Putting land tenure in context of the 'legal empowerment agenda‘ Dr. Naresh Singh Executive Director Workshop on Land Policies and Legal Empowerment of the Poor World Bank, Washington D.C. November 2-3, 2006

1 LAND POLICIES - OUTCOMES Why do we work on land policies?  Economic Growth  Social Stability  Equity  Power Shifts  Poverty Reduction

2 LAND POLICIES – ISSUES EFFICIENCY  Doing Things Right  Process EFFECTIVENESS  Doing the Right Things  Structure APPLIED TO: LAND OWNERSHIP  Rights Regimes  Security of Tenure LAND POLICY REFORMS  Equity, Political Will LAND REDISTRIBUTION  Equity, Political Will

3 LEGAL EMPOWERMENT OF THE POOR Legal Empowerment is a multidimensional process based on an inclusive, appropriate and intelligible legal framework, through which, people living in poverty can get greater control over their lives in social, economical and political terms.

4 1. Rule of Law and Access to Justice 2. Property Rights 3. Rights at Work 4. Legal Business Opportunity DIMENSIONS OF LEGAL EMPOWERMENT PROCESS (LEP)

5 WHO ARE AFFECTED: The poor suffering deprivations in any or all of the four inter-linked dimensions. They might be avoiding or unaware of certain elements of the law… or the law might be silent on many factors affecting their pursuit of livelihoods. They may live in rural or urban settings. The majority of these people are normally considered to be living in the informal sector or informal economy or extra-legal sector …. (or variance of these terms) But note continuum between formal and informal

6 LEGAL EMPOWERMENT – A SYSTEMS FRAMEWORK Rule of Law Access to Justice Property Rights Entrepreneurship Legal Empowerment Labor Rights

7 IMPORTANCE OF SYSTEMIC CHANGE Note land and land policies as one aspect of property which is one of four dimensions identified. Changes in land policy only, without attention to the complex interlinkages elsewhere, at best will lead to uncertain results and at worse perverse impacts. It might be beneficial to look at the process of impoverishment (rather than poverty as condition) and consider empowerment as processes which arrest and reverse processes of impoverishment.

8 SPECIAL CONSIDERATIONS  Gender Equality  Indigenous Peoples

9 OUTPUTS: legal reform for property rights, labor rights, business opportunities, access to justice and rule of law OUTCOMES: changes in power relations IMPACTS: poverty reduction, wealth creation, the poor get themselves out of poverty MEASURING CHANGE IN LEP…