IMPROVING TENURE SECURITY FOR THE RURAL POOR IN SUBSAHARAN AFRICA

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IMPROVING TENURE SECURITY FOR THE RURAL POOR IN
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

• Regional Technical Workshop Nakuru, Kenya, 23-26
  October 2006

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Outline

• Background the Project
• The Workshop in Nakuru
• Discussion Topics
• Main Findings and Messages
• ...

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Background the Project

• funded by Norway, 1 Apr 06 31 Mar 07
• five themes involved in FAO
• land tenure and development law
• forest tenure
• management of fisheries rights
• gender and HIV / AIDS impacts on property rights
• sustainable agriculture and rural development
  (SARD)
• why rural Africa
• looking for empirical evidence about access
  rights
• technical outputs to inform the Property Rights
  WG of the Commission for Legal Empowerment of the
  Poor

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The Workshop in Nakuru

• Participants
• government, professional, academia, NGO
• 60 from 18 African countries and 5 IOs
• Presentation of cases
• land Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Mali,
  Rwanda, Namibia, Mozambique
• forest tenure summary Morocco, Senegal, Ghana,
  Cameroon, Gabon, Uganda, Tanzania, Mozambique,
  Zimbabwe, South Africa
• fisheries Lake Victoria riparian countries
• gender HIV / AIDS aspects women, orphans in
  Zambia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi
• SARD Kenya
• Group Discussions

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Discussion Topics

• issues of access to natural resources in
  Sub-Saharan rural areas
• is formalisation of access rights or titling
  useful in rural areas
• how should land policy be implemented to empower
  the poor

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Findings and Messages

• Africa is not poor because of lack of formal
  tenure systems
• land tenure in Africa is extremely complex
• the definition of formal needs to take into
  account the existing pluralism
• customary regimes can also undergo
  formalization
• titling more appropriate for urban areas, no
  clear evidence to influence rural poverty
• customary systems often do not protect some
  vulnerable groups

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Findings and Messages

• major fields of development interventions
  identified
• policy and legal framework
• capacity
• institutional framework
• information, communication, awareness
• representation
• sustainable funding
• in parallel, rather than in sequence

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Findings and Messages

• Policy and Legal Framework
• pro-poor land policies and laws developed by
  participatory approach, protecting the vulnerable
  
• national land laws to include the customary
  regimes (that are not anti-constitutional)
• structure the law so that the poor can benefit
  and have access to law
• appreciate all forms of tenure
• formalization should be demand-driven
• good example Mozambique

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Findings and Messages

• Capacity
• capacity building of all actors about policy /
  legal framework
• specific efforts to inform / build capacities of
  marginalised and vulnerable groups
• involve local / traditional leadership
• provide training to the grassroots particularly
  targeted groups
• strengthen the communal systems

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Findings and Messages

• Institutional Framework
• decentralize systems
• devolution of state powers in resource management
  to the local communities to have joint / shared
  management responsibility
• affordable efficient and accessible local land
  institutions
• accountable institutions
• alternative dispute resolution by NGOs
• give recognition and authority to local social
  institutions that provide moral support and
  solidarity

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Findings and Messages

• Information, Communication, Awareness
• guarantee access to information
• address NGOs and paralegals
• provide access to legal support
• organize legal advice centres for marginalized
• set up village systems of document registration
• language and format must be appropriate
• simplify / translate laws

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Findings and Messages

• Representation
• gender and vulnerable groups (women, orphans,
  pastoralists, fisherfolk, hunter-gatherers,
  people with disabilities, IDPs / squatters,
  informal settlers)
• include critical voices about formalization in
  discussions and debates
• empowerment of end users, the people, the
  vulnerable
• promote community info centres

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Findings and Messages

• Sustainable Funding
• cost sharing government, donors
• independent fund
• funding of the government, the poor, NGOs
• financial support for vulnerable groups

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• Thank you for your attention!
• Vladimir.Evtimov_at_fao.org