLTN Secretariat's role at country as political will, the potential for impact,
level is to support the implementation of evidence of funding or donor support,
pro-poor and gender-responsive reforms GLTN partner leadership, and regional and
in the land sector. It will not replace the partner diversity. The capacity of the GLTN
government’s role, or assume the role of Secretariat to provide support will also be
principal donor. Instead in any engagement taken into account.
at the country level, a GLTN partner will take
the lead building on the existing country Priority countries will be those where there
programmes. is a significant opportunity for implementing
pro-poor and gender-responsive land
This approach was used in GLTN’s first reform. However, the selection will also
phase (2006–11) with civil society (Huairou be influenced by historical opportunity in
Commission, International Land Coalition, terms of the opening up of countries to
Slum/Shack Dwellers International), the change, opportunity created through post-
World Bank and UN-Habitat regional offices. conflict interventions, as well as decisions by
There have also been experiences working partners, including donors on programming.
with a number of partners at the same time
at country level. While these approaches Capacity development
produce results, the institutional and
funding mechanisms are complex.
Capacity development, one of GLTN’s
How can multilateral partners in the cross-cutting themes and the focus of
Network (World Bank, International Fund Chapter 6, is vital for all aspects of land
for Agricultural Development, Food and tool development and implementation. In
Agriculture Organization of the United GLTN’s next phase, capacity development
Nations, Cities Alliance and UN-Habitat) will be an overarching approach informing
collaborate better at the country level? Early all GLTN activities to achieve its overall aims
in Phase 2, GLTN will review its experience and objectives.
working with, and through, partners at this
level. Country-level collaboration should GLTN’s original design had a limited vision
also include professional associations, civil for capacity development. The emphasis was
society and training institutions. on training – where GLTN indeed undertook
a lot of work. But very quickly, GLTN as a
Which countries? whole focused on changing understanding
among partners and national governments.
While opportunities for some GLTN activities It incorporated key capacity development
may exist in many countries, there are few approaches into its programme, albeit
opportunities for systematic implementation informally and not by design.
of large-scale reforms. GLTN will develop
selection criteria for identifying priority The success of this was recognized by
countries in which GLTN and its partners the African Union Land Policy Initiative,
could focus their efforts. The selection which has asked UN-Habitat/GLTN to lead
criteria will include a range of aspects such Africa’s capacity development on land
129
policy development and implementation.

GLTN’s second phase will include a new Further integration of
capacity development design for its whole cross-cutting issues
programme.
GLTN will continue to integrate critical
Currently, many important stakeholders are crosscutting issues in all stages of tool
not aware of the need to make changes development. It will also continue to identify
towards sustainable, pro-poor and gender- and fill key gaps. While a lot of work has
responsive land management – or they do been done on gender issues, more needs to
not have the capacity to do so. Capacity be done. This includes integrating a gender
development is thus vital if GLTN is to lens into tools and partner initiatives that
achieve its goals. But GLTN cannot possibly have traditionally not built competencies in,
address the entire range of capacity needs or prioritized, gender analysis.
in the sector and it has to decide where
to focus its efforts to get lasting results The topic of land and youth has not been
and build momentum both globally and in adequately addressed; further research is
individual countries. needed on land issues that matter most
to young people and an understanding
Creating a capacity-development strategy, is needed of particular barriers for youth,
and mainstreaming it in all GLTN activities such as inheritance, rental markets and
and the global land sector, will break new the lack of housing options to enable
ground. Capacity cannot be imposed on mobility. The integration into other tools
any individual or agency. It emerges only and mainstreaming of issues that are crucial
when the stakeholders involved recognize to women, grassroots and young people –
their own needs and become advocates of who make up the majority of all populations
the actions necessary to address them. – will be a key feature of GLTN’s second
phase.
Developing good land tools is not enough.
Rather, partners need to take ownership of In terms of the environment, it will be critical
the tools and champion them for their own to develop baselines on the expansion
purposes. Capacity development takes place rates of urban and human settlements (for
exponentially as more partners get involved example, near protected areas); identify
in creating the tool. Further capacity is critical environmental areas at risk of rapid
built if the partner then embeds the tool urban expansion; develop a framework
into its work programme. Embedding is for a rapid assessment and mapping of
also generally more successful when the human-induced land use and its change;
partner is an international university, such and document (for lessons and upscaling)
as the Faculty of Geo-Information Science land-use patterns, policies and practices
and Earth Observation of the University (UN-Habitat 2010d, United Nations 2011).
of Twente, the University of East London,
or the International Islamic University of GLTN may also explore tools to support
Malaysia. sustainable land management, particularly to
address the negative effects of urbanization
130
on biodiversity losses, greenhouse gas valuation. Pro-poor, gender-responsive tool

emissions and land degradation. Several development is now mainstreamed across
land tools can be adapted to address the entire land sector, including the social
emerging environmental and climate change science and policy aspects. Some GLTN
challenges at scale. These tools include the partners are working on tools that were
Social Tenure Domain Model, pro-poor land not on the original list of tools. And they
records, land-use planning and evictions, are talking to each other: policy people are
compensation and expropriation. Specific now talking to land administration people,
environment-related land tools may include and both are linking their work to the social
payment for environmental service schemes context. The separate knowledge silos
(as a way to create markets for resources are falling away. The tools that are being
that are threatened by degradation and developed should help the 70 per cent of the
consequently also for their maintenance world’s people outside of formal registration
and improvement) and social protection systems and the one billion people living
mechanisms related to climate change. in slums. These alternative systems will
Some of the land tools to consider include not be isolated, but will connect to the
compensation mechanisms, identification conventional systems, so that ultimately the
of alternative locations for resettlement and majority of people in a country, both in rural
relocation of environmental refugees. and urban areas, will benefit.
A new perspective on The goals of land policies vary, but in most

countries they include poverty reduction,
land administration
sustainable agriculture, sustainable human
settlements, economic development, and
When GLTN was formed, conventional land equity. Suitable land administration systems
administration, registration, valuation and are needed to implement land policies.
planning systems were the only credible They regulate how people interact with
mainstream options for managing land. land and they deliver a range of benefits
The discipline of land surveying was not to society (Box 2). Without these benefits,
developing new, appropriate methods to many aspects of society cannot function,
meet the demands of the majority. Existing and social and economic development is
approaches could not keep up with rapidly seriously impeded. That means that land
growing cities, they could not be extended administration systems need high-level
to cover an entire country with millions of political recognition and support.
rural poor, and they were too expensive.
They did not offer a way forward. The Social Tenure Domain
Model as a basis for improved
Many of the land tools on GLTN’s original to- land administration
do list related to land administration. Now,
GLTN partners and others are developing, GLTN’s Social Tenure Domain Model
and in some instances already piloting, (Chapter 3) aims to support functions and
alternative systems for land information, deliver benefits that are similar to those of
registration and recording, planning and a conventional land administration system.
131
Work on this land tool has progressed Participatory land readjustment can lead
enormously. The model has built flexibility to negotiations over who occupies what
into land-administration concepts and has land, and make it possible to finance
included them in a software package. It could redevelopment.
radically improve land administration by:
Anticipating and planning for
 Broadening the reach of current land population growth. For many reasons,
administration systems, and up-scaling planning has not been able to direct urban
them to the level needed to respond to growth and anticipate needs, especially
rapid changes. for the poor. The technical limitations can
be addressed but it is critical to balance
 Increasing the amount of serviced land, idealistic visions of growth with the reality
so improving land markets that are of demand. City planning must be made
currently skewed to the rich, middle and more performance-based; for example, it
commercial classes. must provide space for anticipated growth
for different income groups. The approach
 Decreasing opportunities for corruption should be planning in advance and at scale:
and improving land governance. for population growth through extension
and densification, for layout and streets,
 Improving the rule of law in cities and and for phased development.
countries.
Linking levels of planning. Planning for
 Improving security of tenure of the poor communities and informal settlements
majority of women and men, enabling cannot be done only at the site or community
them to invest in productive enterprises, level. It has to be integrated into larger
improve their houses, and strengthen municipal networks of infrastructure and
their livelihoods. citywide opportunities for livelihoods and
social services. There is a need to develop
Improving land use and city-wide processes that also accommodate
urban planning the poor and women. This requires improved
coordination between the relevant sectors
In advancing land administration it is also as well as the different levels of planning.
important to consider wider land use and
urban planning dimensions. Key areas of Planning in post-conflict and disaster
focus are: contexts. Planning for rapid urban growth
shares many requirements with planning
Planning at the community level. for the impact of disaster. The demand for
Engaging with residents and collecting urban space and services is greater than
data have important linkages to community the supply. After a disaster, the immediate
planning. Informal settlement planning humanitarian concerns put even greater
at the neighbourhood level may make it pressure on the need to increase the supply.
possible to rationalize land parcels and Often the supply is increased without
identify rights-of-way for infrastructure. proper planning, and sustainability issues
132
Cities need to plan for urban expansion and densification, Recife

Photo © Malcolm Boorer
133
are neglected. Also, disasters harm the poor Planning at city-region level. Without
more because of poor planning beforehand. coordination and planning, a city’s growing
population spills into the surrounding
Planning for urban expansion and countryside, where there are no necessary
densification. Transforming land from services and activities. That can have a
rural to urban use creates wealth and negative effect on the urban economy
value, and produces assets and income. But and sustainability as congestion grows and
uncontrolled urban growth consumes land resources are depleted. Such patterns of
that could be put to other productive use. In development around cities will have far-
some regions, urban areas have expanded reaching effects on the world’s economies,
much faster than the urban population, energy use and climate change. Tools for
resulting in less dense and generally less development and territorial planning at the
efficient land-use patterns. Pressure on land scale of the city-region are therefore crucial
also pushes up land prices and results in to balance economic and environmental
“leapfrogging” development, generating aspirations. One way to preserve nature and
further urban sprawl. Tools for ensuring an landscapes is to guide development into
orderly expansion and the densification of mosaic patterns, with chunks of urban and
both existing and future neighbourhoods rural land, and rural corridors connecting
are needed in order to provide cities with a them.
spatial structure that is socio-economically
and environmentally sustainable. Such tools Adapting tools
should enable rational urban structures
for rural areas
that would minimize transport and service
delivery costs, optimize the use of land, and
support the protection and organization of Many of GLTN’s tools can be used in both
urban open spaces. urban and rural areas, for example the
Social Tenure Domain Model and capacity
Planning for public space. Land provision development on transparency. Other tools
for public spaces (such as street, parks and have been developed in an urban context
gardens) is pivotal for urban areas. These but could be easily adapted to rural areas.
spaces create opportunities for social Still others have been developed for a rural
interaction, economic exchange and cultural context.
expression. Public spaces can be seen as the
soul of a city. To effectively allocate urban GLTN has undertaken a range of specific
land for public spaces, design solutions and work in rural areas:
tools are required that draw on different
population needs (for example by age and  Using the gender evaluation criteria
gender) and that foster both the creation (Chapter 4) in rural Ghana with
and maintenance of such spaces. Land tools traditional authorities, in collaboration
can support landscaping plans at various with the Huairou Commission.
scales such as public space assessments and
users’ audits, review of legislative and by-  Documenting good adjudication
laws and regulations on public spaces. procedures that protect women and
134
To avoid negative impacts from large-scale

land rights and include joint ownership investments in land, land tools are needed
of land certificates in Ethiopia (Box 21). for:
 Securing of forestry rights for the poor  Recognizing and respecting legitimate
in the Philippines (Chapter 5), with the non-formal tenure rights: individual as
International Land Coalition. well as common or collective rights.
 Certification of Maasai women’s land  Defining land use in an inclusive,

rights in Tanzania (Chapter 5), with the participatory manner.
Huairou Commission.
 Monitoring land transactions.
 A review of the Ethiopian land
certification programme, with the World  Increasing transparency in state land
Bank (Box 13). management.
 A review of Benin’s land use planning For land-use planning, the following new
system, with the World Bank. tools would be useful:
GLTN is working through the International  Linking spatial planning to financial

Fund for Agricultural Development to planning to ensure that land-use
review its projects and learn lessons on planning fits into the financial year of
affordable land records and appropriate sector agencies or ministries, and that
forms of regional planning. the planning outcomes are budgeted
in time to enter into the next financial
New and adapted tools year’s budget.
for rural areas
 Getting stakeholders with different
Here are some priority areas for developing socio-economic status and power
and adapting land tools for rural areas. equally involved in pro-poor, gender-
responsive land-use planning.
• Identify land tools, particularly those
that address land rights, records and Additional new tools may be needed that
registration, that can help prevent small- provide for simple ways of:
scale producers in rural areas from losing
access to the land they currently use.  Securing local people’s rights on
common-pool resources such as forests,
• Simplify land tools to make them fit the pastures and swamp lands.
rural context, e.g. allow for paper-based
alternatives to computerized systems  Increasing transparency in state land
that are inappropriate for remote areas management.
without electricity.
135
Planned urban expansion in Morocco

Photo © Matthew French
136
politically acceptable and fiscally effective

Using land-based land-based revenue system, including:
revenue systems to
scale up delivery  Land valuation, tax determination and
landholder appeals processes must
be transparent and acceptable by all,
When GLTN was launched in 2006, land including the poor and women.
value capture was identified as one of the
land tools it would develop. Its work on this  All land, including that where there are
has led the Network to broaden its scope to informal settlements and all forms of
embrace other areas in land and property intermediate tenures, should be included
taxation. The renewed interest in land as a in the revenue system.
source of revenue is also due partly to the
global financial crisis and the trend towards  Tax burdens should be fairly and
decentralization, which push local and systematically assigned, based either on
national governments to seek sustainable the market value of land and property,
sources of revenue. Also, UN-Habitat’s new or in the absence of adequate market
initiative on land readjustment, which is information, on the basis of land and
associated with land value capture, will building characteristics.
give more impetus to work on land-based
finance. All these factors mean that GLTN’s  Exemptions from the system should
emphasis on land-based financing will be kept to a minimum as they tend to
increase. increase the burden on the remaining
land holders and reduce overall equity.
At the same time, we must remember that
land-based revenues can be very unpopular  The administrative structure should be
politically. The most politically powerful as simple as possible, and should assign
people in a society are often also its largest tasks to the level of government and
landholders and so are more affected by agency best suited to effectively carry
changes in the land-based revenue system. them out.
Land taxes are also often unpopular among
the broader public. If the potential of raising  Grassroots and women’s groups should
revenues from land is to be realized, this be involved in determining how revenues
unpopularity must be addressed through a raised are expended and in promoting
pro-poor, gender-responsive framework. overall compliance.
GLTN supports land-based revenues to To determine the level of revenue collection

fund key local services and infrastructure and create a system that is acceptable to the
investments, while noting that land cannot poor, countries and communities need to
be the only revenue source and will not evaluate income levels and the ability to pay.
generate enough money to fund all local Where appropriate, they should consider
services. GLTN endorses key elements of a alternative forms of payment, such as in-
kind contributions of expertise and labour.
137
GLTN will use urban land readjustment as City and regional level. The land
a key entry point for land-based revenue readjustment operation can be scaled up
development (see below). from a neighbourhood level to a city or
regional level. To do so, individual land-
Going to scale with readjustment projects must be conducted
according to a comprehensive land-use
land readjustment
plan. That makes it possible to guide city
and regional development by applying land-
Although land readjustment has been readjustment programmes step-by-step in
used in various forms in many different accordance with a long-term, coordinated
countries and circumstances it (Chapter 7) vision of urban growth. In South Africa,
has not gone to scale in the developing a specific housing programme was set
world, particularly in Africa. But it shows up by the national government to deliver
considerable promise – which is why it is one one million houses through private–public
of GLTN’s 18 land tools. A new focus in UN- partnerships. Projects were coordinated
Habitat on land readjustment in its strategic by applying land readjustment approaches
plan for 2014–19 has added momentum to for city-wide slum upgrading as well as the
GLTN’s work in this area. delivery of new land and housing.
A number of aspects need to become part Good governance. Land readjustment

of the land readjustment approach to make can help ensure good governance by
it more applicable for developing countries. incorporating pro-poor and gender-
responsive decision-making into land
Tenure security. In slum upgrading, land development. The core principle of land
readjustment can improve tenure security readjustment is to build consensus and
and avoid involuntary resettlements. It can cooperation among all parties involved
be used to legitimatize residents’ claims in land projects. In a developing world
to land, so enabling them to participate in city, these parties would include, among
land redevelopment. After land is pooled, others, formal landowners, the state,
readjusted and serviced, the slum dwellers informal land occupants, customary rights
can be invited back to the neighbourhood: holders, renters, NGOs, national authorities,
they can rebuild their homes as holders of city officials, urban designers, planners,
land documents, or receive an apartment and private developers. The process of
unit with a legal title. This is a win–win land readjustments entails grassroots
approach: on one hand, it allows informal mobilization and giving the urban poor
settlers to improve their living conditions real bargaining power. This encourages the
and tenure security, while on the other government to pay special attention to the
hand it enables cities to obtain much- needs of the poor and women from the
needed inner-city space for urban renewal. outset. A carefully designed voting system
It cleans up existing ambiguous land rights could ensure protection for everyone –
and makes them more certain. One of the women and men, young and old – while
earlier uses of this approach was found in limiting forced evictions. This approach
Spain and the Netherlands. of linking land readjustment and slum
138
upgrading has been used very successfully  Rules must apply for the use of
at scale in Thailand and at a small scale in compulsory purchase to include resistant
Angola. landowners, if necessary.
Land-based financing. Land readjustment  The project must rest upon the dialogue,
is an important land-based financing tool. consultation, and participation of all
It creates space by increasing the density affected parties.
of buildings. The space left over can then
be sold and the proceeds used to finance  To make the tool attractive to local
public infrastructure and basic services goverment, the project must not add
– and, indeed, the readjustment process fiscal burdens to them.
itself. This technique creates a clear
connection between the benefits that the  Performance of pilot projects must
landholders receive and the costs incurred be evaluated and documented for
to make the project financially viable. This continuous learning and adaptation of
meets the most important criterion of land- the tool to different contexts.
based financing –fairness. Generating funds
through land readjustment has been used Natural disasters
widely in South Korea, Germany and Spain.
and conflicts
To what extent all costs will be covered in
poor nations is unknown, and needs further
exploration. Another of GLTN's cross-cutting themes is
on dealing with land issues after natural
Land registration/recording. It is usually disasters and conflicts, the focus of Chapter
said that an efficient property registration 9, (Table 2). GLTN has played a catalytic role
system has to be in place before land in bringing together humanitarians and
readjustment is done. But instead, such land professionals to develop land tools in
a system could be put in place as a first this area.
step to land readjustment and in parallel
with it. In Spain and the Netherlands, land While significant progress has been
readjustment has been used to clarify land made, a critical problem is the lack of a
rights and improve the documentation held comprehensive approach to land issues
in the registry. before a crisis (risk reduction and conflict
prevention) through reconstruction. Such
Lessons for land readjustment a comprehensive approach would have to
address the following eight key issues:
There are several lessons to be learned
from existing work about adapting land Land law and policy is perhaps the most
readjustment for the developing world: fundamental issue. Discriminatory laws
and policies can fuel conflict and promote
 Rules for the proportion of landowners informality. Policy and legal reform,
to voluntarily accept a development therefore, is always a post-crisis priority, but
should be enforced. sequencing and coordination is a challenge.
139
Land administration. Securing records Technical support to humanitarian

reduces the risk of damage, theft and actors is the most challenging aspect.
fraud in the event of disasters or conflicts, Critical decisions are made in the immediate
and facilitates reconstruction. The ability aftermath of disasters and conflict. The
to reconstruct records that have been guidance available must be pragmatic,
damaged or destroyed is critical. But targeted to urgent needs, yet implemented
because they cover only a small part of the in a way that can contribute to longer term
land, conventional land records can be only systemic reform.
part of the solution. Evidence of customary
and informal types of land rights must also Capacity development. A holistic
be incorporated. capacity and institution-development
strategy is needed to underpin the
Land use and settlement planning. The approach: it should be one that addresses
negative impacts of disasters and conflicts traditional authorities, local authorities,
are exacerbated by inappropriate land use land administration professionals and the
and settlement planning. The contribution judiciary, and is gender-responsive. This
of poor land use to many disasters is obvious capacity-development approach should be
– yet these issues are rarely addressed in appropriate for the context, yet should also
advance. Climate change makes this even be a basis for systemic change.
more critical. Building back smarter has
to be mainstreamed in reconstruction Conclusion
programmes.
Land disputes are common in all societies. From the outset, GLTN has focused on gaps
Whether grievances escalate to conflict in the land sector that prevent countries
or are channelled into peaceful processes from scaling up their land governance,
depends on the quality of land governance administration and management systems
and the capacity of key institutions, including and making them accessible for the majority
traditional authorities, local governments of their citizens
and the courts. Post-crisis support to these
institutions must become more systematic Communicating across silos. The land
– strengthening each and improving the sector has many “knowledge silos”, where
linkages between them. technical, political or legal specialists focus
on their own particular content area but
Coordination. Dedicated capacity is fail to talk to people in related disciplines
required to ensure that coordination outside their own silo. GLTN has worked
takes place within and between donors, to avoid these silos through its partnership
government and the international approach. Different partners in the Network
community. – civil society, land professionals, training
institutions, rural, urban, and others –
Information and outreach campaigns are produce tools, present their findings and
vital for managing expectations, as well as attend events together. This does not
dispelling rumours. mean consensus. Instead, the focus is on
140
harmonizing approaches. GLTN started with Bridging land and humanitarian relief.
less than 10 partners who shared the same Crises such as conflicts and natural disasters
vision; today there are over 45 that include often have a land dimension. But the
the majority of global stakeholders in the relationship between humanitarian relief
land sector. and attempts to deal with land issues has
often been rapid and shallow. GLTN has
Creating pro-poor, gender-responsive brought together land and humanitarian
land-administration tools. A need for specialists and bridged the gap between
land-administration tools led to the creation them to produce robust knowledge and
of GLTN. Whereas few pro-poor, gender- practices for post-disaster situations.
responsive land-administration approaches
existed at scale 10 years ago, today, through Addressing cross-cutting issues.
the influence of GLTN partners, they are The integration into other tools and
mainstream approaches. Such approaches mainstreaming of gender, grassroots and
are intended to produce robust, practical youth issues will be a key feature of the next
tools, which, because of the way they have phase of GLTN. It may also be important to
been developed, can be used and adapted broaden discussions on land and climate
in many local situations. change to include social protection.
Filling gaps in policy and law. GLTN sustainable land

has addressed a number of policy and law management is possible
gaps. For example, in the past there were
no criteria to evaluate a land tool’s gender- Land issues are among the most difficult
responsiveness. Such criteria now exist. challenges of our time. But they can be
There was little thinking about how to scale solved. Sustainable land management is
up grassroots land projects or about the possible. We are creating the tools we need.
implications of doing so. This has started. We now need the political will to make it
Islamic land law had been on the margins of happen at scale.
global land discussions, despite 20 per cent
of the world’s population being Muslim and A key part of GLTN’s second phase will be to
practising forms of inheritance that have a work with governments and local authorities
major impact on land management. GLTN to fulfill their commitments in reforming
has developed, promoted and built capacity policy, securing tenure and improving land
around a body of knowledge on the issue. governance.
With the Arab Spring, further momentum is
likely to gather on this issue.
141
Illustration of land use by a local community in Orissa, India
Photo © Slum/Shack Dwellers International
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EP # 2012-80807
ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION
Everyone has a relationship to land. It is an asset that, with its associated resources, allows
its owner access to loans, to build their houses and to set up small businesses in cities.
In rural areas, land is essential for livelihoods, subsistence and food security. However,
land is a scarce resource governed by a wide range of rights and responsibilities. And not
everyone’s right to land is secure. Mounting pressure and competition mean that improving
land governance – the rules, processes and organizations through which decisions are made
about land – is more urgent than ever.
This book shows how the Global Land Tool Network is addressing these problems by
setting an international agenda on land. It features the “land tools” that the Network has
developed – practical ways to solve problems in land administration and management.
The Global Land Tool Network is a partnership of a wide range of organizations involved
in land issues. Established in 2006, it has just completed its first phase of operations. The
book celebrates the work of the Network so far and illustrates how all land stakeholders
play a role in handling the critical social change needed towards achieving equitable access
to land for all.
HS Number: HS/023/12E
ISBN Number(Volume): 978-92-1-132438-9
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN SETTLEMENTS PROGRAMME For more information, please contact us:
UN-Habitat GLTN Secretariat,
Urban Legislation, Land and Governance Branch Facilitated by UN-Habitat
Land and GLTN Unit P.O. Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya
P. O. Box 30030, Nairobi 00100, Kenya Tel.: +254 20 76 5199
Tel: +254 207623120; Fax: +254 207624266 Fax: +254 20 762 4256
Website: www.unhabitat.org Email: gltn@unhabitat.org
Website: www.gltn.net

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Handling Land

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Handling land

Innovative tools for land governance

SECURE LAND AND PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR ALL

Copyright© United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), 2012

United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat),

Cover photos and design: Ombretta Tempra

Sponsors: Governments of Norway and Sweden (Sida)

Printing: UNON, Publishing Services Section, Nairobi, ISO 14001:2004-certified.

Published in collaboration with

Acknowledgements............................. vii Local records of land transactions........... 36

Testing the gender-responsiveness of 10

Figures 11. Tenure types identified by the

32. Ward development planning

Logistics University of East London, UK

Dr. Joan Clos

Under-Secretary General of the United

M illions of people around the world face

as a result of a rising world population (now in developing countries, secure access is

Box 2. What do land management and administration do?

What do land management and administration cover?

How do land management and administration benefit society?

 Support of governance and the rule of law

G LTN was started in response to

GLTN partners recognize that secure  Tool development and capacity

Figure 1. Institutional framework of GLTN

 Equitable and gender-responsive. range of situations, and capable of being

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT STRONG INSTITUTIONS

UNSUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WEAK INSTITUTIONS

difficult access to land,

environmental degradation, administration mechanisms and frameworks

vulnerability to disasters and Lack of transparency

Figure 2. The logic behind GLTN’s work

 Knowledge management by Filling the land

Introducing these new types of tenures

Box 3. Examples of African tenure innovations

Tanzania: residential licenses in urban Act of 2010 stopped short of legalizing

Informal land Formal land

Customary Alternatives Group Registered

Figure 3. Continuum of land rights

Table 1. GLTN themes and issues for developing land tools

Theme, issue Summary, purpose of land tool See also

Table 2. Cross-cutting issues addressed by GLTN

Cross-cutting issue Summary, purpose See also

Capacity Building the capacity of all stakeholders in land-related policies Chapter 6

Environment Utilizing land to promote environmental sustainability, including Chapter 11

Grassroots Ensuring grassroots participation in land matters, tool develop- Chapter 5

Islamic aspects Considering Islamic dimensions of land as an option Chapter 6

Youth Involving youth in land matters, tool development and Chapter 4

Themes, tools and How GLTN develops

So Ec tical raph logy s

cia ono sci y

Po Geo rop tud try

ral & ations

Figure 4. Different stakeholders contribute to developing land tools

Figure 5. Six steps in developing a land tool

 Revision, adoption and dissemi- Regional platforms

Advancing the GLTN UN-Habitat

Box 4. Global Land Tool Network partners1

Rural/urban international civil society International professional bodies

Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa, Commonwealth Association of Surveying and

Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, International Fund for Agricultural

Network-Association of European United Nations Economic Commission for

Technical University of Munich, www.tum.de United Nations Human Settlements

University of the West Indies,