This publication is the product of a multi-year cluster analytical and advisory work on social and land conflict management of the World Bank office in Hanoi, which aimed to assist Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE) to improve the land acquisition and conversion process to achieve more sustainable development during the current rapid urbanization and industrialization process.  (Ref: Orginal Source)

The Cocoa Research Institute of Ghana (CRIG), with support from the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF) the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), performed the Ghana Land Tenure Baseline Survey, the first of its kind survey of tenure rights among cocoa farmers in Ghana. CRIG surveyed almost 1,800 cocoa farmers operating 3,900 cocoa plots regarding various land tenure issues within customary sharecropping arrangements and on owner-managed land. This report describes the findings from the Survey.

Administration of land in Tanzania is more decentralized from the president to the village level. The law gives power to village councils and village assemblies to administer village land. The District authorities are given advisory and supervisory mandates over villages and represent the commissioner who takes overall administrative powers.  Despite decentralization, institutions responsible for land administration, land have continued to be cause of many conflicts for years.  Conflicts have been escalating and lead loss of lives and property.

The economies of many countries such as the Gulf and Southern African States are to a considerable extent sustained by financial flows from extraction of mineral resources and fossil fuels. The discovery of such fortunes, in sufficiently viable quantities, can be a significant national blessing for effectively addressing development challenges. However, experience in other countries has shown that financial resources obtainable from mineral and fossil fuel extraction – the Extractive Industry, have not always assisted economic and social development.

This study sought to follow up the implementation of the Kilimo Kwanza initiative with the view to establish reliable facts on its significance to small-scale producers, mainly peasants and pastoralists. To achieve this, the study began by examining the perception of small-scale producers about Kilimo Kwanza and it assessed their participation in the implementation process. Moreover, the study scrutinized the proposed amendment of the Village Land Act and its implication to small-scale produces if carried out.

It is almost a decade now since the fights between Pastoralists and peasants broke out in Kilosa district Morogoro region in December 2000 claiming tens of people’s lives and causing irreparable losses and damages their properties. While the wounds of that dark record are still fresh in some of the minds of the communities in Kilosa, another very serious fight between the same or rather similar groups occurred this October prompting the media and human rights activists to find some ways to intervene in a bid to find lasting solutions for the problems.

This fact finding is based on one of the claims of a group of peri-urban dwellers in Kimere, Mapinga village in Bagamoyo District, whose land they claim have been invaded by one of the well connected elite with a view to assist them register their rights only to realise later on that he was playing a tricky game to own their land. 

A fact-finding mission team was formed as a result of consultative meetings on the land dispute between the village government and pastoralists in Vilima Vitatu village in Babati district. The team was comprised of the following members: Kassian Mshomba (LHRC), Seif Mangwangi (Majira), Diana Mawalla (PINGOs Forum), Hamadi Sadick, Emmanuel Cornel (PINGOs Forum), Asraji Mvungi (ITV), Rodgers Luhwago (The Citizen), Bakari Mnkondo (Uhuru), Bernard Baha (HakiArdhi) and Chambi Chachage (Independent Researcher).

Land use conflicts are common phenomena in Tanzania and the world at large. One major reason before going to specific cases hinges on the fact that land does not expand while people and other living organizations that depend on it keeps on increasing on the early surface. This un matching ratio between land as basic resources for livelihoods and its users constantly results into land use conflicts.

Contemporary waves of large scale land acquisitions for commercial production in developing countries in Africa and other parts of the world have been branded as ‘land grabs’ by many scholars, media and activists. Some scholars have describe this phenomena as the “new scramble for Africa” (Moyo and Yeros, 2011). However, others have refuted such a description on the grounds that the current land deals are being negotiated by sovereign African states in the exercise of powers that they have under national laws (Odhiambo, 2011).

This paper uses District Land and Housing Tribunal (DLHT) as a case study to argue that the principle conceived in the enactment of the law that established the tribunal is far from becoming a reality. It uses data of the past four years to demonstrate that DLHT is overburdened by increment of an average of 2000 pending cases every year. It further shows legal and practical challenges that hinder access to and independence of DLHT. The paper calls for drastic strategic measures to strengthen DLHT in terms of human resources and facilities.

The Land Rights Research and Resources Institute held its second National level Public Forum on land on 12-13 May 2005. The two day forum was partly one of the planned activities in the Institute’s three year Strategic plan and a special event to commemorate the Institute’s tenth Anniversary. It thus took place along with other activities such as Training of Trainers (TOT) workshop, preparation and running of a documentary on land rights advocacy, special media programmes, Special theatre performance by Dhahabu theatre arts Group and moving into a more specious office premise.