Property Rights & Land Titling Project, Lao PDR.

In previous newsletters we have reported on the major expansion program the TA team is supporting here. It is only ten months before the end of TA inputs for Phase 2 and yet the project is increasing in size – we have just added five provinces, taking us to 14 provinces where systematic adjudication is supported. And of course the Department of Lands must also build capacity within five additional provincial land offices to support the flow of subsequent registrations that are expected after the public education program. But that is not all … we are currently in the middle of the World Bank, AusAID and GTZ assessment of the project, where we expect the go-ahead to be given to the expansion into the remaining three provinces, commencing in a few months!

The Governance in Land Administration Project is in full swing. After an initial presentation of the fundamental concept during the World Bank Land Thematic Group Mini-Retreat, Tony spent a very busy week meeting with Bank staff discussing their ideas and experiences on land administration projects. Not being a typical LEI project, these face to face encounters provided a crucial stage in developing an understanding of the project needs and significantly expanding our coverage of land administration issues in a global context.

In a country where there are 29 agencies involved in property valuation (and as many valuation systems used), the establishment of the Property Valuation Staff (PVS) is a landmark initiative towards a single and unified valuation system and authority. The PVS, which is currently housed at the Bureau of Local Government Finance (BLGF), was established on 30 August 2007 by Secretary Margarito Teves of the Department of Finance (DOF) through Department Order 34-07.

The Project is going through a very busy period (has it ever been otherwise?), with training for new staff in the existing 9 Project provinces (following major staff losses since the move of the Department of Lands from the Ministry of Finance to the National Land Management Authority in 2006) nearing completion, and training for new systematic adjudication teams starting in Bokeo, Oudomsay and Luang Namtha this week. Following training, systematic adjudication will commence in these provinces in the new year. The next two provinces (Attapeu and Xekong) will receive training later this year, and the final three provinces will come on board in February 2008.

From Public Relations To Social Mobilization: Tweaking LAMP II IEC To Fit Philippine Social Realities

Chris Lunnay has been involved in supporting the Government of Papua New Guinea with the development of a Concept Design Document for their National Land Development Program (NLDP). Chris undertook an initial visit to Port Moresby in early July to assess the GoPNG requirements. There was a need to link the outputs from the concept design activities into the PNG annual budget cycle, which meant that all design activities needed to be completed by early September. A concept design team was put together at very short notice and mobilisation of the team commenced on 5 August. The international team consisted of Chris Lunnay (Team Leader/Land Administration), Kevin Rainsford (IT Policy/Valuation), Norena Kavanagh (Institutional and HRD), Pamela Harris (Community Education and Customer Service) and the nationals were Oswald Tolopa (Legislation and Disputes) and Dr Lawrence Kalinoe (Customary Land).

As mentioned in Newsletter No 9, LEI was successful in its bid to undertake the Policy Studies Component of the Palestinian National Authority’s Land Administration Project. After some delay created by the general strike by Palestinian Authority employees over the non-payment of their salaries (due to the freezing of funds following the election success of the Hamas Islamic Party in March 2006) the inception period finally kicked off in January 2007.

In the last newsletter in Project Opportunities we flagged that LEI had tendered for projects in Dubai and Vanuatu. It is pleasing to be able to report that LEI was successful in winning both these projects. The awarding of the Land Registration Project in Dubai resulted in much frantic preparation over the Christmas period by Chris Lunnay and a number of the consultants.

We indicated in the December 2006 Newsletter that a key issue in our project was the establishment of the National Land Management Authority (NLMA).

PROVIDING A SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND GENDER FRAMEWORK FOR LAMP2