The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) - Development of Pro Poor Land Tools
Day / Time Tuesday, June 20th / 16:30 - 18:30
Event Description
There are few more contentious and complex problems in the world than those dealing with land and secure tenure. Many religions have firm rules on land and inheritance, most communities have deeply ingrained cultural traditions, and every government faces the challenge of land differently, with its own vast array of laws and with varying degrees of political will. In many countries, there is large-scale corruption associated with land. Sound land governance approaches are, therefore, primary in building peace. The GLTN initiative is driven by the following perceptions: there are insufficient pro poor tools to implement the land policies found in the Habitat Agenda, which is limiting the ability of governments to implement the Agenda; and land policies tend to focus on description and analysis rather than implementation.
Session Language
English
Speakers
Holger Magel, President, The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG)
Agnes Kalibbala, Ambassador, The Uganda High Commission, Kenya
Klaus Deininger, World Bank
Host Organization
UN-HABITAT Shelter Branch
Host Organization Description
The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all. UN-HABITAT's Land and Tenure Section is the agency's focal point for land management and tenure systems, policies and legislation that help achieve adequate shelter, security of tenure and equal access to economic resources for all, with a specific focus on gender equality. The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) originates from requests made by Member States and local communities world-wide to UN-HABITAT, who together with Sida and the World Bank initiated the network idea. The network is a long term initiative to support and upscale ongoing initiatives on systematic, innovative, pro-poor, affordable and gender sensitive land tools.
Website
Report
Title of Event: Name of Organisation: Date and time of the session: |
Global Land Tool Network, Development Of Pro Poor Land Tools UN-HABITAT and GLTN partners
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Key Highlights
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2. What were the core issues identified in your event as they relate to the theme and sub-themes of WUFIII? The lack of pro poor land tools hampers poverty alleviation initiatives globally. The Global Land Tool Network hence aims to address the gap between current land policy approaches and the phase of implementation, by creating spaces of interaction between various stakeholders involved in land development and by lending support to existing pro poor land tools. The Global Campaign for Secure Tenure (GCST) by UN-HABITAT and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) provide the overall framework of the GLTN and the network is outlined in accordance with the principles provided by the Paris Declaration on the harmonization of donor involvement in developing contexts. |
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3. What were the main points raised by panellists and participants in relation to these different issues? What new ideas have been generated as a result of the discussion? Invited speakers such as Jan Meeuwissen, Sergej Melnichenko and Mohamed Elewa presented reviews of Expert Group Meetings (EGM) held on GLTN themes during 2005. In summary, the EGM-meetings addressed issues such as the key role played by land policies in achieving sustainable socio-economic growth, the need for innovative as well as effective land tools to realize this goal but also that the GLTN-initiative needs to conduct a bottom-up approach in order to be sustainable in the long term. Dan Lewis from UN-HABITAT drew attention to the need to address land tenure issues in post-conflict contexts, as there is very little cohesive material on the subject and strategic tools are lacking on how to deal with such development obstacles. Siraj Sait, Legal Officer, presented the draft Gender Mechanism of GLTN. The mechanism proposes a framework; methodologies and strategies that can be employed by GLTN partners to support gendered land tools, which will enhance women's rights and security of tenure. Features built into the mechanism consist of a multi-stakeholder approach, systematic multi-stage methodology, the building on current tooling processes by partners and the prerequisite that tools are gendered in women-led processes. Kaori Izumi, speaking on behalf of FAO, raised the needs by HIV-positive groups in terms of land development and how inheritance structures, as well as land grabbing, affect women and children in access to resources. Holger Magel and Richard Sliuzas, from FIG and ITC respectively, drew attention to the need to need for innovation, unconventional approaches and an emphasis on capacity-building in order to achieve the objectives of the Global Land Tool Network. On another note, the Huariou Commission's Jan Petersen anticipated that there would be positive outcomes by the GLTN, more specifically in recent projects in partnership with UN-HABITAT and FAO in Africa, which places gender and genderised tooling processes as a central priority. G77 The G77 and China representative, Agnes Kalibbala, stated that the tools supported in the Global Land Tool Network should assist in slum upgrading programmes, as it is key to significantly raise the living conditions among the world's urban poor. Beth Chitekwe of Slum Dwellers International drew attention to the resourcefulness of local communities in driving their own initiatives, i.e. realizing delivery of basic services, through for example applying different tools on information generation. |
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4. What process steps have been identified in your event that could help turn ideas into operational reality? The World Bank discussed the agreement on a "continuum of land rights", which has implications for policy development and implementation on a country level, as the Global Land Tool Network will have a central role in bringing on board relevant stakeholders on tool development. By working together with key partners on pro poor land tool development the network event concluded that GLTN will be able to turn ideas into action. |
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