Humanitarian and development organizations working in conflict-affected settings have a particular responsibility to do no harm and contribute to the wellbeing of the population without bias. The highly complex, politicized realities of work in conflict- and post-conflict settings often require quick, pragmatic and results-oriented decisions, the foundations of which remain frequently implicit. Such decisions might follow an intrinsic logic or situational pragmatism rather than intensive deliberation.

This document was written by the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) with the view of increasing awareness and understanding in the context of the Philippines of the VGGT. This material draws from previous materials prepared by ANGOC as well as from the presentation and discussion during the training of trainers on “Increasing the use of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests among CSOs and Grassroots Organizations in the Philippines” held on 11-14 July 2016 in Tagaytay City, Philippines.

In the five years since the Voluntary Guidelines on the responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) was endorsed, the Guidelines have inspired policy and legal reforms in countries, from Gabon to Guatemala, making a real difference to people's lives.

The Annual Country Reviews reflect upon current land issues in the Mekong Region, and has been produced for researchers, practitioners and policy advocates operating in the field. Specialists have been selected from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to briefly answer the following two questions:

1. What are the most pressing issues involving land governance in your country?

2. What are the most important issues for the researcher on land?

The current paper derives from work conducted in the context of the Revision of the Mass Housing Development

Programme (MHDP) that the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) commissioned to the Integrated

Land Management Institute (ILMI) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The paper

contains only publicly-available information and was prepared for public dissemination of issues related to the

work undertaken for the Ministry in the context of this project.

The project took place in Katima Mulilo and Rundu during 2007-11. The project consisted of 66 township extensions, and resulted in 18,500 plots developed in a period of 5 years. The project was funded by LUX Development, the cooperation agency from Luxemburg, which poured significant funds to make the project possible. One of the innovation aspects was to do the topographic and cadastral mapping in parallel with the layout and design. This was done by teams consisting of a town planner, a surveyor , and community facilitators selected by the inhabitants of the settlement in question.

This document provides the focus for an integrated approach to research in the land, livelihoods and housing sectors in Namibia. Its thematic approach seeks to facilitate multi-disciplinary research projects that will reflect the wide range of skills existing in the School of Natural Resources and Spatial Sciences (SNRSS) at the Polytechnic of Namibia (PoN). It is unique in that it has all land related disciplines in one School and is therefore well placed to become a leading research centre.

The current paper derives from work conducted in the context of the Revision of the Mass Housing Development

Programme (MHDP) that the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development (MURD) commissioned to the Integrated

Land Management Institute (ILMI) at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST). The paper contains

only publicly-available information and was prepared for public dissemination of issues related to the work

undertaken for the Ministry in the context of this project. More information about this project can be found on

Secure tenure and registered land rights are widely believed to be necessary for access to credit, well functioning land markets and economic development. As a result Namibia introduced long term leasehold rights over communal and commercial land for resettlement purposes in order to address preindependence imbalances in land holdings. The purpose is to bring the resettled beneficiaries into the mainstream of the economy, but this has not happened.

The project in question refers to the case of 'Freedom Square' in Gobabis, which is a cooperation between the Municipality of Gobabis and the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia (SDFN), the Namibia Housing Action Group (NHAG), the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), and other international parties. The project is motivated by an agenda of 'inclusive cities': through close collaboration with existing residents in the area, the process of land delivery is expedited and turned into an exercise of making inhabitants drivers in the improvement of living conditions.

The Bill aimed at overriding old ordinances that dated back to the 1950s and 60s. The main objective of the Bill is that of decentralisation, and has three main points: the establishment of "authorized planning authorities" (APA); the consolidation of Townships Board and the Namibia Planning Advisory Board (NAMPAB) into one Urban and Regional Planning Board; and long term spatial development frameworks by means of a structure plan at all levels: national, regional, and urban.