Transparency in Land Governance

2008 – 2010 — Land remains a highly complex and contentious issue, involving economic, social, political, cultural and often religious systems. As spelled out in Article 75 of the Habitat Agenda, there is a strong link between land and poverty, stating “legal access to land is a strategic prerequisite for the provision of adequate shelter for all and the development of sustainable human settlements affecting both urban and rural areas. The failure to adopt, at all levels, appropriate rural and urban land policies and land management practices remains a primary case of inequity and poverty.” Land administration is thus a critical element in the wider development agenda.

Transparency is a critical component of a functioning land administration, in particular in view of the scarcity of clear and credible information on land availability and transactions, and the poor dissemination of public information on land rights and policies. The risk of corruption and inequalities are very real in land allocation and management. The consequences to the poor often takes the form of difficult access to land assets, unawareness of land policies and legal frameworks, ignorance about land transactions and prices, misallocation of land rights, land grabbing and abuse. When in place, transparency can encourage civic engagement and stakeholders’ accountability by rendering the public decision making arena more accessible. This in turn strengthens confidence in governments and public agencies, and has a positive economic impact, also on GDP. Many of the general governance principles related to transparency thus appear highly relevant to the land administration field.

In the African context, as well as in many other developing regions, there is a vast demand for skills in the land administration area, including competencies to strengthen transparency. Developing tools in these areas, without simultaneously building capacity to implement them, is unlikely to create a sustainable impact. In view of the above, UN-HABITAT and ITC have agreed on a joint venture to enhance the capacity concerning transparency in land administration through the design and conduct of a training programme on this topic.

2007 01 January Nairobi Kenya (40)
2007 01 January Nairobi Kenya (47)
2007 01 January Nairobi Kenya (61)
2007 01 January Nairobi Kenya (60)

Materials:

Leaflet

Evaluation

Toolkit on Transparency

Case Studies:

Asiama: Short

Asiama: Long

Ghana

Ghana: Newspaper extract

Senegal

Land Use Change and Transparency

Namibia Mix Camp: Long

Namibia Shack Dwellers: Long

Asiama Case Study: Short

Asiama Case Study: Short

Asiama Case Study: Short

Namibia Helao Nafidi: Short

Providing Land for Planned Urban Development

Asiama Case Study: Short

Ongombe West is Expropriated

Tanzania: Long

Tanzania: Short 1

Tanzania: Short 2

Tanzania: Short 3

Tanzania: Short 4

Capacity Development for Transparent Administration of Land

Women Access to Land Property: Women of Diender Case

Curriculum and Agenda:

Cover page

Curriculum

Detailed Programme Nairobi

Program 2007

Program

Program Nanjing 2018

Content Outline

Expert Group Meeting:

Introduction to Agenda

Good Governance and Transparency in Land Administration

Capacity Development in Land Administration: Trends to Date

Enschede, the Netherlands

Babette Wehrmann – Land Administration

Transparency in Land Administration – A Capacity Building Agenda

Improving Land Management for Poverty Alleviation

Paul van der Molen – Capacity Development and Land Governance

Willi Zimmerman – Transparency and Land Administration

Wilbard J. Kombe – Capacity Development in Land Administration in East Africa

Sue Mbaya – Capacity for Land Administration

Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies 1

Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies

Presentations:

Introduction to Agenda

Introduction to the 3-Day Programme

Good Governance and Transparency in Land Administration

Session 0: Introduction

Session 1A: Land Governance

Session 1B: Land Governance

Session 3: Assessing Transparency in Land Administration

Access to Information and Public Participation

Professional Ethics and Integrity

Institutional and Organisational Reforms

Capacity Building: Transparency in Land Administration

Highlights of the Swedesurvey Course on Urban Land Administration

Sessions Outlines:

Curriculum for Training Programme

Ethical Decision-Making Model – Case Study

Session 1: Land Governance and Transparency

Session 2: Case Studies 1 and Participants’ Reflections

Session 3: Understanding and Assessing Transparency in Land Administration

Session 4: Access to Information and Public Participation

Session 5: Professional Ethics & Integrity

Session 6 – Institutional and Organizational Reforms

Session 7: Case Studies II – Group Work

Session 8: Presentation of Case Study Analysis

Session 9: Action Planning