Chapter 3
Towards tenure security through non-conventional land recording tools
DEALING WITH DIFFERENT FORMS OF TENURE
implementation problems, and it has had little impact so far. Initiatives in Ethiopia and Benin (Boxes 13 and 14), on the other hand, have been quite successful.
Formal land administration systems are not sufficient to cater for the continuum
GLTN has developed
of rights: they are too cumbersome and expensive. We need innovative alternatives that are cheaper and simpler in every way. New technologies using computers, satellite images and geographical positioning
improve tenure security. Four such tools are described below:
systems can help: pro-poor does not necessarily mean low-tech.
Participatory enumerations through community-led data collection.
Several local or national initiatives have introduced new approaches. These have had varying degrees of success. An attempt
Attempts to build on local records of land transactions.
to introduce pro-poor alternatives in the laws in Uganda, for example, has run into
studied, various
documented and land tools to
The Social Tenure Domain Model – a pro-poor system to manage land information.
Other non-conventional approaches that governments have accepted as valid.
BOX 13. RURAL LAND CERTIFICATION IN ETHIOPIA Participatory enumerations have been used in Ethiopia for adjudications for rural land certification. To enhance rural tenure security, four regional states (Amhara, Oromiya, Tigray, and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples) registered the land-use rights on approximately 25 million parcels in village land books. This programme provided landholders with certificates that record and identify the boundaries of parcels by listing the people who have rights to the adjoining parcels. This programme was carried out in a decentralized, participatory, equitable, and transparent manner through an elected land administration committee of local people. It handled the massive numbers of registered holdings quickly and at low cost.
As a result, farmers felt their tenure was more secure, and they had more incentive to invest in the land. Their participation in the land market went up. The number of conflicts over land fell, and women were empowered (for example, a photo of each spouse appears on the certificate in several of the regions). Although updating procedures have not been well developed, the first phase of the programme reached millions of people at a cost of about $3.50 per household or $1 per parcel. The second phase (to add maps) has proven slower and much more difficult. The World Bank documented this process as part of its work with GLTN. More information: Deininger et al. (2008)
31