1. A STATUTORY FRAMEWORK FOR THE DOCUMENTATION AND CODIFICATION OF COMMUNAL LAND RIGHTS  
Authors: Araujo, Katia; Githuku, Fridah;     
Paper prepared for presentation at the
“2017 WORLD BANK CONFERENCE ON LAND AND POVERTY”
The World Bank - Washington DC, March 20-24, 2017

2. Introduction
In most African countries, the majority of the population lives in rural areas, and holds land based on undocumented customary arrangements. 
There are threats from global competition for productive land and natural resources (both domestic and foreign investors)
Without urgent action to document customary lands and strengthen customary institutions, millions of people are at risk of losing their rights to land and resources.

3. Today, strong customary institutions (ENGENDERED) that stand on the side of local people are more important than ever.
Approximately 65-70% of land in Kenya is estimated to fall under the category of “community land”, while the rest is defined as public and private land

4. Community –led Land Mapping Model,

5. Actual mapping and documenting of land rights; use of technology-GIS
Organizing and building capacities of local communities on their land rights
Participatory identification of community members to lead in mapping and documenting land and all relevant land information
Actual mapping and documenting of land rights; use of technology-GIS
Validation of mapped land & land information with relevant stakeholders and the larger communities
Development of an inventory of communal land( RIGHT HOLDER FRIENDLY -Accesible, real time)

9. Key Considerations for development of a statutory framework
PARTICIPATION: Be deliberate on the participation of women ,youth ,indigenous and marginalized communities from the planning stage to the development of the inventory;
CAPACITY: Deliberately invest in community organizing and awareness creation. (both in terms of resources and political goodwill) to enhance effective participation
FLEXIBILITY: Encourage communities and individuals to register their rights according to need-Every community has a different land history including the land transition process

10. ICT: New technologies (such as GPS/GIS systems) should be leveraged and put at the disposal of local communities for continuous update and accessibility. (There will always be time and resource constraints to do this at scale and move beyond pilots)
POLITICAL WILL: Include mechanisms that foster and generate the political will. (Government officials tend to selectively enforce and implement only those sections of the law that advance their agendas and interests)
CLEAR MANDATES: As you devolve duties to customary /local organizations ,develop new roles and responsibilities for state officials .(technical advice and capacity-building to customary and village-level land management structures, help communities negotiate, manage and enforce contracts with investors, train customary leaders in national laws and adjudicate appeals from the local level-Kenya Community Land Act)

11. BY-LAWS: Mandate that communities to publicly debate and define the rules by which they will govern themselves (All community by laws should demonstrate how the rules, procedures and practices factor gender in a manner that eliminate discrimination against women especially in the indigenous communities where land control has been traditionally male dominated. ).
IMPACT: Factor a monitoring System that ensure that process of legal empowerment is translating to access to land rights for local communities, women and the marginalized.

12. CONCLUSION
It is important not to underestimate communities' desire to document and protect their communal land claims.
While land rights registration alone will not bring prosperity to communal land areas, it does bring additional social stability and cohesion to these areas, and significantly improve the lives of the households
Alden Wily (2006) reminds us that "insecurity of land tenure is essentially a political condition that can be made, and unmade, at the political level".

13. REFERENCES
Rachael S. Knight. (2010).Statutory recognition of customary land rights in Africa; An investigation into best practices for lawmaking and implementation. FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome,
Leslie Hannay. (Last updated Jul 23, 2014).Women's Land Rights in Uganda; land-rights-in-Uganda.pdf
AUC-ECA-AfDB Consortium. (2010). FRAMEWORK AND GUIDELINES ON LAND POLICY IN AFRICA. Land Policy in Africa: A Framework to Strengthen Land Rights, Enhance Productivity and Secure Livelihoods. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,
GROOTS Kenya. (2013). TAKING ACTION: Community-Led public land mapping process (A community reference guidebook)-Nairobi, Kenya
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