Tackling rural poverty, together

Extract

Guidelines for support to land policy design and land policy reform processes in developing countries.

In recent years, issues of access to land and natural resources have been of growing concern to developing country governments and donors. Much evolution in experience and thinking has taken place over this period, with several multilateral and bilateral donors drawing up new policy papers on land. Given the shared vision and values held by EU member states, these policy and operational guidelines were commissioned by the EU Heads of Rural Development to a Task Force of member states and Commission experts, and are intended to form the basis for a common reference framework to design support to land policy and land reform processes hence contributing to greater co-ordination among EU donors and with bilateral and multilateral donors.

The purpose of this paper is therefore to outline guidelines to be considered by EU donors in the design of their support for interventions in land policy and administration in developing countries. The focus in these Guidelines is on rural land, however much of the discussion will be of considerable relevance to urban areas and can contribute to a national land policy. The document oriented towards generalist and specialist staff, both at field and headquarters with responsibilities directly or indirectly connected with land issues in rural areas.