In August 2021, a newsletter covering various land governance programmes of GIZ was launched. This newsletter is available for everybody who is interested and informs about current development within GIZ land governance and beyond. The three main programmes responsible for the newsletter are: 

The Global Programme Responsible Land Policy,

Collaborative social work is preparing communities for the historic task of untangling land ownership in a municipality plagued with conflict and displacement.

Land ownership in Tumaco, Colombia, is like an onion. When a layer of history is peeled back, another layer lies beneath it. Over time, these onions—these parcels that once belonged to agro-industrial farms, latifundista families, and indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities—have been abandoned and reclaimed, again and again.

According to human rights activists, an alleged crackdown is happening against those who are vocal against Bahria Town Karachi and the forced acquisition of lands and evictions.

Last month, while Murad Gabol’s two children were sleeping, police raided his house. “We showed them the papers of our home, but they beat us and locked me up in jail,” Gabol said.

When a small group of armed insurgents in cars arrived in a village in the Wakhan Corridor, it put a sharp focus on Beijing’s role in this nation shattered by more than four decades of war.

Main photo: A Kyrgyz family in the Wakhan Corridor, a narrow strip of land that connects Afghanistan to China. CREDIT: MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA

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Land is the most important asset in most parts of the world that people can own, including Uganda. In Buganda, land is the way of life as the kingdom’s cultural aspirations are based on land, hence titles like Ssaabataka for a prince who is going to become the Kabaka. Clan heads and elders in Buganda are known as Abataka. However, this scenario isn’t only prevalent in Buganda. Land is a major asset across the country. It is the biggest means of production since our economy is agricultural-based. 

AS President Samia Suluhu Hassan meets representative of various groups of Tanzanian society, herders have come out with a call that they should not be forgotten because they have longstanding pressing issues worthy of a presidential audience.

He said such a meeting will enable the president to recognize their plight including in being disregarded by political leaders who hand out wrong instructions to them as if livestock keeping activities have no contribution to the national economy.

In May 2021, the numbers of households whose land rights have been secured with the support by the Global Programme Responsible Land Policy have reached a peak: Thanks to the hard work of our partners and project teams, 110.163 households had their land legally documented by then, corresponding to about  550.000 people directly benefitting.

Tharaka Nithi Governor Muthomi Njuki has called on the national government to complete the land adjudication process and issue title deeds before initiating the process of replacing the late chief of Kamaindi Location who was killed way back in 2019 over land related issues.

The Government in 2017 put in place Guidelines for Compensation Assessment under Land Acquisition Act.

These proposals are for reform of laws relating to land acquisition by the Government, and they include the amendment to the Land Acquisition Act (Cap 226) in order to bring it into conformity with Article 26 of the Constitution of Uganda. This has remained a big concern among the citizens who lack clarity and specificity on how to deal with land acquisition issues.

To most people, acquiring land in Uganda comes with a justified dread of having to navigate a rather tenuous sea of uncertainty regarding what rules they will have to play by, both during and after acquiring property.