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Download the file - United Nations Rule of Law

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Foster Coalitions <strong>of</strong> Change in Favour <strong>of</strong> EquitableProperty Systems. Donors and international organisationscan engage with domestic groups — suchas businesses, NGOs and grassroots movements <strong>of</strong>peasants and small-business owners — and enlist<strong>the</strong>ir support for property rights reforms in contactwith governments. Depending on <strong>the</strong> circumstances,fostering coalitions <strong>of</strong> change by such practicesmay potentially bear fruit. Success requireslong-term commitment by <strong>the</strong> parties, a stronglocal ownership, wide stakeholder participationand good local management capacity. Donorcountries and multilateral institutions have animportant subsidiary role to play in areas <strong>of</strong> transnationalinformation ga<strong>the</strong>ring and distribution,education, and technical assistance. Multilateralorganisations have an important role to playin making <strong>the</strong> engagements <strong>of</strong> donor countriesmore coherent and coordinated and in providingstandards for intergovernmental peer review.Although <strong>the</strong>re is now considerable awareness<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> property rights for <strong>the</strong> poor,failure to appreciate <strong>the</strong> historical roots, complexity,and political nature <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> underlying issuescan give rise to recommendations that maynot only fail to do justice to <strong>the</strong> topic but couldalso prove to be unsustainable.Capacity Building and Technical Assistance.Given <strong>the</strong> context-specificity and politicallysensitive nature <strong>of</strong> property issues and to makeservices in this area accessible to a majority <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> population, <strong>the</strong>re is a significant need forbuilding capacity on both <strong>the</strong> technical andanalytical levels within <strong>the</strong> public sector as wellas among o<strong>the</strong>r agents who can be mobilised. Inthis domain, <strong>the</strong> international community anddonor countries can provide trans-governmentalor multilaterally coordinated assistance in capacitybuilding leading to greater sustainability<strong>of</strong> reform programmes.Seed-financing <strong>of</strong> Property Reform. Functionalproperty systems are self-sustainable. Longstanding injection <strong>of</strong> aid from abroad would beseen as harmful to this goal or a symptom <strong>of</strong>systemic inadequacy. However, in <strong>the</strong> early stages,and depending on <strong>the</strong> context, many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>above mentioned reforms might be triggered bya combination <strong>of</strong> technical assistance and seedfinancingfrom abroad. Such projects should beaccompanied by clear terms <strong>of</strong> reference as to<strong>the</strong> timetable and phases on <strong>the</strong> path to selfsustainability.Cross-country Land Policy Indicators. Although<strong>the</strong> importance is widely recognised, it is <strong>of</strong>tendifficult to integrate land rights into policy dialogueor to demonstrate <strong>the</strong> seriousness <strong>of</strong> anissue due to <strong>the</strong> lack <strong>of</strong> comparable indicators.Experience in o<strong>the</strong>r sectors has shown that defininga simple set <strong>of</strong> indicators, some <strong>of</strong> whichcould be generated by <strong>the</strong> land administrationsystem on a routine basis, could make it mucheasier to steer <strong>the</strong> policy dialogue towards criticalissues and at <strong>the</strong> same time to measureprogress over time. Such indicators should include:(1) coverage and accessibility <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> system,potential and actual; (2) cost-effectiveness<strong>of</strong> service provision; (3) extent to which governmentholds or acquires land rights and <strong>the</strong> wayin which <strong>the</strong>y are exercised, and (4) ways toaccess property through market and non-marketchannels.Ranking Systems <strong>of</strong> Property Rights Afforded toWomen. In <strong>the</strong> multilateral sphere, one possibleapproach to addressing <strong>the</strong> problem <strong>of</strong> discrimination<strong>of</strong> women in property matters would be t<strong>of</strong>ormulate a rigorous ranking system <strong>of</strong> propertyrights protection afforded to women. Such anindex/ranking may focus attention on how differentcountries score in terms <strong>of</strong> enforcement,protection, scope and depth <strong>of</strong> rights. Ranking113

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