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Land Sector Corruption in Ethiopia 319
Building capacity and an environment for service delivery. Systemic
changes need to occur to support the decentralized institutional environment
providing normative frameworks at the woreda and municipal
levels. Important steps in the reform process are (a) resolution of ambiguities
in the administrative and management roles and mandates for
local governance and (b) complementing this resolution with recurrent
reporting and auditing of activities.
In addition, the reform of land institutions should place much greater
emphasis on improving services and functionality. A large part of the
effort involves ensuring sustainable financial and technical capacity
within resource constraints. Reengineering processes and document
management will have greater impact on curbing corrupt practices and
generating behavioral shifts than a technically engineered solution of
computerization. These steps need to be supported by significant financial
and political support from the federal level. Moreover, informal
systems and payments will continue to occur until the formal system
offers a better service and cannot be undermined by corrupt practices.
These are the key steps in building capacity:
• Establishment of a supervisory body to deal with and investigate complaints
made by the public
• Comprehensive public awareness campaigns, including systems to capture
public feedback
• Definition and implementation of service delivery standards
• Agreement on fee schedules and funding for the development and
ongoing operation of systems based on detailed financial models for
anticipated service delivery
• Training of land sector staff in ethical conduct and the development
and implementation of systems to monitor their conduct and handle
any complaints from the public.
Phasing of Reform Activity
“It is important to note that there are no quick fixes to land tenure problems.
Except in particularly favorable circumstances, improvements in this field can
only be achieved in the long run.” (Wachter and English 1992, 17)
As noted by Wachter and English in their 1992 review of World Bank
experience with rural land administration projects, implementing change
in the land sector is a long-term activity. The development of land policy
will take time. Developing and implementing improved systems will also