1. Responsible Land Management: The Basis for Evaluating Customary Land Management in Dormaa Ahenkro, in Ghana.
Prince D. AMEYAW, Walter DACHAGA, Uchendu E. CHIGBU & Walter T. de VRIES Technical University of Munich Faculty of Civil, Geo & environmental engineering Chair Land Management

2. Outline
Background
Concepts of Customary Land Secretariat (CLS) and Responsible Land Management
Methodology
Land Management needs of the people
Responsiveness of CLS interventions based on 8R indicators
Factors contributing to “low responsible” in CLS interventions
Policy implications and recommendations
Conclusion and the way forward

3. Background
Interventions in land management are activities put in place to respond to local needs of people in the context of land use, land administration, natural resource use and management.
For any land management intervention to deliver the expected results, the beneficiaries of the intervention must be able to identify with: the processes involved in the interventions, the structures in place for carrying out the intervention, and the outcome of the intervention.
This study explores the concept and praxis of “responsible land management” using the CLS of Dormaa Ahenkro to assess how responsible the land management interventions have been since its inception in 2005.

4. Concept of CLS
Researchers have associated CLS with decentralisation of government land management functions, interactive land governance, participatory land management, customary land administration, as well as rural land administration.
This study looks beyond decentralisation and use the concept of responsible land management to evaluate the praxis of CLS.
We view CLSs as community-based land administration units established by land-owning groups to undertake land administration functions that are responsive to local land management needs of society.

5. Concept of Responsible Land Management
The concept depend on certain indicators (presented as the 8Rs of responsible land management). For a land management intervention to be responsible, its structures, process and impact must respond positively to the 8Rs of responsible land management.

6. The case study of the research was the Dormaa Ahenkro CLS
Methodology
The data was analysed based on indicators of “responsible” through coding and content analysis of various responses in relation to the indicators.
The case study of the research was the Dormaa Ahenkro CLS
For data collection, the “Responsible land management matrix” was used

7. Simple Responsible Land Management Matrix
Responsive
Recognizable
Resilient
Robust
Reliable
Respected
Reflexive
Retraceable
Structures
Processes
Impacts
de Vries and Chigbu (2017)

8. In-depth Responsible Land Management Matrix
Responsive
Resilient
Reliable
Reflexive
Retraceable
Recognizable
Robust
Respected 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Structures 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Processes 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Impacts
de Vries and Chigbu (2017)

9. Land Management Needs of the People
Lack of physical social infrastructure despite high land values; community members feel they are not benefiting from revenue generated from stool lands.
Difficulty of local people to acquire land due to high land values; many of the people do not have sustained sources of income.
High rate of land disputes is a deterrent to people for fear of falling victims; disputes are attributed to unrecorded land allocations and conflicting grants between some chiefs (and royals) and the CLS.
Long waiting time to receive land documents from the CLS; legitimate land owners lack evidence incase of dispute and cannot use their lands as collateral.
Lack of consultation with local people on land management decisions; local people lack participation, decisions of chiefs are hardly contested

10. Land Management Interventions of the CLS
Description
Sales and allocation of land to people
CLS manages land on behalf the stool. Therefore it handles the allocation and sale of land. This intervention is intended to minimize litigations associated with buying land from private persons.
Assisting private land owners to sell their lands
The rationale is to realize actual market value for individuals who want to sell their lands. It helps the CLS to obtain information about land transactions directly and record them.
Land dispute adjudication
Many people encountered the CLS because of land dispute, which provided an amicable way of resolving land disputes and maintaining good social relations.
Recording of land rights/ownership
The CLS does customary registration of through issuance of an allocation note. Though allocation notes do not covey title, they provide evidence and a certain degree of security to landowners.
Land boundary demarcation
The CLS carries out boundary and plot demarcations with assistance from experts (surveyors and town planners). This makes the CLS in a better position to settle boundary disputes whenever they arise.

11. Responsiveness of CLS Land Management Interventions
Based on the “Responsible land management matrix”, respondents’ perceptions and opinions of CLS’s interventions were evaluated.
Overall, the results showed that the CLS’s interventions are not “responsible” in the context of fulfilling the land management needs of the people.
Responsible land management matrix
Structured: considered resilient, respected, retraceable and recognizable.
Processes: recognised and respected.
Impacts: reliable, recognized and respected.

12. Factors contributing to the “low responsible” in CLS Interventions
Inadequate staff: inadequacy in terms of numbers and technical expertise
Low level of staff expertise and unavailability of logistics: CLSs lack functioning equipment for executing its functions, and where equipment are available there are no skilled personnel to man them.
Financial constraints: CLSs rely solely on revenue from their respective traditional authorities and not self-recovering to cater for operational cost of doing business.
Lack of monitoring and evaluation: there are no mechanisms in place to measure the achievement of intervention goals as well as whether interventions met the expectations of the people.

13. Policy implications and recommendations
Restructuring CLS administrative set-up
Active consultation and collaborations with public land agencies
Capacity building, logistical support and financial empowerment
Elimination of political interference from the work of the CLS
Legislative review to give legality to CLS activities
Integration of local knowledge and simple technology into CLS intervention process
Public awareness / education on land matters
Relocation of CLS from chief’s palace

14. Conclusion and the way forward
Large percentage of the Ghanaian population access land through the customary arrangements.
Measures must be put in place (by decision and policy makers) to ensure that customary land management by the different the CLSs is responsible enough to address local land management needs.
On this note, the ‘Responsible Land Management Concept’ has been presented here as a guide to help assess and design a land management system that addresses land management needs of specific customary groups at any time.