General

Chad is at the verge of an emerging land tenure crisis. As observed in many countries in Africa, formal and customary tenure systems overlap. Customary tenure systems, that generally prevail in rural areas, differ from region to region, with each its own needs and practices. Land conflicts are abundant, caused by degradation and transformation of land surfaces caused by climate change, as well as land investments by domestic investors with disputed legitimacy. Women, particularly, struggle in practice to obtain the same rights to land as men, even though country’s constitution enshrines gender equality. These land challenges play against a backdrop of a country in conflict. A land tenure crisis could lead to more disputes over land, weakened land productivity, uncontrolled urban development, and result in further social unrest of the country if not adequately addressed. Project objective The project aims to contribute to a more transparent and inclusive land administration system in Chad, especially for tenure insecure groups (women and youth), which creates security for communities to invest in sustainable income generating activities. Project strategies - Finalization of the Land Code: a review and rewrite of the content, combined with a multi-stakeholder validation workshop - Support to socio-economic land reform, with special attention for inclusion of women and youth, strengthening civil society organizations, capacity building on agricultural practices and dispute resolution mechanisms.   - Improving the land registration system in N’Djamena by developing a blueprint of the current situation and roadmap towards the preferred future situation, together with the relevant government authorities in Chad.

General

This project complements the project 'Support to and Capitalization on the EU Land Governance Programme in Africa' and is aimed at facilitating the integration of eigtht new in-country projects (Brazil, Cameroon, Columbia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Pakistan, Sudan and Uganda) into the existing mechanisms for transversal support under Phase I and enhances support by building on lessons learnt and additional needs particularly in the area of capacity development. All activities under Phase II will be interlinked, jointly implemented and mutually supportive of each other and of activities planned under Phase I. The following areas of work are addressed under this phase: (i) VGGT are mainstreamed in project during the project start-up phase; (ii) Activities of the in-country projects are capitalized and coordinated; (iii) Capacities of project staff, national counterparts and other stakeholders are developed; (iv) In-country projects receive direct support from FAO; (v) Monitoring is enhanced and lessons learnt are documented and disseminated.