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Box 5.7 Land Sector Harmonisation, Alignment andCoordination for Poverty Reduction in KenyaIn line with the new agenda on aid effectiveness, theDevelopment Partners Group on Land (DPGL) aims todeliver and manage aid to the land sector in Kenya asto meet the principles of harmonisation, alignment andcoordination (HAC). In its activities and cooperationwith other stakeholders, the DPGL strives to achieveconsensus and support around the policy direction ofthe government instead of pursuing diverging agendas.The emphasis of the group is on three areas: 1) strengtheninggovernment capacity to develop and implementland-related policies and programmemes; 2) aligningdonor support with government priorities as set out inits poverty reduction strategy (PRS), and 3) avoidingduplication and overlapping in aid initiatives. The landsector donor group was officially formed in July 2003 andit has up until 2006 channelled support to the NationalLand Policy Formulation Process through a Basket Fundarrangement. Since its establishment, the donor grouphas supported the government with investments worth ofUS$10 million in the land sector.The support of the DPGL is now expanding beyondpolicy development to cover the main activities run bythe Ministry of Land through the Land Reform SupportProgrammeme (LRSP). The LRSP incorporates elementsrelating to the finalisation of the land policy process,policy implementation, institutional transformation, thedevelopment of a pro-poor Land Information ManagementSystems (LIMS), the implementation of the recommendationsof the Ndungu Commission on illegal allocationof public land and the development of Forced EvictionGuidelines in Kenya.These and other activities have collectively supportedthe Government’s economic recovery strategy (i.e.,PRSP) as well as the government’s efforts to realisethe Millennium Development Goals, particularly relatingto the Eradication of Extreme Poverty and Hunger(MDG 1), Promotion of Gender Equality and Empowermentof Women (MDG 3), and Ensuring EnvironmentalSustainability (MDG 7). Development Partners financiallysupporting the Basket Fund initiative have been DFID(UK), SIDA (Sweden), DCI (Irish Aid) and USAID. Otherdevelopment partners involved in the land sector inKenya include JICA, the Embassies of Finland and Italyy,the World Bank, as well as UN related agencies such asthe FAO, UNDP, and UNEP.Source: Adapted from UN-HABITAT (2007) Global Report on HumanSettlements 2007: Enhancing Urban Safety and Security,London, Earthscan, p. 154established in post-disaster or post-conflict contextsto support the reform process.After deciding on the general tack to take with regardto Legal Empowerment of the Poor, countrieswill likely need to agree on a more detailed processfor managing the reform process. This process willoften include a series of steps as outlined below.These are not necessarily sequential and severalsteps may have to be repeated over time as thesituation changes.• Mobilising stakeholders: Identifying key stakeholdersand agreeing on a process and a setof principles to guide the legal empowermentagenda will be a critical step to build confidenceamong stakeholders. Key issues will include coordinationmechanisms, adoption of a protocol oragreement, and clarification of roles and responsibilities,and agreement on a broad process forreform;• Situation analysis or legal empowerment diagnostic:A detailed assessment should be madeof the relevant issues to be addressed, includingthe relevant aspects of each of the four legal empowermentdomains. The analysis will identifypolicy, legal and institutional issues, as well asgaps in resources, capacity and tools.327