The political economy of land reform in post conflict Rwanda (1994-2020)

Insecurity over land ownership in Rwanda was a critical part of the tension between communities. Addressing insecurity around land has consequently been one of the foremost priorities of the post-conflict reforms initiated in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Rwanda set out to address the issue of land ownership and land-related challenges through passage of several laws and policies. The 2004 National Land Policy which was reviewed in 2019 provides general guidance on a rational and planned use of land while ensuring sound land management and efficient land administration. A wide- ranging program initiated by the Rwandan government between 2008 and 2012 to map and title land parcels for the entire country has played an important role in improving service delivery and reducing corruption risks. The main objective of this research was to explore the political economy of land reform programs in post conflict Rwanda and the specific objectives were arranged according to the variables of the study and they include the following; to assess the political economic land reform programs, to explore the political impacts of land reform programs and to evaluate the economic impacts of land reform programs in Rwanda. Desktop approach with the aid of secondary datasets was used in this research. The secondary datasets consisted of data collected mainly from Government institutions like Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture, Rwanda Land Management and Use Authority, Rwanda Governance Board, National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda and district offices and the internet mainly journals with documents related to; land distribution, land sharing, land redistribution, legal and institutional framework, Land Tenure Regularization Programme, agricultural reports, Land reform programs, political economy, and post conflicts amongst many others. The findings indicated that; Rwanda set out to address the issue of land ownership and land-related challenges through passage of several laws and policies. The Land Tenure Regularization (LTR) programme was then established to register and administer land ownership in Rwanda. The major impact of the new land administration reforms lay in the more effective processing and transaction handling of land titles. It was concluded a well thoughtful land reform great impacts the political economy of the country and it is obvious that the benefits are enormous as the outcomes of implementing it are being used in various ways that are contributing to the economic development of the country. The impressive economic benefits of the reform serve as a motivation for other African countries to go the Rwandan route. It was recommended that there must be a mechanism to secure landowners’ rights, provide land accessibility mechanisms which is equitable to all and more efforts should also be put into streamlining land services; that is the whole process of legal land registration, transaction, and ownership

Exploring the Nexus between Displacement and Land Administration: The Case of Rwanda

In conflict situations, many people are displaced because of hostility and arms in the area. Displaced people are forced to leave behind their properties, and this in turn interrupts the relationship between people and their land. The emergency period in particular has been identified as a weak point in the humanitarian response to land issues in post-conflict situations. In addition, during this period of response, most post-conflict governments do not prioritize land administration as an emergency issue due to other social, economic, security, and political challenges, which countries face in the immediate aftermath of the conflict. In the longer run, this results in post-conflict illegal land occupation, secondary occupation, numerous disputes and claims over land, and dysfunctional government institutions that legalize these illegal and secondary occupations. This research explores the nexus between displacement and land administration in a post-conflict context. It uses empirical data from fieldwork in Rwanda, and discusses how government interventions in land administration in emergency and early recovery periods of post-conflict situations affect future land administration during the reconstruction phase. The post-conflict Rwandan government envisaged proper land administration as a contributor to sustainable peace and security as it enhances social equity and prevents conflicts. Thus, it embarked on a nationwide systematic land registration program to register land all over the country with the aim of easing land administration practices and reducing successive land-related claims and disputes. However, the program faced many challenges, among which were continuous land claims and disputes. Our research anticipates these continued land claims and disputes are due to how land issues were handled in the emergency and early recovery period of the post-conflict Rwanda, especially during land sharing initiatives and Imidugudu (collective settlement policy)

Cadastral Entrepreneurs Recognizing the Innovators of Sustainable Land Administration

The role of entrepreneurship in land administration remains relatively unexplored. Whilst the opportunity for the private sector is understood, with Statement 5 of Cadastre 2014 being a notable example, amongst other reports on the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs), the scale and impact of cadastral entrepreneurs is not always widely acknowledged. Cadastral literature tends to have a ‘top-down’ focus, closely examining the role and activities of the public sector. A ‘bottom-up’ viewpoint, driven by non-for-profits and civil society organizations, is also evident, tending to critique the activities of the former. However, in many jurisdictions, private sector actors increasingly complete large amounts of cadastral work – and behind these SMEs sit cadastral entrepreneurs, or ‘cadastrepreneurs’. Core activities including cadastral adjudication, surveying, demarcation and mapping may be entirely privatized – with the public sector concentrating on policy, law, monitoring, and enforcement. Recognizing the importance of cadastral entrepreneurs seems important in emerging market-based economies, particularly those seeking to establish underpinning and sustainable land administration systems – where scaling and sustaining initiatives remain challenging, even in the era of fit-forpurpose. If services are intended to be delivered via the market, including cadastral services, then enabling policies, laws, fiscal controls, and educational offerings, for cadastral entrepreneurs and SMEs to prosper within, require fostering in parallel. In the 30-50 countries maintaining complete cadastres, good evidence of these enabling environments exists. However, such environments must be implemented responsibly, avoiding the (re)creation of privatized monopolies and rent seeking behavior. In other contexts, development projects have arguably not been sustainable due to a focus on government, and the failure to inspire and enable cadastral entrepreneurs – towards the common good. This paper seeks to ignite debate on the opportunities, challenges, and limitations of cadastral entrepreneurship – and to set an agenda for how to better incorporate the benefits of cadastral entrepreneurship into sustainable land administration

LAND GOVERNANCE ARRANGEMENTS IN EASTERN AFRICA: DESCRIPTION AND COMPARISON

This study is aimed to assess features of land governance arrangements in the Eastern Africa region. Comparative and qualitative research approach was employed to achieve the objectives of the study. The research was also conducted within the context of long standing research collaboration under the umbrella of the Eastern African Land Administration Network (EALAN). The Eastern African countries included in this study are those represented through respective institutions in the EALAN, namely: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The findings of this research reveals that the region manifests diverse background of land governance arrangements where formal and informal actors and processes still important. The study also shows that the formal systems in most of the countries are not reaching large parts of the society yet. Due to the limitations of the formal systems, aspects of custom and informal authority structures exist and seem to be used by most people for conflict resolution and other transactions related to land. Therefore, more effort is required to make the formal systems more accessible, including altering current formal systems and making them less bureaucratic and more affordable for majority of the people in the region