This paper examines the current wave of land tenure reform in eastern and southern Africa. It discusses how far tenure reform reflects a shift in powers over property from centre to periphery. A central question is whether tenure reform is designed to deliver to rural smallholders greater security of tenure and greater control over the regulation and transfer of these rights.Policy conclusions include:whilst diverse in initial objective, and uneven in delivery, tenure reforms address a remarkably common set of concerns.

Series of papers on land tenure issues including: Piloting local administration of records in Ekuthuleni, KwaZulu-Natal, by Donna Hornby (AFRA, South Africa)Ivory Coast’s Plan Foncier Rural: lessons from a pilot project to register customary rights, by Camilla Toulmin (IIED) Customary land identification and recording in Mozambique, by Chris Tanner Supporting local rights: will the centre let go?

The 1998 Land Act represents one of the most important pieces of legislation in Uganda, which is predominantly an agricultural country. The role of a consortium of NGOs, The Uganda Land Alliance (ULA), is analysed in this paper, with regard to the enactment of the Act. The issues addressed include:

The Kol tribals of Chitrakoot district live a life of abject poverty, exploitation and almost complete subjugation to the feudal landowners, locally known as Dadus. A local civil society organisation, the Akhil Bhartiya Samaj Sewa Sansthan (ABSSS) has adopted a multi-pronged approach to simultaneously address three sets of issues which it felt were crucial for improving the lot of the Kols.

The Land Policy in Tanzania is an example of citizens engaging in a protracted struggle for effective participation in the policy process, despite the long exclusion they have experienced in policy making. This paper looks at the evolution of the policy, and the interactions between civil society and the state in its development.The paper concludes that this was the first serious and systematic civic organizations' challenge to the state command model of policy process.

Why does viewing a household as a single unit have serious downfalls for gender analysis' The unitary view overlooks the crucial fact that gender relations between family members play a large role in intra-household decisions about decision-making, time allocation, and expenditure. A collective model on the other hand allows household analysis to consider gender relations, with attention to women's and men's respective access to, control over, or ownership of resources.

How can women be integrated in processes of democratisation? The participation of women in political and economic processes is essential for democratic governance. The PROWID grants system supported activities such as lobbying and advocacy, skills development and developing institutions to further women's social and economic rights. This report looks at women's participation in political culture, civil society and government institutions. Importantly, it puts participation in the context of shifting gender (and other) roles and identities.

The Land Campaign (Campanha Terra), which formally came to an end in November 1999, will re-emerge as a Land Forum. Describes the background to and results of the campaign and the activities in its first and second years, mentions how it was organised, and briefly outlines plans for the future.

Martin Adams has been seconded in recent years to the South African Department of Land Affairs. Here he examines the content and fate of the Land Rights Bill and the recent political opposition to it.

What can development cooperation do to improve gender-responsiveness of land tenure development' Central to this objective is the mainstreaming of gender considerations into all areas (macro, meso and micro levels) of development cooperation which influence access to, control over, and benefits from land. This paper outlines the situation of women with regard to land tenure worldwide, and the challenge for development cooperation in addressing the gap between gender imbalances in land tenure and internationally declared aims for gender equality.