V. Strengthening capacities to address land tenure security
in Africa through better monitoring and information
UN-Habitat in collaboration with ECA ($501,000)
Background
1. Secure land and property rights are critical for reducing poverty,
enhancing economic development, gender equality and social stability. When land
is poorly managed, the problems often lead to disputes, land degradation, and lost
economic and development opportunities, as seen in many developing countries.
Secure land tenure and property rights can be delivered through a variety of forms.
It is partly a matter of perception, and can be safeguarded under various
mechanisms, provided the rights of land users and owners are clear. In addition to
formal titles, security can be achieved through long-term rental contracts, or formal
recognition of customary rights and informal settlements. This range of possible
forms of tenure has become internationally recognized as a continuum, whereby
each form of tenure provides different sets of rights and degrees of security and
responsibility.
2. While some Governments have, to varying degrees, recognised a range
of different forms of tenure as legitimate, ‘tenure security’ still tends to be defined
strictly in more secure forms such as individual land titles. This not only fails to tap
the realities on the ground, but severely reduces the number of women and men,
particularly those living in poverty, who can realistically afford such ‘formal’
tenure security. The problem is particularly acute in Africa, where the majority of
the populations will remain unable to afford such forms of tenure for generations,
and are increasingly marginalised by market-based statutory tenure systems that
emphasise individual rights. At present it is estimated that more than 70 per cent of
Africans live outside of the formal land registry.
3. Given the limitations of land titling, and the value of an incremental
approach to secure tenure, UN-Habitat, serving as the Secretariat of the Global
Land Tool Network (GLTN), a coalition of 50 global partners working to enable
governments and partners to implement pro-poor land policies, advocate for the use
of a variety of alternative tenure options which can be more easily adapted in
developing countries. While the continuum approach is increasingly being
endorsed, there is still important work required to shift deeply rooted mind-sets
around what secure tenure entails.
4. While tenure security in Africa needs to be addressed at many levels,
this project focuses specifically on enabling land practitioners (state and non-state
actors) and national statistical offices to more effectively monitor and provide
information on the state of different existing forms of tenure at a national and city level, so as to more accurately advice land policy. This is a critical component of
improving land policy formulation and implementation in Africa, as the information
will enable Governments and non-state actors to assess how land policies are being
implemented in practice and over time.
5. The project is focused on developing capacities of land practitioners
and statistical officers in three countries in Africa, with a view to share and promote
the methods used across the region. It will build on an existing tenure security
indicators framework focused on urban land tenure security, jointly produced by
UN-Habitat and GLTN. Methods of measuring and tracking different forms of
tenure will be applied to both urban and rural settings, and be institutionalised
beyond the project in the selected countries through opportunities to add tenure
security related questions into existing surveys such as the Demographic Health
Survey and Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey. National statistical offices will also
be supported to use the Urban Inequities Survey and assessments at the policy at
the city level through the Legal and Institutional Framework Index (LIFI), both of
which have been tested by UN-Habitat in various cities. The process will encourage
collaboration between statistical and municipal offices, and draw on a wide range
of state and non-state land actors to refine the measurement methods and analyse
and share the data.
6. The project will draw on a number of partners of the Global Land Tool
Network, the primary one being ECA, which will provide the platform for regional
exchange and synergy with the roll-out of the above mentioned Land Policy
Initiative Framework and Guidelines. The Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO) will capitalize on the project to encourage countries to implement the
Committee on World Food Security Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible
Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National
Food Security. The GLTN Secretariat will provide a global platform for harnessing
expertise, making use of its convening power, creating space for knowledge
sharing, management and documenting the practices. The country experiences are
envisioned to generate further understanding and international support to the
critical area of tenure security monitoring which is still under-resourced.
Objective of the Organization: To strengthen the capacity of
Summary budget
(Thousands of United States dollars)
selected African governments and other relevant land actors in
Consultants
140.5
monitoring tenure security to guide land policy implementation
Travel
45.0
Relationship to the strategic framework for the period 2014Grants
180.0
2015 and the Millennium Development Goals: UN-Habitat
Operating expenses
26.0
subprogramme 1 (Urban legislation, land and governance), and
Workshops/training
109.5
subprogramme 7 (Research and capacity development); ECA
Total
501.0
subprogramme 2 (Food security and sustainable development),
and subprogramme 2 (statistics); Millennium Development Goal
7.
Expected accomplishments of the Secretariat Indicators of achievement
(EA1) Increased capacity of the three selected
African governments to assess land tenure
security through the use of a tenure security
indicators framework
(EA2) Land policy decisions in the three selected
countries informed through the findings of the
tenure security monitoring
(IA1.1)
Number of Member States able to
utilise the tenure security indicators framework,
and its methods, tools, and guidelines, in their
urban and national contexts
(IA2.1)
Number of Member States that have
utilised the findings of the tenure security
indicators frameworks to guide their land
policies
Main activities
7. The main activities of the project will include:
(A1.1) Organize regional workshop to: (i) update the project countries on the
existing tenure security indicators framework, including its tools and guidelines;
and (ii) establish criteria for, and preliminary selection of, representatives to
constitute multi-stakeholder national land tenure monitoring reference groups, for
advising on the implementation of the project;
(A1.2) Develop strategy and road map for assessing existing capacities of
participating institutions and implementing the tenure security indicators
framework in the three project countries;
(A1.3) Develop national adaptation of the tenure security indicators
framework (including its methods, tools and guidelines) and production of related
training materials;
(A2.1) Organize national workshops (three) to enable national statistical and
municipal offices to use the adapted tenure security indicators framework;
(A2.2) Support to three countries (through grants to national statistical and/or
municipal offices depending on institutional country contexts) to collect data,
analyse and disseminate the collected information, develop a strategy for continued
utilisation of the methodology by their institutions, and convene multi-stakeholder
action planning workshops to discuss the data and policy implications of the
findings;
(A2.3) Document the experience, and results of, the action learning seminars
in the three countries, for wider learning on possible land policy implications of the
data generated.
Detailed budget (US dollars)
Consultants
International consultants
 International consultant to provide inputs at regional and three national
workshops and in strategy development and national adaptation
activities, in support of activities A1.1, A1.2, A2.1 and A2.3 and to
evaluate the project (advisory service travel = $10,000*) + (evaluation =
$10,500) = $20,500
(*Global Land Tool Network to pay the fee of $50,000 over a duration of
6 work months)
National/Regional consultants
 National consultants (3) for coordinating the development a strategy and
road map for implementing the tenure security indicators framework
guide the national adaptation of the framework, co -facilitate the national
workshops, and facilitate the action planning workshops being hosted by
the national statistical offices in support of activities A.1.1, A1.2, A1.3,
A2.1, and A2.2 ($40,000 x 3 persons) = $120,000
140 500
45 000
Travel of staff
UN-Habitat staff members
 Attending workshops and support of country activities, in support of
activities A1.1, A1.2, A2.1, A2.2, and A2.3. ($3,000 per trip x 6
persons/trips) = $18,000
Implementing Partners’ travel (UNECA and FAO)
 Attending regional workshop and national events in support of activities
A1.1, A2.2, and A2.3. ($3,000 per person x 9 persons) = $27,000
Grants
 Contractual services and grants for the national statistical
institutions/municipal offices to implement the tenure security indicators
framework, development of tools and guides for the implementation of
the framework, analysis and compilation of results, and convening of
action planning seminar to discuss findings in support to A1.3, and A2.2
($60,000 X 3 countries) = $180,000
Seminars and Workshops
Regional workshops
 One regional workshop for participants from the target countries at start
of project (including government officials (national and local), land
professionals (e.g. surveyors and notaries), CSO (particularly youth and
gender representatives), research and academia, in support of activity
A.1.1 ($3,000 per participants x 20 participants) = $60,000
National workshops
 Three capacity development workshops for national statistical offices on
using the tenure security indicators framework in support of activity A2.1
($16,500 per workshop x 3) = $ 49,500
180 000
109 500
26 000
Operating expenses
 In support of activity A1.3 for national adaptation of tools and guidelines
and materials for national training workshops ($8,000 x 2 workshops) =
$16,000
In support of activity A2.3 for outcome document on experience and land policy implications of the data
findings = $10,000
501 000
Total
.