Rwanda: Land Tenure Reform

2005 - 2009

Multi-million pound project

Ministry of Natural Resources (MINIRENA)and DFID

400 staff months of expertise in land reform, administration, land tenure regularisation; capacity and institution building; monitoring and evaluation.

HTSPE and local partners provided three years of support to the Rwandan Ministry of Lands, Environment, Forestry, Water and Mines (MINITERE now the Ministry of Natural Resources - MINIRENA) to facilitate land reform through a process of institutional capacity building for decentralised land administration and the development of a Strategic Road Map for implementation.

The scope of the project included:

• development of policy and legal framework;
• design and development of institutional framework;
• capacity building in all aspects of law, regulations and procedures;
• field trials of land tenure regularisation – local liaison and practical fieldwork work in local government down to village level;
• economic impact, monitoring and evaluation assessments of field trials;
• design and implementation of new administration systems;
• establishing government, donor and civil society consultation frameworks; and
• liaising with donors on funding requirements and arrangements in the land sector.

A key objective of this DFID-funded capacity building programme was to enable MINIRENA to further develop policy and lead the land reform process. The project fitted within the overall goal of achieving a land reform process that secures the rights of all citizens, with full inclusion of the poor and vulnerable, whilst also supporting national economic development and promoting environmental sustainability.

The objective of Phase 2 (2010 – 2013), also funded by DFID and implemented by HTSPE, is to support the planning and implementation of the land tenure regularisation process.

HTSPE collaborated closely with the Investment Climate Facility (ICF) for Africa to support the emergence of an effective and efficient land registration system that will facilitate all land transactions in the country and promote investment. The project provided direct technical advice and support to land administration and the development of a legal framework to support economic development whilst safeguarding the rights of vulnerable communities.

In addition the project developed a system for participatory systematic regularisation of land tenure (LTR) and a preliminary LTR database linking all records to land parcel maps. This allows MINIRENA to quickly identify land holders and any ongoing land disputes. This database is integral to the development of a National Land Registry.

The three principal outputs of the project have all scored highly in a recent ‘Output to Purpose’ review mission undertaken by DFID:

• Strategic Road Map for land reform;
• capacity building component; and
• donor consultation framework.