UN-HABITAT was one of the founding partners of the Kenya Development Partners Group on Land (DPGL) in 2004. UN-HABITAT has chaired this group for 5 years. DPGL supported the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Lands, in the development of a land policy framework for the country, which deals also with historical injustices, informal settlement upgrading and urban land management. The finalisation of the national policy was delayed by post election conflict in January, 2008. The implementation of the policy has now become a key governance covenant between the Government of Kenya and the Development Partners. A common framework agreement for the implementation of the policy has been agreed by DPGL. UN-HABITAT will continue to give technical assistance to DPGL. This has been boosted by funding from Sida Nairobi, for 2 staff members, to support UN-HABITAT’s role. Also, through funding from the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), a number of activities will be supported (See Global programmes). The main objective of the support is firstly to give technical assistance to DPGL and the Ministry of Lands, as it implements the land policy, in relation to land administration, land information management, affordable land record management and spatial infrastructure, also through decentralised pilots. The second, GLTN funded, objective is to fund the assessment of the capacity gap in regard to the national land policy implementation, and the capacity development required. Funding will also go towards activities related to affordable land records and spatial infrastructure particularly in regard to the further development of the Land Administration Domain Model.
Location: Kenya Branch: - Land, Tenure & Property Administration Partner: Government of Kenya, Ministry of Lands Donor: Sida, USAID, IFAD, FAO Theme: - Land & Tenure Cost: USD 530,000

Key activities to date relate to the coordination of the DPGL and its relationship with the Ministry of Lands, both in regard to the national land policy and to the implementation framework of this policy. Another aspect of this coordination relates to the linkages between the DPGL and the Kenya Joint Assistance Strategy. A common framework agreement has been established between the Ministry of Lands and DPGL based on the Land Reform Transformation Programme document and its associated Land Information Management document. UN-HABITAT, will fund a few of the activities within this document, which also fit with the Work Plan of the Ministry. These activities will be funded together with other Development Partners, specifically Sida, in regard to the affordable land records and spatial infrastructure. The assessment of the capacity gap in regard to the national land policy implementation, and the capacity required will have been completed by early 2009 and will form part of the ongoing discussions with the Ministry.

 Results 

• Coordination of DPGL funding for the support of Government of Kenya, Ministry of Lands of about USD 10 million
• Coordination of the funding by DPGL for the National Land Policy process, the largest process undertaken in Kenya’s history outside of the Constitutional Review Process.
• Coordination of the funding of the National Land Policy, which has been supported by Government, private sector and civil society, which has gone to Cabinet.
• Coordination of the DPGL funding for the support of the Land Policy Implementation Framework, namely the Land Reform Transformation Programme.