Towards effective pro-poor tools for land administration in Sub-Saharan Africa
Asperen, Paul van and Jaap Zevenbergen
The implementation of Westernn land administration systems (the classical approach) often failed in Sub-Saharan Africa for several reasons. And when (partly) successful, it did not benefit the poor. Recently more attention is given to the inclusion of customary tenure in land administration. This is referred to as the innovative approach, which should be able to protect the customary rights in a land administration program. Recent land policy reforms in Sub-Saharan Africa implemented innovative tools in order to, amongst others, improve tenure security for the poor. Tools are for example occupancy licenses, customary leases, certificates, etc. In this way the continuum of land rights as presented by UN-Habitat can be recorded. The developments in Zambia, Uganda and Mozambique are described with respect to the continuum of rights. The more classic approach in Zambia (conversion of customary tenure into state tenure) and the more innovative approaches in Uganda (certificates) and Mozambique (community land registration and certificates) are described. The question arises how effective these tools are. In Zambia, registration of customary lands often leads to denial of other ((secondaryy) customary rights. In Uganda, no certificates have been issued up till now, while the Land Act has been in force since 1998. In Mozambique certificates are successfully issued, however it is still questionable if the innovative tools have been fully imbedded in society. A tendency is observed that innovative tools are seen as an intermediate solution, the main target to be full title registration (for example in Uganda). However, prospective certificate holders already experience increased tenure security (Mozambique).
Event: XXIII International FIG Congress : Shaping the change
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