Covers achievements and weaknesses of local land tenure management system; the local land tenure management system in the context of decentralization.

I683 new ‘communes’ have been created in Mali’s audacious decentralization policy. This has made central the issue of authority, responsibility and resource transfer from the central government. What are the privileges of the so-called traditional institutions created by the local people at the village level and between villages? What kind of cooperation should exist between these institutions and the government units? Highlights the achievements and constrains of the decentralization policy and outlines some possible solutions.

Why does the delimitation of local authorities’ area of influence cause so many problems in most West African countries? Does decentralization not usually result in the artificial and top-down creation of local administrative units whose entire legitimacy in the area of land management is yet to establish, while village or inter-village authorities have strong anchorage?

This paper highlights how women are interfacing with institutions of power at a local level in Uganda in terms of land claims. According to the Land Act 1998, all land is vested in the citizens who own it. Enormous resistance occurred behind the scenes against women’s efforts to include a provision on spousal co-ownership of land. The provision was passed in parliament but it did not appear in the published Land Act (2003:162).

Esta publicación da cuenta de una parte de los resultados de la participación de América LAtina y el Caribe en la Primera Asamblea General del Foro (Estambul, Turquía, del 28 al 30 de Setiembre de 2010). El documento contiene textos producidos en el marco de las actividades del Foro Abierto sobre la Efectividad del Desarrollo de las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil.

This report on Sudan's Investment Climate Assessment (ICA) provides a baseline assessment of challenges to productivity, diversification and inclusion. Chapter 1 describes some of the questions underlying the three issues of competitiveness, diversification and broad-based growth. Chapter 2 analyzes firm performance and competitiveness. Chapter 3 discusses markets and trust. Chapter 4 describes the role of the financial sector. Chapter 5 analyses the informal sector. Chapter 6 discusses the conflict-affected private sector development.