Updating land information: Processes, opportunities, and challenges in North Wollo Zone, Ethiopia
Yidnekachew Jember, Getie Gebrie
Up-to-date information on land is a basic resource for the development of a country. The main objective of the research was to assess the process, opportunities, and challenges of land information updating in the Amhara region, North Wollo Zone by using household questionnaires, focused group discussions, field observation, and document analysis. In the Amhara Region, the land registration and certification process was started in 2003. In the Region, the updating process started in 2006. In the North Wollo Zone, 98 % of rural households have registered their land and got first-level land certification. The process of updating is performed when there is a change in the holder or a change in the size and shape of the parcel from its first registration. In the study area, these changes occurred mostly through donation, inheritance, bequeath, and exchange of land between owners. To update the land information; a sporadic approach is being used. The analysis revealed better awareness of the rural community about the right and restriction of land holdings and updating process, the availability of land administration experts in all kebeles of the study area, availability of updating technical guidelines, and training about the updating process as a major opportunity for land information updating. Informal land transfer by customary law, long-distance travel to Kebele and the district land administration office, complexity of updating formats, expert turnover, high fee required for registering the change, and the surveying approach used are the major challenges of updating land information. Based on the study it is recommended that workflows for updating land information need to be simplified. The process of land information updating should be improved by using the opportunities and should tackle the challenges to facilitate efficient land markets, protect the land rights of all, and support long-term sustainable development and land management.
Event: World Bank Land Conference 2024 - Washington
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