Aline M Cikara’s scientific contributions

Land governance is key towards the achievement of sustainable development. Weak land governance and corruption in the land sector has been identified as one of the key factors for widespread proverty in most developing countries. However, the status of land governance arrangements, actors, process and conflicts in Eastern African countries is not well documented. This research was aimed at exploring and creating an understanding of the nature of land governance systems in Eastern African and their role in minimizing conflict between different land governance actors and processes. Compartive research approach by using qualitative research data was employed as a reserch methology. The Eastern Africa countries that the study covered include: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. These countries were selected because they all have institutions that are members of the Eastern Africa Land Administration Network (EALAN). The findings of this research reveals that the region manifests diverse background of land governance arrangements accommodating various conflicting land governace actors and processes, due to varied historical backgrounds. In most countries the formal land governance systems do not cover large parts of the society. Customary and informal authority structures still intervene significantly on matters related to land governance. Therefore, more effort is required in the region to make the formal systems more accessible, including altering current formal systems and making them less bureaucratic and more affordable to majority of the people.

This study is aimed to assess features of land governance arrangements in the Eastern Africa region. Comparative and qualitative research approach was employed to achieve the objectives of the study. The research was also conducted within the context of long standing research collaboration under the umbrella of the Eastern African Land Administration Network (EALAN). The Eastern African countries included in this study are those represented through respective institutions in the EALAN, namely: Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. The findings of this research reveals that the region manifests diverse background of land governance arrangements where formal and informal actors and processes still important. The study also shows that the formal systems in most of the countries are not reaching large parts of the society yet. Due to the limitations of the formal systems, aspects of custom and informal authority structures exist and seem to be used by most people for conflict resolution and other transactions related to land. Therefore, more effort is required to make the formal systems more accessible, including altering current formal systems and making them less bureaucratic and more affordable for majority of the people in the region.