Tenure Domain, Pro-Poor Land Administration

Land is the key issue behind slum formation. Addressing the slum challenge means taking the land issue seriously. Given that experience has shown that it takes 15-25 years to change a country's land administration system, we cannot afford to wait if we wish to improve the lives of slum dwellers now in the short-term. Many people think that the way to solve the problems of insecurity of tenure, homelessness and the development of slums is through large scale land titling (Biau, 2005). While this approach is of course important and necessary, it is not enough on its own to deliver security of tenure to the majority of citizens in most developing counties, especially in Africa. The best figures available indicate that less than 30 percent of the land in developing countries is titled. In many countries of Sub Saharan Africa, this drops to one percent. There are many reasons for this, such as the fact that customary tenure has a very strong influence. Individual land titling often works against the needs and aspirations of ordinary people, including in urban Africa where informal forms of land tenure are often adaptations of rural customs. Land administration systems with colonial roots do not really support the registration of customary or informal rights. This means that socio-technical innovations are required. I