Village Land Management a few years on – what has changed?

Since 2010, the GIZ Land Programme in Lao PDR has sought to improve the land tenure security of rural communities. The programme currently consists of three projects – the BMZ-commissioned Land Management and Decentralised Planning (LMDP) Project, the Enhanced Land Tenure Security (ELTeS) sub-project within a global programme on responsible land policy, as well as the German contribution to the Mekong River Land Governance (MRLG) Initiative. The programme works closely with local and national government partners, accompanying, advising and developing the capacity of district, province and national level officials on land use planning, gendersensitive land registration, responsible land-based investments and participatory land conflict resolution. The programme also conducts targeted awareness raising to improve the knowledge of customary and formal land rights among men, women and village leaders in selected communities.

The study’s purpose is to establish the long-term effects of land management in villages. Village land use planning and land registration is expected to contribute to a range of benefits for the local population. We can now return to villages where land was registered more than seven years ago and compare these to villages with more recent land management or without any land management. What benefits are evident? Where do changes lag behind expectations?