A Fit-For-Purpose approach to Land Administration in Africa in support of the new 2030 Global Agenda

Most less developed countries are struggling to find remedies for their many land problems that are often causing land conflicts, reducing investments and economic development, and preventing countries reaching their true potential. Existing investments in land administration have been built on legacy approaches, have been fragmented and have not delivered the required pervasive changes and improvements at scale. The solutions have not helped the most needy - the poor and disadvantaged that have no security of tenure. In fact the beneficiaries have often been the elite and organizations involved in land grabbing. It is time to rethink the approaches. New solutions are required that can deliver security of tenure for all, are affordable and can be quickly developed and incrementally improved over time. The Fit-For-Purpose (FFP) approach to land administration has emerged to meet these simple, but challenging requirements.
This paper describes the key principles for building sustainable and FFP land administration systems in African countries where often less the 10 per cent of the land and population is included in the formal systems. It is argued that building such FFP land administration systems is the only viable solution to solving the global security of tenure divide. The FFP approach is flexible and includes the adaptability to meet the actual and basic needs of society today and having the capability to be incrementally improved over time. This will be triggered in response to social and legal needs of economic development, investments and financial opportunities that may emerge over the longer term. In this FFP approach, land rights can be secured for all in a timely and affordable way.