Anneke Trux, Chedli Fezzani:

Report SESSIONS 4 AND 6:

Working Group 1

I. National level options for appropriate land tenure policy

1. What factors stimulate policy debate? Who participates in the policy debate? How does the debate feed into policy formulation?

Three main groups of interrelated factors were viewed as stimulating the policy debate:

• Long term natural resource base degradation, stemming from environmental change or human activities;
• crisis situations resulting from food shortages or natural disasters and
• governmental acceptance of a problem situation.

Governmental recognition of the problem was viewed as dependent upon the openness of governments to expressions of dissatisfaction with the present situation, public pressure and newsmedia attention and the availability of funding to address the problem.

The main participants in the policy debate were seen to be governments, the NGO and donor community, researchers and the academic community and interest groups. Interest groups comprise both land users and rights holders (pastoralists, smallholders, large scale farmers and industrial agricultural interests) as well as those with an indirect connection to land: private sector business, traders, investors, bureaucracies and consumers.

Public debate feeds into the policy formulation process through mechanisms such as political initiatives, a consultation process, political party platforms, the activities of internal and external pressure groups and the influence of the donor community.

2. What is the historical, economic, political and socio-cultural context in which the debate is occurring?

The general historical and contextual framework within which the debate is taking place in the region includes a colonial past, significant natural resource limitations including environmental variability and ethnic conflicts over the use of land. Many countries have come to depend heavily on external funding in various forms. Decentralization and devolution is becoming increasingly acceptable politically.

3. What uniformity exists across the region? Is there an ability to utilize other country experiences? On that basis, how far can one go with regional initiatives?

With few exceptions, countries in the region are characterized by a weak level of national integration and are subject to both regional and internal (often ethnic) conflicts. The natural resource base is extremely heterogeneous and is reflected in the subsequent level of development. Exploitation of the natural resource base shows a heavy dependency on smallholder based agriculture and pastoralism and a marginalization of women in terms of rights to land. Rural people tend to have inadequate information on land policy and rights. All countries suffer from insufficient funding for land tenure administration.

The region has many similarities, but also many differences. IGAD provides a potential mechanism by which experiences can be shared. However, this is presently hampered by lack of effective networking and the lack of an adequate regional forum on land tenure issues. There is a strong need to develop an effective regional network to support the process.

4. What is the role of customary tenure systems in national policy?

Customary tenure systems serve an important role in the maintenance of cultural and social identity and guarantee or facilitate access to land by communities. They may also protect communal property from external appropriation/ conversion.

5. What should be the role of customary tenure systems in national policy? How can an appropriate role for customary tenure systems be expressed at the national level?

Customary land tenure should be one of the bases for national land tenure development. National land tenure policy should involve recognition and adaptation of customary land tenure systems. The appropriate role of customary tenure systems in specific countries is a question of balance and will vary between countries.

II. Identification and empowerment of stakeholders

The first two issues involved the identification of categories of stakeholders in natural resource exploitation and management, the recognition and articulation of stakeholder interests and their expression as rights. The Working Group attempted to answer these issues through two matrices, one for direct users and the other for indirect users of land. In both matrices, stakeholders, together with some of the groups which articulate stakeholder interests are identified. The left-hand columns of the matrices reflect some mechanisms for empowerment available to the various groups. In the case of direct users of land, the empowerment mechanisms reflect improved lower level representation stimulated both internally and externally.

a) Direct users of land

b) Indirect stakeholders

Stakeholders and groups representing stakeholders

3. Strategies for the Integration of Stakeholders in the Policy Process

Two parallel strategies were identified for integrating stakeholders in the policy process:

First, improving access to the process at the "bottom". This could be accomplished by:

• Proactively seeking out local needs/action;
• Broadening options of legally recognized organizations;
• Strengthening up bottom-up representations;
• Recognition by the state of collective and individual user rights;
• Dissemination of information on legal rights;
• Strengthening local organizations and institutional capacity.

A second strategy involves increasing participation through national and regional consultation and information fora. At the regional level this might involve Praïa type conferences. Regardless of the level of fora, equitable representation of all stakeholders was considered essential.

4. How Does One Give Recognition to Local Groups?

Effective recognition of local groups is regarded as essential in the policy development process. This may be facilitated by state recognition of individual and collective user rights and the broadening of options for legally recognized organizations.

III. Operationalization of land tenure policy at the local and regional level

1. What have been the experiences in implementing land tenure policy?

Experiences in implementing land tenure policy in the region have indicated that it is both a costly as well as a time consuming process if not forced. A variety of implementation problems have been encountered including:

• contradictory/ incoherent policies;
• inadequate implementation capacity;
• lack of manpower and infrastructure;
• action without legislative authority;
• imposition of policy from above;
• distortion of policy implementation due to self interest and "petti-fogging";
• disregarding customary tenure rights;
• partial/ uneven implementation by governments;
• corruption.

2. What are country experiences within the context of conflict resolution and the role of projects in conflict resolution?

Three types of situation were identified which give rise to conflict:

• problems of resource distribution,
• landlord/ tenant issues and
• squatting and land invasions.

Selected conflicts of these types, together with the method of resolution are provided below.

Projects can contribute to conflict resolution in three main ways:

• by the promotion of relevant research,
• by reallocation or creation of new resources to alleviate problems and
• through the establishment of communications mechanisms to reduce conflict potential or mediating when conflicts arise.

Some examples are provided below.

3. What constraints and opportunities exist for local institutions?

Constraints on effective participation for local institutions include lack of finance, trained personnel, technology and infrastructure and illiteracy. On the other hand devolution of power/ authority over land allocation, distribution and registration have created opportunities for local institutions such as peasant associations (Ethiopia) and District Division Committees (Kenya).

4. How is legislation made realistic from an implementation standpoint and how does one coordinate different levels of legislation?

Legislation is made more realistic from an implementation standpoint by the involvement of local level bodies This includes Village Assemblies (Eritrea), Chiefs/ Assistant Chiefs (Kenya), Peasant Associations (Ethiopia) and Local Resistance Councils (Uganda). Coordination of different levels of legislation can be facilitated in the legislation preparation stage by legal drafting approaches which integrate the usually diverse bodies of law relating to tenure and resource management and by local government involvement in the implementation stage.

At the national level.

a) What are the strategies for integrating land tenure issues into policy formulation and implementation?

Each country has a coordinator and coordinating body comprising representatives of all relevant Ministries. One responsibility of the body is to review the impact of land tenure policies on environmental issues at the national level. The body should ensure that the land tenure regime does not result in environmental degradation and contributes to environmental rehabilitation where required. National workshops to support establishment and foster inter-governmental support and coordination are required in this area.

b) What is the role of African states, regional organizations and the donor community?

Regional organizations can provide coordination at the regional level and provide support and expertise and assist in the organization and hosting of regional fora (workshops) on policy approaches, implementation and monitoring issues. The donor community can create effective partnerships with states and other donor organization and coordinate activities through meetings and information sharing.

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