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1.5 Objectives of the ‘Guiding Principles’
The following
five objectives of the ‘guiding principles’ are evident from the preceding
problem outline:
It shows the current global and region-specific explosive nature of
the land issue in times of rapid economic, social and cultural change.
It processes the experiences of the past in search of solutions to
land tenure problems and conflicts, and it verifies its relevance to the current explosive
nature of the development policy constellations.
It identifies areas and leeway for dealing with development
cooperation within this interdisciplinary topic and proposes methods and instruments and
offers support.
It attempts to make a contribution for the improvement of the
conceptual foundation for appropriate consideration of land tenure in development
cooperation.
It creates prerequisites for improving the expert abilities of the
partners involved in the development cooperation.
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Five
objectives |
The
‘guiding principles’ are based upon the goals and guidelines of German
development cooperation. They are to improve the economic and social conditions for the
people in the partner countries and to facilitate the development of their creative
abilities. The development policy principles agree with the results of the 1992 United
Nations’ Conference on the Environment and Development (UNCED, Agenda 21). |
Guidelines of
German development cooperation |
The
‘guiding principles’ should offer support for approaches for reforms for the
solution or reduction of land rights problems.
An improvement of resource allocation by defusing the land issue,
especially for the benefit of small and middle landholders;
The support of access to land for (rural) groups living in poverty;
The creation of higher legal security
in the transfer and use of land, especially for women;
The design of sustainable land use patterns; and
The demand for education and training in the field of land tenure
systems and land management. |
Principles for
action |
| Agenda 21 |
"Expanding human
requirements and economic activities are placing ever increasing pressures on land
resources, creating competition and conflicts and resulting in suboptimal use of both land
and land resources." (Section 10.1) |
"To ensure
equitable access of rural people, particularly women, small farmers, landless and
indigenous people, to land, water and forest resources and to technologies, financing,
marketing, processing and distribution." (Section 14.17) |
"...to
facilitate allocation of land to the uses that provide the greatest sustainable benefits
and to promote the transition to a sustainable and integrated management of land
resources." (Section 10.5) |
"Implement
policies to influence land tenure and property rights positively with due recognition of
the minimum size of land-holding required to maintain production and check further
fragmentation." (Section 14.9 c) |
"Governments....should
review and re-focus existing measures to achieve wider access to land (Section 14.8 b),
assign clear titles, rights and responsibilities for land and for individuals or
communities (Section 14.8 c), develop policies in extension and training, ...(Section 14.8
e), and develop guidelines for decentralization policies
for rural development through reorganization and strengthening of rural
institutions." (Section 14.8 d) |
| (translated after BMU 1992) |
Sovereign
partner countries and the high potential for conflict regarding land issues require a
strict demand-orientated approach in development cooperation. This necessarily requires
the prior and accompanying critical policy dialogue
between the partners. |
Demand
oriented |
Development
cooperation advisors can point out shortcomings or undesirable consequences, call
attention to rights of discriminated groups, play the role of a mediator (neutral trustees
or ‘honest broker’) between the various involved parties. |
The role of
counseling and mediation |
The embedment
of land tenure institutional aspects into the cultural, economic, political, technological
and ecological environment makes an interdisciplinary approach absolutely necessary. Any
planning which is not complex would often leave the success of land tenure-related
development cooperation projects to framework conditions which are way out of control for
the expert, thus, also, to chance. |
Interdisciplinary
approach |
A change in
land tenure systems occurs within the framework of regional and local structures of
society, cultural norms or economic constitutions. An inductive course of action and not
simply the transfer of models having had success in other situations forms the core of a
culture-specific orientation. |
Culture-specific-oriented |
Law is also
tied to a culture. Fundamental regulations found in land tenure are sanctioned normatively
by culture. However, reforms in the systems of land tenure often result in long-lasting
changes of the cultural environment. Ignoring these cultural factors, therefore, questions
the efficiency and sustainability of development cooperation projects. It especially
endangers the acceptance of the projects by the population. |
Socio-cultural
identity |
A large span
of time often lies between the first debates, the problem analysis and an often step-wise
reduction or elimination of obstacles in the way of development based on land tenure. Due
to the large number of relevant actors, the strongly diverging interests and the
complexity of the instruments (for example, regulations for implementation), the processes
are seldom straightforward. They are partially erratic, they may come to a standstill or
they may even be broken off temporarily. |
Process-oriented |
Flexibility
and openness of planning and implementation are thus very important. A process-oriented
approach meaning step-wise, iterative planning and implementation must therefore be a
basic characteristic of programs in the area of land tenure systems. Last but not least
they should therefore be understood and be put into practice as a "mutual learning
process". |
Planning
flexibility and openness |
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