1. Rural Development Institute (RDI)
Land-Related Legal Aid in Community-driven Development: Lessons for Andhra Pradesh
Rural Development Institute (RDI)

2. Rural Poverty in India Dependence on agriculture +
Lack of access to land and secure rights

3. Multi-Faceted Asset Consumption Income- generation Access to credit
Security
Consumption
Income- generation
Access to credit
Social status
Diversification of livelihood options

4. Andhra Pradesh 76 million people 70-80 percent live in villages
75 percent of the rural population dependent on agriculture
10 percent with no land; 50 percent with less than 0.2 hectares

5. APRPRP Land Component Poverty reduction project targeting poorest
Institution-building, income generation
Not reaching poorest – lacked land base

6. Some Causes of Unrealized Benefits of Land Reforms in India
Lack of awareness of land rights
Unrecorded land rights
Pending land disputes
Lack of beneficiary possession of land
Undistributed land
Documentation errors

7. Legal Aid to Provide Secure and Enforceable Rights to Land
Identify: weaknesses in law, lack of information about rights, inadequate systems or capacity, implementation gaps
Facilitate: land rights awareness, administrative functioning, dispute resolution, community-government relationships

8. Legal Aid Framework in APRPRP
Community Based
Organizations
Implementation Mechanisms for Non-Purchase
Legal Aid for Land Activities
Zilla
Samakhya
Land Rights and Legal Assistance
Center
Mandal
Samakhya
Land
Manager
Legal
Coordinator
Community
Surveyors
Village
Organization
Lawyer
Panels
Paralegals
Self-Help Groups
Law Schools/
Law students

9. Legal aid activities Capacity building on land rights
Identification of land issues in village, create plan to address
Revenue Department case review
Surveying
Identification of land for distribution

10. Early Achievements: Land Rights & Legal Empowerment
Identified land issues of 80,000 poor households
Resolved 27% of issues to date
Capacity building for women CBO members
Sensitization of officials
Employment and training of rural youth

11. Adoption of Legal Aid Activity
Significant number of disadvantaged people impacted by land issues
Supportive legal framework
Functioning land dispute and land administration systems
Working relationship between project staff and government
Functioning CBO or NGO framework
+ Cost-benefit analysis

12. Power of Legal Aid
Client-driven
Flexible
Participatory
Effective