STDM: From Concepts to Implementation

Institutional Links

Contribution byTony Burns

Land Equity International

Topics

• Importance of STDM• ICT and land administration projects• Institutional Context• Other issues

Importance of STDM• STDM is important – could facilitate the low cost

recording of wide range of rights• Crit, ITC, FIG and UN-Habitat and others involved in

STDM are to be commended• Statement of objectives could be bolder:“STDM will provide the ability to both register existing rights in

the formal system and record other rights in a way that will support the development of improved policy and legal frameworks and the enhanced institutional and administrative arrangements that implement the frameworks.”

• But to do this need to understand institutional context

ICT and Land Administration Projects

• ICT is a tool not a silver bullet• All LA projects need clear understanding of

context (policy, legislation, institutions), objectives, outcomes

• Need clear definition of process (stakeholders, roles/responsibilities, work/flow)

• ICT is important tool – transparency, efficiency, effectiveness

ICT and Land Administration Projects

• Project based vrs off-the-shelf• Philippines – project based software• Indonesia – LOC• Responses:– Open-source– Off-the-shelf more flexible

Institutional Context

• Key question – how is an STDM installation to be established and maintained – should nominate preferred option

• Relationship to formal system• Relationship to other data sets (personal

identification, house number etc)• Participation and community oversight are

critical elements in the traditional land administration projects – not clear that this is built into STDM pilot

Systematic Registration Process• An initial planning stage that involves data gathering, preliminary consultation with

local authorities, base surveying and mapping if necessary, and staff/contractor recruitment and training;

• Confirmation of area for systematic registration (typically by identifying administrative boundaries (such as village boundaries) and identifying public land and other land such as communal land that is not suitable for systematic registration);

• Community consultation program, conducted at various levels, but focussed on informing land holders of the program, the benefits of participation and what is required of them to participate;

• Demarcation of property boundaries;• Collection of information on rights and supporting evidence of these rights;• Survey of property boundaries;• Adjudication of rights and preparation of information (maps, lists etc) that set out the

results of the adjudication;• The public display of the results of the adjudication and the processing of any disputes

that arise;• The preparation of the information for registration of the information and the

registration itself.

Institutional Context• STDM covers many of these steps, but design in December

2008 misses:– Confirmation of area– Adjudication– Public display

• Adjudication understandable – to some extent – but STDM should gather supporting evidence

• Confirmation of area for survey will be important in Ethiopia

• Public display will build confidence and perhaps validate data

• Update important issue – historical claims register or system to record rights and changes in rights over time

Other Issues

• What rights are to be recognized?• STDM design list a comprehensive list of

potential rights, but not all apply• Better to either:– Develop a country specific typology of tenures– Adopt a rights based topology

Rights Based Topology

Owner Proprietor Authorized Claimant

Authorized User

Authorized Entrant

Access X X X X XWithdrawal X X X X

Management X X X

Exclusion X X

Alienation X

With the five property rights defined as:Access The right to enter a defined physical area and enjoy non-destructive benefitsWithdrawal The right to obtain resource units or products (e.g. catch fish, divert water, etc)Management The right to regulate internal use patterns and make improvementsExclusion The right to determine who will have access rightsAlienation The right to sell or lease management and exclusion rights

Source: (Ostrom 2001:135)

Other Issues

• Reversible to paper-based system is important and is more than back-up

• Strategy should support paper-based recording from a STDM database

• This will involve:– Hard-copy of versioned object table in form that

can be manually updated– Hard copy of other key tables and indices– Ability to input manual data back into STDM

Conclusion

• STDM is important– Good application of ITC/FIG technical skills– Fills a technical gap

• Prototyping is appropriate• Could develop closer link with stakeholders – LA

agency, community leaders and community• Start thinking about how data will be upodated