Background and objectives:

UN-HABITAT was one of the founding partners of the Kenya Development Partners Group on Land (DPGL) in 2004 and has chaired the group for five years. DPGL has supported the Government of Kenya, through the Ministry of Lands, in the development of a land policy framework, which deals 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, but the implementation of the policy has now become a key governance covenant between the Government of Kenya and Development Partners. A common framework agreement for the implementation of the policy has now been agreed by DPGL.

The main objective of the support is:

• 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.
• 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.

Activities:
Key activities so far have included:   

• 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
• linkages between the DPGL and the Kenya Joint Assistance Strategy
• common framework agreement established between the Ministry of Lands and DPGL, based on the Land Reform Transformation Programme
• assessment process started to establish the capacity gap in regard to the national land policy implementation. This will form part of the discussions with the Ministry.

Results:
The following results have been achieved:

• 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.
• Coordination of policy dialogue on sector specific issues and provision of information and technical advice.