From Cost Recovery to Resilience: Country Experiences in Building Financially Viable Land Systems
As global demand for secure land rights increases, the need for financially sustainable land administration systems has never been more pressing. On May 7, 2025, the session "Sustainable Financing for Effective Land Administration" at the World Bank Land Conference brought together national leaders and international experts to discuss real-world solutions for financing land systems in a scalable, efficient, and citizen-centered manner. Sponsored by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and GIZ, the session built on country-level experience and data to illuminate the evolving strategies of land agencies across Africa and Latin America.
Chaired by Poppy Rodriguez, Senior Policy and Programme Manager at the UK FCDO, the session featured insights from officials and experts representing Rwanda, Ethiopia, Malawi, Uganda, Colombia, GIZ, and iLand Consulting.
“Sustainable financing is not only about mobilizing enough resources—it’s about ensuring that land systems are affordable, effective, and inclusive in the long term,” Rodriguez said as she opened the session. “This conversation is rooted in the real experiences of countries striving to get the balance right.”
Richard Baldwin: Framing the Financing Challenge
Dr. Richard Baldwin of iLand Consulting set the stage by outlining the core challenge: land reforms are complex and costly, yet financial sustainability is rarely built in from the outset.
“We know how to build excellent land governance systems—but often with little consideration of how they’ll be financed beyond the project cycle,” Baldwin said. “Sustainability must be part of the design, not something we worry about in year four or towards the end of the programme.”
He described three major cost domains: building infrastructure, conducting first registration, and maintaining service delivery. Baldwin gave examples of using a standardized costing approach to allow comparisons to be made clearly identifying what is actually included in the analysis. He also advocated starting from existing Budgetary information of the land administration authorities and implementing bodies to get a baseline assessment of current operational costs and trends. For building infrastructure and setting up systems he drew attention to existing tools, such as the MCC’s Land Transactions Toolkit and the Coflas methodology.
“The biggest obstacle to comparability is definitional ambiguity. What does ‘registration cost’ include? Surveys? Training? Community engagement? We need to break down the steps involved and unpack the numbers,” he stressed.
Baldwin also drew attention to the diverse range of land based revenues and gave examples. Many of these draw on land administration data,and so having a well established land administration digital system which is largely complete, up to date and with good quality can increase such revenue flows dramatically and provide a level of cost recovery able to support financial sustainability.
Sylvain Muyombano: Rwanda’s Path to 100% Cost Recovery
Sylvain Muyombano, Head of Land Administration at Rwanda’s National Land Authority, shared the country’s journey toward full financial sustainability. After registering over 10 million parcels, Rwanda invested heavily in building a digitized and decentralized system.
“We now issue 100% of our land titles digitally. Transactions have tripled in a decade, and we’ve introduced new revenue streams like private surveyor certification and online access,” Muyombano reported.
Rwanda’s cost recovery plan is bearing fruit. In 2024 alone, land-related transactions brought in over 6 billion Rwandan Francs, with projections for 9.7 billion in 2025.
“Our goal is to be fully self-financing by next year—and we’re close,” he said. “Transparency, automation, and partnership with the private sector have been key to making it work.”
Devie Chilonga: Malawi’s Revenue-Driven Reform
Devie Chilonga, Principal Secretary at Malawi’s Ministry of Lands, presented a case where decentralization and local revenue retention are driving reform.
“We calculated that 67 billion Malawi Kwacha could be mobilized over nine years if local councils collect and retain land revenue,” he said.
Chilonga emphasized that political will was instrumental. A key breakthrough was securing government approval to allow the Ministry to retain 25% of land-based revenue.
“We are 90% through our devolution roadmap. Land agencies at the local level are now equipped not just with mandates—but with financing to deliver,” he explained.
Woldu Tadesse Reda: Ethiopia’s Rural Land Innovation
Woldu Tadesse Reda, Land Administration Lead at Ethiopia’s Ministry of Agriculture, emphasized the developmental dividends of land certification. With over 30 million parcels registered and 25 million certificates issued, Ethiopia is exploring how these assets unlock finance.
“More than 700,000 rural households have accessed credit using land certificates,” he noted. “Seventeen banks now accept certificates as collateral.”
To expand access, the government introduced mobile land services, drastically reducing travel burdens for rural populations.
“We’re not charging fees yet—but we have a roadmap to do so, once the system is accessible and reliable,” Reda said.
Adriana Vélez: Colombia’s Integrated and Costed Reform
Adriana Vélez, a land and rural development expert from Colombia, shared insights from post-conflict land reform efforts.
“Our approach combined titling, cadastre updating, and conflict resolution under one methodology—ordenamiento social de la propiedad,” Vélez explained.
The project emphasized transparent costing from the beginning. Each cost center—from parcel surveys to software development—was tracked through real-time data systems.
“We didn’t just title land—we built local land offices and improved municipal capacity to collect taxes and reinvest,” she said. “For us, sustainable financing means sustainable governance.”
Eunice Nabakwa: Uganda’s Self-Financing Pilots
Eunice Nabakwa, Principal Land Officer at Uganda’s Ministry of Lands, shared how the country is piloting fee-based registration models with GIZ support.
“We asked communities to pay a small fee—after explaining the long-term benefits of secure tenure,” Nabakwa said. “The response was very positive, especially when people saw others getting titles.”
The model demonstrated that communities are willing to pay for land services when they trust the process and see results.
“We’re advocating for a legal framework that allows land offices to retain part of the revenue. Without this, it’s difficult to maintain quality services,” she said.
Christian Jörg Mesmer: Lessons and Principles from GIZ
Christian Jörg Mesmer, Program Lead at GIZ, closed the session by facilitating the panel and sharing GIZ’s reflections on global good practice.
“We’ve learned that sustainable land administration is not only technically feasible—it’s politically possible when it aligns with national priorities and shows tangible value,” Mesmer said.
He highlighted that cost recovery is about more than just economics. It builds legitimacy, increases service uptake, and strengthens institutional resilience.
“The key is simplicity, transparency, and building systems that make sense to citizens. When people trust the system, they’re willing to pay,” Mesmer added.
He also reiterated the need for coherent donor support and harmonized approaches. “Too often, projects use different costing methodologies. We need convergence and shared learning.”
Conclusion: Toward Financially Sustainable Land Governance
The session underscored that sustainable financing of land systems is no longer a theory—it’s a reality in Rwanda, emerging in Malawi, being piloted in Uganda, and scaled in Colombia and Ethiopia. Whether through revenue retention, cost-effective registration, digital services, or tax systems, these countries are proving that well-designed financing models can support resilient land governance.
But the road ahead requires institutional reform, trust-building, donor alignment, and smart design. As Rodriguez noted at the outset, “it’s not just about how much money we mobilize—it’s how we structure systems to sustain themselves.”
Land agencies around the world now face a decisive opportunity: to shift from externally funded pilots to nationally owned, self-sustaining systems that serve people and planet alike.
This blog post was produced with the assistance of AI. The content has been reviewed by panelists as well as members of the Land Portal team who attended the session.
