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SecTenSusPeace: Localizing land-registration in conflict-affected areas

SecTenSusPeace: SECURING TENURE, SUSTAINABLE PEACE? The challenges of localizing land-registration in conflict-affected Burundi and eastern DR Congo

In conflict-affected settings, land tenure security of smallholders is seen as essential to prevent local land disputes and sustain peace, enable recovery of rural livelihoods, and advance ecologically and socially sustainable agricultural production. To enhance tenure security –which is often severely compromised during conflict– interveners tend to turn to land registration and other forms of formally acknowledging claims to land. However, conventional state-led approaches relying on centrally-organised, individual titling often fail to deal with very complex local land struggles. Yet, the alternative of recognizing customary land governance is also problematic. Contrary to expectations, customary arrangements may also fail to find locally embedded, acceptable solutions.

Hoping to overcome the shortcomings of both approaches, policy makers and development practitioners are currently experimenting with ‘third way’ approaches that combine statutory and local arrangements. But while land registration faces important challenges in stable settings, these become even more critical in conflict-affected settings. Not only is there less agreement on what norms prevail; approaches also tend to feed into local institutional competition, result in new exclusions, and impinge on struggles around identity and belonging. Through local fieldwork in pilots on new approaches to registration in Burundi and eastern DR Congo, the project aims to contribute to a better understanding of the challenges of local land registration and the recognition of claims in conflict-affected settings. Through knowledge-sharing with practitioners, it generates instruments that help interveners better map potential outcomes.

Project leader: Dr. M. van Leeuwen, Radboud University (the Netherlands)

Principal investigators: Dr. G. van der Haar, Wageningen University and Research (the Netherlands), Dr. A. Ansoms, Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium), Prof. S. Mugangu, Institut Supérieur de Développement Rural de Bukavu (Democratic Republic of Congo)

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T2S Early-career researchers’ perspectives: Joël Baraka Akilimali, Université catholique de Louvain / Institut Supérieur de Développement Rural de Bukavu (ISDR‐Bukavu); SecTenSusPeace
Interviews, Opinions & blogs
T2S Early-career researchers’ perspectives: Patient Polepole, Institut Supérieur de Développement Rural de Bukavu (ISDR‐Bukavu) ‐ Angaza Institute; SecTenSusPeace
Interviews, Opinions & blogs
Promoting land tenure security for sustainable peace — lessons on the politics of transformation
Articles
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Dr. A. Ansoms

Catholic University of Leuven
Belgium

Prof. S. Mugangu

Institut Supérieur de Développement Rural de Bukavu
Democratic Republic of Congo

Dr. G. van der Haar

Wageningen University and Research
The Netherlands

Dr. M. van Leeuwen

Radboud University
The Netherlands
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  • T2S Coordination Office

    Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
    Email: T2S@nwo.nl
    Postal address: PO Box 93461
    NL-2509 AL The Hague
    The Netherlands

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    Laan van Nieuw Oost-Indië 300
    NL-2593 CE  The Hague
    The Netherlands

  • Grant Agreement

    This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 730211.
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