The EU Land policy Guidelines February 2003 Philip Mikos Overview of content and process

Background  In recent years there has been a renewed interest for land reform  New approaches put accent on access and secondary rights, less on titling  Donor approaches evolving in parallel  Policy frameworks evolving and converging towards a common understanding  Need for common operational framework to be able to co-fund land reform programmes

The Land Guidelines within the EC policy framework  1999 Development policy  Poverty focused and including six core areas of intervention including rural development/Food security  2001 Rural Development policy  Poverty focused it also highlights land tenure as key for equitable growth and poverty reduction  2002 Land Policy Guidelines  Being drafted by a EU Task Force including MS and EC

The EU Guidelines  Target Group  EC/MS Headquarters and field staff  Professionals  Government officials  Scope  Primarily focused on rural land but also addresses urban and peri-urban issues  Geographic differentiation will allow to cover issues arising in different regions of the world

The need for coordination  Land reforms are extensive undertaking  Costly, with long design and implementation periods  Spanning over several donor financing cycles  Crucial to ensure reliable and dependable support  Objectives  Share a common understanding, basic principles and “rules of engagement” to support LRs  Facilitating common approaches in financing of national processes, improving effectiveness of donor support

Outline of Content (1)  Part One: The POLICY framework  What do we intend for land policy  How is it related to other major policy areas  What is a reform programme  Recent trends in land issues and policy debate  Regional differences and best practices  The process of designing of a land policy, the role of different stakeholders

Outline of Content (2)  Part Two: The OPERATIONAL framework  The assessment: land use and management, national policy and development objectives  Identifying opportunities for donor support  The response strategy: key issues in design and implementation, sustainability  Monitoring and evaluation: indicators, monitoring systems and methodology

Main thrust of the EU guidelines  Market based vs. communal based ……  ??? ……  !!!  Land and conflict  Land and local institutions  Land administration

Some operational issues for further analysis  The process and timeframe  How to best support participation.  The role of decentralised institutions.  How long should donor engagement be?  Do we have a set of monitoring indicators? Not yet!  The tools and the role of donors  Is a “sector approach” a feasible tool?  Land purchase for redistribution: can/should donors finance it? Can it be done transparently? Yes!

The WB Policy Review  The World Bank report exemplifies this trend of greater co-ordination and collaboration  It is a welcomed endeavor to provide solid theoretical grounds to such a complex policy issue  It is innovative as it signals a significant shift away from “markets only” approaches  However it encompasses a large number of policy options which it would be useful to operationalise into more operational strategies.

Thank you