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Download the file - United Nations Rule of Law

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4.Bring existing technical solutions up to date.Particularly in <strong>the</strong> land sector, many <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>existing legal instruments are inadequate. Landinformation systems are <strong>of</strong>ten expensive, complicated,and bureaucratic and, as a result, quicklybecome outdated. Unfortunately, <strong>the</strong> systemsrequired, for example, to integrate innovativeforms <strong>of</strong> tenure (certificates, group rights, etc.)into <strong>the</strong> national spatial data infrastructure donot currently exist. As emphasised in Chapter 2<strong>of</strong> this report, <strong>the</strong> choice <strong>of</strong> long-term technicalsolutions must be driven by <strong>the</strong> willingness andability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> users to pay. Thus an importantelement in successful Legal Empowerment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>Poor implementation will be <strong>the</strong> appropriateness<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> underlying analysis and <strong>the</strong> existence orcreation <strong>of</strong> technical systems to support reform.5.Bring toge<strong>the</strong>r technical expertise and grassrootsexperience. Technocrats dominate policymakingin Legal Empowerment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Poor. While validreasons exist for some technical requirements,grassroots realities and community solutionsalso need to be understood and incorporated in<strong>the</strong> reform process. If a law does not meet itsusers’ needs, it is useless to <strong>the</strong> poor.6.Dedicate resources to support participatoryprocesses and coordination. While technicalsolutions <strong>of</strong>ten attract significant donor andgovernment interest, capacity development forparticipation and coordination mechanisms is<strong>of</strong>ten undervalued and <strong>the</strong>refore under-funded.O<strong>the</strong>r kinds <strong>of</strong> support, for example, are translation<strong>of</strong> laws and regulations into local languages,or grants to local civil society groups to lay bareLegal Empowerment <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Poor issues and t<strong>of</strong>und dissemination campaigns. Specific supportis required for coordination, preparation <strong>of</strong> researchand options papers, and information dissemination.Peer exchanges (both inter-regionaland intra-regional) are ano<strong>the</strong>r valuable pro-poortool for building commitment to reform and formaintaining momentum over time.7.Provide effective outreach. Under intense pressuresto deliver, information and communicationprogrammemes are <strong>of</strong>ten neglected during implementation.Yet without a dedicated outreachcampaign, clients will rarely adopt <strong>the</strong> proposedreforms. Feedback received from those involvedneeds to be cycled back into <strong>the</strong> reform process,to keep it homegrown and responsive to demand.8.Provide access to information. Two-way communicationbetween governments and <strong>the</strong> poorwill need to be improved. For example, access toinformation has helped people to secure tenureand to tackle job discrimination through a betterunderstanding <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir rights. There are also examplesin post-disaster and post-conflict nations<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> providing access to information.Mobilising resources to take advantage <strong>of</strong>information in support <strong>of</strong> Legal Empowerment <strong>of</strong><strong>the</strong> Poor presents a challenge because in manycountries information that is nominally ‘public’is in practice difficult to obtain. In India, for example,civil society organisations waged a fiercecampaign to gain access to public budget andexpenditure data using freedom <strong>of</strong> informationlaws in six states, which later culminated in <strong>the</strong>passage <strong>of</strong> a national law. However, in countrieswhere civil society is weak, and where certainsocial groups have been marginalized over extendedperiods <strong>of</strong> time, <strong>the</strong> ability <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> poor toengage in effective collective action is likely tobe limited and fragile.9.Bundle service delivery. The strategy <strong>of</strong> bundlingservices is highlighted in several chapters <strong>of</strong> thisreport; it is seen as a cost-effective strategy fordelivering a variety <strong>of</strong> services to <strong>the</strong> poor. Anexample is to deliver identity cards with vaccinationprogrammemes. Such bundling may alsohave <strong>the</strong> great potential <strong>of</strong> contributing to com-335

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