PROVIDNG SECURE TENURE FOR ALL:A Country Implementation Strategy for Fit-For-Purpose Land Administration. The case of Uganda

Abstract

In this paper, we present and discuss the principles, approach and provisions for a country implementation strategy for Fit for Purpose Land Administration in Uganda. The Fit–For-Purpose Land Administration (FFP LA) concept has gained recognition by governments, global professional bodies and international development agencies, as a complementary approach to conventional land administration.  FFP LA puts into consideration the cultural, social, economic and political context of a country to build the components of land administration so as to benefit all the members of society.  In Uganda, conventional Land administration approaches have only managed to record 500,000 parcels (2%) out of the estimated 23 million parcels country-wide, and this has taken more than 100 years. Yet, more than 80% of the land is held customarily and is characterized by underdevelopment, land conflicts, land grabbing and overlapping land rights. Uganda is therefore in need of faster, flexible and low cost approaches for land administration. With Support from GLTN - UN Habitat, Uganda developed a country implementation strategy for Fit for Purpose Land Administration. It was developed through a bottoms up approach that utilised a combination of review of the country's land administration context, use of GLTN published guidelines for Fit for Purpose country level implementation, consideration of international best practices and local stakeholder consultations and endorsements. The overall goal of the strategy is to improve the existing complicated, sporadic, bureaucratic and expensive approaches to Land administration that have not delivered the expected impacts on national development at the desired levels. The Strategy will be implemented over a period of 10 years, divided into 4 phases at a cost of US $500 million. An estimated 23 million parcels will be planned, mapped, documented and land administration infrastructure established at sub-county level. The cost of registration of each parcel is estimated at US$ 10 while the cost of rapid physical planning appraisal and establishing land administration infrastructure across the entire country is estimated at US $ 11 per parcel