Examines the policies and practices on land of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID). While DFID’s approach to land reform in the 1980s reflected the dictates of modernisation, formal registration and market-led distribution of land of the IFIs, this was followed 1997-2002 by a period where changes were made to move in the direction of a rights-based approach.

Summarises the results of recent research into tenure insecurity and policy implications. Argues that legislation is needed to confirm people’s rights.

Based on current research in eastern Uganda, looks at inter-family conflicts over land, many of which go unresolved for years. Some fear that titling will lead to future dispossession as titled land is easier to sell. Such small-scale disputes do not drive the research and media agenda but represent the vast majority of conflicts over land in Africa.

Concluding chapter aiming to synthesise key findings of research papers and perspectives in a volume on land and livelihoods in Zimbabwe. Proposes a strategic policy roadmap in 4 phases for re-engaging government, donors and civil society in land and agrarian reform in Zimbabwe.

A report commissioned by the World Bank’s Northern Uganda Recovery and Development Program (RDP). Contains chapters on internal displacement in Uganda; review of policy and laws on IDPs and land in Uganda; review of existing studies on land and IDPs; best practices, experiences, and lessons from Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Cambodia, El Salvador, Bosnia; emerging issues and research questions. Annexes on international conventions and covenants, and UN guiding principles on internal displacement.

Includes the pastoral land question – recognition in law and policy, establishment of protected areas, access and ownership of land, land use and sustainability. Pastoral rights in policy – international research and regional developments, conceptual framework for the Policy, Policy goal, principles and objectives – land and sustainable livelihoods, land tenure, land markets, land administration, land use and management, natural resources and environment.

Three separate ‘on my mind’ articles by Professor Mbilinyi: Making National Land Policy inclusive and people-centred; In whose interest will this National Land Policy be?; Questions about the National Land Policy, 2016. Draft NLP just released for external consultation. Shares the views of other researchers.

Research on land tenure insecurity on the Zambian Copperbelt in the context of the privatisation of the mines was commissioned by Oxfam, and was carried out in August 1998 and the final report written in November 1998. It contains five sections: background (including historical and legal); problems (including ‘back to the land’, conflicts in the forests, squatters, Lands Act 1995, democracy); case studies (Chingola, Kitwe, Mufulira, Solwezi); some questions; recommendations. Report has led to some very positive developments for people affected.

Contains introduction and context, research methods, policy framework for urban and peri-urban development, overview of fast track resettlement, fast track and peri-urban settlement, concluding remarks.

Jose Negrao died on 9 July 2005, aged 49. He was one of the most important intellectuals and researchers in Mozambique, was a leading figure in the Land Campaign and a strong defender of peasant land rights. We publish this interview with him in recognition of and in mourning a great and truly independent fighter who did not conform to what others expected but always pursued his own way. He was hugely influential during the Land Campaign and his success then derived from the fact that people trusted his integrity and his independence.

The paper discusses the interface of anthropological research on land with policy positions across formative periods – from the colonial period through to the present as land tenure reform has repeatedly become a development priority; and recent research on intensifying competition over land, its intersection with competition over legitimate authority, new types of land transfers, the role of claims of indigeneity or autochthony in land conflicts, and the challenges of increasing social inequality and of commodification of land for analysis and for land reform.

Malawi, like other countries in Africa, has a new land policy designed to clarify and formalise customary tenure. The country is poor with a high population density, highly dependent on agriculture, and the research sites are matrilineal-matrilocal, and near urban centres. But the case raises issues relevant to land tenure reform elsewhere: the role of ‘traditional authorities’ or chiefs vis-a-vis the state and ‘community’; variability in types of ‘customary’ tenure; and deepening inequality within rural populations.