This report analyses the land registration system and applicable legal framework in Sierra Leone to determine whether these ensure adequate transparency and accountability, particularly in the context of beneficial ownership.

Covers land-tenure system in Amhara Region, the land rights registration process, women’s access to and control of land, land use by men and women, marital property rights, inheritance rights, female-headed households, legal services, conclusions and recommendations.

Asks how can poor people protect their land rights? Stresses importance of land in the social, economic and political life of Africa and fact that land is contested all over Africa, with women’s rights particularly at risk. Land registration is inaccessible to most. African governments have often muddied the water, with land frequently used to reward political loyalty. The commons are especially important for poorer people, but everywhere are under growing pressure as privatisation and enclosure continue.

An in-depth and far-reaching ‘think-piece’ commissioned by ‘but not necessarily reflecting the views of’ DFID. The focus is on Africa and South and South-East Asia, and on land registration and titling, and decentralisation of land administration systems. Draws attention to the effects of land policy for the poor, arguing that land rights are often instruments in local politics and power relations.

Includes land registration: the favourite instrument of the colonial land reclamation policy; land registration in real contexts; need for alternative land tenure securing approaches.

Contains the urban poverty challenge; from illegality to formal tenure; segregation of space – an urban poverty challenge; from government to governance; the role of the state; government as a land owner; management of public land and public spaces; settlement of administrative and community boundaries; local land tenure regularisation; better information and the role of statistical data.

Includes views of land registration in Omahalya Village in the Omusati Region of Namibia, connection to the land, value of registration, protection from land grabbing and conflicts, investing in their land, women’s empowerment, the commonage. Concludes that the village is a promising example of the benefits of Communal Land rights registration. The villagers feel safer on their land, invest more, have fewer conflicts and more equitable inheritance.

Includes the return process, public knowledge of land rights, land conflicts and dispute resolution, post-conflict vulnerable group issues, performance of land administration institutions, recommendations. Finds the issue of return not adequately dealt with in the NLP. 92% have returned in Lango, but only 5% in Acholi.

A working draft which ‘should not be quoted and interpreted as the policy of the Government of Zambia or any other government ministry or department until it has been finally agreed and adopted’. Has a brief background section and a brief section on vision, rationale, guiding principles, and objectives. The bulk is devoted to ‘situation analysis, challenges and policy measures’.

A community land titling initiative designed to protect community lands from land grabbing. Supported communities in Liberia, Mozambique and Uganda to follow their countries’ community land registration laws. Sought to understand what type and level of support was most effective. Concludes that community land documentation may be a more efficient method of land protection that individual and family titling, and should be prioritized in the short term.

Details the development of contemporary land rights policy and poverty alleviation planning in Mozambique, lessons learned from recent experiences of land reform in Zambezia Province, challenges and strategic options for future support for land reform. Argues that the land reform programme has now reached a critical stage with senior officials believing that measures in the 1997 Land Law designed to protect community tenure are obstacles to investment, and growing support for unfettered privatisation of land rights which would mainly benefit speculators.

A study in the Oromiya and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples regions of Ethiopia assesses the impacts of land registration and certification since 2004, including joint certification for husbands and wives. Includes gender implications of land certification and empowerment of women, position of polygamous wives, perceptions of benefits of the reform, recommendations.