A Policy Framework for a Provincial User-centric SDI to support Land Administration in Vietnam Case study of Vinh Long Province

Transcription

1 A Policy Framework for a Provincial User-centric SDI to support Land Administration in Vietnam Case study of Vinh Long Province A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Mau Duc Ngo MEng. Urban Planning and Management (Saitama University, Japan) BSc. Land Administration (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences School of Science College of Health, Engineering and Technology MELBOURNE,

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3 Declaration I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author alone; the work has not been submitted previously, in whole or in part, to qualify for any other academic award; the content of the thesis is the result of work which has been carried out since the official commencement date of the approved research program; any editorial work, paid or unpaid, carried out by a third party is acknowledged; and, ethics procedures and guidelines have been followed. Mau Duc Ngo Melbourne, August 29 th, 2016 iii

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5 Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to send my sincere gratitude to my supervisory board members, senior supervisor Assoc. Prof. David Mitchell, and associate supervisors, Assoc. Prof. Donald Grant and Prof. Nicholas Chrisman, for their superb guidance along my four-year PhD journey. They have contributed significantly to the completion of this thesis through their prompt comments, questions, and invaluable suggestions. Their supervision has directed my research on track, and given me encouragement, trust and freedom to carry out the research. I deeply appreciate the support and encouragement of the MONRE Minister, Dr Tran Hong Ha, and the former Deputy Minister, Prof. Dang Hung Vo. Special thanks also go to my colleagues at GDLA s Department of International Cooperation and Science, Technology (DICST) for their support during my study in Melbourne. In addition, I highly acknowledge and appreciate the support from the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Science (now School of Science), especially Prof. Matt Duckham Deputy Head Research and Innovations, Chair of the completion seminar panel, Assoc. Prof. Colin Arrowsmith Chair of the confirmation of candidature seminar panel, and Ms Eliza Cook HDR Research Advisor. I also highly acknowledge and appreciate the support of Ms Jamie Low the AusAID liaison officer of the International Student Services, throughout the last four-year period. I warmly thank Dr Keith Bell (The World Bank), Mr Shivakumar Srinivas (UN-FAO), Prof. Abbas Rajabifard and Dr Ida Jazayeri (The University of Melbourne) for their valuable advice on the research proposal; Prof. David Coleman (The University of New Brunswick) for his valuable discussion when we met briefly early in the research; and Prof. Stig Enermark (Aalborg University, Denmark) for sparing me time to discuss the preliminary findings during his short visits to Melbourne. Acknowledgement is also given to the unknown reviewers who provided peer feedback with suggestions to the papers published and presented at the two FIG working weeks, and the World Bank conference. Their peer reviews have validated the research findings and contributed significantly to the completion of this thesis. I would also like to express my thanks to many individuals at the central, provincial and grassroots levels who purely voluntary participated in this research. The time and information they shared with me through individual interviews, focus group discussions and questionnaire surveying provided me with enough information and data to gather the research findings and conclusion. Furthermore, I thank the members of the RMIT University Study and Learning Centre, who helped me to detect the gaps and holes in my writings. The biggest thank regarding language editing goes to Dr. Bradley Smith, of Semiosmith Editing and Consulting Services, for his hard work in editing and proofreading my thesis. I remain grateful to Australian Government for financially supporting my PhD under the Australia Awards Scholarships (AAS). Without this scholarship, all else would not have been possible. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family: to my parents and parents-in-law, who had worked hard to give their children, including me, all conditions to go to school; and to my wife, my brothers and sisters, who always believe in me. Their unconditional love is always with me. My name is written on the first page of this work, but your names are on every page. To my beloved daughter and son, Jenny Mai and Haruki Khoa: I am back. v

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7 List of Related Peer-reviewed Publications Ngo, M. D., Mitchell, D., Grant, D. & Chrisman, N. (2016). Accessibility to Land Administration by Grassroots Stakeholders in Vietnam: Case study of Vinh Long Province. FIG Peer Review Journal, 2016, pp (This paper has been selected by the FIG President as FIG Paper of the Month for June 2016) Ngo, M. D, Mitchell, D., Grant, D., & Chrisman, N. (2016). Stakeholder Perceptions Of Land Administration In Vietnam: An Analysis Of Stakeholder Consultations. Paper presented at the 17th Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty, Washington DC, March 14 18, Ngo, M. D. & Mitchell, D. (2013). How an Effective Spatial Data Infrastructure Can Support Land Administration System in Vietnam. FIG Peer Review Journal, 2013, pp vii

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9 Abstract The government of Vietnam has received a gradually increasing number of complaints and disputes over the last few years, with more than two-thirds of these complaints regarding land administration issues. Of the reasons for such complaints, limited accessibility to land administration and information for many stakeholders accounts for a significant portion. Significant resources have been invested in related work, including data collection, policy reforms, and technology for land administration. However, there has been very little work directed to policy development for a data-sharing framework to increase access to land and spatial information for all stakeholders. Understanding the issues and problems with respect to accessibility to land information and services is necessary to support the development of a spatial data infrastructure (SDI) for land administration (SDI Land). This thesis argues for the development of an SDI to support land administration by initially proposing a policy framework as the foundation for such an infrastructure. The present research employs a multi-method approach with a case-study strategy to investigate the problems and issues in land administration, and the requirements for an SDI to support land administration at the provincial level in Vietnam. The thesis presents a case study based in Vinh Long, a southern province of Vietnam, and draws on this to propose an appropriate policy framework for a user-centric SDI to support land administration at the provincial level. The stakeholder consultations included in-depth interviews with central and local stakeholders, focus group discussions, and a survey by questionnaire of people at the grassroots level of land users. The research found that there has not been a comprehensive policy framework developed in Vietnam to support an SDI Land. The research also found that there is a strong demand for access to land information and services from the majority of stakeholders at all levels. The research found limitations in access to land information for each stakeholder community and that these limitations depended on the citizens backgrounds. At the grassroots level, the provision of land information has varied in its effectiveness, especially in the rural areas. Young people are more likely to use the Internet for seeking land information; whilst the traditional village meetings are still the preference for the majority of older individuals. In addition, the research indicated limitations in land registration ix

10 services delivery, due to several constraints. These included inconsistency in land policy, a lack of online land registration services and limited public awareness of SDI and sharing of spatial data. Policy and regulations regarding land registration are too complex for some land users to understand. Institutional issues included ineffective collaboration between government departments, and a lack of trust by some land users in dealing with land administration services. Furthermore, accessibility to spatial data and land information by stakeholders was shown to be weak due to limitations in infrastructure and information, ICT capacity and awareness. Limitations in internet infrastructure have constrained both government authorities and stakeholders in the provision of and accessibility to land information. The methods of delivery of spatial data and land information have also limited the sharing between agencies. Most of the activities regarding updating and sharing of spatial information involved manual processes, whilst the transfer of digital data between agencies was limited, mostly through CD, or flash disc devices. Furthermore, there have been limitations in the application of standards, including data and metadata standards. As a consequence, datasets still consist of many kinds of data, without standard formats, whilst the metadata were not always developed and associated with datasets. Many functions in spatial data collection and management overlapped between stakeholders, whilst the stakeholder engagement consultation has not yet been conducted to solve the related issues. In addition, the participation of community in land administration activities also remained limited. The present research has proposed a policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land. It has been developed based on the literature review on development of SDI, land administration, fit-for-purpose land administration and spatially enabled society concepts, and results of stakeholder consultations on requirements of SDI Land common components. The policy framework includes policy requirements for SDI Land common components, which have been synthesised in the present research: datasets, user community, policies, standards and technology. The outcome of this research will assist in developing a user-centric SDI Land model to increase the accessibility to land administration and land information, and to contribute to the e-government agenda in Vietnam. Further research is recommended, including in-depth investigation and establishment of an SDI policy framework at the national level, an SDI funding model, and fit-for-purpose land administration framework towards a spatially enabled society in Vietnam. x

11 Table of Contents Declaration... i Acknowledgements... iii List of Related Peer-reviewed Publications... v Abstract... vii Table of Contents... ix List of Figures... xiii List of Tables... xv List of Abbreviations... xvii Chapter 1: Introduction Research background Research problem Research objectives Research questions Research design and thesis structure Chapter 2: Research Methodology Introduction Research strategy Research methods Extended literature review Qualitative research approach Mixed-method approach Case study strategy Case study selection and fieldwork Case-study selection criteria Fieldwork Identifying stakeholders for consultations Introduction to case study Data collection Semi-structured interviews Semi-structured FGDs Questionnaires Computer-aid data analysis Ethical consideration Informed consent Privacy, confidentiality and anonymity Chapter summary xi

12 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Introduction Spatial Data Infrastructure Theory SDI concepts and definitions SDI hierarchy SDI components SDI generations Benefits of Spatial Data Infrastructures SDI beneficiaries SDI benefits SDIs in Land administration History of development of SDIs for land administration Benefits of the SDIs to land administration Spatially-enabled society Development of an SDI Land in Vinh Long Historical development of SDIs in Vietnam Development of SDI Land components in Vinh Long Datasets User community Policies Standards Technology Challenges for development of an SDI Land in Vietnam Opportunities for development of an SDI Land in Vietnam Chapter summary Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Introduction Land administration Land administration functions Land administration components Land registration Cadastre and cadastral survey and mapping Integrated Land administration Fit-for-purpose land administration Vietnam Land administration Land tenure in Vietnam Decentralised land administration system Function-based organisational structure Land administration reform in Vietnam Land policy framework development Vietnam land information system Land transparency Land administration in Vinh Long Land administration profile in case-study area Current status of development of land registration Key issues in land administration in Vinh Long Chapter summary Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Introduction Stakeholder awareness of SDIs Public stakeholder awareness of SDIs Grassroots stakeholder awareness of SDIs xii

13 Stakeholder recommendations Stakeholder requirements for SDI Land components Spatial datasets User community Policies Standards Technology Discussion Chapter summary Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Introduction Stakeholder perceptions of land administration Stakeholder awareness of land administration Perceived land use rights The importance of land information Limitations of land registration services Barriers to participation in land registration services Informal land transactions Support provided by local land administration authorities Women s participation in land administration Public awareness raising Discussion Chapter summary Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Introduction SDI generation On the need for a user-centric SDI Land policy framework Shared data approach a cost-based analysis The benefits of an SDI Land SDI Land hierarchy User-centric SDI Land hierarchy User-centric SDI Land institutional relationships User-centric SDI Land policy framework components Datasets User community Policies to support a user-centric SDI Land Standards Technology Towards a spatially enabled society Chapter summary Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations Introduction Research summary Responses to Research Questions Major research findings Assumptions and limitations Future directions, further implications, and ways forward Concluding remarks List of References Appendix: Maps and Stakeholder Consultation Guide xiii

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15 List of Figures Figure 1.1: Research design and thesis structure Figure 2.1: Multi research method setting Figure 2.2: Qualitative research framework Figure 2.3: Combination of qualitative and quantitative methods Figure 2.4: Case study strategy in Mixed-method approach Figure 2.5: Location of case-study sites Figure 2.6: Vinh Long at a glance Figure 2.7: Cloud of keywords Figure 3.1: The bottom-up SDI hierarchy Figure 3.2: The umbrella (A) and building block (B) view models of SDI Figure 3.3: The US NSDI components Figure 3.4: A system view of the spatial data infrastructure components Figure 3.5: The 1996 Australian SDI components Figure 3.6: The 2008 Australian SDI components Figure 3.7: The dynamic SDI model components Figure 3.8: The user-centric SDI design process Figure 3.9: SDI common components Figure 3.10: Continuum of SDI development Figure 3.11: Land administration relies on an effective SDI Figure 3.12: SDI development in Vietnam Figure 3.13: Searching for LURC procedure on Vinh Long Portal Figure 3.14: Searching for land value on Vinh Long Portal Figure 3.15: Level of development of SDI Land components in Vinh Long Figure 4.1: Land Administration four key functions Figure 4.2: Land administration key components Figure 4.3: The evolution of western cadastres Figure 4.4: Land administration for sustainable development Figure 4.5: Land tenure policy in Vietnam Figure 4.6: Vietnam s Decentralised Land Administration System Figure 4.7: Vietnam land administration function-based organisational structure Figure 4.8: Technological evolution in land administration Figure 4.9: Level of access to land over the last ten year Figure 4.10: Vinh Long provincial land administration organisational chart Figure 4.11: Vinh Long public administration performance in xv

16 Figure 4.12: Vinh Long public administration performance in Figure 5.1: The ICT literacy of grassroots-level stakeholders Figure 5.2: Sources for accessing land information at the grassroots level Figure 6.1: Comparison of the importance of land use rights by communities Figure 6.2: The evaluation of support of government authorities and staff Figure 6.3: The support of government authorities and staff Figure 6.4: Evaluation of support in applying LURCs Figure 6.5: Public awareness-raising channels at grassroots level Figure 7.1: Cost comparison between two models Figure 7.2: The importance of Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land policy framework Figure 7.3: Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land hierarchy Figure 7.4: User-centric SDI Land institutional relationships Figure 7.5: SDI Land datasets policy elements Figure 7.6: SDI Land datasets layers Figure 7.7: Key stakeholders of the provincial user-centric SDI Land User Community xvi

17 List of Tables Table 2.1: Summary of stakeholders approached for interviewing Table 2.2: Profile of attendance Table 3.1: The SDI definitions Table 3.2: SDI Land datasets component development in Vinh Long Table 4.1: Number of LURCs allocated of Vinh Long Table 4.2: Land allocation to individuals/households and organisations Table 5.1: The importance of land-related information to grassroots-level land users Table 5.2: Participants searches for land-related information on the Internet Table 5.3: What are the issues of SDI Land datasets, and their consequences? Table 5.4: SDI Land stakeholders, with data demands and functions? Table 5.5: How easy is it for you to access land-related information and land documents? Table 5.6: The difficulties in accessing land information Table 5.7: Have you used any online land services on the Internet? Table 5.8: What are the issues of user community and the consequences? Table 5.9: What are the issues of the policy framework, and their consequences? Table 5.10: What are the issues of standards and the consequences? Table 5.11: Participants searching land-related information on the Internet Table 5.12: Improvements in access to land information Table 5.13: Online services requested by age groups Table 5.14: What are the issues in the technology, and their consequences? Table 6.1: How well do you understand your land use rights? Table 6.2: How important are each of the following land use rights to you? Table 6.3: What kind of land information is the most important to land users? Table 6.4: The evaluation of importance of LURC-related information Table 6.5: The gender perceptions of LURC-related information Table 6.6: Number of organisations people needed to visit for LURC completion Table 6.7: Barriers to participating in land registration services Table 6.8: The reasons for transferring land informally Table 6.9: Who usually attend the village meetings? Table 6.10: How often have you received information on gender in land management? Table 7.1: Type of stakeholders in the SDI Land xvii

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19 List of Abbreviations ABD ANZLIC AusAID BONRE CADDB CECODES CPC DONRE E-LIS UNECE ESRI FAMIS FAO FGD FIG IFAD GDLA GIS GIV GLTN GoV GSO HSR ICT KOICA Asian Development Bank Australia New Zealand Land Information Committee Australia Agency for International Development Bureau of Natural Resources and Environment (district) Cadastral Document Database Management System Centre for Community Support and Development Studies Communal People Committee Department of Natural Resources and Environment (provincial) Environmental and Land Information System United Nation Economic Commission for Europe Environmental Systems Research Institute Fieldwork and Mapping Integrated Software Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Focus Group Discussion International Federation of Surveyors International Fund for Agricultural Development General Department of Land Administration Geographic Information System Government Inspectorate of Vietnam Global Land Tool Network Government of Vietnam General Statistics Office Hierarchical Spatial Reasoning Information Communications Technology Korea International Cooperation Agency xix

20 LAS LINZ LIS LRO LURC MOC MOF MOFA MOJ MONRE MOT MSC PAPI PPC NZAID RDBMS SBV SDI SIDA SQL UNCTAD UNDP VFF-CRT VGI VGP VHLSS ViLIS VLAP VNA Land Administration System Land Information New Zealand Land Information System Land Registration Office Land Use Right Certificate Ministry of Construction of Vietnam Ministry of Finance of Vietnam Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam Ministry of Justice of Vietnam Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (central) Ministry of Transportation of Vietnam Mapping Science Committee (of America) Public Administration Performance Index Provincial People Committee New Zealand Agency for International Development Relational Database Management System State Bank of Vietnam Spatial Data Infrastructure Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency Structured Query Language United Nations Conference on Trade and Development United Nations Development Programme Centre for Research and Training of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Volunteered Geographic Information Vietnam Government Portal Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey Vietnam Land Information Software Vietnam Land Administration Project Vietnam National Assembly xx

21 Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1. Research background The introductions of the global positioning system (GPS), geographic information system (GIS), and remote sensing (RS) have brought a breakthrough in Earth observation, and have been supporting human development since the early 1990s. As a result of this development, in 1990, the term spatial data infrastructure (SDI) was first introduced, together with other terms such as national information infrastructure and geographic information infrastructure (MSC, 1990), and was intended to distinguish from more specific terms such as land information infrastructure, land information system, property rights infrastructure, and land administration infrastructure. In 1993, the term appeared in the title of the book Toward a Coordinated Spatial Data Infrastructure for the Nation published by the US National Research Council (MSC, 1993). However, it was only in 1994 that the term was first introduced in a legal document issued by the President of the USA (The President, 1994). Later, Coleman and McLaughlin (1998) defined the term SDI in terms of its components and their relationships. According to the authors, SDI includes several components such as databases, metadata, data networks, technology, institutional arrangements, policies and standards, as well as end-users. Many definitions of SDI were then proposed by different researchers (Coleman & Nebert, 1998; Masser, 1999; Rajabifard & Williamson, 2001). Together with the development of science and technology, SDI has been viewed from various perspectives, depending on the country s approach and the awareness of government organisations of SDIs (Rajabifard, Feeney & Williamson, 2002a;

22 Chapter 1: Introduction Thellufen, Rajabifard, Enemark & Williamson, 2009). However, even though there are differences in definitions of SDIs due to different national contexts or disciplines, most imply a similar overall goal, of improvement of access to and use of spatial data through effective and efficient data sharing. Rajabifard, Williamson, Holland and Jonestone (2000) propose an SDI hierarchy containing both horizontal and vertical relationships among its jurisdictional levels. The core components of the SDI model proposed by the same authors were then introduced, comprising policy, access network, technical standards, people (the users) and spatial data. Later, the definition, SDI is fundamentally about facilitating and coordinating the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders in the spatial community, was introduced by Rajabifard, Williamson and Feeney (2003, p. 11). SDIs are established at particular levels, from local to global, or within specific disciplines, such as the land sector, to support decision-making for sustainable development of that particular level or area (Rajabifard et al., 2002a). As other research in these areas has previously demonstrated, attempting to fuse the two broad study areas of SDI and land administration necessarily opens many conceptual and methodological questions to which there are often neither satisfactory nor agreed upon answers. This thesis has taken the position that the proposed SDI Land is to support land administration. An SDI for land administration and management is viewed as a framework that would support efficient and effective land functions and services, including land tenure, land taxation, and land management, and such an SDI is increasingly recognised by governments in developed countries as an essential resource to support the economic, social and environmental interests of a nation (Rajabifard, Williamson, et al., 2000). At the national level, a national SDI (NSDI) is broadly seen as an important part of the evolving national information infrastructure, which would provide all stakeholders with access to essential government information. The NSDI has also 2

23 Chapter 1: Introduction been considered as a core part of the e-government program of every such country. It plays a central role in facilitating a country s natural resources management and environmental protection, as well as economic and social development. However, the lack of a clear and well-established framework for institutional arrangements and overall policy for acquisition, management, and distribution of spatial data information represent common constraints on NSDI development in many developing countries. In each country, several agencies, mostly in the public sector, often develop their own spatial information systems individually (Steudler & Rajabifard, 2012; Williamson, Enemark, Wallace & Rajabifard, 2010). As a lessdeveloped country, Vietnam is no exception to this global trend. In Vietnam, the limitations in data coordination and sharing results in issues for land administration such as duplication of data collection and production, data incompleteness, non-standardized or poor quality data, and more importantly, inefficiency and low financial sustainability (Bell, 2014; Ngo, 2006; World Bank, 2008). Such results are frequently encountered in land administration and management programs. For instance, the cadastral maps for the purpose of land recovery and compensation are typically re-surveyed for land compensation in land development projects, especially in highway construction projects, even though they can be provided by the respective local land management agency. Reasons given for this duplicated work include data security, the limitations in quality of existing data, and the lack of regulation and mechanism of data sharing. In Vietnam, the land administration and management modernisation program started in the mid-1990s, with a World Bank technical assistance program for designing a land administration and management project document. Unfortunately, that project design was not implemented, due to the difficulty in financial mobilisation (AusAID, 2001). Later, during the period from , with the support of the Swedish government, some capacity-building projects were implemented, such as the Cooperation Program on Land Administration Reform (CPLAR), and the Strengthening Environmental Management and Land 3

24 Chapter 1: Introduction Administration (SEMLA) Project. In the early 2000s, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), the focal point for land administration at the central level, developed the comprehensive Program for the development and modernisation of land administration for , which could be seen as the first policy for the modernisation of the land administration system. The Strategy for application and development of information technology for the management of natural resources and environment to 2015 and towards 2020 was then approved by the Government of Vietnam (GoV). Firstly, by 2015, two-thirds of the equipment used in survey and mapping as well as for land data capturing was to be equipped to meet the requirements of digital data production; and by 2020, the whole process shall be automated. Secondly, the national database of natural resources and environment was to be fully integrated into the government network, regularly updated, and give online access to the database for government agencies by 2015 (GoV, 2004). However, the government failed to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, due to the lack of availability of a coherent national approach to natural resources management strategy, including land administration. As evidence of this failure, the strategy has the purpose of the development of a modern land administration via implementation of many land projects, but most of these have focussed on the spatial data collection, during the period from 2005 to 2015 (MONRE, 2015b; World Bank, 2010). In a broader perspective, the GoV has implemented concrete plans to accelerate the development of e-government and e-commerce services. The development strategy of the GoV has been set to move towards the application of ICT to promote stakeholders access to land administration information and other spatial data (GoV, 2010). In 2011, the GoV issued its decree on e-government to regulate the provision of online administrative services for government organisations (GoV, 2011a). However, the implementation of the related projects has faced a number of difficulties, including in legal frameworks, financial constraints, and limitations on capacity. For instance, according to the recent report of MONRE (Khanh Ly, 2016), by March 2016 the progress of the project for building an integrated network 4

25 Chapter 1: Introduction of natural resources and environment information, planned to close in 2015, has achieved only 79% of the implementation plan. However, the development of policy and institutional frameworks and technical standards, for effectively coordinating and sharing of the data (especially between land administration and other stakeholders), remains a matter of major importance for the GoV. While the use of volunteered geographic information (VGI) is a topic that of increasing interest to the international land sector, for example: Olteanu-Raimond et al. (2016), Rahmatizadeh, Rajabifard and Kalantari (2016), it is considered that it is currently a low priority for Vietnam at present. Therefore in this thesis the inclusion of VGI into an SDI Land has not been explored. Rather it is mentioned in Chapter 8 under future directions Research problem In Vietnam, the General Department of Land Administration (GDLA) of MONRE is mandated as the lead agency for the development of an NSDI clearinghouse, spatial data standards, cadastral data content standards, and a national digital geospatial data framework and partnerships for land data acquisition in Vietnam. GDLA is responsible for advocating with the other government agencies for necessary laws to reform public land, land registration and other land regulations, for a more efficient resource management system in the country (GoV, 2008b). Such a transparent system is an essential tool for public service delivery provided by the government, and is clearly embedded in the planning for sustainable socioeconomic development. The system will contribute to good governance, and should further strengthen the trust of local people in land-related activities. A transparent land management system must be functioning effectively, and implemented as a critical, public good infrastructure, in which the SDI concept plays a role as a key component (Bennett et al., 2013; Williamson, 2001). In Vietnam, the GoV has committed itself to the development of a modern land administration system. Since the late 1990s, with the purpose of the completion of 5

26 Chapter 1: Introduction land registration processes as well as the issuance of land use right certificates (LURC) to land users, the GoV has invested a vast amount of money, around $60 million per year, to develop the land information and registration system, with the strong support of donors such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ABD), Australia, and Sweden (World Bank, 2008, 2011). However, despite some recognised improvements, the land sector is still ranked as one of the top three public services for corruption in Vietnam. In addition, the volume of civil disputes and administrative complaints related to land shares the largest part, about 70% of such legal disputes and complaints to the Government, according to the figures of MONRE, and the Government Inspectorate (GIV) (Dang Linh, 2015). The 2008 Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey (VHLSS) recorded more than 85% of households as having anomalies that might be considered as corruption characteristics in the application for LURCs (GSO, 2008). Recently, companies have experienced less corruption in the applications for LURC, but it nevertheless remains at a high rate, with more than one-third (37%) of enterprises revealing that they paid unofficial money for land titling (Dang, 2007; World Bank, 2010; World Bank & GIV, 2013). The procedures for land registration and statistics have been issued and revised several times as the result of technology development, aiming at the support of ICT for land registration and statistics. However, the support of technology in land registration has still remained low. Land registration procedures have been evaluated as unclear (Ho, 2016). The above-mentioned VHLSS survey concluded that there was significant room for improvement, owing to 35% of interviewees indicating that the land titling procedures were complicated and lacking in transparency (World Bank, 2010). Meanwhile, standards for the preparation and issuance of land registration, which had been expected in order to detail the procedures for land registration and statistics (especially in the application of ICT), have been delayed (World Bank, 2012). In addition, the progress of formulation and re-organisation of land registration offices (LROs) in accordance with new requirements has been slow (Ho, 2016; MONRE Portal, 2016). As a consequence, unofficial land transactions 6

27 Chapter 1: Introduction have continued in spite of the efforts made by the governments both at central and local levels. Thus, despite these significant efforts, the delivery of land administration services by modern methods continues to be limited, for several reasons including the weak capacity of human resources, limitations in the application of technology, and inconsistency of databases (CECODES, VFF-CRT & UNDP, 2015; Ho, 2016; MONRE, 2015b). Since the late 1990s, almost all of Vietnamese government agencies dealing with natural resources management, including land and environment, have used GIS technologies and relational database management systems (RDBMS) for their work on spatial data and for processing land registration and related services. Recently, the Government has invested sizable budgets annually in producing and strengthening land administration by applying GIS and RDBMS in land information systems (LIS), such as the development of land databases integrating both spatial and attribute data, and development and application of land registration software. However, the cadastral records, especially cadastral maps, usually become out-of-date after a year of their establishment, because they have not been updated regularly. Moreover, it is difficult to access land information since the data are achieved in a single database that is not integrated with the other information in a unified system, and are frequently undocumented, redundant, and in incompatible formats. Besides this, the data are usually stored and managed by different departments and institutions of Government. The land information has not been disseminated and the related services have not been provided effectively, due to the lack of an institutional framework and information mechanism, as well as an inefficient land portal. Currently, models of LIS have been developed by government agencies, in particular the Vietnam Land Information System (ViLIS) and Environmental and Land Information System (E-LIS). Both of these have been deployed in response to the demands of local governments (MONRE, 2015b). 7

28 Chapter 1: Introduction In addition, in 2010, MONRE issued the cadastral data content standard (MONRE, 2010), which was developed based on the geospatial standards ISO19100 and Land Administration Domain Model ISO1952 (D. Do et al., 2009), for the purpose of setting up a standard for the development of land information system software in the country. The issuance of the said standard expected strong investment from the private sector in land administration activities, especially in providing services for land registration and information system contracts. However, until recently, there have been only two above-mentioned land information software packages mobilised by provinces (Pullar, 2013). Vietnam has paid significant attention to developing a comprehensive land information policy and strategic framework for standards and procedures, to support an integrated national LIS, and spatial information has been increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for sustainable development (GoV, 2004). Nevertheless, such a system still requires the government to undertake legal and regulatory reforms, to establish the land information management required for electronic storage and transactions, through effective inter-agency coordination of data sharing and protocols. The report of the World Bank on a policy study on NSDI vision and strategy for Vietnam indicates there has been no comprehensive and standardised SDI policy framework for the land sector in place (World Bank, 2011). In addition, an interactive survey in 2013 at the central government organisation level, to improve the land administration system with the support of ICT, found that about half of participants (47%) indicated that the largest challenge in the application of ICT in the land sector was the lack of a legal framework to underpin ICT based administration services (Jones, 2013). Having searched the literature and reviewed government documents, in the present research it is found that, since 2011, SDI and related terms, especially policy framework, have not been mentioned in any documents or research. The newest high-level decision made by the Prime Minister on approval of a large land administration project indicated that the aim was building a service-oriented land administration system in the country (GoV, 2016) which could be understood as a process-focused approach to land 8

29 Chapter 1: Introduction administration system. This new policy is in accordance with the government resolution on e-government (GoV, 2015). At present, it is the lack of policy framework and knowledge gaps that affect users, providers and administrators of SDI seeking to build an appropriate SDI model for the land sector. In addition, as a less-developed country, the land administration system of Vietnam should require the active participation of all stakeholders based on their demands a demandfocused (as known as a user-centric) approach (P. Singh, 2009). Similar to other nations, almost all land-related activities in Vietnam happen at local levels, with the management of provincial government (VNA, 2013b). Thus, detailed information on land is necessary at local levels (the operational level), whilst at the national level (the managerial level) general information can be generated from the detailed information at local levels. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct comprehensive research on the development of a policy framework, as a basis for the development of an SDI to support land administration. This should be based on the active participation of all land stakeholders (hereafter referred to as user-centric SDI Land) at the provincial level, where most of the land-related activities happen Research objectives The aim of this research is to develop a policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land at the provincial level in Vietnam. The sub-objectives are: 1. To contribute to the government s implementation of the modernisation of land administration strategy and the broader e-government agenda. 2. To increase access to land information and land-related services by all stakeholders. 3. For the policy framework to enhance the delivery of spatial data and provision of land information at all levels. To achieve these objectives, the present research investigates the problems discussed above, and focuses on several research questions relevant to assessing the 9

30 Chapter 1: Introduction role of SDI in government reforms in the areas of land administration, revenue mobilisation, policy, and techniques and technology aspects Research questions To carry out the proposed research with the above-mentioned objectives, the following research questions are raised: RQ1: How can an SDI Land support land administration in Vietnam? RQ2: What do the stakeholders require for a modern land administration system (in a case-study province)? RQ3: What are the barriers to the development of a provincial user-centric SDI Land (in a case-study province)? RQ4: What is the appropriate policy framework for the provincial user-centric SDI Land (in a case-study province)? 1.5. Research design and thesis structure The present research was conducted in four phases, comprising desktop research, fieldwork, data analysis, and discussion. The present thesis is organised in five parts. Figure 1.1 summarises the Research Design and Thesis Structure. The first phase of the research was the desktop research phase, which mainly involves literature reviews on the land administration and SDIs development, from global to national then provincial contexts, to define the research problems and objectives that underpin the research. This phase also included the selection of research method, by investigating the several measures that were relevant to the research. During this phase, the research objectives and research questions were defined. The results of this desktop research were documented and separated into two parts: Introduction and Methodology, and Literature Review. The introduction to the 10

31 Chapter 1: Introduction research context, research problem, objectives, and research question, forms Chapter 1. The introduction to research methods, selection of case study, and data collection process, as well as data analysis, forms Chapter 2. The first two chapters thus form the first part of the thesis: Introduction and Methodology. Figure 1.1: Research design and thesis structure 11

32 Chapter 1: Introduction Chapters 3 and 4, respectively, present the results of the literature review of the two related topics of the research, SDI, and land administration. These two chapters form the second part of the thesis: Literature Review. The second phase of research involved fieldwork, which was conducted in Vietnam. The fieldwork involved stakeholder consultations, including individual interviews with key staff at related stakeholder organisations, discussions with focus groups at the grassroots level, and questionnaire surveys carried out at three communes of the selected case study in Vinh Long Province. More detail on selection of the case study is presented in Chapter 2. The data collected was then analysed using data analysis software in the third research phase: Data analysis. The findings of these two phases are presented in Chapters 5 and 6 on, respectively, the topics of SDI, and land administration. These two chapters thus form the third phase of the thesis: Findings. Based on the findings of the data analysis and the literature review, the research moved on to the final research phase: Discussion. In this phase, a discussion on the Policy Framework for a Provincial User-centric SDI Land was conducted and proposed. The result of this phase of the research is presented in Chapter 7, forming the findings of the thesis. In addition, the conclusion and recommendations of the research, presenting the summary of the research findings, the results against research objectives, discussion of the research implications, and further recommendations, are presented in Chapter 8, which forms the last part of the thesis: Synthesis. The present research involved the human perceptions of stakeholders in Vietnam; therefore, the selection of research methodology is an important factor in the results of stakeholder consultations. The research methodology is presented in more detail in Chapter 2. 12

33 Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.1. Introduction Research strategy and methodology play an essential role in research related to the human being, society, and geography. The selection of methods decides to a significant degree the success of research projects (I. Hay, 2010). Within the present research, the selection of appropriate research methods, including the participant mobilisation approaches, is important for facilitating the effective collection of data. This chapter discusses the approach, strategy, and methods that were used to investigate the research questions outlined in the previous chapter. This chapter commences with an introduction to research strategy in order to set the foundation for selection of research methods. The next sections discuss the research methods and case strategy used in the research. The chapter then describes, in Section 2.5, the selection of case study areas, and introduces, in Section 2.6, the case study areas, including natural conditions, land use, and land tenure. The chapter also summarises, in Section 2.7, the process of data collection, including individual interviews, group interviews (referred to as focus group discussions - FGDs), and questionnaires, with summaries of the profiles of participants. Finally, the chapter then introduces, in Section 2.8, a summary of the application of computational data analysis, and closes with ethical issues such as informed consent, and ensuring the privacy, confidentiality and anonymity of the participants both invited and participated individuals. 13

34 Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.2. Research strategy There are three categories of research methodology and strategy used in research combining social and managerial sciences. These are statistical, case study, and comparative approaches. Each of these gives particular advantages. Usually, a mix of quantitative and qualitative analysis is used corresponding to the type of research undertaken, as in the present research, involving human participants and their views (I. Hay, 2010; Ritchie, 2003). The statistical method employs formal hypotheses, with an emphasis on quantitative data collected by means of measurements, experiments and instruments. This method is usually applied for a large number of cases. According to Maykut and Morehouse (1994), the techniques used in this method, therefore, reflect an underlying positivist ontology and epistemology. Description in depth, by contrast, investigates a limited number of cases to elicit a thick description. In this case, some case studies are entities that will be thoroughly investigated without dependent and independent variables and variation during the investigation. The use of thick description reflects a greater affinity with qualitative interpretations of social science problems (Sieber, 2009). To respond to the research questions stated in Chapter 1, the present study was conducted by means of combined research methods, supported by sources of evidence collected from the stakeholder consultations and case study areas. The key stakeholders and case study areas were selected in order to investigate the research problems in depth, to set the foundation for the discussion Research methods To implement the research with the aim and objectives mentioned in Chapter 1, a set of research methods has been employed to address the research questions. Those proposed methodologies were used to investigate those problems, and focused on several questions relevant to assessing the role of SDI and its policy framework in government reforms in the areas of land administration, revenue 14

35 Chapter 2: Research Methodology mobilisation, policy, and technique and technology aspects. Figure 2.1 below describes the combined use of research techniques for reaching the research findings. Literature reviews, quantitative (questionnaire) techniques, and qualitative (interviews, individually and group) techniques have been used in the present research (Yin, 2014). Figure 2.1: Multi research method setting (Adapted from Yin, 2014) Extended literature review To develop the research background, an extensive literature review was undertaken. The preliminary investigation of research objectives required a comprehensive understanding of drivers for land registration service delivery in Vietnam and internationally. The research also required a thorough understanding of the land administration, SDI framework, concepts and components, and also international experiences in the development and implementation of SDIs, and land administration systems. As mentioned in Chapter 1, attempting to fuse the two broad study areas of SDI and land administration opens many conceptual and methodological questions to which there are often neither satisfactory nor agreed upon answers. Therefore in this thesis the decision was made that the proposed SDI Land is intended to support land administration. The search included many types of 15

36 Chapter 2: Research Methodology literature including books, journal articles, conference papers and proceedings, government reports, and other relevant information published over the Internet. The literature review provided the fundamentals for the development of the research strategy, and highlighted the major issues that were considered when developing the policy framework Qualitative research approach While the literature review approach was used to understand the land administration and SDI theories, investigate problems, and identify the gaps in development and implementation of an SDI model for the land sector in Vinh Long Province, the quantitative and qualitative methods were employed for analysing the community and stakeholder perceptions of land administration and SDI. Therefore, the research employed a qualitative research approach through interviews and FGDs with human participants and informants; and a quantitative analysis of responses to questionnaires. According to Fontana and Frey (2011), the qualitative method investigates individuals in certain situations in their localities, using an interpretive research approach that relies on many types of subjectively collected data. Similarly, Maykut and Morehouse (1994) assert that qualitative research discovers patterns that emerge after close observation and discussion, careful documentation, and thoughtful analysis of the research topic. These are considered by the investigators when designing a qualitative research study because it is important to understand that a qualitative research study has a focus but that focus is initially broad and openended, allowing for important meanings to be discovered (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994). One of the advantages of interviews in qualitative research is that the interviewing questions are permitted to expand or even change during the interviewing period, in order to focus on explored phenomena. Correspondently, the data collection is not only limited to a pre-established set of questions and topics but can be extended to 16

37 Chapter 2: Research Methodology the study of various characteristics. Consequently, rich and detailed data can be obtained, to lead to a better description of individual experiences and social structures. Figure 2.2 presents the framework of qualitative research based on its characteristics. Figure 2.2: Qualitative research framework (Maykut & Morehouse, 1994, p. 43) Christensen, Johnson and Turner (2011) argue that the best-suited data for understanding behavioural patterns of individuals is non-numerical data. Nonnumerical data can be statements of an interviewee during the interview, written records, pictures, observed behaviour, or historical information. Both qualitative and quantitative investigators tend to rely on the interview as the basic method of data gathering and analysis, as it is one of the most commonly used qualitative methods to involve human perspectives. Interviews include structured, unstructured interviews and even simply questionnaires with given options to choose from. In a structured interview, the investigator asks all participants in the same order a series of pre-established questions. Generally, in this method, there is little room for variation. On the other hand, an unstructured interview provides 17

38 Chapter 2: Research Methodology greater breadth in comparison to any other interviewing types. The combination of structured and unstructured interviews creates a semi-structured interview method, which takes advantage of both ways of data collection. In group interviewing, also known as FGD, the investigator plays a role as a moderator or facilitator, to direct the inquiry and interaction amongst participants in a selected form of interview. FGDs are sometimes described as a more naturalistic investigation than in-depth interviews, and they still bring significant benefits such as a social context for the research, which could not be gained from individual interviews. This form of interview provides an opportunity to explore how people think about a particular topic and how each participant s ideas are shaped and moderated through conversation with others, as this form of interview allows participants to discuss their ideas with others (Finch & Lewis, 2003; Ritchie, 2003). Focus group interviews can be conducted in different forms, depending on the purposes of investigators, including brainstorming interviews with no structure or direction from the moderator, or very structured interviews with strict direction from the facilitator (Fontana & Frey, 2011). Both individual and focus group interviews can be set in a formal and informal arrangement, from very structured to unstructured sets of questions. Christensen et al. (2011) summarise the definition and purpose of qualitative research as follows: At its most basic level, a qualitative method is defined as the approach to empirical research that relies primarily on the collection of qualitative data, i.e. non-numeric data such as words, pictures, images (Christensen et al., 2011, p. 361). In contrast to quantitative surveying, qualitative research interviewers themselves are research instruments, with some common key requirements such as the ability to listen the art of interviewing a clear, organised and logical mind, and a good memory. Therefore, the success of qualitative research depends to a large extent on 18

39 Chapter 2: Research Methodology the personal and professional qualities of the investigator. In addition, the first stage of an interview, which eases the gap between the interviewees and interviewer, and brings the focus of participants on a specific set of topics, decides the success of the interviews (Legard, Keegan & Ward, 2003). In the present research, the semi-structured interviewing method was employed for its flexibility in allowing explorations of stakeholders perceptions of the two research topics. The semi-structured interviews employed an interview guide with content-focused questions to deal with the issues or topics judged by the researcher to be relevant to the research questions. This type of interview is organised around ordered but flexible questioning (Dunn, 2010) Mixed-method approach In research related to social and human sciences, the use of a qualitative or a quantitative method is common. In fact, the most common approach is the use of a mixed-method design combining techniques from both qualitative and quantitative research traditions to form a unique approach for investigating research questions, by providing stronger inferences and presenting a greater diversity of views (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2010). Creswell and Clark (2007) introduce a comprehensive definition of mixed methods research as follows: Mixed methods research is a research design with philosophical assumptions as well as methods of inquiry. As a methodology, it involves philosophical assumptions that guide the direction of the collection and analysis of data and the mixture of qualitative and quantitative data in a single study or series of studies. Its central premise is that the use of quantitative and qualitative approaches in combination provides a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone (Creswell & Clark, 2007, p. 5). In a mixed-method approach, qualitative and quantitative methods can be combined in three ways. In two approaches combining the different types of method, one can be dominant over the other; while in the third approach both are given equal weight (Figure 2.3). 19

40 Chapter 2: Research Methodology Figure 2.3: Combination of qualitative and quantitative methods (Adapted from Creswell & Clark, 2007) Depending on the purpose of the research, it can be seen that, in all three ways of combination, a mixed-method research can investigate data coming from both qualitative and quantitative primary level studies to provide a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone. Within the present research, to understand and become familiar with the government institutions in the country in regard to land administration and SDI, consultations and surveys with key stakeholders at both central level and provincial level were conducted. The purposes of stakeholder consultations were to examine the current usages of, and demands for, spatial data as well as land data. This enumerated a complete list of agencies that are engaged in collecting, storing and distributing land data. The present study employed a multi-method setting using a case-study strategy. The use of case-study strategy allows many different sources of evidence. While the qualitative method provided the opportunity to investigate the organisational and institutional aspects of the partnerships in depth, the quantitative approach examined a large number of participants, facilitating a greater breadth of views (Teddlie & Tashakkori, 2010). The use of several methods is considered to provide 20

41 Chapter 2: Research Methodology a better understanding of the phenomenon being investigated (Christensen et al., 2011). The main analysis of the present research was thus based on participant perceptions of the quality of land administration-related services, through a variety of research approaches including interviews, FGDs, and questionnaires. For this purpose, the full participation of people involved became an important factor. It also requires a good relationship between the investigator and participants, to build trust for the interviewees to feel free to share their opinions, views and descriptions of a situation. The qualitative approach used in this research included interviews with groups of experts at ministerial level, and provincial level, in international organisations, donors, private and academic sectors, and land users at grassroots level. The interviews and discussions were to investigate the research problems within their real context. The quantitative method was used in this research to gather information about: the participants attitudes, thoughts, and evaluation when doing land registration at the government agencies; and the difficulties encountered, and deficiencies, as well as expectations, in accessing land information. The participants in this activity included land users with a mix of gender and cultural backgrounds, at the grassroots levels Case study strategy A case study is defined as an intensive and detailed study of a single unit for the purpose of understanding a large number of units. In the other words, case-study research investigates a single example or a small number of instances of the phenomenon, in order to examine, in-depth, fine distinctions in a phenomenon, and explanations of the phenomenon. Case studies have a long and rich history in research related to social sciences and involving humans, including in human geography. The case-study methodology is a powerful measure by which 21

42 Chapter 2: Research Methodology investigators can both understand the practical aspects of a phenomenon of place, and develop and update theory (Howitt & Stevens, 2010). Figure 2.4: Case study strategy in Mixed-method approach A case study can be a person, an event, a process or, normally, a particular place. The research employing case study strategies often uses various combinations of qualitative and quantitative methods for data collection and analysis, such as interviews, focus groups, participant observation, or questionnaires. In the present research, a case-study strategy was employed since the problems which were to be studied were best considered by examples describing the situation in the area. The other reason that case study strategy was used in this research is that the investigated issues could not be described sufficiently via a literature review, or that the literature review needed to be re-assessed and re-confirmed. The most important purpose of stakeholder consultation in the present research was to understand and become familiar with the government institutions in the country in regard to land administration and SDIs. This was in order to verify the literature review findings, and to understand the current statuses of development and implementation of an SDI as well as spatial information infrastructures of ministries and disciplines. The use of a case-study strategy within this research enabled the investigator to explore the stakeholder perceptions of land administration and SDIs, as well as their requirements and recommendations for a policy framework for an SDI Land. 22

43 Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.5. Case study selection and fieldwork Case-study selection criteria The selection of case study was based on the criteria developed in the first stage of the project by consultation with several land experts within the country. Firstly, the selected province should be nearing completion of the cadastral survey and mapping as well as the initial land registration. This could be verified by the annual report submitted to MONRE. The reason for this condition is to investigate as many types of cadastral activities as possible. Secondly, the selected province should have a developed organisational structure and personnel. The reason for this condition is to ensure that the stakeholders interviewed are knowledgeable about the topics on which they will be interviewed and can provide well-informed and therefore valuable responses to the investigator. Thirdly, the selected province should be in early stages of development/implementation of land information system. This is to ensure that the interviewees can imagine their future plans for delivery of land information and services, and therefore, provide the investigator with valuable information. Furthermore, the province should conflate both urban and rural areas. Finally, the selected province should be accessible to the investigator. Having investigated the conditions of several provinces and consulted with country experts, Vinh Long, a southern province, was chosen as the case study site for this research. An introduction to the province and selected communes from which data were collected is presented in Section Fieldwork The stakeholder consultations and the field visit took place during the period August 5 to October 30, These activities included two phrases. The first phase involved one-on-one interviewing with key staff of selected stakeholders. The second phrase contained group interviewing (focus group discussion) with three groups at grassroots level, and surveying by questionnaire. The consultation was conducted by and telephone communication before the first stage of the 23

44 Chapter 2: Research Methodology fieldwork. The interviews, using both formal and informal methods, were conducted with key identified stakeholders in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Vinh Long Province Identifying stakeholders for consultations One of the most important factors in the modernisation of the land administration system in Vietnam is to satisfy the demands of related stakeholders. Therefore, it is important to understand who the stakeholders are and what roles each play. As an administrative sector, land administration, as well as SDI Land, has three important stakeholder groups. The first group comprises organisations/agencies that are mainly responsible for producing land-related data, such as the survey and mapping departments, land registration offices, land registration, and statistics divisions, at both central government and local government levels. The second group comprises government departments and commercial enterprises who add value to the data by extracting information from the data collection. The last group is information users, including individuals and the general public, acquiring benefits from the availability of information. In Vietnam, the key SDI Land stakeholders are the land-related government agencies, including policy makers, administration authorities, technical agencies, and service providers. They play an important role in the development and operation of the data access component as well as information infrastructure. Their role depends largely on government policies regarding data management, distribution and access, and cost recovery. Business entities will play a strong role as providers of tools and services to support the development of the SDI Land. They may also be suppliers of primary and value-added data. The consumers or end-users are more concerned about data access, the functionality of the infrastructure tools, the amount and quality of the content accessible, data access fees, and usage policies. One of the first steps to engage stakeholders is to identify those organisations that have a role to play in the SDI Land. Organisations and authorities at different levels 24

45 Chapter 2: Research Methodology and interest groups have different motives and interests. It is of fundamental importance to analyse these interests and expectations, both early on in the development process and later again during the implementation of the SDI Land. A fundamental requirement of all development projects is that the objectives reflect the needs of the society and the interested groups, and not merely the internal needs of institutions Introduction to case study The selection was based on a number of criteria, including technical, professional and organisational development, as well as the academic collaboration of the provincial leaders in the land sector. Demographical distribution and geographical range were also taken into consideration for the selection of the case study areas. Other criteria included the availability of as many land services as possible, the commitment of provincial leaders, and the accessibility for investigator. Located in the Mekong Delta region, lying between two major rivers in the area, Vinh Long Province (hereinafter called Vinh Long) plays an important role in agricultural production and is well known for fishing in the south of Vietnam. The Province is about 135km from Ho Chi Minh City the political-economic centre of the country, next to Can Tho city to the south one of five cities under the central government 1. Vinh Long is located between longitude and latitude. Figure 2.5 presents the locations of Vinh Long in Vietnam, and the three communal case study areas in Vinh Long City and Vung Liem District of Vinh Long. The three case study communes selected were (1) Ward 2 of Vinh Long City, (2) Trung Thanh Tay, and (3) Trung Hiep communes of Vung Liem District. 1 The other four are Hanoi, Hai Phong, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City. 25

46 Chapter 2: Research Methodology Figure 2.5: Location of case-study sites (non-scaled maps) (extracted from and combined by the author) In terms of the natural conditions, Vinh Long has a flat topography, about m above the sea level. There have been no floods or drought naturally occurring in Vinh Long. As located in the tropical monsoon area, the Province has two different seasons, rainy and dry seasons, with an average annual average rainfall of about 1,600mm. On average, it receives about 9.5 sunshine hours a day, creating a mild condition of 27 0 C, with an average humidity of about 80%. Like other traditional agricultural provinces, land is important to people for both residential and farming purposes. The Province is one of the smallest provinces in the country. It covers an area of approximately 1,500 km 2, and has a population of 1.04 million comprising approximately 265,000 households, with a density 685 people/km 2. Of the population, the male share is 49.3%, and female is 50.7%. There are more than twenty ethnicities, with the Kinh people being the majority with 97.3%, the Khmer group about 2.1% (mostly living in four districts, Vung Liem, Tra On, Tam Binh, and Binh Minh), and other minority groups being 0.6% of the population. The 26

47 Chapter 2: Research Methodology literacy in Vinh Long is approximately 95%, higher than the average rate of the country 93.4% (GSO, 2014; UNICEF, 2013; Vinh Long Portal, 2016a). Figure 2.6 presents some broad data and details about Vinh Long: Figure 2.6: Vinh Long at a glance (Vinh Long Portal, 2016a) The Province is subdivided into eight district-level administrative units, comprising six districts, a town, and a city; and 109 communal-level administrative units, comprising 94 communes, 5 communal-level towns, and 10 wards (Vinh Long Portal, 2016a). Three communal administrative units in two district administrative units were selected: (1) Ward 2 of Vinh Long City, (2) Trung Thanh Tay, and (3) Trung Hiep communes of Vung Liem District. Vinh Long City is the political, cultural, and social centre of Vinh Long, covering an area of 48km 2, with a population of approximately 150 thousand people (the 27

48 Chapter 2: Research Methodology female share being 48.73%). Vinh Long City is planned to be one of the four main cities of the Mekong Delta region in Ward 2 is one of 11 communal administrative units of Vinh Long City. It is located in the central of Vinh Long City, covering an area of 1.53km 2, with approximately 15 thousand people. The location of Ward 2 is shown as (1) in Figure 2.5. Vung Liem is a south-east district of Vinh Long. This district covers an area of approximately 309.6km 2, and has a population of 161 thousand people (520 people/km 2 ). Vung Liem has 20 communal-level administrative units, with one town and 19 communes. Except Vung Liem Town, which is an urban unit (level 4), the other 19 communes are agricultural units. In Vung Liem, Kinh people form the majority; with the Khmer people share a minor part. Trung Thanh Tay commune is Vung Liem Town s neighbour, with a rapid rate of urbanisation. Despite the fact that the majority of the land is agricultural land, it can be considered as a peri-urban commune due to the active urbanising process, which consists of the land use conversion, mostly from agricultural to residential land, land subsidising and transferring, as well as land recovery and compensation. Trung Thanh Tay covers an area of 12.6km 2, with a population of around 6,000 people. The location of Trung Thanh Tay commune is shown as (2) in Figure 2.5. Trung Hiep is an agricultural commune of Vung Liem District, covering an area of about 17.7km 2, with a population of around 10,000 people. The location of Trung Hiep commune is shown as (3) in Figure 2.5. This case study selection is in order to represent all three urban, peri-urban, and rural types of community. The administrative map of Vinh Long and land use maps of the three-mentioned selected communes are presented in Appendix Data collection The case-study approach employed in this study includes three types: interviews of individuals, including experts and staff of government ministries, NGO, private 28

49 Chapter 2: Research Methodology companies, and academia; FGDs with groups of people at grassroots level, including three focus group discussion meetings with individuals, household, and civil society association representatives (land users); and surveys at grassroots level by means of questionnaires. The last two types of data collection were conducted at the grassroots level in the case study locations Semi-structured interviews As one of the most common data collection methods used in human-related qualitative research, including social and geography studies (I. Hay, 2010), the semistructured interviewing strategy was selected for use in the present study due to the flexibility and expandability of questions for exploring the thoughts, beliefs, and opinions of participants (Dunn, 2010). This section presents the interviewing process conducted within this study. To select interviewees, the investigator highly appreciated the participation and evaluated the roles of government staff at both central and provincial levels, as they are the main human resource working in policy-making departments and directly with the land users. The investigator recognised the roles of other stakeholders, including non-governmental organisations (NGOs), donors, academia, and the private sector. The author, finally, considered the roles of land users as the largest potential users of the land-related services and the SDI Land, and decided to approach these also for consultation. Having consulted with the experts from the field of study, and based on the investigator s working experiences, the stakeholders were identified to be approached for consultation in both policy and technical aspects. The following procedure was used for mobilisation of participants: Listing all the names of potential institutions, groups, and individuals; Grouping the parties related to type of stakeholders; Selecting the preliminary list of stakeholders having potentially strong influences over the research topics; 29

50 Chapter 2: Research Methodology Analysing these groups according to a set of priorities to explore the research problems; Making a short list of potential departments and interviewees; Sending research information package to potential interviewees by the third party to ensure the purely voluntary participation of people; Informing persons who agreed to participate of time and location for interviewing; Conducting interviews (brief, introduction, questioning, taking notes, recordings). Table 2.1 presents the summary of stakeholders who were approached and agreed to participate in the research for interviewing and FGD. Those people who were approached but did not agree to participate are not mentioned in this research. In summary, 12 senior staff from central government ministries, 10 technical and managerial staff from provincial level, 5 people from NGOs, donors, academia and the private sector, participated in the research as interviewees. Based on the design of the consultation process, the face-to-face individual interviews were firstly conducted in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Vinh Long. Table 2.1: Summary of stakeholders approached for interviewing Type of stakeholder Approach Quantity Location Central ministries Individually 12 Hanoi Donors Individually 1 Hanoi Private sector Individually 2 Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City NGOs Individually 1 Hanoi Academia Individually 1 Hanoi Provincial departments Individually 10 Vinh Long Semi-structured FGDs An FGD involves a small group of targeted participants discussing a topic or an issue raised by an investigator. FGDs in social and geography research have been conducted since WWII in the US to collect information (Morgan, 1997). The 30

51 Chapter 2: Research Methodology techniques of FGDs range from group interviews, in which each participant is asked the same question in turn without or with only a little interaction amongst them, through to in-depth group meeting in which the focus is on the interaction between participants (Barbour, 2008). Within the present research, the medium level of FGD was used. The number of participants in each FGD meeting was 20 larger than the normal size of an FGD meeting, of from 6 to 10 people each. However, having understood the cultural background, the investigator considers that the size of 20 participants is suitable within the context of the topics. This large number could also enhance the confidence of participants to provide information. Having consulted with the heads of villages (as a third party), the procedure of selection of participants was as follows: Collecting the list of households in the case study; Making a short list of potential participants 30 for each commune; Sending research information packages to potential interviewees by the third party to ensure the purely voluntary participation of people; Informing potential participants of time and location of meetings via the third party; Conducting discussions (brief, introduction, questioning, taking notes, recordings). Prior to the meetings, the participants were informed that the audio recording was used. During the meeting, the investigator played a role as a facilitator to control the discussion by raising questions and topics and inviting people to share their ideas and thoughts. At grassroots level, 63 land users, comprising individuals, households, village heads, and civil society association representatives, who were randomly selected and invited, participated in the three FGD meetings at the three communes of Vinh Long. The profile of FGD participants is presented in Table

52 Chapter 2: Research Methodology Questionnaires Questionnaires in human geography and social research involve standardised, formally structured questions to a group of individuals, often presumed to be a sample of a community (McGuirk & O'Neill, 2010). To understand the people, their thoughts, experiences, social interactions, attitudes, and opinions, as well as awareness of participants, all types of questions were designed and used in the data collection process. The questionnaires used in this research involved both qualitative and quantitative data, as they combined all types of closed (participants just choose from the given answers), grids/matrix (Likert scale), and combination questions (closed and open questions). To select the participants, village heads were employed as third parties to support the distribution of questionnaires within the locations of selected communes. There was no direct collection of questionnaires involved, by either investigator or third parties, to ensure the confidence of participants in responding to the questions; instead, stamped and addressed envelopes were provided to potential participants to use to return the questionnaires. In addition, none of the identifiable information was collected. There were 122 out of 160 approached individuals and households that participated in the surveying by returning the questionnaire sheets. The group interviews of individuals, households using land, and representatives of civil society associations, and questionnaires at the grassroots level, were conducted in the selected case study communes. The participants ranged widely, from high level managerial staff, who had been working for the central ministries, to the local farmers, who have used or have not used land-related services. The selection of participants was made randomly in order to collect a wide range of data and manage the nature of the information provided by the informants. However, the selection of participants managed a balance in gender for the focus group discussion (male/female: 48/52) and questionnaires 32

53 Chapter 2: Research Methodology (male/female: 56/44). The selections also provided a wide range of age groups and qualifications, as well as including a number of minor ethnic group participants. The basic summary of participant profiles is represented in Table 2.2 for all three kinds of interviews: individual, focus group, and questionnaires. Table 2.2: Profile of attendance Interviews FGDs Questionnaires Number % Number % Number % Gender - Male Female Ethnic Group - Kinh group Minor ethnic group Age group Qualification - Not available Under secondary School Secondary School High School University Master Doctor Number of participants For the sample size for questionnaire surveying, assuming that the confidence level is 95%, which means that there is only a 5% chance of the results differing from the true population average, the size of 122 respondents collected in the research brings a calculated margin of error of roughly 9%. Therefore, the actual proportion of the population with the answer could vary by ±9% (Niles, 2006). However, since the selection of sample was conducted randomly and ensured the balance of gender and qualifications, and the participation from the grassroots individuals and households were purely voluntary, the investigators consider that the results of data analysis reflect as closely as possible the real situation. 33

54 Chapter 2: Research Methodology 2.8. Computer-aid data analysis Software for computer-assisted qualitative data analysis, or in general, computeraided data analysis, has been widely used in data analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data to minimise errors that occur when conducted manually, make the analytic process more transparent and accountable, and support the analysis, which would be otherwise cumbersome (Fielding, 2002). Software supports the management and analysis of large amounts of data, and makes unstructured data more organised in the digital format. In detail, the method employs a range of software packages, which are specifically designed to process structured and unstructured data (Richards, 2009). For example, the statistical software package SPSS has been popularly used for processing quantitative data collected by means of questionnaire surveying, while NVivo has been recently employed to manage and process qualitative data. In the present research, instead of using SPSS, Microsoft Excel was used for quantitative data processing, since the size of quantitative data is limited. Besides this, NVivo version 10 was used to manage and classify the large amounts of qualitative data collected from 27 individual interviews and three FGDs. Figure 2.7: Cloud of keywords 34

55 Chapter 2: Research Methodology The use of technology makes data more organised in the digital format. This data process involved transcription of all interviews and FGDs by using subjective indexes and codes, defined by using keywords within the transcripts. This work helps to group data into certain themes and topics. For example, NVivo helped to identify the most frequent keywords that interviewees mentioned. Figure 2.7 represents the key themes, such as policy framework, SDI, land information, accessibility, geospatial data, infrastructure, internet, that are dominant in the interview responses Ethical consideration According to Dowling (2010), the investigator in human-related research should not expose themselves or their informants to physical or social harm. It is highly unlikely that the social research would subject people to physical harm; however, it may bring them into contact with psycho-social harm, because the issues raised in the research may be upsetting or potentially psychologically damaging. Fortunately, this does not mean that these kinds of research cannot be conducted; rather, it means that the researchers should cater to this possibility. Even though the present research was conducted in a field that is one of the most corrupted fields in the country (Martini, 2012; Pham et al., 2012; World Bank, 2016), the researcher identified that there were no perceived risks that the participants, both investigators, and informants, could face. However, in order to minimise these potential risks, some key activities for addressing ethical issues are mentioned, including informed consent, privacy and confidentially, as well as anonymity Informed consent Informants, including interviewees, focus group discussion participants, and individuals and households participating in questionnaire surveys, were made aware that the participations in this research were fully voluntary, which means without threat or undue inducement. In the other words, investigators should receive the informants permissions before involving them in the research. They needed to 35

56 Chapter 2: Research Methodology know exactly what it was that they were consenting to, by being provided with a background description of the project (Christensen et al., 2011; Dowling, 2010). In this research, a set of Participant Information Packages, including an invitation to participate in the research projects, a list of questions that will be asked during the interviews and FGD meetings, and a consent form in plain language, were provided to participants. The participant information (or in other words: the research protocol) contained information about the relevant background and rationale for the research, purpose of research, participant population, experimental design and methodology, incentives offered (if any), risks and benefits to the participants and precautions to be taken, and privacy and confidentiality of data collected. The consent form is a short basic agreement between the investigators and participants by which the privacy, confidentially and anonymity of participants are protected Privacy, confidentiality and anonymity Privacy having control of others access to information about you (Christensen et al., 2011, p. 123): Privacy refers to an individuals interest in controlling the access of others to themselves. It concerns certain needs to establish personal boundaries. Dowling (2010) states that qualitative research often involves invading someone s privacy as the investigator may touch on their sensitive issues by asking very personal questions or even just observing interactions in people s locations that are sometimes considered private. Confidentiality not revealing information obtained from a research participant to anyone outside the research group (Christensen et al., 2011, p. 124): according to Sieber (2009), confidentiality refers to access to data, not access to people directly. Under this research, to involve people in the project, the Participant Information stated that the anonymity and confidentiality of participants would be to the fullest extent protected. The resulting publications would not refer to any real name or any information that may lead to identifying the said persons. 36

57 Chapter 2: Research Methodology Anonymity keeping the identity of the research participant unknown (Christensen et al., 2011, p. 124): the anonymity is ensured by using pseudonyms throughout this thesis and related publications. This is an effective way of protecting privacy, as it supports keeping the identity of the research participants/informants unknown. As mentioned in the Ethics Application, this research respected and valued the importance of participants privacy and information. To do this, the Participant Information Package was translated into Vietnamese before being distributed to potential participants by third parties. They were also verbally explained by the student investigator and the local coordinators prior to interviewing and discussing. The investigators considered that the participants understood fully the information provided before deciding to be involved in the project. The interviews and discussions were only conducted at the availability of the participants; the daily activities of interviewees were not affected. This research involved human participants in Vietnam and, therefore, it had to conform to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research 2. This project (BSEHAPP18-13) was approved by the College Human Ethics Advisory Network of RMIT University on June 13, 2013 (Appendix 2). Appendices 3 9 contain the invitation to participate in research projects, lists of questions (semistructured), questionnaires, and consent form in both English and Vietnamese language used to collect data Chapter summary This chapter has discussed the research strategy and methods employed to investigate the research problems for answering the research questions mentioned in the first chapter. As discussed, the multi-method setting has been applied in this research to examine the issues under the research topics. Quantitative methods were used for collecting and analysing the surveys of individuals and households at the grassroots level, while qualitative methods were used to gather information and data 2 Guidelines made in accordance with the National Health and Medical Research Council Act 1992 (the Act) available at: 37

58 Chapter 2: Research Methodology by means of individual interviews and FGDs. The use of these two methods conformed with the regulations on ethical consideration set by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Act The literature review was used for extending the literature to see what has already been done on the research topics. Following on from the information provided on methodology in this chapter, the results are provided in Chapters 5 and 6, after the two literature chapters, 3 and 4. 38

59 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures 3.1. Introduction This chapter presents the theoretical concepts of SDIs, and describes the development towards an SDI for land administration in Vinh Long, Vietnam. This chapter firstly introduces the literature reviews of theory, development, and implementation of SDIs in both theoretical and practical experiences across the world, before scoping the case study of Vinh Long with an analysis of existing development of SDI Land components as well as their limitations. Spatial information is an important resource not only for spatial-related topics such as land management and administration, and marine management initiatives, but also for general public administration all over the world. It has been often described as an element that presents the locations of resources and helps people to understand the relationship of real objects and resources. This concept enables the visualisation of resource locations, to support planning and management. It also provides benefits by protecting the community s scarce resources, by allocating rights to them, creating restrictions on them, and establishing responsibilities of related stakeholders. The utilisation of spatial data and services is a suitable means to optimise, and becomes one of the key principles for, sustainable management and development (Anselin, 1989; Groot, 1997; Kordi, Collins, O'Leary & Stevens, 2016; Muggenhuber, 2003; Steudler & Rajabifard, 2012; Williamson, 2009). 39

60 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Spatial information, especially related to land, plays an important role in socioeconomic development. People generally rely heavily on spatial information for their daily lives. Spatial information has been considered as a resource and becomes a part of an infrastructure which needs to be managed and implemented effectively (Effenberg, Enemark & Williamson, 1999; Fuseini & Kemp, 2015). Therefore, together with the introduction of GPS, GIS, and RS sciences, the ideas and concepts of SDIs were introduced over recent decades. Since first being introduced, there has been great attention paid to SDIs in the geospatial literature. The literature review work within the present research shows this trend clearly: from the number of papers and articles that address SDI-related topics presented at international seminars and conferences, such as the congresses and working weeks of the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), conferences organised by the United Nations Regional Cartographic (UNRCC), the United Nations initiative on Global Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM), and Global Spatial Data Infrastructure (GSDI); to the formation of the International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research (IJSDIR) under the European Commission s Joint Research Centre, which, together with existing journals, have been publishing a huge number of articles on SDI-related topics to enrich the literature. The literature review and discussion in this chapter provide a basis for the development of a policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land, which will be discussed in Chapter Spatial Data Infrastructure Theory The development of GIS and related technologies such as GPS and remote sensing over the last few decades has changed the way in which spatial data is handled. However, the full potential of these technologies was unlikely to be recognised until the world created SDIs for facilitating access to spatial-related information, which has traditionally been built and stored by different organisations or departments. The literature shows that the last two decades has witnessed significant worldwide efforts to develop Internet-based infrastructures such as NSDIs or National Spatial Information Infrastructures (NSIIs), to make spatial data and information more 40

61 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures available, accessible and shareable, to support science, public policy, and improved public services to citizens and business. The SDI concept was first conceptualised in late 1970 s and refined through 1980s when researchers discussed the need for spatially related information sharing within a nation (Williamson, Chan & Effenberg, 1998). It was later officially mentioned, in an executive order issued by the US President Clinton in 1994, as critical to national priorities. The SDIs were then developed gradually over the next two decades. There had been more than one hundred SDIs at the national level and many others at sub-national levels by 2008 (Budhathoki, Bruce & Nedovic-Budic, 2008). This number has likely doubled up till the time of writing SDI concepts and definitions The concepts and definitions of SDIs are very broad, encompassing all kinds of spatial information. They are complex at different jurisdictional levels, from local, state and national through to regional and global perspectives. The concepts and definitions of SDIs have been viewed and established within different perspectives depending on the countries approach and the awareness of government organisations in a country to the understanding and development of SDIs (Rajabifard, Feeney & Williamson, 2002b; Thellufen et al., 2009). The understandings of an SDI and its potential benefits can be different even within a particular SDI community (Grus, Crompvoets & Bregt, 2007). The fact that the SDI concept is still evolving has precipitated the need for research into the nature and concept of a hierarchical SDI, in which it is important to understand the relationship within and between different jurisdictional levels. At the larger scales, SDI is intimately linked to land administration, while at the smaller scales it links more to demography, geography, and environmental management. As cited by Coleman and Nebert (1998), during the late 1960s and through 1970s there were some related concepts introduced and proposed by McHarg (1969), McLaughin (1975), and Diebold (1979), which could be considered as the first ideas 41

62 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures of SDIs. The term SDI was then widely adopted and considered as important in creating value-added services and market opportunities in emerging spatial information industries (MSC, 1993). In 1994, the first formal definition of the term SDI at the national level - NSDI was formulated and introduced in the US. The Executive Order states that, NSDI means the technologies, policies, and people necessary to promote sharing of geospatial data throughout all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and the academic community (The President, 1994). The definition focused on the purpose of an SDI as being to promote access to spatial data of all potential users. Coleman and McLaughlin (1998) introduced an SDI definition that describes the relationships of the elements in the development of SDIs. Their definition illustrates that an SDI includes components of spatial data, database, metadata, data networks, technology, institutional arrangement, policies, and standards, as well as end-users. Rajabifard et al. (2002b) argue that: SDI is fundamentally about facilitating and coordinating the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders in the spatial community (p. 11). Later, SDI has been upgraded as an enabling infrastructure that connects people to data by linking data users and providers on the basis of the common goal of data sharing (Rajabifard, Binns & Williamson, 2006). There have been some varying definitions of SDIs based on country and researcher perspectives. Table 3.1 lists six different definitions, showing the change of views, attitudes and focuses on SDI developments and movements over time. Since the early 2000s, there has been an important shift in concept from the first- to secondgeneration SDIs, in both technological and institutional arrangements. The early SDIs focused on producing, accessing and retrieving spatial data, whilst later ones obviously evolved toward recognising infrastructures, enabling technology and cooperation between stakeholders to allow and promote data sharing. In summary, despite the differences in definitions and understandings, every SDI initiative has a similar overall goal: to improve access to and use of spatial data by 42

63 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures improving data sharing and updating, and to enable different people to share their data. Table 3.1: The SDI definitions Source, Year Definition Level U.S. Federal Register, 1994 ANZLIC, 1996 ICSM, 2008 Coleman and McLaughlin, 1998 GSDI Association, 2000 Rajabifard et al., 2002 Vandenbrouck e et al., 2009 National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) means the technology, policies, standards, and human resources necessary to acquire process, store, distribute, and improve utilisation of geospatial data (The President, 1994, p. 1). The Australian Spatial Data Infrastructure comprises a distributed network of databases, linked by common policies, standards, and protocols to ensure compatibility (ANZLIC, 1996, p. 5). The environment/framework from which resources can be provided in order to spatially enable society. The ASDI comprises the people, policies and technologies necessary to enable the use of spatially referenced data through all levels of government, the private sector, non-profit organisations and academia (Davies, Pearson & Judd, 2008, p. 11) SDI encompasses the policies, technologies, standards and human resources necessary for the effective collection, management, access, delivery and utilisation of geospatial data in a global community (Coleman & McLaughlin, 1998). SDI is a collection of technologies, policies and institutional arrangements that facilitate the availability of and access to spatial data (Nebert, 2000, p. 8). SDI is fundamentally about facilitating and coordinating the exchange and sharing of spatial data between stakeholders in the spatial community (Rajabifard et al., 2002a, p. 11). A SDI is a set of technological and non-technological set-ups [components] within and between organisations [network] to facilitate access, exchange and use of spatial data [narrow objectives], thereby contributing to the performance of business processes [broader objectives] (Vandenbroucke et al., 2009, p. 110). National National National All level All level All level All level SDI hierarchy The early introduction of SDI concepts mostly focused on a particular nation. Since 2000, these concepts have been given more attention for SDI expansion and establishment at various levels, from the grassroots level in a certain country, to regional or even global levels (Rajabifard, Escobar & Williamson, 2000). In fact, 43

64 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures SDIs have been developing at multi-political and administrative levels, from the organisational level, sub-national (district, provincial) and national levels, to supranational levels (regional and global). The national SDI level plays a role as the central position of this hierarchy, to link and hinge the higher and lower levels (Rajabifard, Williamson, et al., 2003). In the same manner, SDIs have also been developing at discipline level. Rajabifard, Escobar et al. (2000) have proposed an SDI hierarchy containing both horizontal and vertical relationships among its jurisdictional levels, to promote better decision-making support systems and, therefore, better outcomes for the society, economy and environment at a particular level or discipline. This hierarchy has been very useful in describing the complex and dynamic characteristics of SDIs, as well as the relationship between the political and administrative levels of SDIs, as presented in Figure 3.1. The vertical relationship shows the levels of jurisdiction, while the horizontal relationship describes the complex interaction within a particular level. Figure 3.1: The bottom-up SDI hierarchy (Adapted from Rajabifard, Escobar et al., 2000) The levels of SDIs can be assigned to three groups in the above SDI hierarchy. The two strategic levels, containing global and regional SDIs, and the operational level, containing state and local SDIs, have been organised as process-based and product-based 44

65 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures models, respectively; whilst the national SDIs have had a resemblance to both managerial and strategic tiers. The local level of an SDI hierarchy is similar to the operational tier of an organisational structure. The local levels produce, manage, and update detailed scale data contributing to the higher level of the SDI hierarchy. Rajabifard et al. (2002b) state that the selection of NSDI model depends on the political system of a nation. While the process-based model is generally selected in the federated nations, most of non-federated countries select the product-based model for SDI development for optimising advantages. In some cases, a combined approach would offer most potential to build an effective SDI in a country. Successful SDIs have been built based on mutually beneficial partnerships related within the hierarchy. This user community will decide the main approaches to developing and implementing SDIs for creating a business to deliver specific products and services to users and communities. Thus, it is essential and compulsory to identify the human and community issues involved in the early development step of any SDI. Figure 3.2: The umbrella (A) and building block (B) view models of SDI (Adapted from Rajabifard and Williamson, 2001) Rajabifard and Williamson (2001) have developed two SDI models, umbrella and building block models, in order to examine the nature of the SDI hierarchy (see Figure 3.2). Both models have successfully described and examined the SDI hierarchy. Although appearing to be a bottom-up model, in fact the user communities of SDIs from local and organisational levels have driven the 45

66 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures development and implementation of aggregated SDIs to regional and global levels (Rajabifard, Feeney, Williamson & Masser, 2003). From the two above-mentioned models of SDI, this would mean that the higher level SDIs are made up of the lower level SDIs. For example, it could be understood that the Global SDI (GSDI) is made up of all Regional SDIs, and an SDI at the provincial level is made up of all SDIs of districts within its administrative boundary. The data are produced, collected, and managed at lower levels and contribute to the higher level of the SDI hierarchy. In some particular models of SDIs, the detailed land information is stored at lower levels and the general information is generated from the detailed information and managed at the higher level SDI components As mentioned above, there have been several definitions of SDIs in the community; and therefore, the components of SDIs have been categorised in different ways depending on their role within the framework. However, researchers of SDIs have successfully identified some common components to most initiatives (Coleman & McLaughlin, 1998; Rajabifard et al., 2002b). The following scholars have been selected to represent different ideas on the concepts of SDI components, from national perspectives to individual findings and opinions, and from the first to the third generation of SDIs. Figure 3.3: The US NSDI components (Adapted from the Executive Order 12906) 46

67 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures An official idea of SDI components can be found in the Executive Order (The President, 1994). This SDI definition introduced five equal components of an NSDI, which are fundamental datasets, metadata, standards, spatial date clearinghouse and partnerships. In short, it can be described that an NSDI includes spatial data established under the related standards, stored in a clearinghouse with metadata, and which can be accessed and shared by partnerships (Figure 3.3). However, an early suggestion of SDI components was proposed by McLaughlin, Nichols and Coleman (1992). According to these authors, the components of an SDI should include sources of spatial data, databases and metadata, data networks, technology (for dealing with data collection, management, and representation), institutional arrangements, policies and standards, and end users. This idea was then developed by Coleman and Nebert (1998), who argued for the details and separation of main components of an SDI. According to Coleman and Nebert, an SDI includes data providers, databases and metadata, data networks, technologies, institutional arrangements, policies and standards, and end-users, as linked in Figure 3.4 below. Under this early SDI model, the significant benefit an SDI brings is to manage the data-related activities to avoid the duplication of effort, by ensuring the awareness of user communities of the existence of datasets. Figure 3.4: A system view of the spatial data infrastructure components (Adapted from Coleman and Nebert, 1998) 47

68 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures In Australia, two years after the first official introduction of NSDI in America, in 1996 the SDI model at the national level (as known ASDI) was officially formed by the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council (known as the Spatial Information Council for Australia and New Zealand). According to the 1996 ASDI concept, the ASDI comprises the people, policies and technologies necessary to enable the use of spatially referenced data through all levels of government, the private and non-profit sectors, and academia. Based on this concept, ANZLIC later developed the ASDI model, containing four core components: institutional framework, technical standards, fundamental datasets, and clearing house networks (ANZLIC, 1996; Clarke, Hedberg & Watkins, 2003). The links between the core components represent the interactions between these components, as presented in Figure 3.5. Figure 3.5: The 1996 Australian SDI components (Adapted from Clarke et al., 2003, and ANZLIC, 1996) This concept of ASDI was changed over time, and has been redefined under the 2008 ICSM Review of the ASDI model. According to this report, the ASDI is defined as: ASDI is the environment/framework from which resources can be provided in order to spatially enable society. The ASDI comprises the people, policies and technologies necessary to enable the use of spatially 48

69 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures referenced data through all levels of government, the private sector, nonprofit organisations and academia (Davies et al., 2008, p. 11). The conceptual ASDI framework has been revised to be consistent with the development of spatial information initiatives, to represent the key components and their relationships, generating a SDI to support a spatially enabled Australia. This new ASDI components were developed and proposed based on the combination of the dynamic SDI components proposed by Rajabifard and Williamson (2001), introduced below, and Nebert s model for the delivery of databased services (Nebert, 2005). According to this model, data (or raw information) remains a fundamental component of the ASDI, being accessed by users through user interfaces that in turn communicate with access services. Services are integrated in order to provide more sophisticated information, as opposed to just providing data access. The communication of components is based on the standards under a policy framework. Figure 3.6: The 2008 Australian SDI components (Davies et al., 2008) 49

70 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures The four key actors of the ASDI are data producers, value adders, service providers, and users. These actors are represented as components of the policy framework: standards, data, access services, integration services, and user interfaces (Figure 3.6). In the early 2000s, Rajabifard and Williamson (2001) proposed another model of SDI: the dynamic model. In this model, the SDI needs to consider the fundamental role and reaction of two components: people (the user community), and spatial data (datasets), through the support of the other three components, access networks, policies, and standards in the dynamic model, which can be expanded to serve other purposes of management (Figure 3.7). In the dynamic model, SDI s components can be updated and expanded to include new environments to support different purposes or disciplines such as archaeology and built heritage, marine and coastal management, as well as disaster risk management (Hamylton & Prosper, 2012; McKeague, Corns & Shaw, 2012; Molinaa & Bayarrib, 2011; Vaez & Rajabifard, 2012). Figure 3.7: The dynamic SDI model components (Rajabifard & Williamson, 2001) The other idea of SDI components was introduced by Hennig and Belgui (2011) under the concept of a user-centric SDI. Figure 3.8 presents the process of designing a user-centric SDI model. 50

71 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Figure 3.8: The user-centric SDI design process (Hennig & Belgui, 2011) In this model, the user component, comprising data consumers, data producers, and related stakeholders, is the key element and plays the central role in an SDI. The users are the geospatial information active receivers, in comparison with the datacentric and process-centric SDI models. The interaction between users and the other components in a user-centric SDI model is based on the demands by users for adequate data, metadata, geospatial portals, and services (Hennig & Belgui, 2011). In summary, researchers from different disciplines have conceptualised SDIs differently, different countries have also defined the SDI differently, or the arrangements of components of SDIs have led to some differences; but the majority of definitions and concepts have agreed on a number of SDI core components, which are user community, datasets, policies, standards, and technologies. To investigate the issues of SDI development and propose an SDI policy framework to support land administration in Vietnam, as mentioned in Chapter 1, in the present work a general model of SDI components has been synthesised and developed, as presented in Figure 3.9. The remainder of thesis will focus on these core components of SDIs. 51

72 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Figure 3.9: SDI common components There is a tight interconnection amongst SDI components. Components link to each other. Datasets are produced based on the standards that the user community demands. Technology components support data suppliers to produce data correctly and help the other users to access and explore data easily. They all work under a policy framework, which is a component for regulating everything legally under the infrastructure. In this concept of common components of SDI, the components are as follows: Datasets: including spatial data, location-based data, land registry, digital base map, thematic, statistical, place names, and metadata. The datasets are created by a part of the user community data suppliers/data producers; datasets also support other parts of the user community to explore data based on their responsibilities, functions and demands. The datasets should be created and stored in the spatial databases with their description (metadata); User community: including stakeholders, training, professional development, cooperation and outreach. The development of spatial data infrastructures is based on the necessity of the user community, both end-users and data providers, including research and development. The user community incorporates their development of capacity, knowledge and professional skills. These all make up the user community, with clear identifications of rights, 52

73 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures responsibilities and restrictions. To do this, it is necessary to establish political decisions for the creation of an institutional framework; Policies: including SDI-related policies such as governance, data privacy and security, data sharing, cost recovery, and information consent; Standards: including cadastral data content standards, geographic information standards, and standards for land registration services, to constitute the links amongst the components of a SDI for providing common languages and concepts that make communication and coordination possible; Technology: including hardware, software, networking, web services and geospatial portals, and technical implementation plans SDI generations The process of development and implementation of SDIs has never been finished. Literature has divided the development of SDI into three generations: productbased generation, process-based generation, and strategic-based generation (Borza & Craglia, 2012; Masser, 1999, 2009; Masser, Rajabifard & Williamson, 2008; Rajabifard, Binns, Masser & Williamson, 2006). The first generation of SDI was pushed by the development of technology for spatial data capture in the early 1990s, mostly in developed countries and emerging economies. This generation witnessed the influence of SDIs on national governments. The SDIs were formed as data-centric models and came in all shapes and sizes mixing together some small countries with some large ones as well as both federal countries such as America, Canada, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia, and non-federal nations such as Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Portugal and Qatar (Masser, 1999). The main expected result of the first generation of SDI was to develop a linkage into a seamless database to enable potential users to be aware of the availability of spatial data. The development of SDIs moved on to the second generation due to an increase in user demand. The process started in the early 2000s, when the SDI model was 53

74 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures largely influenced by national and local governments as well as the private sector. The most distinctive feature of the second generation of SDIs was the shift, taken place from the product-based generation, in which the data shifted from data producers to data users, from database creation to database sharing, and from centralised to decentralised structures (Masser, 2005, 2009). The primary expectation of the second generation of SDI was to develop knowledge infrastructures, interoperable data, and resources. The SDIs were developed as process-centric models. In 2007, Masser et al. predicted that the next stage in SDI development would be the user-centric model, to support the spatial enablement of society (Masser et al., 2008). These researchers then strongly recommended that the future of SDIs is reliant on the significantly increasing involvement of the government in SDI development and implementation. SDIs have been developed based on many concepts, towards the vision of a spatially enabled society, in its third generation (Budhathoki et al., 2008; Masser et al., 2008; McDougall, 2010; Rajabifard & Binns, 2005; Sadeghi-Niaraki, Rajabifard, Kim & Seo, 2010). Figure 3.10 represents the continuum of SDI development: Figure 3.10: Continuum of SDI development (Adapted from Rajabifard & Binns, 2005; Budhathoki et al., 2008; Masser et al., 2008; McDougall, 2010; Sadeghi-Niaraki et al., 2010) 54

75 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Literature reviews have remarked that an SDI is just like other forms of betterknown infrastructures, where the whole concept is to enhance their utility for their user communities. The user-centric SDI models have increased community participation in infrastructure maintenance, especially in developing countries (P. Singh, 2009). These models have also considered volunteered geographic information (VGI) as an important data source of SDIs. As a source of SDI data, VGI can be used to complete, update, validate, and enrich the available data. Therefore, the movement of SDI from data-centric to process-centric and then to user-centric is to serve this concept the best (Nogueras-Iso, Zarazaga-Soria & Muro-Medrano, 2005; Shakeri, Alimohammadi, Sadeghi-Niaraki & Alesheikh, 2013). The involvement of communities and stakeholders needs to be taken into consideration from the designing stage. For example, the classification of roles of stakeholders in the user community with respect to VGI, and the nature of their contribution, should be defined; and VGI and social network roles in disaster management and recovery should also be recognised (Coleman, Georgiadou & Labonte, 2009; Haworth & Bruce, 2015; McDougall, 2011) Benefits of Spatial Data Infrastructures This section reviews the benefits that SDIs have been providing to countries, governments, organisations and individuals, since SDI ideas appeared in the world SDI beneficiaries The beneficiaries of any SDI models are all stakeholders in the user community of an SDI, including citizens, businesses, civil society associations, and government agencies. Of those beneficiaries, a vast majority of society are not spatially aware, in a transparent manner. They, whether knowledgeable or not about spatial information, are generally lacking an awareness of spatial concepts and principles, even though many are willing to accept spatially enabled infrastructures or systems (i.e. Google Maps and Google Earth). In fact, a small number of professionals have so far dominated the inventions, developments and implementations of geospatial- 55

76 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures related disciplines, including geography, land administration and management, and environmental sciences (Masser et al., 2008). The key is to develop an SDI that provides an effective and enabling platform to delivery services and related products to the majority of individuals who are not spatially aware. To do this, there is a need for effective cooperation among governments, private sectors, professionals and academia, to enable spatially referenced data, products, and services to be available and accessible for all users SDI benefits The facilitation and coordination of sharing and exchanging of geospatial data and related services, between stakeholders at different levels in the spatial community, has been considered as an evolutionary concept. SDIs have provided significant economic, social, and environmental benefits to communities. Together with the information on land ownership, SDI is one of the key elements comprehensively contributing to the improvement of governments, industries, and citizens, towards a society with more spatial enablement (Onsrud & Rajabifard, 2013; Rajabifard & Coleman, 2012; Steudler & Rajabifard, 2012). The literature shows that the significant economic benefit of SDIs is the promotion of economic growth as a result of an expanding market for geospatial information products and services (Craglia & Campagna, 2010; Trapp et al., 2015). Research on the impact of modern spatial information technologies on the Australian economy, conducted by Cooperative Research Centre for Spatial Information and the Spatial Information Council of ANZLIC, indicated that the benefits of spatial information industry were equivalent to percent of GDP. The growth of the commercial geographic information market has been readily available and has led to an estimated increase of 15 to 20% per year (ACIL Tasman, 2008). The other economic outputs of SDIs include increased efficiency, and minimized operating costs for related stakeholders, including public and private sectors, by providing wide access to spatial information products and services (Cope & Pincetl, 2014). Finally, the most important economic benefit is that the increasingly expanding 56

77 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures market of spatial information products and services has created a great number of related jobs (McKeague et al., 2012; Mwaikambo, Rajabifard & Hagai, 2015). SDIs have brought considerable social benefits. One such benefit is that SDIs become a bridge to connect key stakeholders for creating an efficient and transparent government administration at all levels, as a result of the increasingly authorized data availability to policy makers (Wallace, Williamson, Rajabifard & Bennett, 2006). As a consequence of the integration of various sources of data, SDIs are likely to lead to: better arrangements for land security and emergency services; individuals participating actively in social responsibilities such as health, educational, and security; and more effective targeting of areas and communities with special needs (Williamson et al., 2010). Overall, SDIs have supported and strengthened the relationships and cooperation of citizens, governments, and business: governmentsto-governments (G2G), governments-to-citizens (G2C), and governments-tobusinesses (G2B). Finally, SDIs play an important role in the promotion of sustainable development, risk management, and environmental protection. SDIs provide, more effectively, data required for the management and monitoring of natural resources, including land, marines, and heritages (McKeague et al., 2012; Potts, Rajabifard & Bennett, 2016) SDIs in Land administration Naturally, the development of SDIs is associated with land administration, as they both work with a heavy reliance on land information. This section summaries the history of SDI development for land administration, and its benefits towards spatially enabling society concepts History of development of SDIs for land administration Since appearing in the world, SDIs have been implemented in more than half of the countries in the world, in some form of initiative. Most of these countries have paid 57

78 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures attention to the development of an SDI to facilitate land administration, as one of foundations for the creation and management of national wealth, and sustainable development (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999; Williamson et al., 2010). A key element of almost every SDI, especially the large-scale SDI, is data associated with land registered information: the cadastre, an engine of a land administration system, to connect rights, restrictions, and responsibilities to land parcels (Williamson, Grant & Rajabifard, 2005). SDI concepts have influenced complex challenges in land administration infrastructure positively; and have become an important means by which spatial data and information have been facilitated. They become the effective tools to make and provide locations and spatial data goods and services to citizens and businesses, to encourage creativity and product development (Bennett et al., 2013; Wallace et al., 2006). Williamson et al. (2010) argue that the application of technology in the land sector, to stimulate the establishment of multipurpose land information systems, responds to the demands for comprehensive information about the environmental, social, economic, and governance conditions, in combination with other land-related data, for sustainable development. The objective should be underpinned by the utilisation of ICT, included in a comprehensive strategy. An SDI is about providing support to spatial data applications in different sectors, and comprises human resources, policy framework, institutional arrangements, standards, data, and technologies. One of the important roles of SDIs is to provide the platform for leading spatial enablement of societies and governments, to deliver land-related information services, and to facilitate public administration activities (Bejar et al., 2012; Williamson et al., 2010). Bennett et al. (2013) argue that land administration systems are critical public infrastructures delivering public capital, private wealth, stability, and improved environmental outcomes. It has also been argued that an efficient and effective land 58

79 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures administration system supporting sustainable development requires an effective SDI (Williamson et al., 2010). Access to land information will be improved through an SDI-based platform in which people and information are linked. The land information, from local to national levels, will be aggregated and synchronised automatically to support the land administration system. This also supports and builds environmental data as a pre-requisite for sustainable development. The establishment and implementation of effective and efficient cooperation and collaboration between SDI and land administration are crucial and necessary for tackling social, environmental, and economic challenges. The well-known butterfly diagram proposed by Williamson et al. (2010), as shown in Figure 3.11, illustrates that the future of land administration relies heavily on the SDI as an essential infrastructure to perform its functions through the cadastral engine, to spatially enable government and lead to sustainable development. The diagram shows that the land administration functions require integrated information, of which the basic unit of every land administration system, land parcels, are located centrally, and all data and information about buildings, infrastructures and environments must be associated with the land parcels. Figure 3.11: Land administration relies on an effective SDI (Williamson et al., 2010) 59

80 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures SDIs are established at various levels, from local to global, or within a specific discipline (such as the land sector), to support decision-making for sustainable development at that particular level (Rajabifard et al., 2002a). At the national level, the SDI is a sub-infrastructure of NSDI. The SDI is viewed as a framework that would support efficient and effective land services, including land tenure, land taxation, and land management. Unsurprisingly, SDIs have been increasingly recognised by governments of both developed countries and emerging economies as an essential resource that supports the economic, social and environmental interests of a nation. The range of functions in a land administration system, such as land tenure security, land valuation, land use planning and development, as well as the cadastre, require access to complete and up-to-date information about the built and natural environments, which can be facilitated by an SDI (Rajabifard & Binns, 2005). Any development of an SDI within a specific sector (e.g. land) should be consistent with national standards and guidelines associated with an NSDI. The introduction of automated and standardised land registration systems has brought great advantages, as they have improved data access and linkages with relevant customers, to benefit the service standards as well as prevent data duplication and inconsistency. The land database has become a data component of any SDI (Çağdaşa & Stubkjærb, 2011). Accessible information on who-owns-what and the results in administrative processing for land tenure applications hinder corruption. An example is the delivery of mobile land registration offices, by using portable computers that are connected to the core database through internet connectivity to conduct land registration in Indonesia. This has resulted significant improvements in the land titling process in the country. This model supports reduced distortion and deception of data, which may happen due to use of intermediaries to access land registration services (Cook et al., 2008). The contributions to SDI development for land administration have mostly occurred in countries through their local governments. The INSPIRE Initiative suggests that the data should be collected and maintained at the level where this can 60

81 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures be done the most effectively - mostly at local levels. This is, however, where most of the current challenges in SDI development are being faced, at inter- and intrajurisdictional levels (Williamson et al., 2010). According to Wallace et al. (2006), the involvement of SDI in land administration systems has created a vision of iland, in which the spatially enabled land information available on the Web has the cadastral database as the central tool, which translates technical into accessible information, and connects users and data via the access network. This implementation involves changes in both SDIs and land administration systems. The literature also highlights the recent development of SDIs in several emerging economies and developing countries, such as Malaysia, Nepal, and Pakistan, to support land administration (Ahmad & Ali, 2015; Dutta & Jayasinghe, 2015; Shariff et al., 2011). These researchers investigated the issues and problems of development of SDIs in these countries, examined the best practices of SDI implementation in developed countries, and then proposed initial SDI models and a vision of SDI for the land sector by identifying key stakeholders, components, and datasets for SDIs for land management. In considering whether an SDI is effective, we can look to the literature on assessment of SDIs. Giff and Crompvoets (2008) present a critical analysis of a framework to access SDI based on its performance indicators, including accountability assessment, development assessment, and knowledge assessment. The study provided a review of performance indicators and their value in the assessment of SDI (Giff & Crompvoets, 2008). In addition, an SDI goal-oriented assessment view has been developed by Grus et al. (2011), based on the multi-view SDI assessment framework for assessing the realization of SDI s goals. The assessment view includes 72 potential indicators, covering all of the aspects of an SDI such as data exchanges, institutional interoperability, standard and policy arrangements, and SDI capacity, including public-private partnerships as well as financial investments. An assessment based on stakeholders was also developed by 61

82 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Macharis and Crompvoets (2014), who proposed a new approach for an assessment framework for an SDI, based on the analysis of multi-actors and multi-criteria. Under the framework, an assessment of the SDI for Flanders (in Belgium) allocated each stakeholder group a weight, to build a matrix of pairwise comparisons; then included the involvement of stakeholders in the development of Flanders SDI. The application of multi-actors and multi-criteria framework for evaluate the case of the Flanders SDI clearly shows the visual interpretation strengths and enabled a thorough discussion of the possible implementation paths with their strengths and weaknesses by related stakeholders. Borza and Craglia (2012) developed a methodology to estimate the social and economic benefits of SDIs using a case study on e-cadastres. The study concludes that a change in society and culture would be required to achieve a complete shift from paper-based to digital services. Besides that, the reliability and interoperability of digital databases and services would need to improve. Hopfstock, Buchroithner and Grünreich (2013) developed a conceptual framework to include cartographic representations in SDI environments, to support end users with low awareness of geographic visualization utilizing geographic information and knowledge from the geospatial data in the SDI data clearinghouse. Agunbiade, Rajabifard and Bennett (2016) determined the level of inefficiency of land administration regarding the inter-relationship between agencies that implement land administration functions. The research revealed the limitations in the integration of processes and collaboration of agencies and highlighted the noticeable disconnection between agencies and formulated policies Benefits of the SDIs to land administration Benefits that SDIs have been providing to land administration are found in literature by Borza and Craglia (2012), Cetl and Tomi (2009), ESRI (2010), Masser (2011), and Shariff et al. (2011), as follows: 62

83 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures SDIs reduce the time and the redundancy of data production. The connection of spatial data, data producers, and data consumers in a preferred framework will keep infrastructures and costs for data production and maintenance at economical levels. Duplication of spatial data will be prevented, as data of static entities is collected only once. The availability of data to users will also be guaranteed. SDIs result in better government and improved processes, through: Improved data integrity by accessing data directly and ensuring errors are corrected in the original data; Improved communication with the public and easier access for citizens to participate in government decision-making, and in identifying data errors; Increased inter-agency collaboration; Reduced government administrative effort and resources; Greater responsiveness in land-related processes and more timely land supply, thereby promoting a competitive economy; Reduced paperwork and a reduced need for time-consuming transport of paper documents between agencies; More streamlined government services, more clarification of institutional responsibilities and reduced transaction times; Opportunities for revenue growth. SDIs support access to spatial data by having enabled the discovery of existing spatial data and related services at all levels of government. The improvement in access to spatial information for all stakeholders leads to a better sharing and integration of land information across government, industry and the community. In this context, investors and individuals receive benefits from the provided platforms in which all map products can be accessed for individual purposes. On the other hand, the private sector has more opportunity to provide services relating to spatial data. 63

84 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures SDIs enhance transparency of government and decision-making and improve cooperation among government bodies and other stakeholders in related sectors, especially in land management. This will contribute to economic development at all levels by providing a new dialog channel between government and business, as well as between government and citizen. The results of this can be listed as follows: Improved quality of decision-making and reaction times; Improved management of community-supplied information; Reduced errors and subsequent rework at an agency level; and Value-adding to an agency s data by combining it with other like datasets in order to provide context and identify the errors and anomalies. SDIs provide the foundation in a consistent and cost-effective manner for disaster risk reduction programs such as tsunami warning systems, forest fires, as well as flood mitigation. SDIs support maintenance data integration and security. Authoritative versions of data will be shared to authorized users. Mechanisms for the creation of data and metadata will also be regulated. In addition, the SDIs support data security by applying comprehensive backup solutions Spatially-enabled society The development of SDIs is to support society with spatial information by making such information available and accessible to the majority of society, despite them not being aware of spatial information (Masser et al., 2008) this is an emerging concept, known as the spatially enabled society (SES). This concept has been considered as an evolution drawing on the ideas of pervasive spatial information technologies and spatially equipped citizens. SES describes societies where locationbased information and its related services are considered as goods and services that are available to citizens to organise their activities and needs (Enemark & Rajabifard, 2012). 64

85 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures The concept contains six key elements, of which SDI and land ownership information are two elements that have been playing key roles as special goods, to encourage the development of economies, to build a spatially enabled society (Rajabifard & Coleman, 2012; Steudler & Rajabifard, 2012; Wallace et al., 2006). To do this, SDIs play a central role in facilitating such a land information infrastructure with the cadastral engine (Williamson et al., 2010), to operate the datasets of both in spatial and non-spatial providers. In the concept of SES, societies can be regarded as spatially enabled with the availability of location and spatial information to citizens and businesses to encourage creativity and development. Three broad goals have been set to achieve: More effective and more transparent coordination; Creation of economic wealth based on the spatial information collected at all levels of government; and Maintenance of environmental sustainability by monitoring of a wide range of spatial indicators. The principles that the mechanisms of SES vision should embody (Lemmen et al., 2016) are: Data should be maintained at the level where this can be achieved most effectively; It should be possible to integrate data from different sources and share it between stakeholders and applications; Land information, including spatial data and non-spatial data, should be collected at one level of government and shared between all levels with conditions that do not restrict its extensive use; Data should be easy to access. In addition, according to Rak, Coleman and Nichols (2012), the VGI can play an important factor in collecting and updating spatial data. Therefore, these researchers argued that data should be collected and updated as many times as necessary, with a 65

86 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures broader use and integration of VGI from a vast range of sources of information with authorised datasets Development of an SDI Land in Vinh Long Much has been discussed by researchers on designing and developing an SDI for land administration for a particular country; however, the copy of a system from one nation does not necessarily work in another country, due to differences of political system, legal systems such as land laws, institutional arrangements, and the awareness of stakeholders and communities. This section presents the current status of development of an SDI Land in Vinh Long to support land administration Historical development of SDIs in Vietnam The strategy for ICT development in Vietnam by 2010 and vision for 2020 has been approved by the Prime Minister of Vietnam since October 2005 (GoV, 2005). The strategy emphasizes that the development of ICT shall be increased in every sector and must become one of the most important factors of socio-economic development. One of the important parts of the strategy is to develop an information system and integrated databases in every sector (e.g. land, natural resources, and environment; population and labour; rural and agriculture development). The GDLA of MONRE is mandated as the lead agency for the development of an SDI Land clearing house, spatial data standards, cadastral data content standards, and a national digital geospatial data framework and partnerships for land data acquisition in Vietnam. GDLA is responsible for advocating with the other government agencies for necessary laws to reform public land, land registration and other land regulations, for a more efficient resource management system in the country (GoV, 2014b). In the early 2000s, MONRE, the focal point for land administration at the central level, developed the comprehensive program for the development and 66

87 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures modernisation of land administration for The strategy for information technology application and development for the management of natural resources and environment to 2015 and towards 2020 was then approved by the central Government. This strategy required a significant increase in the development and use of geospatial technology. Firstly, by 2020, the process of land data collection shall be automated by using modern equipment in survey and mapping and appropriate software for land data capturing. Secondly, by 2015 the national database of natural resources and environment shall be fully integrated into government networks, regularly updated, and will provide online access to the database by government agencies (GoV, 2004). According to the newest information, the two above-mentioned purposes have not yet been achieved (Khanh Ly, 2016). In terms of development of SDI, although the term SDI had not been mentioned in the said strategy, it could be considered as one of the first plans for development of a SDI, and it still makes a strong case for investment in this area. Since then, there has been some work related to the development of an NSDI for land, natural resources, and environmental management in Vietnam, such as LIS projects, and a national land database feasibility study. However, not until 2008 was the first study on the scientific and technological basis for development of an SDI in Vietnam conducted under MONRE. The research focused on the technical aspects, opportunities and challenges in developing a shared platform for geospatial data, by means of reviewing the literature and practices of the SDI developments. However, none of the policy aspects were mentioned in the research (Dinh, Ngo, Dang & Tran, 2008). On the other hand, a policy study research related to SDI development, conducted by the joint working group of the World Bank and GDLA, concludes that there has been unsatisfactory work related to the development of geospatial infrastructure in other sectors despite the high demand observed across the sectors. The main outcome is the road map as a vision for development of an NSDI for sustainable development (World Bank, 2011). 67

88 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures In addition, there have been significant achievements in the development of some of the components of an SDI Land in Vietnam, including datasets, and technology. At the central level, the national coordinating system connecting to the international geodetic network has been constructed based on the National Geodetic Reference System VN2000. The topographic maps at scales of from 1/1,000,000 to 1/2,000 have been created in digital formats to cover the whole country. The collection of land management and cadastral records based on land parcels have been undertaken in both analogue and digital formats at local levels. The administrative and geographic place name catalogues have been published, along with systems for continuous updating. Vietnam has given priority to develop a comprehensive land information system (LIS) policy and strategic framework for standards and procedures to support an integrated national LIS. Spatial information is increasingly acknowledged as a national resource essential for sustainable development. Despite these developments, it could be argued that there is not yet a comprehensive and standardized SDI Land in place in Vietnam. However, the development of each SDI Land component needs to be recognised. The land registration system of Vietnam could be divided into four time periods: manual system, computerised system, intranet system, and internet system. In the first period, the land registration was conducted by means of manual methods based on the results of manual surveying processes. Initially, there was support of high technology. Since 1997, with the introduction of two software systems, one for cadastral survey and mapping (FAMIS), the other for single cadastral database management (CADDB), the land database was first carried out in some locations with the aid of computers. The development of SDI Land components during two phases of land registration was data-centric, as almost all of the land projects focused on data collection. Since 2001, the land registration started focusing on building a business environment in the land authorities with the support of ICT. The first generation of the land information system was introduced such as ViLIS and then E-LIS. These 68

89 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures two systems support land registration activities; however, they are still limited within land registration authorities only. The development of SDI Land after 2001 was continued with a data-centric focus for the next decade, before moving to another focus a process-centric focus, in Since early 2016, with the support of the World Bank, the Government has started another land administration project, with the aim to build a land administration system with stakeholders as the main servicing object, under a multipurpose LIS with a service-oriented vision (GoV, 2015, 2016; World Bank, 2016) a business process-based system. At the present time, MONRE has drafted of a government decree on the implementation of the land administration service (administrative procedures) online in accordance with regulation of Government in its Decree 43/2011/ND-CP on online administrative services (GoV, 2011a) and later in its Resolution 36a/NQ-CP on e-government and the Land Law 2013 (GoV, 2015). According to the draft, intentionally, seventeen land administration procedures will be done online (VGP, 2016). Even though there has been no SDI model in place in the country, the development of SDI components should be equally recognised. Based on the literature of the development history and continuum of SDI (Section 3.2.4), as well as the structure of development of a user-centric SDI model by Hennig and Belgui (2011) Figure 3.7 and the literature on the situation of development of SDI components in Vietnam, it is argued in the present thesis that the current development of SDI components in Vietnam is at the second generation process-based focus. To be consistent with the social-economic development plan, for the next ten years, as a developing country, rather than a top-down approach, data-centric, and supplydriven, Vietnam should focus on a demand-driven approach by developing and implementing the user-centric SDI Land. Figure 3.12 illustrates the development of SDI in Vietnam and the prediction of its plan for the next ten years,

90 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Figure 3.12: SDI development in Vietnam In general, taking the time at which the first official SDI was established, the SDI development in Vietnam is about twenty to twenty-five years behind the development of SDIs in developed countries. During the next ten years, , evolution to a third generation SDI in Vietnam can be achieved through developing a user-centric SDI model to support the land administration system, incorporating principles of Fit-For-Purpose (FFP) land administration and the concepts of SES Development of SDI Land components in Vinh Long This section starts with an evaluation of the development of SDI Land in Vinh Long, by examination of the development of its components based on the common point of SDI concepts and definitions, mentioned in Section 3.2.3: datasets (spatial data, location-based data, land registry, digital base map, thematic, statistical, place names, and metadata); user community (stakeholder, training, professional development, cooperation, and outreach); policies (policies and institutional arrangements, governance, data privacy and security, data sharing, and cost recovery); standards (cadastral content data standards, geographic information standards, and land registration service standards); and technology (hardware, software, networking, web services and geospatial portals, and technical implementation plans). The section then presents the opportunities and challenges for of SDI Land development for Vinh Long, before identifying some barriers faced in the development of an SDI Land in Vinh Long. 70

91 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Datasets One of the most important components of SDI Land is the datasets component. This includes all types of location-based data, land registry and metadata, and consists of both spatial and attribute information that can be established, collected and integrated from various sources. The spatial data should be organised in the form of geographic data, stored in the spatial databases together with their metadata (Coleman & McLaughlin, 1998). The development of technology has allowed the advantage of integration of spatial databases and non-spatial data of an SDI Land, consisting of land registries, land valuation information and land tenure records, into the integrated SDI database. Data development: the development of a datasets component for an SDI Land in Vinh Long has been recognised over the last few years. Land data has been collected covering the whole province (Vinh Long DONRE, 2016). However, the collection of spatial data was made in different stages with the support of different technologies, based on different geodetic coordination systems (HN72, WGS84 and VN2000) and at different accuracy requirements. Even though there has been some limitation, redundancy, and duplication, the spatial data of the datasets component could be considered as the most developed component for the SDI Land in Vinh Long. In addition, the land registration data covers almost the whole province areas, with a large number of land parcels in the formal registration (with land titles, around 96% covered); however, the implementation of the land information system, which has been considered as an engine of SDI Land, is still limited. Not all local departments use the land information system yet, due to the limitations of standardised data, infrastructures, investment, and human capacity. Data and information that are stored at the Provincial DONRE related to SDI Land include: Land registration and land statistics data: data pertaining to the interests in land use rights, including boundaries of land parcels and their legal basis; Land use maps showing the current land use; 71

92 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Land use planning maps: maps showing the planning of land use; Land valuation data: information about the land price; Topographic maps: Various scale cadastral maps: presenting land parcels; Aerial-satellite imagery: aerial photo and satellite imagery; Administrative maps: maps showing the political and administrative boundaries, including provincial, district and communal levels; Land census data: data of land inventory. The accuracy and currency of the available data are important considerations in the overall development of the SDI Land. In general, data producers have to obey the data standard regulations by the managerial organisation (MONRE, 2010). However, due to the limitation of sources, times of collection, and the development of technology, data collected at different times are often incompatible in terms of scale, projection, and format. There have been incompatible formats used for different types of data, which may lead to difficulty in integration of data. Cadastral maps are usually integrated into ArcGIS format (shapefiles); while the other spatial data such as topographic maps, administrative maps, and land use maps are usually made focusing on the geographic features and requirements. The integration of different types of data requires standardisation to put them into an exchangeable format, such as DXF, and this is usually expensive and leads to changes in object annotations. There have been differences in database structures of the cadastral databases. Databases have been created several times by employing different tools, which operate with different database structures such as entities and entity relationships. Integration needs, as a pre-requisite, the standardisation of single databases. In addition, cadastral maps, which have been recently completed, were in digital format, with high accuracy requirements based on the standards regulated by MONRE. The remainder, which were collected before with low accuracy 72

93 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures requirements, which did not follow the standards, need to be standardised before integrating into the database. Metadata creation: typically, SDIs rely on metadata to assist with cataloguing data holdings and supporting search and discovery (Olfat, Kalantari, Rajabifard & Williamson, 2012). The existing metadata in Vinh Long ranges from description documents and notes, to the professional catalogues. The metadata has been developed under contracts under the World Bank-funded land project during in its late period till 2015 (Vinh Long DONRE, 2016; World Bank, 2012). The reminders, which were established before, especially before 2007, did not associate with metadata. Therefore, there is a significant amount of work required to be performed for the achievement of a comprehensive metadata catalogue. Overall, there have been evident the following issues regarding the development of the data component for an SDI Land in Vinh Long: Differences in spatial reference systems, most importantly the geodetic coordination system, due to the times of surveying; Differences in data format, both data and storage formats, due to the times of data acquisition and the methods of data acquisition; Differences in data accuracies and quality, due to the times of data acquisition and the methods of data acquisition; Differences in feature catalogues; Differences in database structures, due to the development of software used to create data; Differences in metadata. Table 3.2 below lists the availability of data of the SDI datasets. Overall, almost all types of data are available and can be integrated into the database once it is set up (Vinh Long DONRE, 2016). It can be clearly seen that the information about land valuation was still not available in spatial presentation. The aerial-satellite imageries 73

94 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures were available as only 50% coverage of the whole Province with metadata fully associated. Table 3.2: SDI Land datasets component development in Vinh Long Data Availability Status Format Metadata Cadastral maps 96.0% Good Digital 50% Land records 96.0% Good Digital 50% Land statistics data 100.0% Good Digital N/A Land use maps 100.0% Good Digital N/A Land use planning maps 92.3% Good Digital N/A Land valuation data N/A No spatial data N/A N/A Topographic maps 100.0% Good Digital N/A Aerial-satellite imagery 50.0% N/A Digital 100% Administrative maps 100% Good Digital N/A Land census data 100% Good Digital N/A Nevertheless, despite the fact that mapping agencies over the world been recently involving the VGI community for updating spatial data and another information of land administration (Brandeis & Nyerges, 2016; Olteanu-Raimond et al., 2016), the engagement of the VGI in Vietnam has not been considered seriously. The use of unofficial information to enrich the spatial data has not been regulated by the government. Furthermore, the provision of access to data is often obstructed, because of concerns over data quality, the inappropriate use of data in the hands of end users with unknown interpretative abilities, and lack of corporate and spatial awareness. Data quality issues and end user education are not easily resolved without first creating the access infrastructure, and by attempting to meet the real needs of endusers through the consideration of metadata as a knowledge management tool (Devillers, Gervais, Bédard & Jeansoulin, 2002; West & Hess, 2002) User community The user community - stakeholders are fundamental to building the SDI Land, especially in the third generation of SDI the user-centric generation (Hennig & Belgui, 2011; Hennig, Vogler & Gryl, 2013; Kleijn, Manen, Kolen & Scholten, 2014). The commitment of all stakeholders, and particularly central managerial 74

95 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures ministries, is essential to its success in Vietnam (World Bank, 2011). This ensures the supportive policy and institutional arrangement from the highest level of leadership. The other stakeholders will participate actively if they see advantages for their organisations or if they do not feel threatened by the SDIs. In the context of SDI Land, the user community refers to all related stakeholders that manage, use and explore the SDI Land, both data and non-data activities, from individual to central government. Collaboration is a key principle for a successful development of any SDI, especially for the land sector, to enable a land management system (Warnest, Rajabifard & Williamson, 2005). The involvement of stakeholders in Vinh Long in the development of the SDI Land is still limited. Over the last few decades, there have been only land authorities participating in developing the SDI Land. However, the cooperation of other stakeholders, especially end users who use the SDI Land for its intended purposes, remains weak. Currently, there have been immature institutional arrangements and user/provider relationships in the development of SDI for land administration in Vinh Long (World Bank & GIV, 2013). The lack of coordination at a national level can impose significant constraints on the development of the SDI Land. Impediments often include poor inter-organisational communication, and lack of high-level support. Specific steps need to be defined and implemented to ensure that government agencies work together to reduce costs, avoid duplication of effort, and recognise the role that the private sector and academia can play. User demands can trigger the necessary partnerships and alliances to produce and share information. In addition, public awareness is weak and computer literacy is insufficient: at the provincial level, the capacity in IT, and system management of Vinh Long DONRE, are still limited, but manageable. The IT knowledge of local government staff is poor and weak, especially in terms of GIS and database management systems. These factors are an impediment to e-government development. In addition, the limited computerisation and low computer literacy amongst the user population mean that 75

96 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures the largest part of the intended user group will not realise the full benefits of being able to access integrated geospatial information via the internet provided by the SDI Land (Davidsen et al., 2011; World Bank, 2010) Policies The SDI Land policies refer to the policies, laws, legal documents and regulations related to the development and implementation of SDI for the land sector. The development of the SDI Land relies significantly on the issuance and implementation of the policy framework, in all aspects such as building databases, metadata, infrastructure, standards, as well as access to land information. For example, a policy framework will inform a master plan for an SDI Land; therefore, the development of all other components will be appropriate and can be integrated for its implementation. The rapid development of modern technology allows faster collection of data for more accurate and speedy dissemination; and enables searches and analyses using spatial data to be easier and extremely useful for all stakeholders. This will increase the level of interoperability, and reduce the privacy of information. Therefore, the implementation of the SDI Land requires a full development of the policy framework. Steudler and Rajabifard (2012) advise that there will be significant challenges of spatial data sharing and interoperability when lacking a well-developed policy framework. The literature review also suggests that there have been limited policies for the development related to SDI in Vietnam and also in Vinh Long. Apart from some decisions and decrees issued by the Prime Minister in 2005 and by MONRE in 2010, there are no legal documents regulating the plans and strategies for development and implementation of an SDI Land (MONRE, 2015b; World Bank, 2011, 2014). In addition, there has been a lack of consistency in policies for exploring spatial data. This lack of consistency in policies concerning access to and use of spatially referenced data means that the benefit of using spatial data is low. Besides this, the 76

97 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures lack of awareness of information management policies, such as data ownership, usage, pricing, data exchange, data access and security, and licensing and copyright, can have a critical impact on SDI development. Finally, there has been a lack of commitment from key management and stakeholders: the lack of high-level commitment at the national and regional levels of government, particularly where there is no existing SDI-like initiative or mandate, is a major constraint to SDI development, as is the lack of a common vision between agencies and stakeholders. In addition, insufficient support can lead to financially unsustainable GIS implementations due to a short-sighted strategy of development, which might cause the re-working of many land information products maps and land records (Dang, 2015; World Bank, 2011, 2014) Standards Standards touch every SDI and make it work (Nebert, 2000). This could be applied for both data standards and service standards. The application of standards is a must for any common-use system, including SDI Land. For the last few years, the government has developed some standards on cadastral data to regulate the collection, update and sharing of land information and other spatial data. The first version of geographic data standards was issued in 2006, and was revised in 2012 (version 2), becoming the initial standards (Dang, 2007). The standards were developed based on the geography markup language (GML), and have been established to apply nationwide. However, the use of these standards was limited at local levels due to the weak capacity to understand the high requirements and complicated technical terms of the standards. Until 2010, after three years implementation of VLAP, the government issued the first version of cadastral data standards: MONRE's Circular enacting technical standards on cadastral data (MONRE, 2010). The regulation was then developed into Guidelines in 2013 (MONRE, 2013) and then improved in the 2014 version (MONRE, 2014a). 77

98 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures There has also been incomplete knowledge of the availability and quality of existing spatially referenced data. The major technical obstacles to data sharing reside in the lack of application of a national standard for spatial data, incompatible classification schemes, and absence of data documentation. If an information supplier s data holdings are unclear, it becomes difficult to organise information for dissemination. Therefore, the value of the information is reduced because potential data users will have difficulty accessing relevant information (Dang, 2015) Technology Together with the data component, the strong development of technology in the land sector, for both surveying and mapping and the land titling process, has had a significant impact in Vietnam. Technology plays an important role in collecting, managing, accessing, and utilising data, especially spatial data in the land sector. For the last few decades, the technology has rapidly changed, and reduced the cost significantly; therefore, it meets all requirements of work for related data activities. For example, in the period from 2002 to 2007, MONRE, in accordance to the Government policy, delivered spatial data for free to all users with support data processing tools, aiming at the recognition of benefits from spatial data use (The Standing Committee of Vietnam National Assembly, 2001). The mechanism quickly established a gradual geospatial market with the full value of information. In the period from , MONRE applied a fee collection mechanism for exploring spatial data that had been produced under government funding (MOF, 2008), and this limited the capacity for accessing data by other agencies. In Vinh Long, the development of information communication and technology has recorded some achievements. The Province has 234 points for accessing general information, with 992 base transceiver stations (BTS); with 1.2 million home and mobile phone subscribers, reaching nearly 120 subscribers per 100 citizens. The communal post offices where internet connections are available are located within the distance of communal citizens at an average of 4.2km. There has been also an integrated database centre built in the Province, connected to 45 government 78

99 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures agencies and 223 units in the Province. About 3,000 computers have internet connections. There are also 23 websites of provincial departments to deliver information on administrative procedures (Vinh Long Portal, 2016b). Of these, some have initially been deployed as online services level 1 or 2, according to the regulation of the Government in its decree on online administrative procedures (GoV, 2011b). Figure 3.13 presents the result of searching for land administrative procedures. The result shows the detailed procedure, and link to the form that land users can download and fill in then submit with land use evidence (online administrative services level 2). Figure 3.13: Searching for LURC procedure on Vinh Long Portal (a screenshot) In terms of the development and application of ITC in land administration, Vinh Long is one of the leading provinces in the country in this sector (MONRE, 2015b). In all government agencies, the modern surveying equipment for collecting spatial data and information by public agencies has been achieved and used to conduct land surveying efficiently in the last few decades. In parallel, the application of GIS software packages such as ArcGIS and MapInfo, as well as cadastral mapping- 79

100 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures supported software, including FAMIS (run as a MicroStation added-on system) and AutoCAD, has been deployed widely. During the implementation of VLAP, the mobilisation of ViLIS mainly for the purpose of land registration, based on the ArcGIS environment with Oracle or SQL as database management system, was also deployed at several land registration authorities (Pullar, 2013) LRO and its branches. Under the VLAP, the establishment of an access network had been completed for some district LROs (now merged into the provincial level LRO as its branches). The fact was that there were still some difficulties with providing system and network administration support in district offices. A centralised system based at provincial level has been successfully conducted in Vinh Long. That system is providing appropriate bandwidth for the province to local levels, which was arranged as a 8 16 Mbs ADSL service. The pilot work has demonstrated that such a configuration network works well (MONRE, 2015b; Pullar, 2013). Overall, the application of technology in the land sector, towards an SDI Land, has some limitations, including: There has been still a limitation in network infrastructure: despite the fact that the development of a computer network with internet connections in the Province, the access network for the information of local stakeholders remains limited. There has been no common interface for accessing information, both general and detailed information. As of August 2016, the land portal has not been fully made available for public use; There has been a lack of habitat for software licence renewal: in Vinh Long, almost all of equipment and software were purchased under particular projects. Therefore, the recurrent cost when projects cease becomes a significant problem. Often, it lacks a habitat for renewing software licences. For example, the use of ViLIS requires a dynamic link library of ArcGIS to embed map objects and database management system such as Oracle at the 80

101 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures provincial level but normally, the extension of licences of those two packages is not conducted after the project has ceased (Pullar, 2013); There has been an incompatible use of technology in different departments of the Province, which may result in inefficiency in data integration. In fact, the mobilisations of technology in several sectors that are dealing with spatial data are different. For instance, whilst ArcGIS is used in the land sector, graphic design aid software such as AutoCAD or MicroStation are employed in other institutions such as construction and transportation. The integration of spatial data, therefore, becomes inefficient; There has been no land portal in place: till now, there has only been an information portal provided by the Province mostly to provide information on the administrative procedures within the Province. Whilst the general information is found easily, detailed information on land value, and land use planning is hard to find; Figure 3.14: Searching for land value on Vinh Long Portal (a screenshot) Figure 3.14 above presents the response of Vinh Long Portal when searching land value of urban residential land in Ward 2, Vinh Long City, Vinh Long. An example 81

102 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures shows that searching for land price in Vo Van Kiet Road, Ward 2 of Vinh Long City returned no data existed (via on June 6, 2016). There has been poor design for the website of information: despite the fact that there have been 23 departments providing administrative information on their websites, the design of interfaces for accessing information are poor, and result in citizens having difficulty finding the right information. Normally, citizens, who often need information and want to find information via the Internet, have to start with a search engine such as Google or Yahoo (World Bank, 2014); There has been a lack of training in the utilisation of enabling technologies: the lack of people and capacity to build the infrastructure could impede the development of the SDI Land. This includes limited capacity in education, and lack of technical skills in enabling technologies, data management and standards. In addition, a lack of research and development skill, and lack of knowledge about the geographic information market, will hinder progress (World Bank, 2014). In summary, from the above literature review, the developments of SDI Land components in Vinh Long could be represented as in Figure Figure 3.15: Level of development of SDI Land components in Vinh Long 82

103 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures In the above Figure, the development of each SDI Land component of Vinh Long is weighted from 0 (having nothing) to 4 (having everything). Even though, since 2015, with some new policies, the land sector has focused on the process by implementation of some service delivery by means of ICT application, nevertheless, it could still be concluded that the spatial datasets component is the most developed component of SDI, whilst both policy framework and standards framework share the lowest position. Technology and user community components are acceptably developed. This reflects the situation of Vietnam for the last few decades, when all projects have mostly focused on the data collection Challenges for development of an SDI Land in Vietnam As identified in the literature review in this Chapter, the development of SDI Land in Vietnam generally, and in Vinh Long in particular, benefited from a number of opportunities, but also faces many challenges: Lack of a complete policy framework: leaders at central level have not yet been ready to make changes in policies and strategies for SDI development (Dang, 2015; MONRE, 2015b; World Bank, 2011, 2014); Monopoly mechanism existing in all government departments: agencies to archive and manage information do not want/support sharing. Presently, there has been no geospatial portal for delivery and sharing of geospatial data, and no agencies to help interested people to access needed spatial data (Dang, 2015; MONRE, 2015b; World Bank, 2011); Unstandardized data: all spatial data have been adequately produced but have not been updated (Dang, 2015); Limited participation of stakeholders in collecting data: there have been no policies on encouraging enterprises and people to participate in collecting and delivering services on geospatial data. In addition, the mobilisation of private industries has had significant disadvantages, such as the procurement procedures and conditions, accessibility, and privacy of data ; 83

104 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Weak human resources capacity and low public awareness: human resources in the land sector, especially at local levels, are weak, both in professional and IT skills. Change management needs to be implemented in training for staff to adapt to the requirements of a modern land administration system; Financial limitation: in contrast to the investment in data collection, the investment in system maintenance is still limited, both in terms of procurement of hardware and renewal of software licences; Uneven investment for development of related SDI Land components: mostly focusing on data collection, the other components of SDI Land lack investment Opportunities for development of an SDI Land in Vietnam In the land sector, the use of ICT is one of the most important priorities for the development of a modern land administration system in Vietnam, and is clearly embedded in the planning for sustainable socio-economic development (GoV, 2004). This priority provides an advantage for the implementation of an SDI Land. As evidence, since its establishment in 2003, MONRE has made considerable progress in the production of topographic, and cadastral maps and the integration of natural resources information. The development and utilization of satellite imagery, and aerial photography, as well as a continuously operating reference station (CORS) for spatial data collection in Vietnam, has provided significant benefits such as reducing the time required to complete land services, improving the accessibility to land information by all stakeholders, and minimizing the cost of data collection and acquisition. As mentioned above, although the term SDI was not mentioned in the Government strategy on development and application of ICT, the strategy has still made a strong case for investment in this area and shown the priority of Government in the modernisation of the land administration system. The major opportunities for the development of a user-centric SDI Land in Vietnam include: 84

105 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures Government opportunity: a National Land Database has been considered and prepared as one of six national databases. The development of a national land database is merged from provincial land databases, of which cadastral and land register data are the core; Technology: almost all of the cadastral data have been prepared and created in digital format, in a long-term plan for the development and implementation of ICT in the land sector. The two software systems that are developed, based on the latest technologies and approaches such as Oracle and ArcGIS, have been deployed in Vietnam since 2001; International experience sharing: during the last two decades, Vietnam and Vinh Long have received technical assistance and experiences of international experts such as the Western Australian Department of Land Administration (Australia), Landmateriet (Sweden), and LINZ (New Zealand), and FAO, as well as private industries such as Land Information International, and Land Equity; E-government strategy: computerization of administrative procedures, upgrading of national communication network infrastructure; Financial resources: considerable expenses for geospatial data collection by both ODA and government-financed projects Chapter summary The chapter has reviewed the concept and theory of SDIs as an enabling platform to facilitate sharing and updating of geospatial data for all stakeholders and disciplines. The integration and interoperability of data and stakeholders in data production, management, and maintenance require a consistent framework for policy, data, standards, institutional arrangement, and human resources, for the establishment of partnerships and collaboration between stakeholders. The chapter also presented a summary of SES concept, in terms of the benefits for the development of an SDI Land to support more spatially enabled society. 85

106 Chapter 3: Literature Review on Spatial Data Infrastructures The chapter has examined the development of an SDI Land in Vinh Long. In summary, the development of SDI Land components in the Province has not yet been consistent due to the lack of a policy framework. During the last few decades, the Province has focused mostly on spatial data collection and the land titling process, whilst the development and implementation of a decision-supporting system has not yet received much attention. Therefore, there is not yet an SDI Land in place in Vinh Long. The chapter has analysed the benefits that an SDI Land can bring to support land administration system in Vietnam and in Vinh Long. Chapters 4 and 6 will, respectively, present the literature review and results of stakeholder consultation on land administration system. In relation to the development of SDI in Vinh Long, Chapter 5 will investigate the requirement of stakeholders of an SDI for land administration in Vinh Long. Chapter 7 will then identify the main characteristics and principles of a policy framework for a usercentric SDI Land at the provincial level in Vietnam, based on the latest trends in the literature of SDI development, the current government policy in Vietnam, and the case study of Vinh Long. 86

107 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam 4.1. Introduction The aim of this chapter is to overview the concept of land administration and its components and arrangements, to identify the key issues that need to be improved towards the development of a user-centric land administration system in Vinh Long Province. The Chapter also discusses the concept, benefits and principles of fit-forpurpose land administration, as well as its applicability for Vietnam s land context, in general, and in particular for Vinh Long. The chapter commences with the literature review on the theory of land administration, its components and arrangements globally, before narrowing to Vietnam and Vinh Long contexts, in order to provide a general idea of land administration related to the present research, and to investigate the development of LAS in the case study area, to partly answer the research question: How can an SDI Land support land administration in Vietnam? 4.2. Land administration Starting a few centuries ago with the purpose of a manual land tax collection, the initial land administration systems were manual and paper-based. In recent decades, they have moved towards computerised systems in many countries to offer better land information delivery services. In 1993, Nichols has examined the requirements for tenure information in land management and land administration and provided a 87

108 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam synthesis of land registration from a management perspective by reviewing problems existing in land registration, to design a conceptual model of functions, processes, information and system for a land administration (Nichols, 1993). Later, the modern term land administration was first introduced in the Land Administration Guidelines published by the United Nation Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE, 1996). Land administration was quickly considered as a potential tool for determining the environmentally, economically, and socially viable factors for sustainable development (FIG, 1999). The term later became the name of a discipline, involving the relationship between people and land, the management of that relationship, and its related specialised features. One of the main aims of land administration is to record the tenure, use and value of land: an immovable property object. Effective land administration supports improvements to tenure security through land records, improved land use and development, real estate markets, and modern land information systems. Since 1996, there has been a definition recognised widely by researchers over the world, introduced by the UNECE. It is one of the first official definitions of land administration: Land administration is the processes of determining, recording, and disseminating information about the tenure, value, and use of land when implementing land management policies (UNECE, 1996, p. 108). However, for a long period before the introduction of this definition, land administration was considered as an important aspect of both public administration and private business. In the past, land administration became one the most powerful instruments available to the colonies to establish different political systems by allocating land, the prime resource, to farmers to use for taxation purposes (Kain & Baigent, 1992). Dale and McLaughlin (1999) asserted that land administration is the process of regulating land, and other immovable property, the use and ownership of land, and the gathering of revenues from land through land transactions (sale, lease, rent, exchange, mortgage and guarantee) and taxation. The transactions of land are 88

109 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam based on the land legislation and policies with the support of efficient land registration, and land information systems, as well as cadastral survey and mapping activities. A good land administration system provides an infrastructure for implementing land policies and land management strategies in support of sustainable development (Dale & McLaughlin, 1988, 1999; Williamson et al., 2010). It has also been considered as a critical public good infrastructure to deliver land information as public services to citizens (Bennett et al., 2013). In this regard, land administration as a public good can be considered non-rivalrous and non-excludable. The literature notes that the significant outcome of land administration to the management of land has been to ensure the security of land tenure. As the central component of land management, land administration aims to deliver efficient real estate markets and effective land use management in support of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. This underpins the distribution and administration of a special asset in any society. Land management is also a key activity of both public and the private sectors (Enemark & Williamson, 2004; G. Hay, 2016; Ting & Williamson, 2001). Despite the significant achievement in the development of land administration systems, from manual to automated systems, the literature also indicates that the current operation of land administration services still has limited global coverage: around three-fourths of the world s population are still outside of the formal registers, to safeguard their land rights, including both use rights and ownership (Bell, 2009; Enemark, McLaren & Lemmen, 2015; Mitchell et al., 2016; Mitchell, Clarke & Baxter, 2008) Land administration functions The operation of land administration is very much based on the core land administration functions, which ensure proper management of rights, restrictions and responsibilities in the relationship between individuals and land. According to 89

110 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Enemark, Williamson and Wallace (2005) land administration has four functions, namely land tenure, land value, land use, and land development. The four functions are all essential for the purpose of recording, producing, maintaining, and sharing land information to implement national land policy and delivery a nation s sustainable development (Figure 4.1). The institutional framework has also become one of the most important factors for deploying these functions of land administration, especially in building effective land use management. Land information, including cadastral and topographic data contained in SDIs, has been considered as a key input to effective land administration functions. The information on land and property permeates through the overall system, and provides the basic infrastructure for running the administrative systems within the four interrelated areas. Figure 4.1: Land Administration four key functions (Enemark et al., 2005) Land tenure, as a key function of land administration, refers to-, a system of rights and institutions that provide for access to land and the use of that land and other attached resources. It comprises of social relations and institutional arrangements governing the issuance of rights to land and how these are transferred and inherited. These can be formally recorded by the state including through land titles, recognition of land use rights, or informal as in the case of customary arrangements 90

111 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999; Maxwell & Wiebe, 1998). In the other words, land tenure through the cadastre component introduced later in Section is the main function for establishing the formal relationship between land and people. Land value refers to the activities of land valuation and pricing for taxation purposes. Land use refers to the related policies regulating and controlling the use of land. It also relates to the spatial planning; whilst land development refers to the activities related to land use planning, zoning and investment. The four above functions of land administration ensure the information resources necessary for the operation of land market, and the management of land use. Together they support the development of society, the environment, and the economy, under the goal of sustainable development (Enemark et al., 2005) Land administration components Land administration also includes the processes to determine, to record, and to disseminate information about land tenure, value and ownership, and use of land, when land policies are implemented. In general, land administration contains several components, and depends on the country s approach. The functions of land administration can be listed as land registration, cadastral survey and mapping,, land planning and development, and fiscal elements (valuation and taxation), as well as land information system (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999; UNECE, 1996; Williamson et al., 2010). Figure 4.2: Land administration key components (adapted from Steudler et al., 2004) 91

112 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Later, based on these three key attributes, the four above-mentioned land administration functions were organised into four basic components: juridical, fiscal, regulatory, and information management. While the first three components are traditionally organised, the remaining element, information management, integrates these, as shown in Figure 4.2 above (Steudler, Rajabifard & Williamson, 2004). The arrangements of land administration are varied, and depend on the country s approaches. Williamson (2001) proposes a range of best practices, which are useful in conducting the re-engineering of land administration. According to the author, the concept of land administration infrastructures, within a tool box consisting of principles, policies, laws and technologies, is useful in reforming or re-engineering land administration systems in support of a broader land policy agenda. In the concept of land administration infrastructures, the principles of SDIs, together with ideas of VGI, have been considered as a key component, besides other principles of land policy, tenure, technology, institutional, and human resources, for supporting the implementation of land administration functions (Mooney & Grant, 1997; Rahmatizadeh, Rajabifard & Kalantari, 2016) Land registration In fact, people relate to land in various forms, formally through the land register. Every land administration system includes some form of land registration, which involve processes for recording information about the ownership or use rights of land. The main function of land registration is to provide the means for formally recognising land rights, and controlling transactions of these rights to which related people (individuals, households, organisations, groups of individuals - communities) are entitled as transaction parties (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999; UNECE, 1996). Land registration mainly aims to respond to the questions who and how, related to the legal situation of defined land parcels. The above-mentioned UNECE Land administration guidelines state that: 92

113 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Good land records will improve efficiency and effectiveness in collecting land and property taxes by identifying landowners and providing better information on the performance of the land market, for example by identifying the current prices being paid for property and the volume of sales (UNECE, 1996, p. 16), Basically, land registration systems record certain information about land, including information about the nature and spatial extent of this information as well as information about the landowners (or land users). Land registries also provide documentary evidence, which is necessary for resolving land issues as well as for other public functions such as land valuation and taxation (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999). Formally, there are three basic forms of land registration recognized: private conveyance, title registration, and deed registration. While under the private conveyance system, land transactions are made through arrangement of individuals with little participation and supervision of local governments, the two remaining registration systems require important roles for the local governments or government representatives and authorised agencies (ie. lawyers, notaries and commercial banks) (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999). The latter two forms of land registration have been considered more formal then private conveyance. Firstly, the registration of deeds was developed, which was also called land recordation in some countries, including the United States. This deed registration involves registering and documenting changes related to land interests. This system was developed hundreds of years ago, in many European countries, with the purpose of preventing the double selling of land (Hanstad, 1998). The literature reveals that there have been many types of registration of deeds; however, they are all based on the following three main principles: security; evidence; and notice and priority (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999). 93

114 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam In the same manner, there are various types of title registration. Subsequent to the development of registration of deeds mentioned above, these systems have been established and developed in many countries around the world. For instance, the best-known system introduced in 1858 in Australia was called the Torrens Registration System (Thomas, Low & Griggs, 2013). Under this type of system, the registration is normally compulsory, and the government plays an active role in examining and warranting all rights shown in the land titles and their transactions. The development of land registration systems was based on three well-known principles (Dale & McLaughlin, 1999; Hanstad, 1998): The mirror principle: the land register (or official land record) reflects accurately and completely the current state of title; hence, there is no other proof of title needed; The curtain principle: the land register is the only source of title information; hence, there is no need to review all related historical documentation except overriding interests; and The guarantee principle: the government is responsible for the accuracy of the land register and for providing compensation/reimbursement in case of errors, thus ensuring the financial security for the claimants/owners. During the last few decades, many developed countries have adopted the latest technology for land administration, with improvement in existing systems and development of new ones. Where the national economy and institutional capacity allows, countries have attempted to move from the paper and pencil era of land administration to more automated land administration systems. This involves integrating, using, and sharing land information through delivering land administration functions and services (Kuria et al., 2016; Schaefer & Schaefer, 2014; H. Singh & Bhatia, 2016; Williamson et al., 2005). In addition, with the development and implementation of GIS technology, in some countries like Germany, approximately 80% of all decisions made by all of governments over the last two 94

115 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam decades has been geospatially based (Riecken, 2001). In the research conducted by Hahmann and Burghardt (2013) they argued that 57% of information is geospatially referenced. However, as mentioned, about 75% of the world s population do not have access to formal land registration systems to safeguard their land rights, with many in less-developed countries (Enemark, Bell, Lemmen & McLaren, 2014) Cadastre and cadastral survey and mapping One of the most important terms linked to the land registration is cadastre, which may be defined as a record of interests in land, encompassing both the nature and extent if these interests. Later, it has been considered as a systematically organised information system of property within a certain administrative boundary. The modern cadaster concept had been found in the development of the cadaster system of Continental Europe during the last three centuries. It has been argued that almost all the early European cadastres were established in response to the need for fiscal information. The collected information is based on the comprehensive survey of boundaries of all land parcels (NRC, 1980). Although cadastres were originally established for land taxation purposes in many countries, they were later used for land registration purposes in a multi-function land registration system (Hanstad, 1998; Larsson, 1991). Cadastre has been closely connected with and has been considered as a core component of any land administration system (UNECE, 1996). According to Williamson et al. (2010), cadaster is associated with many complexities, dimensions, and themes. As an engine of land administration, cadastre has brought significant benefits, with detailed information at the land parcel level to any land administration system, by serving the demands of individuals and communities as well as the needs of governments in land management and other related asset activities, such as credit security, land transactions market analysis, land and property taxation, public communication, and emergency planning and management. 95

116 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Bennett, Kalantari and Rajabifard (2010) present six elements relating to the role and nature of future cadastres, as a starting point for further dialogue based on the concept of a multipurpose cadaster concept, introduced in the 1980s by the American National Research Council (NRC, 1980). According to the multipurpose cadaster concept, the multipurpose cadaster system is designed to provide a continuous comprehensive record of land-related information, and to present this information at the parcel level. The elements introduced by Bennett et al. (2010) comprise: the accuracy of surveying; property objects instead of parcels; height and time information inclusion; real-time maintenance and accessibility; access for crossborder trading; and the modeling of natural environment. The elements would affect the design of future cadastres. Over time, the relationship between human and land is dynamic, changing to respond to societal development. In the same way, time has witnessed the evolution of the cadastral system. Williamson et al. (2010) describe the cadastral evolution in Western nations in four phases, as shown in Figure 4.3 below: Figure 4.3: The evolution of western cadastres (Adapted from Williamson et al., 2010) The last two decades has also witnessed remarkable international developments in the area of cadastres. Of these developments, a number of initiatives have been taken to explain the importance of cadastres and land administration systems as a basis for achieving economic, social, and environmental sustainability (Enemark, 2014). Examples can be seen in arguments about the sufficiency of three- 96

117 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam dimensional cadasters for modeling all interests related to land, the needs and technological capabilities of developing 3D cadastre, and the concepts of using VGI for land administration, as conducted and researched by Stoter and Salzmann (2003); Kalantari et al. (2008); Bennett et al. (2008); Aien et al. (2012), Steudler (2014), and Rahmatizadeh et al. (2016). In addition, related to the term cadastre is the term cadastral survey, which is a survey of boundaries of a land parcel, with cadastral maps indicating the boundaries of land parcels or defined areas Integrated Land administration A modern land administration system must be able to deliver not only a platform for integrating all types of information through running its functions (tenure, value, use, and development), but also to provide the relevant processes and activities to support an efficient land market and effective land use management which ultimately helps facilitate more sustainable development (Williamson et al., 2010). Figure 4.4: Land administration for sustainable development (Enemark et al., 2005) 97

118 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Fit-for-purpose land administration The fit-for-purpose (FFP) land administration concept was developed in response to an urgent need for an approach to land administration that would address the problem that 75 percent of about six billion land parcels in the world had not been registered (Enemark et al., 2014). At the current rate of progress recording of this many parcels would take several hundred years. The FFP approach was therefore proposed as an approach that could allow the formalisation of informal tenures at scale in relatively short time frame. The initial principles were introduced in 2014 in the joint publication of FIG and the World Bank, who realised that technological innovations meant that for the first time recording of land rights at scale was feasible in all countries. Subsequently the guiding principles of fit-for-purpose land administration at the country level was published by GLTN in The concept of FFP land administration introduces three fundamental characteristics of the land management system, a focus on the purpose, flexibility, and incremental improvement, by analysing the three interrelated core components of the spatial, legal, and institutional frameworks (Lemmen et al., 2016). This concept can inform less-developed countries such as Vietnam, in the design of processes for initial land registration based on a spatial framework and existing data rather than undertaking high accuracy surveying for cadastral maps. In addition, the FFP concept provides a flexible approach based on the existing data, and focuses on meeting the demands of land owners/users, and focussing on serving the purpose of the land administration system (providing security of tenure and control of land use) rather than focusing on the technical solutions and high accuracy data (Mitchell, Enemark & Molen, 2015). A recent report of the World Bank shows that the cost of completion of a land title in a rural province in Vietnam is high, about $19/land parcel, by comparison with the other ASEAN countries (World Bank, 2015). It is also time consuming to complete an initial land registration, normally 4-6 months, by comparison with 55 days addressed in the government administrative procedure (World Bank, 2014). 98

119 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam These issues of cost and time taken to register have limited the ability of Government to build a modern land administration system. The recent experience from Rwanda, which applied the FFP land administration idea to build a land administration system in a five-year land project covering the whole country, demonstrated that these costs could be reduced the cost to as low as USD$6/land parcel (Enemark et al., 2014). The initial approach could also be incrementally improved over time by adding official survey and mapping results when time and budget permit. Bennett and Alemie (2016) examined the benefits of using FFP ideologies in Ethiopia in informing cadastral designs. Their research has shown how these designs support poverty alleviation, food security, and good governance. In order to apply the FFP approach to land administration, a fundamental requirement is for a large-scale spatial framework to identify the land units, including informal tenures officially. The spatial framework can be based on aerial imagery, which are used to map the general boundaries of land parcels. The use of satellite and aerial imagery is sufficient for most land administration purposes and functions, especially in rural and peri-urban areas. The most important aspect is that this approach is three to five times cheaper than field surveys (Enemark et al., 2014). Of course, as mentioned, the opportunities for updating, upgrading, and improvement can be clearly seen in the ongoing updating, sporadic upgrading, and incremental improvement whenever relevant or necessary, for fulfilling land policy aims and objectives. The FFP land administration has seven key elements, based on the ideas of flexibility, and incremental improvement (Enemark et al., 2014): 1. Flexible in the spatial data capture approaches; 2. Inclusive in scope to cover all tenure and all land; 3. Participatory in approach to data capture and use; 4. Affordable to establish and operate and for society to use; 5. Reliable in terms of information; 99

120 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam 6. Attainable to establish the system within a short timeframe and in costeffectiveness; 7. Upgradeable by the incremental improvement over time in response to social and legal needs and emerging economic opportunities. Enemark et al. (2014) also concluded with four principles of fit-for-purpose land administration that could affect the development of an SDI Land: 1. General boundaries rather than fixed boundaries; 2. Aerial imageries rather than field surveys; 3. Accuracy relates to the purpose rather than to technical standards; and 4. Opportunities for updating, upgrading, and improvement. The argument as to whether to step back on the development of an automated land administration system was discussed by Steudler (2016). According to Steudler, as noted in the literature, adopting a FFP approach to land administration is appropriate for many countries. The cost will be gradually saved, and the construction of an FFP land administration system will not be a barrier to the development of a spatially enabled society Vietnam Land administration In Vietnam, land is the property of all the people and is managed by the State the representative owner (VNA, 2013a). The Vietnam land administration system is a multi-level system from central to communal level (VNA, 2013b), in accordance with the organisation of administration and local governments of Vietnam (VNA, 2015). Similar to the overall principle of any land administration system, the land administration system in Vietnam reflects both the social and legal relationships between the two entities: people (as land users), and land parcels. 100

121 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Land tenure in Vietnam History of land tenure in Vietnam The relationship between people and land is essentially presented through land tenure. As shown in Figure 4.1, the land tenure systems incorporate land titles, mortgages and easements (Enemark et al., 2005); therefore, to participate in land market land use right transactions land tenure security is needed. Within the context of the present research, the land tenure and land administration system of Vietnam could be separated into five periods, based on the timing of important events. The first period was the purely collective system, lasting from , coinciding with the poor performance of the economy (Wiegersma, 1988). This period started with the success of the August Revolution and ended with the introduction of the Vietnam Communist Party s Directive 100. During this period, land was managed collectively, with a high level of poverty in the country. The land tenure was different between the North and the South, due to the differences in politics of the two regions. In the North, land belonged to the government with the formation of collective systems; while in the South, land tenure was via a private ownership scheme (H. Nguyen, 1977; Steinfeld & Thai, 2013). The second period commenced with the introduction of Directive 100, which aimed at improving agricultural productivity by increasing individual incentives, from 1981 to the enactment of the Land Law, During this period, there was not much change in the land registration system, apart from Resolution 10, which recognised households as independent economic units and issued instructions for the allocation of land to households on a more permanent basis. The performance of the economy, mainly based on the agricultural cooperatives, was improved but still very much limited, due to the absence of land titles, which might have led the farmers to feel insecure (T. Do & Iyer, 2008; Pingali & Vo, 1992). The registration system was based on the registration of deeds inherited from the French Colonial Period, until the introduction of the first Land Law in The de-collectivisation was then started (Kirk & Nguyen, 2009), and the land sector moved to the third period,

122 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam 1993, as a semi-collective system. This led to the introduction of the first Land Law which regulated the lease of land to households. However, during that period, the land use rights were not transferable or used for access to credit (Dang & Ngo, 2008; T. Nguyen, 2010). In the absence of land titles, land users continued to feel insecure. The fourth period of land tenure in Vietnam was from 1993 to 2003, during which about 11 million Land Use Right Certificates (LURCs) were issued to households using land. The land users were granted an additional five rights, to transfer, exchange, inherit, lease and mortgage; and this allowed the allocation of land to land users for stable use within the defined term of from 20 to 50 years (T. Do & Iyer, 2008). The fifth period commenced in 2003, when a new right of land users, guarantee by land use rights, was added to the above-mentioned list of land use rights. Within this period, the Land Registration Office (LRO) model at provincial and district levels was initially introduced and established across the whole country (MONRE & MOHA, 2004). This was the first time that the land administration system of Vietnam separated public services organisations from state-administration bodies. Figure 4.5 above summarises the development of land tenure and land registration in Vietnam, from 1945, with the five periods of land tenure policy indicated. Figure 4.5: Land tenure policy in Vietnam (Adapted from Wiegersma, 1988; H. Nguyen, 1977; Steinfeld & Thai, 2013; T. Do & Iyer, 2008; Pingali & Vo, 1992; Kirk & Nguyen, 2009; Dang & Ngo, 2008; T. Nguyen, 2010) The changes in the last two periods have created significant improvements and benefited Vietnam gradually in terms of poverty reduction through improved tenure security. These two periods have highlighted the important role of LURCs in land 102

123 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam administration and management (Dang & Tran, 2007; T. Do & Iyer, 2008; T. Nguyen, 2009; World Bank, 2010) Current land tenure in Vietnam According to the current Constitution of Vietnam, the private ownership of land is not recognised (VNA, 2013a). However, land is allocated to individuals, households, organisations as well as communities (i.e. land users), to use on a stable basis. The State recognises and protects the land use rights of land users (VNA, 2013b). In this context, the meaning of land use rights in Vietnam is not different to the meaning of land ownership used in other countries. Land tenures in Vietnam, therefore, are essentially usufruct rights, meaning that the land users may use land, but cannot own land. These usufruct rights are therefore the most secure form of formal land tenure in Vietnam. Since 2003, land use rights entitle land users to exchange, transfer, inheritance, mortgage, lease, sub-lease, bequeath and donate land use rights, and guarantee and contribute capital using land use rights (VNA, 2003). Regarding registration of land tenure, since 2005 LROs under DONREs and BONREs at provinces and districts, respectively, were established in all districts and provinces; and by the end of 2012, have been providing land-related public services, including initial land registration, land changing registration, and also land information access (in some provinces, the one-stop shop becomes a focal point to communicate with the (citizen) applicants receiving requests, and sending out results). However, in general, these offices lack consistent organisational, staffing and service standards, as well as the capacity (including human and technical capacities) to meet increasing demands from stakeholders (World Bank, 2014). As a new policy of the government, about one-third of these have been merged into the provincial LROs (MONRE, MOJ & MOF, 2015; VNA, 2013b). These merging activities have, negatively, created a significant amount of administrative work (MONRE Portal, 2016). 103

124 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Approximately 77% of land area had been allocated to land users by the end of June 2014 (MONRE, 2014c). The formal recognition of land use rights through the issuance of LURCs to secure land tenure and formal land transactions (including the legal protection of land use rights and access to formal credit) also achieved significant results. According to a recent MONRE s report and the World Bank s document, by the end of 2015 approximate 42 million LURCs had been issued, equivalent to 84% of the total 50 million land parcels that are eligible to be issued as LURCs (of the total of million land parcels in the whole country). The granted LURCs are mostly smallholders, covering about 23 million hectares of land area. There is only just over two-thirds of LURCs associated with official georeferenced coordinate and cadastral maps. Many of the LURCs have not been associated with cadastral maps or are based on the old survey results that are incompatible with the current system of referencing (MONRE, 2015b; World Bank, 2016). According to the same documents, many land parcels have not been recorded in digital form. However, the results of land titling processes have been recognised by international organisations such as FAO (Quizon, 2013), and the World Bank, as important indicators of land administration, and as the most important process for reduction of poverty in the country (Dang & Tran, 2007; World Bank, 2010). This was typically mentioned at the Opening Session of the 17 th World Bank Annual Conference on Land and Poverty, by the Vice President of the World Bank, as an example of success: In Vietnam, the government issued five million land use certificates with the support of our land project, sixty percent of which were issued in the names of both the husband and wife. This has had real impact land rights certificates held jointly increased the share of household women who were self-employed in agriculture by five percent and reduced the incidence of poverty also by five percent (Tuck, 2016, p. 5). However, as indicated in a recent report of MONRE, the significant results of the issuance of LURCs were based on all kinds of information, which are not appropriate with the database structure of the current LISs deployed in the country. 104

125 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Therefore, under an FFP approach to land administration, LIS databases would be re-structured based on a variety of imagery that may include aerial photos, satelliate imagery, drones, and other sources Decentralised land administration system Vietnam s land policies are administered through a hierarchy of authorities at the central level, sixty-three provinces and cities, more than seven hundred districts, and over ten thousand communes (communes, wards, and towns). The Vietnam Land Administration is a multi-level and decentralised system. At the higher levels the institutional arrangements are based on functions such as natural resources or environment. The upper level provides guidelines to the level below which includes the land agency. The organisational and personal responsibilities belong to respective people s committee at the same level (as shown in Figure 4.6). Figure 4.6: Vietnam s Decentralised Land Administration System (adapted from VNA, 2013b, and VNA, 2015) In 2008, the GDLA was re-established under MONRE (GoV, 2008a), and has become the primary central-level body in the country for state administration of 105

126 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam land activities. GDLA is responsible for advocating with the other government agencies for necessary laws to reform public land, land registration and other land regulations, for a more efficient resource management system in the country (GoV, 2014b). The activities of GDLA focus on state administration of land, directing and organising inspections of land nationwide, and directing the surveying, measurement, drawing and management of cadastral maps, land use status maps, and land use planning maps nationwide. GDLA is based in Hanoi. At the provincial and district levels, the natural resources departments, as well as commune people's committees, supported by cadastral officials, are responsible for land administration within the administrative boundaries. As in many countries with a decentralised land administration system, most of the land administration activities happen at the local levels. For instance, the function of issuance of LURCs belongs to provincial- and district-level governments (VNA, 2013b): essentially, the land registration which supports the maintenance of the current status of land use information is the function of LROs at both district and provincial levels (MONRE et al., 2015), while the provincial people committee (PPC) is responsible for provision of annual land valuation. Currently, there is an estimated 40,000 staff across approximately 12,000 government organisations, including MONRE, 63 provincial DONREs, 713 district BONREs, and 11,162 communes in the whole country, from the central level to communal level, involved in land administration activities (GSO, 2016; Luu, 2015) Function-based organisational structure According to the government policies related to land administration, there has been a separation between state administration departments and public service agencies in the land sector in Vietnam. Figure 4.7 describes the organisation of the land administration system of Vietnam (GoV, 2014b) at the central level, categorised by land administration core functions, as introduced by Enemark et al. (2005) and presented in Figure

127 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Figure 4.7: Vietnam land administration function-based organisational structure (adapted from Enemark et al., 2005, and GoV, 2014b) In this regard, the function of land tenure is managed by the land registration institutions, at both central and provincial levels. These departments and offices provide regulation, policies, and guidelines to implement land registration services, which are performed by the system of LROs. These guidelines provided also include cadastral standards. The function land value is assigned to the land economy and land funds development institutions, with the support of land valuation enterprises, both public and private systems (GoV, 2014a; MONRE, 2014b); whilst the functions of land use and land development are assigned to land planning, land economy, and funds development institutions (GoV, 2014b). The same functions and organisational structures are applied to local governments at the lower level of requirements. The performance of four key functions is based on the regulation of land policies, institutional frameworks, and research and development, set by the government at both central and provincial levels. To support sustainable development, the land administration system of Vietnam focuses on efficient land use and management, building a transparent land administration based on service-oriented approaches 107

128 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam towards good land governance, with the support of a user-centric SDI Land, the policy framework of which is discussed in the present research. The discussion of the limitations in land administration in Vietnam focuses on the land information-related activities, including land registration, land information collection, and land information system deployment, with regard to the four key functions of land administration: land tenure, land use, land value, and land development Land registration system The function of land tenure in Vietnam is associated with land registration institutions, at both central and local levels. According to the current regulations, at the national level, the Department of Land Registration is responsible for land registration and statistics in the whole country (GoV, 2014b), by providing guidelines and regulations at local levels to implement land registration and statistics. The current land registration functions of GDLA include: Regulating, guiding, inspecting cadastral survey and mapping, updating, cadastral document formulating at all levels over the whole country; Regulating, guiding land registration activities, LURC issuance related issues, professional activities related to land registration and LURCs; Organising the land registration system in the whole country; Organising the issuance of LURCs form and format; Generating data on land registration, LURC issuance, and cadastral documentation over the whole country. The same functions are given to land registration departments at the DONREs. In addition, at the provincial level, there is an LRO organised to conduct all land registration services with land users for residential land in urban areas and land used by organisations. The branches of LRO are located at the district level to conduct all land registration services with land users individuals and households. 108

129 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Land valuation and land price The function of land valuation in Vietnam is associated with the Department of Land Economy and Fund Development under GDLA at the central level. According to the government (GoV, 2014b), the basic functions of land valuation include: Regulating, guiding, inspecting land valuation tables; Regulating the land valuation frame, principles, methods for land valuations; Regulating the inspection and appraisal of land valuation; Harmonisation of land valuation for the land areas within the buffering between provinces boundaries; Inspecting and adjusting land price tables of provinces; Granting land valuation permissions to consultants; Land valuation information management. It can be clearly seen that land valuation is mainly still a job of government, especially for taxation and land recovery compensation purposes. Until now, a few private companies have been evaluated as being capable of conducting land valuation consultancy services. However, the participation of private companies in land valuation is limited (MONRE, 2015b). Therefore, in most cases, the land valuation and land price frame of provinces have been conducted by public agencies with the participation of financial institutions at the provincial level, and this has led to some conflict between land users and investors over land compensation for land acquisition (C. Nguyen & Vu, 2014). The methods of land valuation are guided comprehensively by MONRE, in its circular (MONRE, 2014b) detailing the methods to determine the price per square meter of land parcel. According to the regulation, all land parcels shall be valued and put in the land information system as the main information component, together with land ownership information. Since 2014, all of the provinces have built their land value frameworks, and publish these on every first day of years. These land 109

130 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam price frameworks shall be used for land use levies, taxes, land lease (one off payment), and land compensation. In fact, there have been two separate land price systems, one regulated by the government, and the other decided by the market. Even though a recent internal evaluation of MONRE concluded that the land valuation results over the last few years were compatible to the market prices (MONRE, 2015b); the existence of those prices has led to many consequences, both for government and land users (Pham et al., 2012; Truong & Perera, 2011) In addition, the presentation of land price has remained in a form of text description lacking spatially referencing. This means that there have been no land price maps available for citizens to access. Cadastral maps have not been used to present the land price as regulated by MONRE in its circular; therefore, the LIS has not yet integrated land value information (MONRE, 2014a; World Bank, 2016) Land use and development Since the Land Law 2003, land use planning regulation has been set as an appropriate and recognised tool for land administration. The content of land use planning is reformed providing that the central government only plans for master land use (T. Nguyen, Le, Mensvoort & Bregt, 2006; World Bank, 2010). The government regulates the functions related to land use planning in the land sector, as follows (GoV, 2014b): Developing land use planning at national level land use master plan; Regulating and guiding professional skills and requirements for land use planning, land use plan at the provincial level, land use planning for defence and security purposes; Guiding, inspecting, and resoling land use planning criteria at provincial level; Ensuring the land use planning for rice land purposed area. The current Land Law strongly regulates the participation of local community in land use planning activities. Detailed land use planning has been granted to local 110

131 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam government to ensure the inclusion of comments and feedback from people at the communal level (VNA, 2013b). Together with land recovery and land compensation, land use planning is of great importance in Vietnam. However, this has been one of the areas recognised as being most prone to corruption, and the cause of much tension between citizens and local governments (CECODES et al., 2015; Davidsen et al., 2011; Martini, 2012) Land administration reform in Vietnam It is widely recognised that the continuing land administration system reform since 1986 has been a pivotal driver of Vietnam s rapid growth and poverty reduction (World Bank, 2008). The reform commenced with the changes in land tenure, from the collective mechanism into individual and household use of land. In terms of government administration system, Vietnam started the land management modernisation program in the early-1990s, by a joint UNDP-AusAID technical assistance programme for designing a modern land administration and management system. Later, during the period from , two projects, both focused mainly on capacity building, which were the strengthening of policy development, building capacity for agencies at the central level, and providing training for staff at the grassroots level, were carried out (World Bank, 2008). Since 2008, the government has invested an estimated $380 million, excluding some local government investments (World Bank, 2016) that could account for an additional $20 million. The recent land reform program focuses on the three main objectives of land use: efficiency, environmental sustainability, and equity reforms. The literature indicates that enhancing land tenure security, allowing market forces to play a greater role in land resources allocation, improving the management of land, and enhancing land taxation, have made a significant contribution to land use and land markets. The complete land tenure security and the enforcement of land users rights have been critical for increasing the economic efficiency of land resource utilization and management in Vietnam over the last few decades (Dang & Tran, 2007; T. Nguyen et al., 2013; World Bank, 2010). 111

132 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam The enhancements to land use rights have included raising general public awareness of land policies, land registration, and issuance of LURCs. In addition, the improvement of land use rights has also included the development of legal capacity to support land complaints, as well as to address land disputes. These work have supported land users, especially at grassroots level, by putting land use rights in place and protecting private land use rights (World Bank, 2014). Up to now, each district has its own legal aid centre to offer support through legal advice to individuals in land issues. Further, the enhancement of land use rights reforms have also been aimed to address major limitations in land use such as the restriction on land use purposes and durations, and agricultural land use ceilings. These reforms ensure the sustainability of 4 million hectares of permanent crop land, to contribute to the national food security program (MONRE, 2015b). According to the 2011 Vietnam Development Report of the World Bank (2010) and a joint policy research paper published by CECODES et al. (2015), the lack of transparency and the weak improvement in this regard has represented the main constraint on the market s efficient functioning. The Government efforts in the development of land markets during the last few years, through providing a better and more formal mechanism of access to land, has contributed to a reduction of the risk of losing land of firms. However, a recent survey shows that business, households and individuals still face significant difficulties in acquiring land assets and land information. The inadequate procedures and weak implementation of land recovery, compensation, and resettlement have been counted as one of the main reasons causing the increase of administrative disputes and complaints, as well as criminal cases in land sector. A recent example, in this case, happened in Tien Lang District, Hai Phong City, during , with the outcome of both land users and local government officers facing criminal charges (Wikipedia, 2012). One of the most important of the land reforms in Vietnam that received significant aid from international donors is the modernisation of the land administration system. This mostly focuses on technical issues in land management, while the 112

133 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam policy issues share a small part. Even though the land administration system still need to be improved its limitations, such as the accuracy of the land database, level of access to land information, as well as staff capacity, it is clearly of remarkable significance to the rules and regulations governing land tenures in the country (CECODES et al., 2015; World Bank, 2009, 2010, 2014). The linkage amongst sectors for dealing with land issues, including land recovering, and land and property taxation, can benefit from this reform. However, to ensure the effective implementation of the reform, it is necessary to maintain the relationship between land taxes and government finance at all levels, while the ongoing land market should be clarified and strengthened. The second objective of land reform focuses on environmental sustainability: advancing land use planning. Since the start of the Renovation 3 policy, land use planning has seen relatively substantive changes. However, it still remains in internal government practices, characterised by unclear relationships, hierarchy, timing, and linkages between different types of plans, such as the socio-economic development plans, land use plans, urban development master plans, and various sectoral plans at all government levels, especially at the provincial and district levels. Although some of the seven principles formulated by FAO, IFAD, UNCTAD and other development partners have been applied, land use planning in Vietnam still has significant gaps in seeking consultation and participation of stakeholders and communities, as well as in ensuring environmental sustainability (MONRE, 2015b; World Bank, 2010). As mentioned earlier, about 50% of administrative complaints relate to land price and compensation. In the other words, about a half of complaints or denunciations present dissatisfaction with the implementation of the land compensation policy and procedures. Despite that there has been an improvement through the revisions of laws on land over several periods, the current approaches to recovery and 3 Renovation Doi Moi in Vietnamese is the name given to the economic reforms initiated by the 6 th Vietnam Communist Party Congress in 1986, with the goal of creating a socialist-oriented market economy in Vietnam (Wikipedia). 113

134 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam reallocation of land are slow, not transparent, and unpredictable, with rent-taking behaviour common, skewing the availability of urban land and frustrating investors (World Bank, 2009; World Bank & GIV, 2013). Overall, the land rights are still incomplete, and not always enforceable. The limitation of general public awareness about land policies, and the weak capacity of the legal support systems to handle land disputes and complaints, restrict land users in protecting private land rights. In addition, the restrictions on land use purposes and duration, land use ceilings in agriculture, as well as the right to compensation and the power of the government in land recovery, are some of the significant limitations on the current land use rights (T. Do & Iyer, 2008). The priority of the Government of Vietnam is to build a modern land administration system for achieving the most rational and efficient use of land resources, whilst protecting the land resource and providing social equity to the people. Land reform is a long-term process. The Vietnam Land Administration Project (VLAP) - one of the largest World Bank funded projects in the world - has been implemented in Vietnam since 2008, with an estimated budget of US$100 million, as the biggest land project in the area. The objective is the establishment of a modern land administration system by which land-related services and land information are delivered efficiently and effectively. VLAP covers nine out of sixty-three provinces and cities in Vietnam. The project is expected to complete cadastral survey and mapping for 1.4 million ha, and issue about 5.1 million LURCs as well as manage 18 million land parcels (World Bank, 2008). By the end of June 2015, 18 months behind the planned closing date, VLAP finished surveying for 0.88 million ha, equivalent to 63% of the original target; and 3.4 million of LURCs, equivalent to 67% of the original target. However, this is still a significant achievement of implementation (Tuck, 2016; World Bank, 2015). Another large government-funded land management program - Cadastral survey and mapping, land registration and establishment of cadastral database - managed 114

135 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam by the remaining fifty-four provinces and cities, commenced in 2011, and has focused mostly on spatial data collection. After five years of implementation, the results of this project have not met its targets due to financial and human resource constraints and limitations (MONRE, 2015b). Although there has been considerable change in the land management sector since the introduction of the 1986 Renovation policy, it remains incomplete, and there is still a considerable gap needing to be filled, to implement a modern, transparent land administration system in Vietnam Land policy framework development There has been a significant evolution in the land policy framework in Vietnam since the 1986 Renovation. A comprehensive policy framework for land management in a transition economy was established over the last two decades since the Land Law 1987, which law paved the way for reallocating cooperative land to households for their long-term use, and recognised a range of their land use rights. Later, the Land Law of 2003 supported the country s industrialisation and the transformation of the economy into a market-oriented one. The Law covers comprehensively all legal, land use planning, land finance, and land administration matters. The current land policy framework places an emphasis on the role of the State, and pays less attention to the promotion of the participation of other stakeholders in land management or to the effective and sustainable use of land. However, there have still been limitations in land legislation and policy that need to be addressed. The current Land Law was issued in 2013, called Land Law 2013, providing significant improvements in land acquisition and compensation, land valuation, and empowerment of local communities in land use planning. It also improves on the gaps in the implementation of a land registration by extending the evidence of land use rights from land users. 115

136 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Vietnam land information system Modern land management in market economies relies heavily on ICT, by which the information can be accessed easier, faster and more consistently. Williamson (2008) describes the involvement of ICT in land administration as a series of five stages: manual systems (before 1980), computerisation ( ), online land administration ( ), e-land administration ( ), and i-land (2010 onwards) as shown in Figure 4.8. Figure 4.8: Technological evolution in land administration (Williamson, 2008) The implementation of ICT in land administration in some developed countries has already been at stage 4 e-land administration, or even at stage 5 i-land. For example, in New Zealand, since 1996 (Grant, 2004) and the Netherlands, since 1999 (Louwman, 2004), the ICT capacities have been utilised to deliver land administration functions and services online. The development of a land database and LIS in Vietnam has experienced significant progress in recent years (MONRE, 2015b; World Bank, 2011). The first land database management system was built under the CPLAR project in The system performed on individual computers, and was separated into two systems, FAMIS for cadastral survey and mapping, and CADDB for cadastral documentation management (Dang & Palmkvist, 2001). The use of software had been piloted nationwide; and then it was incompletely replaced by another modern LIS, piloted in 2001, then officially implemented in 2007 (MONRE, 2007). In 2010, MONRE issued the cadastral data content standard, which was developed based on the geographic information standard ISO and the draft of Land Administration Domain Model, which was then approved as the ISO Standard on November 1, ISO 19152:2012, for the purpose of setting up a standard for the development of LIS software in the country (MONRE, 2010). After the 116

137 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam issuance of this standard, private sector investments in land administration activities were expected, especially in providing services in land registration and information system contracts. However, the implementation and development of the land database and LIS, as well as the participation of private sector in providing services in the application of ICT in the land sector, did not meet expectations. Local government agencies have had limited capacity to understand and deploy the standard, whilst the private enterprises have not been ready to invest in a new market that used to be mainly provided by state-owned enterprises (Pullar, 2013; World Bank, 2015). Presently, there are some models for LIS that have been developed by MONRE s agencies - in particular, ViLIS and ELIS. The implementation of LIS, however, has not commenced at all scales. There are concurrent employments of both traditional and modern systems by the majority of provinces. The result is that the delivery of land administration services by means of modern methods continues to be limited. There is an urgent need for improvement of current LIS models to comprise a standardised system that is reliable, efficient and interoperable. In addition, the cadastral records are stored and managed by different departments and institutes, and usually become out-of-date after a year of establishment since they are been updated regularly (GoV, 2011b). Moreover, cadastral data is archived in a single database managed by their owners, is not integrated with other information such as land use planning, urban planning or tax databases, and is in incompatible formats. Another problem with the existing LIS is that the land information is often not disseminated effectively, due to limitations in the institutional capacity, as well as the lack of an efficient land portal. Despite the above significance issues, it must be recognised that the Vietnam land administration system development process is still at the stage of computerisation (as outlined by Williamson, 2008), where the digital cadastral database is being developed. This development is also heading into the early stages of online land administration. It is contended in the present thesis that in the coming decade 117

138 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam ( ), the development of land administration in Vietnam should focus on the user-demand approach to moving to the e-land stage, with the support of a user-centric SDI Land, as indicated in the previous chapter. The implementation and achievement of this goal would be a significant benefit for building an i-land in the subsequent ten-year period ( ), towards a spatially-enabled society Land transparency The level of access to land information is an indicator of the Provincial Competitiveness Index (PCI) 4. Together with the level of security of land tenure are important factors for attracting foreign direct investment in Vietnam. This indicator has also been a sensitive issue that hinders foreign and private investments in Vietnam (Truong & Perera, 2011). The stable use of land is still the first concern that a multi-national company considers when investing in many countries, including Vietnam. In addition, at the grassroots level, the high demand of individuals and households for land information and accessibility to land titling in order to access formal credits in Vietnam has been recorded (World Bank, 2011). The access to land information becomes a special indicator for examining transparency in Vietnam. This should be supported by ICT, as the Electronic Transactions Law has been enacted since The introduction of the Electronic Transactions Law is expected to support the creation of a government service portal with less bureaucracy, and that is highly responsive, and more transparent (Martini, 2012; Pham et al., 2012). However, to date, there have been no regulations issued for access to electronic land information in Vietnam. According to the 2015 PCI Report, the level of access to land information in Vietnam fluctuated and remained rather weak (Malesky et al., 2016). It increased gradually in the first three years , averagely 3.4% per year, from 6.00 to 6.68, before significantly decreasing to 6.46, then 6.14, in the next two years, , respectively. The level of access to land increased during the next few years 4 PCI is the Provincial Competitiveness Index, published annually by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI), which provides information on governance at the provincial level in Vietnam. 118

139 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam and reached a peak of 6.79 in However, the last two years ( ) have witnessed a significant drop, nearly 9%. Overall, the level of access to land has decreased over time in the period from (Figure 2.1). Figure 4.9: Level of access to land over the last ten year (Adapted from Malesky et al., 2015) Malesky et al. (2016) also concludes that the informal charges paid by firms and businesses went up over the last three years, from 50% in 2013 to 64.5% in 2014, then to 66% in These informal charges were to access information and services, of which access to land and security of land tenure shared the major part. In addition, of the participating firms, 65% stated that government officials causing troubles when processing procedures for businesses is common (p. 18). A report of a recent survey, financed by the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development (DFID), shows that there was a very uneven publication of land-related information at all three levels (A. Nguyen et al., 2010), and also of the kind of information published: Access to land information via non-web-based disclosure: the survey investigated in 12 provinces, 24 districts, and 117 communes, which were randomly selected. At the provincial level, only six of 12 provinces published information on detailed land use planning and plans, and of these, three were evaluated as difficult to access by land 119

140 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam users and enterprises. The survey recorded a positive result at the lowest level, where 76 out of 117 communes (approximately 65 per cent) made information on procedures for land use right certificate registration available and easy to access. Access to land information via the internet: the investigation was carried out by visiting 66 websites of 63 provincies and three ministries, including MONRE, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, and the Ministry of Construction. Despite the fact that the information regarding the list of procedures and forms for land use right certificates could be found on 59 websites, only one-third contained information that citizens would need to file complaints (A. Nguyen et al., 2010). For instance, as mentioned in the World Bank reference book on recognising corruption in land sector, this generates incentives for a form of corruption in which investors pay state officials a share of the rents/profits obtained by increasing land value through conversion to other (land use) purpose (Davidsen et al., 2011). The inefficient dissemination of land information and the difficulties of accessing information are partly sharing responsibility for the prevention of socio-economic development and anti-corruption efforts in Vietnam Land administration in Vinh Long This section presents the status of development of land administration in Vinh Long. The section commences with the land administration profile of the Province, organisation and personnel, and then indicates some significant achievements in the land sector of the Province, as well as the issues in the development of the land administration system. As mentioned in Chapter 2, Vinh Long was chosen as a geographical case study for this research, based on the selection criteria. 120

141 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Land administration profile in case-study area Land tenure profile in Vinh Long Vinh Long was one of nine provinces covered by a World Bank-funded project (VLAP) implemented during The Province was considered as the leading province in the project implementation, with good progress, strong commitments of provincial leadership, capable project management unit, and the active participation of land users. The figures for land tenure in the Province as of 2014 are presented in Table 4.1. Table 4.1: Number of LURCs allocated of Vinh Long Individuals and households Organisations Number Area (ha) Parcels Number Area (ha) Parcels Total 263, , ,000 2,604 9,826 7,500 With LURCs 252, , ,780 2,309 9,334 6,166 Percentage 96% 97% 89% 89% 95% 82% (source: calculated from the Province s Report to MONRE, 2014) In the land sector, especially in the issuance of LURCs and establishment of land information system, Vinh Long was evaluated by MONRE, the World Bank, as well as an independent international consultant, as a leading province (MONRE, 2015b; Pullar, 2013). As one of the World Bank-funded land administration projects, Vinh Long almost completed all components of the VLAP (World Bank, 2015). Table 4.2 presents the status of allocation of land to two main types of land users. Table 4.2: Land allocation to individuals/households and organisations No. Name of Area Area (km Population ) allocated to: district (km 2 ) Individuals Organisations 1 Vinh Long City , % % 2 Binh Minh Town , % % 3 Binh Tan , % % 4 Long Ho , % % 5 Mang Thit , % % 6 Tam Binh , % % 7 Tra On , % % 8 Vung Liem , % % 1, ,043,000 1, % % (source: calculated from the Province s Report to MONRE, 2014) 121

142 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Almost all of the land areas have been allocated to land users, of which individuals and households share the majority part (82.59%). Organisations, mostly government departments, agencies, and enterprises, as well as specific communities share the remainder. Unused land and land managed by local governments are not recorded in Table Land administration organisation in Vinh Long The organisation of land administration system in Vinh Long is based on the regulation of the Government and MONRE. It is similar to other provinces in Vietnam in being a multi-level system, with three levels. At the provincial level, DONRE is responsible for all activities and functions of land administration in the whole province, under the management of provincial people committee (PPC). There are several agencies, centres, sub-departments under DONRE. Three organisations belonging to DONRE are responsible for land administration: the Division of Land Administration, Division of Survey and Mapping, and Land Registration Office (LRO). The first two-mentioned divisions are stateadministration organisations; the latter one is a public service office. It can be clearly seen that LRO is the unit directly communicating with other stakeholders regarding land information. LRO has branches at the district level, by a district or a group of districts. All land transactions are processed by LRO and its branches as public service agencies. In addition, DONRE s Inspectorate, and Land Development Fund Centre, are also responsible for land administration. Whilst the Inspectorate deals with conflicts, complaints, and disputes on land-related matters such as land recovery and compensations and boundary disputes, the Land Development Fund Centre is responsible for consulting land use plan issues at the managerial level within the province (Vinh Long PPC, 2016). The organisational structure of land administration in Vinh Long is presented in Figure At the district level, Bureaus of Natural Resources and Environment (BONRE), under the management of the respective district people committee (DCP) is the 122

143 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam state-administration unit responsible for land administration in the whole district. At the communal level, each commune has one or two staff (known as cadastral officials) to assist the communal people committees (CPC) and BONREs land management-related activities. Figure 4.10: Vinh Long provincial land administration organisational chart (Adapted from Vinh Long PPC, 2016) According to the figure of Vinh Long DONRE, currently Vinh Long DONRE has 120 staff, of which 87 staff are working for land-related agencies. The LRO of Vinh Long has 205 staff, 45 people being based at the provincial level, 160 people being based in the LRO branches at the district level, 20 staff per district on average. In addition, Vinh Long has about 110 cadastral officials working at the communal level. Within the context of the present research, the current status of land 123

144 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam registration, issuance of LURCs, and accessibility to land information are taken into consideration and presented in the following sections Current status of development of land registration As mentioned, Vinh Long is considered as a leading province in the land sector, in both organisational and personnel development, the current development of land administration system, implementation of land-related projects, and land complaints and disputes resolution. Vinh Long is also a leading province in land information development, as one of the first provinces providing online services related to land, even though they are still at level 1 or 2 in accordance with the regulation of government on online services (GoV, 2011a). According to Article 3 of the abovementioned Decree on e-government, level 1 online services means services providing full information on an administrative procedure and documents related to that procedure; whilst the level 2 online services means level-1 online public services and allowing users to download forms of documents and make declarations on those forms to complete dossiers as required. Completed dossiers may be submitted directly or by post to the service provider. In accordance to the above definition, Vinh Long has already provided almost all of administrative services related to land at the level 1 standard Cadastral survey and mapping In the past, the Province had already set up a cadastral coordinate network covering the whole province, based on the HN72 coordinate system. This network was then transformed into VN2000 as soon as this system was introduced in Vietnam. The network had been built for 25 years. Over time, some coordinate points were moved to new locations due to the change of the original places. The assessment results of the cadastral networks indicated that the upgraded cadastral network was 124

145 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam good enough for the purpose of cadastral surveying and mapping. The quality of these networks is regularly updated with a comprehensive logbook system. During the period , Vinh Long conducted cadastral survey and mapping for all communes. However, the cadastral maps were established by different technologies, such as ground surveying, and aerial photogrammetry, and by manual and digital methods. Until now, with the support of VLAP, the Province has mostly finished the establishment of cadastral maps for the whole province (Table 3.2: SDI Land Datasets Component Development in Vinh Long, in Chapter 3) (Vinh Long DONRE, 2016). However, during the period , due to limitations of financial resources, cadastral maps were not surveyed and updated. About 70% LURCs issued within this period were based on the parcel maps 5 that were established during the period The parcel maps, mostly for agricultural land areas, do not reflect the current status of land use (MONRE, 2008). The cadastral maps of residential land, especially in peri-urban areas, were not updated due to the quick changes in land use purposes, land subdivision, and mergers. Therefore, the current maps sometimes do not reflect the current status of land use. The Province is now updating these changes in digital format, and is trying to integrate the changes into the land database. However, this work may take a long time to finish (MONRE, 2015b; Vinh Long DONRE, 2016) Issuance of LURCs As presented above, the Province basically completed the issuance of LURCs based on all types of documents available; parcel maps, cadastral maps, or even just an independent surveyed drawing. 75% of LURCs in Vinh Long were issued with the names of both husband and wife, as required by the Law. 5 A map surveyed by manual method, with low accuracy, and no coordinate system applied. 125

146 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam By the end of 2014, 97% of land area used by individuals and households had been issued LURCs, while the percentage for organisations is 95% (Vinh Long DONRE, 2015). Based on the figures for the past, this is not significant progress. The figure as of 2007 was the same 97% for individuals and households, and 95% for organisation (MONRE, 2008). In addition, 83% of LURCs were issued based on the old land laws (with low accuracies, name of household representatives, and based on parcel maps, or even without a maps/or sketch). Over time, the changes were made for LURCs to be appropriate with respect to regulation of laws, policy on gender development, and the demand for the land information system. These changes were updated by re-issuing LURCs, but not yet complete for the whole province. However, there is a large change in quality of LURCs with the inclusion of names of both husbands and wives Land information system Vinh Long is the first province establishing land information system for the whole province by deploying ViLIS, with the centralised database established and managed at provincial level (MONRE, 2015b; World Bank, 2015). Although there remained some limitations in infrastructure, the district branches of LRO could access directly to the database at provincial level through the internet (Pullar, 2013). Therefore, this ensures that all related stakeholders LRO, LRO branches, and district BONRE - work on the same database. However, there are no mechanisms to access to land database, managed by DONRE, by other stakeholders. All related departments, such as the financial department, taxation authorities, and notary agencies, collaborate with DONRE in writing manually. Furthermore, the share of spatial data with other departments such as transportation and construction are made in writing, with spatial data transferred via CD and DVD. None of the other stakeholders or individuals can access the land database for searching information, exploring, or downloading data. The website of the land portal to provide administrative procedure results is in the piloting stage, and cannot be accessed openly. Further, the service for searching 126

147 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam information by mobile phone SMS service (both for the results of implementation of land-related administrative procedure results, and for detailed information of a land parcel), which were introduced recently, has not worked yet Community participation in land administration As with other sectors, the participation of community, including individuals, at the grassroots level in the land sector has seen some improvement (World Bank, 2015). It, however, according to the survey of public administration performance conducted by CECODES et al., is still weak (CECODES et al., 2015). Overall, out of 10, Vinh Long received a score of This is under the average score (5.0) and about 19% lower than the highest score for all provinces. This figure puts Vinh Long in the position of 46/63 provinces. In this category, the land-related activities include the participation of grassroots level communities in the land sector, mostly in land use planning, land recovery, and compensation consultation meetings. The figure is consistent with the World Bank report on the improvement of participation of local communities in land administration. Out of the possible score of 2.5, the community participation share is 1.58, equivalent to 63.2% (Figure 4.11). Figure 4.11: Vinh Long public administration performance in 2015 (extracted from CECODES et al., 2015) 127

148 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam In addition, the transparency index of Vinh Long is also low. The provision of land use planning and land price, as well as the participation of local community in land use planning process, received the lowest score, of 1.63 out of the possible score of 3.33, equivalent to 48.9% (CECODES et al., 2015) Public administrative procedures Even though land-related services received a high score from surveying in comparison with the other three sectors, certification of document, application for construction permits, and implementation of personal-related procedures, the public administrative procedure of Vinh Long is still evaluated as being weak, in the position of 48 out of 63 provinces (CECODES et al., 2015). Figure 4.11 presents the results of the survey of public administration performance of Vinh Long in However, the Province is the leading province in providing public services, and is located in the 10 th position for control of corruption. This position recognises the effort of the Province in improvement of public services and delivery of better administrative procedures, in which the land sector shares the largest part and is often recognised as a main source of corruption in the country (Davidsen et al., 2011; Martini, 2012; World Bank & GIV, 2013). Figure 4.12: Vinh Long public administration performance in (extracted from CECODES et al., 2015) 128

149 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam The last five years has witnessed decreases in the evaluation of participation of community at local levels and in public administrative procedures. For example, the participation of community at the local level decreased from 5.2 in 2011 to 4.5 in In addition, the control of corruption index increased continuously for four years, from , but suddenly decreased in the last year These measures are all associated with land services (as shown in Figure 4.12). This figure looks to be in conflict with the VLAP results report (World Bank, 2015) which indicates that the participation of land users at grassroots level improved significantly; however, it informs the increase of community demand in the land sector, especially in land use planning/pricing and land related procedures Key issues in land administration in Vinh Long Despite Vinh Long being one of the leading provinces in the land sector, land administration in Vinh Long has several issues regarding the development of a modern land administration system. In this section, the key issues of Vinh Long land administration system are categorised into topics in the context of the present research, based on the basic functions of land administration, land tenure, land use, land valuation, and land development, as well as SDI activities related to land information. The issues are as follows Cadastral survey and mapping and land registration The recent reports of MONRE, DONRE, and the World Bank suggest that the cadastral survey and mapping as well as land registration and issuance of LURCs in Vinh Long have achieved significant progress. They indicate, however, some limitations regarding land registration. Although there is a high percentage of issuance of LURCs, about quarter of these were issued based on the old land laws without official updated cadastral maps. Therefore, there is a difference between the current cadastral maps and the issued LURCs, especially those were issued within the period The re-issuance of those LURCs therefore needs to be conducted (MONRE, 2015b; Vinh Long DONRE, 2015; World Bank, 2015). 129

150 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam In addition, many cadastral maps have not been updated for a long period; whilst there have been large changes in land use purposes, and land parcel boundaries, as well as land subdivision and mergers, especially for residential land in rural and periurban areas. This, consequently, may lead to the redundancy of land information, and duplication in investment, both human and financial recourses (MONRE, 2015b; Vinh Long DONRE, 2015; World Bank, 2015). Furthermore, although the administrative procedures for LURCs improved significantly in regulation, the implementation in practice indicated some considerable gaps between land policy and its practical implementation. In fact, these still challenge land users when dealing with LURCs and other land transaction services, in terms of time and procedures. There have been 57% of applicants receiving their LURCs after 30 days (as regulated by Law); however, 22% of applicants had to wait for more than three months for the final outputs. They also needed to visit more than one office to complete the LURC applications. In the same province, in comparison to previous years, the quality of the service during the last few years has been the poorest (CECODES et al., 2015) Incomplete land information system As mentioned above, the construction of the land information system of Vinh Long has achieved significant progress. It is, however, an incomplete system due to the limitations of technological and human capacity, the lack of an accessible mechanism for other stakeholders, and provision of land information to citizens. Whilst the technological component can be easily developed, a comprehensive policy framework is needed firstly to fill the gap of policy for sharing digital land information, providing full online land services Weak participation of communities The Public Administration Performance Index (PAPI) indicates that, in Vinh Long, the level of participation of community at local levels in land use planning and land valuation processes is weak (CECODES et al., 2015). This, consequently, may lead 130

151 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam to an increase in land conflict at the grassroots level, if the disputes are not solved completely at their early stage. This also may lead to the lack of information for decision making, especially information on land use planning and land price. Furthermore, the weak participation of a grassroots community may lead to an increase in unofficial land transactions, which creates a gap between the land database and current land use Weak public awareness The World Bank report indicates that public awareness under VLAP has been improving gradually (World Bank, 2015). It recognises, however, by other surveying results, that the demand of individuals and households has also increased (CECODES et al., 2015; World Bank, 2014). Therefore, in the new period of provision of land information to citizens at grassroots level, the demand on training and raising knowledge of individuals increases. Improving public awareness at grassroots level would not require a large financial investment. It does, however, need strong commitment from relevant government agencies and local staff to engage citizens in public policy making processes Weak collaboration amongst stakeholders There has been not yet been a stakeholder engagement campaign conducted to involve stakeholders in designing the land information system as well as land administration and SDI policy making (World Bank, 2015). This, therefore, leads to disagreement over common benefits of different stakeholders, and consequently creates a monopoly in data holding (Dang, 2015). Increasing stakeholder collaboration would also not require a huge investment. This requires a consistent and far-reaching vision from leaders to organise the plans needed to reach this goal Chapter summary The chapter has reviewed the concepts and theory of land administration, its core functions and development history in the world, before narrowing the focus to 131

152 Chapter 4: Literature Review on Land Administration in Vietnam Vietnam and the Vinh Long context. The chapter reviewed the links between components of land administration, role of land registration, cadastral survey and mapping, as well as the integrated model, for the improvement of land administration activities. Having summarised the concepts of FFP land administration, the chapter set the basis for the discussion of the benefits these concepts would provide to the development of land administration in Vietnam. The chapter then examined the development of land administration in Vietnam, history of land tenure, and the organisation of the land administration system; presented the achievements of the land administration reform program after Doi moi ; before moving onto the context of land administration in Vinh Long. The chapter indicates that, despite being one of the leading provinces in the land sector, the land administration in Vinh Long possesses a number of limitations and issues. Firstly, the Province has not yet completed the cadastral survey and mapping, updating, and standardising process, whilst the changes in land use, and land boundaries happen quickly, day to day, in the quickly urbanising areas. Secondly, the issuance of LURCs has also not yet finished, due to a quarter of them being still in the old format, with low accuracy, and not being associated with a map or sketch and thus needing to be re-issued. Thirdly, the development of the land information system has not been fully completed due to the lack of collaboration between stakeholders in accessing, updating, and sharing land information, especially spatial data. Furthermore, the level of participation of community at the local level has been low. Finally, there has been weak public awareness at the grassroots level. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Chapter 5 will present the results of stakeholder consultations on development of SDI Land in Vinh Long. In addition, in relation to the present chapter, Chapter 6 will investigate the requirement of stakeholders for a modern land administration system in Vinh Long, based on the stakeholder consultation results. Chapter 7 will identify the main characteristics and principles for a policy framework of a user-centric SDI Land at the provincial level of Vietnam, with the case study of Vinh Long. 132

153 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long 5.1. Introduction The stages and processes in the development of an SDI model vary, and significantly depend on the level of understanding, backgrounds, needs and resources of a nation. Chapter 3 has reviewed the theory and practices in the implementation of SDIs globally, and the current status of development of SDIs in Vietnam, focusing on the land sector, in the case study of Vinh Long. Chapter 3 has listed the related problems regarding the development and implementation of the SDI Land for Vinh Long. Chapter 4 presented the literature review on land administration, from general concepts, then narrowing to the Vietnamese context, and specifically Vinh Long. This chapter presents the first major element of the analysis in the research, describing the main findings of the data analysis regarding the development and implementation of an SDI model for land administration in Vinh Long. It also addresses the major expectations of stakeholders, and discusses the initial intermediate objectives outlined in Chapter 1. The findings presented in this chapter represent the views of a wide range of stakeholders, from grassroots-level individuals and households, to local communities, provincial departments, and central ministries, as well as other related stakeholders including those in the private sector, NGOs, donors, and academia. The consultations were conducted to gather the stakeholders understandings, expectations, and recommendations for 133

154 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long development of SDI Land components, in order to propose a policy framework for a user-centric SDI to support land administration in the Province. As presented in Chapter 2, the fieldwork and stakeholder consultation were conducted in Vietnam in Twenty-seven staff were interviewed, three FGD were conducted to discuss the issues and topics related, 122 out of 160 individuals and households randomly selected were surveyed using questionnaires. This chapter seeks to answer RQ3: What are the barriers to the development of a provincial user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Province? Starting with the ideas of stakeholder awareness of SDIs, this chapter then presents some limitations in the development and implementation of the SDI Land in Vinh Long, before describing the requirements and recommendations of stakeholders for development and implementation of an SDI Land. The overall findings are summarised, before concluding the chapter and previewing the further discussions in Chapter 7 on the policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land for Vinh Long. As mentioned in Chapter 2, to protect the privacy of participants, pseudonyms are used throughout the chapter Stakeholder awareness of SDIs This section presents the results of stakeholder consultations on the awareness of SDI of stakeholders, at both central and local levels. The discussion commences with the result of interviews on the understandings and familiarity with the SDI ideas of stakeholders, then presents the results of surveying on the related topics Public stakeholder awareness of SDIs The evaluation of stakeholder awareness of public stakeholders on SDIs was conducted throughout every interview in central ministries and provincial departments. The interviews commenced with the initial question, eg. Have you heard about spatial data infrastructures? The purpose of this question was to understand stakeholder awareness of the SDI, before continuing with the other questions via semi-structured interviews. The data analysis shows weak awareness of SDIs on the 134

155 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long part of the majority of stakeholders; however, there were different views presented by different stakeholders of understandings of SDIs. The results of the consultations can be summarised as follows: Although approximately a half of the twenty-seven interviewees professed that they had heard the term SDI, many clearly indicated that they did not know what the acronym stands for, or had only heard the term in a workshop or presentation of some projects. The term SDI was therefore not repeated frequently in the responses of interviewees. People who were familiar with SDI-related ideas had been working in the land sector, including land registration, survey and mapping sections, as well as land information projects, for several years. However, nearly three-fourths of participants (20 out of 27 interviewees) indicated and stated SDI-related terms such as land information system, land online registration, data updating, sharing, and synchronising, as well as automated land system in their responses. These interviewees were from the land sector, survey and mapping industries, taxation authorities and commercial banks, as well as private enterprises. There were uneven understandings of SDIs: for the majority of participants, even though their daily work related to land information and spatial data, such as issuing LURCs, reviewing investment projects, and appraising land allocation and lease, the understandings of SDI were limited. Nearly half of the interviewees indicated that they do not understand the ideas of SDI comprehensively, even they had heard about the idea many times. What is SDI? Many people and documents have mentioned this term, but still it was not really clear to me? How does it help the land sector? Why do we need to have this? asked Mr Chow, a senior staff of a ministry department. Local government bodies play an important role in facilitating data sharing and data accessing. Consequently, the weak understandings of SDI could affect the government provision of online services and between-stakeholder data sharing in 135

156 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long many different ways. However, these difficulties increase the demand of the need for an SDI Land of stakeholders Grassroots stakeholder awareness of SDIs Since grassroots-level individuals had a much lower awareness compared to government officials, no questions in questionnaires or focus group discussions directly mentioning the term SDI were asked. However, some related topics were discussed in both methods of data collection. These related questions were in order to examine the perceptions and understandings of grassroots-level stakeholders on the benefits that the SDI Land could bring to them, as well as the participation of grassroots stakeholders in land-related data collection and access. The data analysis shows that the awareness of grassroots-level individuals and households was limited. The majority of FGD participants in both rural and urban areas were also unfamiliar with ideas of online land management information when asked. More than half of all FGD participants stated that they were willing to participate in data collection processes of surveyors and communal staff, but did not care to what extent their participation could improve the land management system Stakeholder recommendations Stakeholder awareness plays an important role in the improvement of accessibility and usefulness of SDI data and services for stakeholders. Stakeholder awareness is also fraught with challenges, in administration and policies, technical issues, and also political aspects (Elwood, 2008; Thellufen et al., 2009). The development of stakeholder awareness of SDIs requires the significant effort of government, and needs to be addressed toward an e-land administration in the context of e- government. The stakeholder recommendations for improvement of awareness can be grouped into the categories, internal and external, as advised by Thellufen et al. (2009), or can be organised by level of SDI Land utilisation, as follows: Organisational level: the marketing and promotion of SDI and its related ideas firstly needs to be done within organisations, which directly deal with location- 136

157 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long based information management authorities, such as survey and mapping, land management, environmental protection. This should be done through policy development, technical seminars, and forums, in the development of SDI and SDI Land components, international experiences, SDI benefits, e-government in the land sector, and spatial data updating and sharing. The SDI awareness of main stakeholders would play a critical role in deciding the successful development and implementation of an SDI. SDI promotion should also focus on the adoption of international standards for data production, and integration to maximise data interoperability. Inter-organisation level (both vertical and horizontal): to inform a critical mass of suppliers, producers, and-, users of potential benefits of joining the infrastructure. This will ensure the collaboration of data/information suppliers on coordinated, supportive policies that relate to data access and distribution, including data availability, pricing, copyright, and use/integration of electronic commerce. Private sector: clearly defining the role of the private sector, as suppliers of data, services, and technology, and as potential operators/users of an SDI. There needs to be a clear understanding that the responsibility for the data management remains with the custodian. Grassroots level: individuals at grassroots level would be the largest users, but they would engage in the SDI Land at the simplest level of functions. The raising of awareness of these stakeholders would focus on the involvement and engagement of grassroots-level stakeholders for raising their knowledge of SDI and its related possibilities. This will support managerial stakeholders in understanding the needs and expectations of grassroots-level stakeholders, as well as what is possible for them. This will also build up the level of awareness and participation of the lowest-level stakeholders, also the largest end users of an SDI, to more readily contribute to the e-government program of the central government. 137

158 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long 5.3. Stakeholder requirements for SDI Land components This section presents the results of stakeholder consultations on their requirements for an SDI Land in Vinh Long. The results are grouped into the five common components of an SDI, as mentioned in the Section 3.5.2: spatial datasets (spatial data, location-based data, land registry, digital base map, thematic, statistical, place names, and metadata); user community (stakeholder, training, professional development, cooperation, outreach); policies (policies and institutional arrangements, governance, data privacy and security, data sharing, cost recovery); standards (cadastral content data standards, geographic information standards, land registration service standards); and technology (hardware, software, networking, web services and geospatial portals, technical implementation plans) Spatial datasets As discussed in Chapter 3, spatial data forms the most important component of any infrastructure that supports location-based information. In addition, spatial data are used by many disciplines for different purposes and reasons. Land administration is also built on the spatial paradigm (Williamson, 2009). Many other fields have used spatial data for decades, such as construction, transportation, natural resources, environment, defence, security, and telecommunications. This section examines the development of the spatial data component, by analysing the demands and requirements of stakeholders, focusing on the purpose of land administration The importance of land information for interviewees The interviews with public stakeholders suggested that the land and spatial data were important to all of them. Some people working in the land sector need land information for conducting their daily tasks; others need land data for integration into their information, or data for appraising projects and investments, land taxation purposes, and verifying land information for mortgaging land use rights. As mentioned in Chapter 4, the development of the data component for an SDI Land in Vinh Long and in Vietnam generally has achieved significant results in the last 138

159 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long few decades, and could be rated as the most developed component of an SDI Land. The large part of data has been computerised and inputted to the database, as standalone or integrated database The importance of land information to grassroots-level individuals The questionnaire data analysis is presented in Table 5.1, showing how important each kind of information was to land users. This included cadastral maps and land parcel technical sketches, land mortgaging information that are not readily available to the land users, as well as administrative procedures, land use planning, and land value information, are mandatorily published by local governments for people to query. However, access was limited for these kinds of mandatory published information. Section presents the perceptions of accessibility to land information by grassroots-level stakeholders. Table 5.1: The importance of land-related information to grassroots-level land users What kind of information related to land is the most important to you? Land related information Very Unimportant (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) Unimportant Neutral Important Very Important Average score 6 Land use right certificates Land laws and policies Administrative procedures Land use planning Legal services related to land Land value information Cadastral maps and sketches Land mortgage According to the results of the questionnaire surveys, information related to land is important to the land users, especially information about land user rights certificates. This kind of information was evaluated as being very important to the majority of participants 90 out of 122 (equivalent to approximately 74% of participants). There were only two individuals who indicated that this was not important to them; while 90 participants evaluated it as very important. There were 16 responses n x i i 1 6 Average score was calculated by the formula: a 1 n where n is number of sample, 122 in this case 139

160 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long indicated the neutral evaluation, neither important nor unimportant. The next ranked-items were information about land law and policies, administrative procedures to implement a land use rights, information on land use planning, and land zoning, with the average score ranged at around 4.30 out of 5. Information about legal services and land valuation were also evaluated as important to grassroots-level land users. On the other hand, the information about cadastral maps and sketches, and land mortgaging, were evaluated at the in-between level of neutral (3) neither important nor unimportant - and important (4), with the average score of 3.84 and 3.76, respectively Interested information and data of grassroots-level individuals The responses to the question, Have you used the Internet for searching land information and data?, is presented in Section This question aims to describe the limitations of access to network infrastructure at the grassroots level. The result shows the main information and data sought by individuals who used the Internet including land use planning, administrative procedures, land prices and land related taxes, fees and levies with the ranges being from 66% to 100% - as shown in Table 5.2. Table 5.2: Participants searches for land-related information on the Internet Have you used the internet for searching land information? No, I have not 90 74% Yes, I have 32 26% If yes, what have you searched for? Land use planning % Administrative procedures 24 75% Land valuation 23 72% Taxes, fees and levies 21 66% If yes, was the information informative? 1-Very poor 0 2-Poor 24 75% 3-Sufficient 8 25% 4-Interesting 0 5-Very interesting 0 The information searched included on land use planning, administrative procedures, land prices, and taxes, fees and levies. However, the quality of such information was 140

161 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long evaluated as poor by 75% of individuals who had used the Internet for searching land-related information. The remainder, 25%, stated that the information was sufficient. The outputs of all three FGDs were consistent with the results of questionnaires presented above. A few FGD participants revealed that they did not know what cadastral maps and land parcel sketches were, what they were used for, and how to access them. Others revealed that they had been provided with technical land parcel sketches by the surveyors during the surveying period, for reviewing related information such as names, and the lengths of the edges and shapes of the land parcels. They had been asked to provide feedback on the results of surveying for revision if needed Using, updating and sharing land information The consultation confirmed the literature review findings on use and demand of location-based information and data of stakeholders. At both central and provincial levels, the data analysis shows that most of the managerial stakeholders considered land and spatial data as an essential or important part of their daily activities, and revealed that there remained a limited level of use and sharing of land information from and between government agencies. However, the spatial data related to land administration, such as land registry and cadastral maps, had not been much used in the construction sector. At the provincial level, DONRE is the government body holding most of the land-related information and data which can be useful for other sectors in developing and implementing related projects. For example, information about land registration and land statistics can be used by transportation and construction sectors in transportation planning and underground infrastructure projects. Experienced staff noted that there had been actually no sharing of automated land information to other sectors: As a state-administration on land organisation, we use land-related information every day, and consider that it is important information for decision making and policy planning. 141

162 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long But, I must reveal that there has been a limitation in sharing information among the government departments. For example, when the transportation sector needs land ownership information in a particular area, they usually contract a company for survey and mapping as well as for collecting land users information, said Mr Dodo, an experienced senior staff of a central ministry. Normally, the land-related parts are appraised by MONRE and its related departments. However, it would be better if there is a database which can be accessed by other ministries to evaluate projects. For example, it is hard for the financial sector, in the appraisal of a project related to compensation on land recovery requested by an investor, in term of the limitations, differences, and lack of updated information that we face, Ms Yi, an experienced senior staff of a central ministry. Others from financial institutions expected to have a new mechanism to verify the information with which they are dealing, to reduce time and resources for the decision-making process. Experiences shared by the interviewees from the financial and banking fields recounted that there were some cases of fake land titles that had been used for accessing credits, while the banks had to spend a lot of time to verify before declining the applications: There has been no way yet for commercial banks to access directly the land database for verifying the information on the land titles. The only thing commercial banks can do is to check whether the land titles have been mortgaged or not, but that information is an extract from the internal database created by notary offices (their own network database). I expect that if we can develop and grant permission to commercial banks for accessing the land database through the Internet, so that they can verify/check information promptly. This helps them attracting customers and also to reduce the risks for society from the fake land titles in some cases, said Mr Paolo, a senior staff of a central ministry. The consultation and observation gathered at the province level suggests that there has been a limitation in the use and sharing of land information among departments: 142

163 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Two-thirds of interviewees revealed that they had had trouble accessing land information that they needed when dealing with information related to land. In all of the cases, a government agency needed to send official written communication to the others to request information; The importance of land information as perceived by interviewees is high, with approximately two-thirds stating that it is an important part of their daily activities; Half of the interviewees indicated that they always require spatial data related to land to adequately address their work, but that it is hard to obtain this kind of information in a timely manner; All of the interviewees stated that they are very dependent on a range of data availability, accuracies, standards, and formats, as well as the updating and completeness of data, to reflect changes of land use. A few responses are here quoted: The land information is produced and managed by DONRE/LRO. The information will be shared with other departments when requested in writing, which has been approved by the DONRE Director. Normally, the information will be provided as a printed version (both extract maps and attribute information), Mr Brian, a technical staff working for a provincial department. In addition, Ms Monica, from another provincial department, said: The information shared by DONRE is usually not enough. The printed information does not help us much. The digital data format is different, leading us to difficulty in integrating information, especially elements descriptions. As an example, DONRE staff use DGN files of Micro-Station, while we use DWG files of AutoCAD; in addition, no metadata is provided. 143

164 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Mr Mark, a staff working for another provincial department, addressed the importance of land and housing information in his daily business: We are from the land taxation section and deal with land and housing information daily, both spatial data and legal information. However, access to digital land information is impossible; the communication on the telephone just helps in some simple cases. Mostly, the link to land and housing information has been made in writing. Land information can be requested from DONRE, while housing information will be provided by DOC. This means that, for the same document, we have to communicate with two provincial level departments for information. Ms Taniana, a senior staff of a central government ministry, shared her concerns about duplication in projects/work related to spatial data collection, due to the lack of an easy and efficient sharing mechanism amongst government departments and agencies. This might lead to the waste in investment, both human and financial: There were some jobs, which seem to be same, requested by different sectors such as construction, transportation, and agriculture, in a short period; while the Government had invested a huge amount of resources for the land sector to do cadastral survey and mapping, and nearly covered the whole country. The maps have been made in different scales, from the large scale of 1/200 in the metropolitan areas to the small scale of 1/ in the mountainous and remote areas. However, when the transportation sector needs land ownership information for a particular area/project, they usually propose a new survey. They explain that they could not access the digital cadastral maps managed by the land sector. Even if they can access these, the information is sometimes not accurate enough. Clearly, there has been a lack of cooperation among the government agencies Community participation in spatial data collections As mentioned in Chapter 3, the literature review indicated that VGI could play an important role for cleaning spatial data; therefore, the participation of community in data collection should be encouraged. In the context of Vinh Long, although the 144

165 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long participation of community in spatial data collection process did not significantly play a role; active role in the process should be recognised and encouraged. There was active participation of community in land administration activities at the grassroots level. The activities in which individuals and households participated mostly related to the spatial data and land information collection processes. Of these activities, land boundary marking, adjudication for land surveying, and updating private identification information had been done by the majority of individuals during the previous ten-year period, by more than two-thirds (71%) of participants. The remainder, 29%, indicated that they had not participated in any data collection process conducted by the government or by surveyors. From the government side, 22% of participants (27) indicated that, during the surveying process, they had not received any documents, such as land parcel sketches, from the surveyors to check and verify information, as the question asked. Apart from the four participants who did not answer this question, the remaining three-fourths of participants (91) advised that they had received land parcel sketches for checking during data collection processes Metadata development As mentioned in Chapter 3, Section , metadata is important information for spatial data management and access, and needs to be managed carefully to achieve a successful SDI implementation. Without metadata, it is difficult to access any kind of data, especially spatial data. It is also impossible to determine its usefulness. The consultation with stakeholders revealed some situations in the creation of metadata in Vietnam: The three-fourths of interviewees indicated that the data producers often did not consider the task of building metadata to be important enough; The majority of interviewees, both from central and local levels, revealed that, during the previous few years, the development of SDI data metadata was 145

166 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long non-existent. None of the contracts signed between the investor, DONRE, and contractors, required any specific format of metadata to be created; Nearly half of the interviewees (both from technical departments and private sector) revealed that there were no tools for metadata creation; and no metadata standards were issued as requirements for contractors doing this important part of data development. Therefore, metadata ranged across many types, from notes, tables, spreadsheets, to professional GIS catalogues depending on the capacity of contractors. Therefore, the creation, standardisation and management of metadata is a significant, required step, due to the large amount of old data in existence, which often do not associate with metadata. In summary, all of the stakeholders had a great demand for land information, for both attributes and spatial data. The production, use and updating of information were still uneven among agencies. The land database had been partially created for some stakeholders, but there had been no linking and sharing with other departments. The consultations also revealed the demands and difficulties for stakeholders in accessing land data. All of the central and provincial level stakeholders strongly demanded the sharing of land and spatial information directly with the other stakeholders. The results of consultations show that all of the stakeholders want better access and sharing of land information. Each of them has faced some common issues and limitations that have led to an inefficient link and poor interoperability between and within the stakeholder groups. Some limitations and issues revealed are: The importance of land information is very high at both central and provincial levels, with an average of more than two-thirds stating that land-related information is an essential or important part of their work. In addition, half of the respondents at provincial level, and one-third of respondents at central level, stated that they require spatial data related to land to adequately process 146

167 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long their work, but faced difficulty in obtaining this kind of information in a timely manner and the most appropriate format. The collection of data for land was conducted separately by different departments and agencies, normally based on the investment projects. In the same manner as investment in infrastructure development, the same 70% of participants indicated that the data was usually produced for specific projects, and were created at the standards that suited the projects purposes and budgets. Consequently, the data were duplicated, but was still unavailable. The accessing of land information, both spatial data and non-spatial data was limited. The majority of participants at both central and provincial levels indicated that they had significant trouble accessing the land information they needed. The majority of respondents requesting land information from land authorities/departments at both central and local levels were increasingly dependent on the format and accuracy of data. To date, in Vinh Long, the integration of land data and other data is still conducted manually. The access to land data is still made under several compulsory administrative procedures. In general, there had been no mechanism for directly sharing online land information and spatial data with other stakeholders. In addition, there existed different technologies and data formats used in different organisations. The unavailability of data and metadata also led to considerable costs in the sharing and integration of data between different sources. All respondents asserted that there had been no metadata created or provided, with over 20% citing that such metadata is important to their needs. The remainder did not mention directly the term metadata and its related ideas in their responses. At provincial level, the fieldwork observation witnessed that the synchronisation of land registration data between the provincial level and district level had been conducted manually, by sending CDs/DVDs or flash 147

168 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long disks, and was usually not updated; while the land use planning data and land valuation data had not been updated and synchronised regularly due to the lack of regulation. In addition, interviewees from the land sector at provincial level observed that there have been no regulations on the management of digital land database, to regulate the responsibilities, rights, and restrictions on data for related staff; with the functions and responsibilities being generally given to functional departments. A few respondents stated that the interoperability within the land database itself, and with other databases, remained limited due to technical reasons, and that this would decide how an SDI Land could support land administration The issues of the SDI Land Datasets component To examine the issues of each SDI component, particular questions what are the issues of the development of an SDI for land administration in Vietnam currently?, and what do the issues lead to?, were asked, and expanded upon during the individual interviews. In addition, the consequences of these issues were also mentioned by the interviewees. Table 5.3 presents the issues in the datasets component, including spatial and non-spatial data, and metadata, of the SDI Land. The potential consequences drawn by interviewees are also summarised. Table 5.3: What are the issues of SDI Land datasets, and their consequences? Issue raised by interviewees Consequent effects Responses Differences in data formats and reference frames Differences in data accuracies and quality Lack of metadata Lacks of interoperability of datasets 52% Difficulty in integrating database 33% Difficulty in searching, interoperability, and reducing the integration of database 26% Differences in database structures Difficulty in integrating database 15% 148

169 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long From Table 5.3, it is clear that the interviewees indicated that the differences in data formats and reference frames has become the largest issue in terms of datasets of the SDI Land, with more than a half of the interviewees indicating that this was the largest challenge for interoperability of data. According to these interviewees, this issue might lead to limitations in interoperability of data, and make the data become incompatible with the other data produced and managed by other stakeholders. There was about a quarter of interviewees raised issues related to metadata. According to these interviewees, the lack of metadata might lead to difficulty in searching and finding ways to integrate land information and spatial data. With regard to the LIS database structure, four interviewees indicated that the differences in database structures were also large issues. These interviewees were all working directly with the data producers, including in the private sector, and technical staff of DONRE: There is an issue in database structures of the database produced by different versions of ViLIS. This makes for us difficulty in integration of data from all communes. Also, sometimes, the use of the old database on the new version causes errors in functions of the software. A simple example is the printing function on new version of ViLIS which was updated to print LURCs by using a larger size of LURC forms, and this does not work with the old database due to the different configuration. To avoid this, we have to contact the software producer to ask for an update, Mr Ian, a representative of a private company, responded Recommendations of stakeholders There were some recommendations by stakeholders, both public and non-public, through the interviews, as well as the expectations of grassroots-level individuals noted from the group interviews and questionnaires; which can be listed as follows: Collecting all kinds of spatial data, both official and coordinated cadastral maps, and the sketches of land parcels; digitalising and standardising all of the 149

170 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long information, integrating them into the database; updating them with 3- dimension data when possible; Completing the land registration process to establish a cadastral database for the work of the engine of SDI Land the land information system; Preparing and applying metadata standards and geospatial data catalogues for data collection, management, access, delivery, and utilisation, to increase access to spatial and land information; Developing and operating an appropriate mechanism for spatial data updating, especially to develop a framework of spatial data to update information as many times as possible to enrich the information, increasing the accuracy of data; Establishing the land portal for provision of land information and land data to other stakeholders; Encouraging the collection and updating of spatial data, with the mobilisation of private enterprises and user communities; Encouraging the contribution of communities in collection of spatial data; and applying volunteered geo-information approaches in order to enhance contributions and sharing of geospatial data from communities User community Together with the datasets, the user community could be considered as the other management object of any information system including SDI Land. The final objective of any SDI is to create a more effective link between data and users Identification of key stakeholders and their capacity One of the most important jobs of the evaluation of the user community component of an SDI Land is to identify who are its key stakeholders. The policy 150

171 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long reviews, expert consultations, and interviews with major stakeholders in central government ministries and provincial departments, have helped to do this in the present work. To identify the key stakeholders of the SDI Land, the question, who should be involved in the development and implementation of the SDI Land?, was asked to both public and non-public interviewees. The key stakeholders and their demands for land data, of the SDI Land, are listed in Table 5.4. Table 5.4: SDI Land stakeholders, with data demands and functions? Name of stakeholder Demand on land data Functions Land authority Daily jobs Ownership of data Construction management Daily jobs Urban planning Transportation management Daily jobs Compensation Taxation authority Supporting information Land taxes Financial institutions Supporting information Land taxes/levies Disaster response unit Referencing Emergencies Resource management Referencing Planning Environmental protection Referencing Environmental design Telecommunications Referencing Planning Entrepreneurs Referencing Investing Government offices Supporting information Decision making Private sector/ngo Referencing Service delivery Academia Referencing Academic, policy consultation Individuals/households Referencing Individually The results reveal that the key stakeholders of SDI Land ranged widely, from public institutions, and government service delivery agencies, to private sectors and NGOs; and from the organisations with high-level knowledge to the grassroots-level communities with low awareness of SDI. The interviews results suggest that: At national level: MONRE and its general departments and departments would be the key organisation for SDI Land development and implementation. The capacity and awareness of MONRE would determine the direction of SDI Land. Other government ministries would play roles as the consultation organisations or partners; 151

172 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Capacity of public stakeholders: the majority of interviewees stated that the arrangements of institutions and policies regarding SDIs were not sufficiently organised. Most of the central government interviewees revealed overlaps and gaps in functions and responsibilities for SDI Land development, in the related land authorities at both central and local land authority levels; Capacity of private sectors: more than half of the interviewees recognised that the capacity of private enterprises, who deliver land administration and spatial data technical services, was not strong enough. On the other hand, a few interviewees indicated reasons why the private sector was not sufficiently developed. Of these reasons, two were: that the mechanism of mobilisation of non-public enterprises for government jobs in the field of land administration and spatial data collection was limited; and a lack of transparency in the procurement of technical services; At provincial level: the majority of interviewees indicated that human resources at local levels were not yet sufficiently competent for the development and implementation of an SDI Land. The reasons for this included their experiences in land management by means of old measures, and the need to participate in on-going training courses, including changing management Grassroots stakeholders At grassroots level: similar to the results of the consultation on awareness of grassroots-level stakeholders, the majority of participants revealed that they were unaware that the land services could be provided via online methods. Access to land related information From observations at the grassroots level, through consulting with FGD participants and from the result of questionnaire surveys, the implementation of information disclosure at the grassroots level is still limited. Of the land-related 152

173 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long information, accessibility to information on land use rights certificates was evaluated as the easiest, with the score of 3.54 out of 5. There were more than half of households (71/122) that addressed the issue that access to land-related information, from administrative procedures to related law and policies, was difficult. This result was confirmed by the FGDs attendance, when asked the question on the difficulties people experienced when participating in the government land registration process. According to these discussions, about half of the attendees agreed that the most easily accessible land-related information for them was that obtained by approaching the local authority officers. Some attendees perceived that they could obtain information by visiting public display sites of local offices. The information they could find included the list of qualified and disqualified applications for land use rights certificates, information on land fees and tax, and information on compensation, support and resettlement plans (in some specific projects that contained land recovery): We have submitted our application for the red books for a few months, but there was no information came to us yet. We tried to find information at local offices and found nothing. When we asked a neighbour, they said we have to wait, said Ms Hana, a 48 years old teacher. On the other field of accessibility, that is to access to land documents, four kinds of land documents had been included, in asking about the level of accessibility for individuals and households, including land use right certificates, cadastral maps/sketches, land use planning maps/documents, and land valuation information. The results show that the accessibility to land use right certificates has been evaluated as the easiest. This result, on accessibility of information about land use right certificates information, shows consistency with the results on how readily people had access to land information, presented above. 153

174 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long The information and the issuance of land use right certificates play a critical role in land administration in Vietnam, as this work certifies the legal right of land users to the land that they are using. As mentioned in Chapter 3, during the last few decades, the Government has been investing a significant amount of resources for this activity. Land title is the information that is important for both individuals and businesses. According to the related laws and regulations, information regarding administrative procedures for land use certificates is mandatorily published in a number of ways and forms. In the Anti-corruption Law and the Grassroots democracy decree, the administrative procedures are required to be made publicly available at the communal focal points, by the following means of public display: at the offices of the commune people s committee or commune people s council; announcing in local communication channels; made available through the head of villages via community meetings; or by any combination of these forms. Table 5.5 presents the results of the evaluation of accessibility to land-related information by the grassroots-level stakeholders. Table 5.5: How easy is it for you to access land-related information and land documents? Land related information Very Very Difficult Neutral Easy difficult easy Average 7 Land use right certificates Administrative procedures Legal services related to land Land use planning Land law and policies Land value information Cadastral maps / sketches In addition, none of the attendees in the three FGDs revealed that they could access some kind of information such as land value, by approaching communal focal points or by searching on the Internet. Surprisingly, the access to cadastral maps/sketches and land use planning, which have been mentioned in the related laws and regulations as two kinds of important mandatory information needing to n x i i 1 7 Average score was calculated by the formula: a 1 n where n =

175 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long be publicity accessed by stakeholders (VNA, 2003), were evaluated as the information that was most difficult to obtain. The same conclusion was drawn from the FGDs: almost all of participants revealed that they found it easy to find information about the land use right certificates. However, the information about the land use planning, as well as the legal shapes (through the maps) of land parcels, was hard to obtain. A few people advised that they felt it difficult to get enough land use planning information and documents when they wanted to buy more land: Last year, I was asked by relatives to buy more land in another commune for farming. I came to the communal office to find information on that land, but we could not get it. I then approached the communal staff for help. I did not have to pay anything since he (communal staff) is my close relative (laugh), said Mr Mike a farmer. Access to information/documents has been one of the important indicators for and increasingly agreed upon as reducing rural poverty in developing countries (Binswanger-Mkhize, Bourguignon & Brink, 2009). Experiences from grassroots levels show that the land disputes are often about land boundaries, which can be addressed by a cadastral survey and mapping process with the participation of land users, and a clear mechanism for approaching land-related information and documents, officially and legally. Difficulties in accessing spatial data and land information More than a half (56.8%) of the respondents indicated that they faced difficulty in accessing land information, mostly because of the unavailability and lack of updating of information (for both issues, 71%). The terminologies on information and fees for accessing information were also identified problems, for 57% of participants (Table 5.6). Although the communal offices are responsible for making mandatory information public, this information is still incomplete in all aspects: quality (not updated, 155

176 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long complicated terminology), quantity (not available), timing (not updated, not available), and financial (high fees). Table 5.6: The difficulties in accessing land information Do you face any of these following difficulties for accessing land information? Factors Yes % No % Information not available 87 71% 35 29% Not updated information 87 71% 35 29% Terminologies are complicated 70 57% 52 43% High fee required 70 57% 52 43% Identity required 39 32% 83 68% Permission required 63 52% 59 48% Average 56.8% 43.2% The manual methods for accessing land information/documents, and the importance of social relationships, have clearly decreased the level of accessibility for citizens to land information. For example, a respondent provided his experience in one office: It is not easy to access information on land at the local authority; they asked me for my identity and requested me to provide permission from the Chair of the Commune, said Mr Phillip a worker. This can be improved with the development and implementation of an SDI Land. The information would be made readily available and understood by non-experts, and solve the above problems. In detail, the questionnaire data analysis suggests that individuals and households at the grassroots level could not easily access cadastral maps or any other thematic maps. Of the participants who answered the question, Is it possible for you to access cadastral maps or any other thematic maps?, 57 (equivalent to 48%) indicated that they could obtain cadastral maps and other spatial data from the government authorities, mostly by manual ways, including raising enquiries at communal offices (54%), and obtaining the published information at communal venues (80%). A few of the participants (6 individuals, equivalent to 11%) still had to find other ways to access 156

177 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long land parcel maps, not excluding the exchange of information with local government staff, by money or using relative relationships. In addition, the literacy in ICT of the grassroots-level stakeholders was limited. The data analysis of the questionnaires shows an average rate of 14% of participants indicating that their computer and internet skills were good; with approximately 36% of participants indicating that their skills in ICT were fair. The remaining half of participants revealed that their ICT skill was poor (see the overall ICT literacy chart in Figure 5.1). Figure 5.1: The ICT literacy of grassroots-level stakeholders In detail, for internet surfing and navigation, which could be considered as important skills for citizens to search for information on the Internet, Figure 5.1 shows the higher level in comparison to the average level of skill. There were 60% of participants indicating that their skill in using the Internet was fair or good. This can be considered as one of the positive points for increasing the provision of information for citizens through the Internet. This was tested and confirmed by the results of the survey question, Have you accessed any land registration services via the Internet? Data shows that none of the participants had accessed land registration online. The sub-question (if no, why?) was also asked to investigate the reasons why people have not used online services. The results of the data analysis show that 58% of respondents indicated that the services were not available or that they could not find the online services. Also, the 157

178 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long data shown in Table 5.11 indicated that 26 out of 32 individuals searched land information via the Internet at home, this figure reveals that many people tried to search for the availability of online services to use. Some 43% of them said they did not believe in electronic services, and preferred to use traditional paper-work. The same 43% of participants indicated that the work flows of online services might be complicated, whilst 39% of them were not confident with their IT skills. None of the participants complained about the payment process. The results for the subquestion (if no, why?) are included in Table 5.7. Table 5.7: Have you used any online land services on the Internet? Yes: 0 (0%) No: 122 (100%) Why not? Could not find the services The online services might have complicated work flows I do not believe in online services, I prefer paper work My IT skill is weak The payment process is not convenient Respondents % 58% 43% 43% 39% 0% The results of questionnaire surveys to investigate which sources of information grassroots-level people access for land information are consistent with the outputs of FGDs in all three case-study sites. The majority of participants revealing that they could only find the general land information on the website of the people s committee, and that the information, if it exists, had not been updated for years. On the other hand, some attendances were worried that the online services (if provided) were not familiar to grassroots-level individuals, especially the rural farmers and fishers: I must say that I don t believe in online services. I need something visible to see with signatures and seals of government offices. The online services would be good for young people and are appropriate for people in urban areas, not like us, farmers, fishers, Ms H, 51, a farmer attending the rural FGD said. The FGDs confirmed these results, where almost all of participants, both urban and rural areas, asserted that they had never used the internet for land registration services. A few young attendees revealed that they had searched for online services 158

179 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long but had not found them. Of the reasons for this lack of use, the reluctance to change to ICT-based systems by grassroots-level individuals is the most likely The issues of user communities and their consequences Table 5.8 presents the issues in the current situation for the SDI Land stakeholders, and predicts some potential effects that may occur. Table 5.8: What are the issues of user community and the consequences? Issue raised by interviewees Consequent effects Responses Limitations in partnerships Limitation in cooperation 56% Limitations in awareness of SDIs Low public awareness of citizens in rural areas Lack of a data sharing mechanism between data producer and data users Overlap of functions and responsibilities Limitation in implementation, cooperation 52% Inefficient delivery of services 52% Wasting time and resources for validation of data of/by consumers 52% Gaps in real implementations 37% Table 5.8 above shows that the user community has not yet been sufficiently interconnected. Overall, about half of interviewees indicated five main limitations of the user community. These issues are: limitations in the partnerships between stakeholders; limitations in awareness of SDI; the weak public awareness of citizens in rural areas; lack of institutional arrangements in data sharing; and overlap of functions and responsibilities. Limitations of partnerships were due to the lack or incompleteness of related policies, and limited awareness of SDIs of different stakeholders. These limitations might lead to an inefficient development of the SDI Land, due to the weak collaboration of stakeholders. These issues may also lead to the redundancy of data and information Recommendations on the development of access network for SDI Land SDI Land institutional arrangements are currently based on the existing arrangements of the land administration sector and survey and mapping 159

180 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long organisations and personnel. This is a cooperative approach, supported largely by working and personal relationships to assist and act, but such relationships can overlap and collapse when changes occur. The stakeholder recommendations include: Establishing a consistent institutional arrangement for SDI Land development by reviewing functions and tasks of both ministerial and local-level organisations, to eliminate the overlaps in functions and responsibilities but avoiding the monopoly in each organisation. The majority of participants suggested that the government should issue legal documents on the development and implementation of SDI-related ideas, including SDI, LIS, and online registration system, to support LROs to complete their process of land titling, and then share information with other stakeholders such as taxation authorities, notary office systems, and investors. As such, similar to land administration s, SDI institutional arrangements should be organised to meet and be consistent with the land administration system, and especially be based on the LRO system. Nearly half of interviewees (13 out of 27) indicated that LROs at provincial level should be the main authority to manage and implement SDI Land; at national level, this should be the GDLA department/centre. In addition, MONRE and DONRE should consult the governments at central and provincial levels, respectively on the plans for the development of an SDI Land. Strengthening the existing institutional arrangements in order to support the development of the SDI. There is a need to ensure that barriers to access and use of spatially related data are removed. Improving the collaboration mechanism to enhance the accessibility for nonpublic sectors to datasets managed by SDI Land. One-third of participants 160

181 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long suggested that the model of SDI land should be the umbrella model. At the national level, there would be a large database that is synchronised and integrated with provincial-level databases. This database should not exist at the district level. However, the communal and district levels could access directly the provincial database with permission for the data/records related to the districts and communes, respectively. Recognising the role of private sector, to participate in spatial data collecting, to avoid creating a monopoly in land information provision. To do this, the private sector should be given equal opportunity in the procurement of technical services contracts compared with the SOEs; they should be also given permission for accessing, exploring and updating spatial data managed by the government, with the best verifying mechanism. SDI training and promoting: organise short courses on SDI development and implementation at all government levels. In addition, put SDI-related subjects into the training of land administration students at universities, and colleges. Conducting regular public awareness-raising programs to enhance the awareness of stakeholders at all levels, organisational level, inter-organisational level, non-public sector, and grassroots level Policies This section presents the results of stakeholder consultations with respect to SDI Land policies. The results were analysed from the data collected by the first kind of data collection, interviews with central level stakeholders Interviews To examine the development of polies for SDI Land in the Province, the question asked was: What are the key policy barriers to development of an SDI Land in Vietnam? The results show some advantages and disadvantages of institutional arrangements, as follows: 161

182 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long None of participants were aware of policies or legal documents directly relating to the institutional arrangements for an SDI Land; A few interviewees, who were working in the land sector, indicated that some of the high level documents, such as the direction to build national land resources and national natural resources and environment database, pointing out some general directions of development for SDI Land, for example, till 2020 all land services would be conducted via the Internet, even did not mention any related terms; In addition, one-third of participants stated that there had been no regulations in the provision of land information issued, and that this lack led to the debate on the rights to make land information public (information consent issues); There had as yet been no mechanisms for updating and sharing digital land information between government agencies and government stakeholders, and non-public stakeholders. The private sector was not responsible for land data, and has no right to access land databases managed by the government authorities at all levels of security, from viewing to editing; There had been no policies to address the role of surveyors, both individuals and private industries; or their permission to edit/view the whole or parts of data. As of 2016, only private surveying services companies could provide services in land administration and spatial data collection tasks based on the contracts signed with a land authority through a bidding process under the procurement regulation of state-funded public goods and services. The individual surveyors have not been permitted to supplying services individually The issues of the policy framework and their consequences More than half of the interviewees said that there had been a lack of high-level policies for SDI. This led to the absence of a master plan for SDI development. 162

183 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long This issue caused the development of SDI Land components to be uneven. Some components were developed under some particular projects, but not in a long-term plan. The second significant issue was the lack of privacy regulation, on the rights, restrictions and responsibilities of stakeholders. This may have led to the objection of people to some types of information being publicly available on the Internet, especially information on private ownership of land and land-attached buildings. Table 5.9 presents the issues raised with respect to the current situation of the SDI Land policy framework, and predicts some potential effects that may occur. Table 5.9: What are the issues of the policy framework, and their consequences? Issue raised by interviewees Consequent effects Responses Lack of a high-level policy framework for SDI lack of master plan for SDI Land Lack of privacy regulation, lack of rights, restrictions and responsibilities of stakeholders Lack of education/awareness raising policy Lack of regulation on data access and privacy, data security; limitation in copyright, and intellectual property rights Inconsistent legal documents for SDI component development Lacks and limitations in development of its components; risks of data sharing Dissemination of land information illegally; threatening privacy. Lack of legal basis for implementation; Limitation in data accessibility; Informed consent and privacy; copyright lost Inappropriate development of related components 56% 37% 37% 33% 15% Recommendation of stakeholders on SDI policy framework Development of an SDI strategy by the central Government for national level, and by the PPC for provincial level; Setting up a legal framework by issuing legal documents (including decrees) relating to the Law on SDI, to regulate the development, and implementation of SDI Land and its components, to deliver services to stakeholders; 163

184 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Issuing legal documents to regulate information privacy issues and information consent matters, to manage the publication of land information on the Internet Standards This section presents the results of stakeholder consultations with respect to SDI Land standards component. The results were analysed from the data collected by the first kind of data collection, interviews with central level stakeholders Interviews Data and service standards are one of the most important components of SDI Land in relation to the delivery of services. The consultation revealed the significant issues existing in the standards related to SDI Land. The first version of geographic data standards was issued in 2007, and later the cadastral data standards, was issued in 2010 by MONRE. The land registration service standards were then approved. However, the quality and use of these standards were debated over recent years (World Bank, 2011). The information service standards have not yet been prepared and approved. These standards issued by the Government are high level technical guidance for local staff, however there is currently no policy related to the implementation of online service delivery in the land sector yet in place. The interviewee responses indicated significant limitations in the development of standards, which could be summarised as follows: 50% of interviewees considered the data collection process resulted in data stored as a single piece of unstructured (non-standardised) information; and were concerned about the availability of data for an SDI Land. All of the central ministry-level interviewees indicated that the cadastral data content standards contained a number of problems. They were prepared and approved at the high level of technical requirements, which might cause the 164

185 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long local staff and technical service contractors to find them difficult to understand and apply. The standards were adopted long after the commencement of data collection, and it has required gradual work to restructure the database for exchanging data between management software. All of the central ministry-level stakeholders (7 out of 27) indicated that the land registration service standard did not itself meet the quality of a standard. The land registration service standard mentioned the requirements for the human capacity and equipment of LROs. Nevertheless, it did not include the standard procedures for online land registration services delivery. Ten out of 27 interviewees advised that the cadastral data and geospatial data content standards were inappropriate to the technical capacity of local level staff and surveying industries. The gap between the regulation of guidelines and capacity of local staff made the implementation of standards inefficient (the implementation of technical standards for data collection). At the provincial level, 4 out of 10 interviewees stated that the land registration service developed by the Government could not be used to apply for services, due to both technical and policy limitations. In summary, there have been limitations in quality and implementation of standards, which could cause barriers to the development of SDI Land. The lack of standards in technologies, data formats, and non-digital data-sharing regulations, as well as in online services, consequently has caused limitations in the production of the database, both spatial and non-spatial data, and the sharing between stakeholders and the interoperability for stakeholders The issues of standards, and their consequences While regulations exist to govern the production of land data and various types of maps in the country, respondents considered issues with standards would limit the 165

186 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long development and implementation of SDI Land in Vinh Long, as shown in Table Table 5.10: What are the issues of standards and the consequences? Issue raised by interviewees Consequent effects Responses Lack of standards for delivery of online land registration services Weak knowledge of standards - GML concepts and practices Weak application of cadastral data content standards Significant gap between the policy/legal perspective and real implementation No service standards applied; 70% provision of land information was uneven and not unified. Limitation in obeying the standards 44% Cadastral data does not obey the standards need to be standardised for integration 44% 30% For standards components, the lack of service standards was the biggest issue for 70% of interviewees, whilst the application of standards on data content and metadata were also a key issue, with 44% of interviewees mentioning these (Table 5.6). Clearly, the service standards will decide the availability of services online that stakeholders can access and explore, such as land registration services, or data access and updating Recommendations on the development of an access network for SDI Land Although there have been some significant achievements in terms of mobilising and applying standards in data production, there are still some significant improvements needing to be made for an SDI Land. The following recommendations were drawn after consultation with stakeholders: Development of national standards based on the international standards: both data standards and service standards need to suit with international ones, such as ISO/TC211- Geographic information/geomatics; OGC Standards; cadastral content standard; and W3C service standards. The use of international standards will lower the investment for the development of new ones applied for Vietnam; 166

187 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Metadata standard: this needs to consider the importance of the development of metadata in comparison to the data. The literature, and stakeholder consultation, suggest that there had been a large amount of data that could not be utilised due to the lack of metadata; that thus recommends the creation of metadata and standardisation of spatial data, including LIS database in accordance with the selected standards; In addition, increasing stakeholder awareness of standards is required to ensure agreement on common data and service standards and procedures. This may be difficult, as the standards and procedures may not fit into their existing data and service standards or set up. However, a participative approach, and a transparent decision-making process, would fulfil the need for a consistent change Technology The access network plays an important role in linking the two important components of an SDI, datasets and user community. However, an efficient link can only be developed with an appropriate SDI Land policy. This section presents the results of stakeholder consultation on the development of an access network for an SDI Land. Overall, the development of an access network for SDI Land was also limited in terms of technology investment, and information provision Interviews The results of interviewing central and provincial public stakeholders are as follows: The majority of interviewees (19 out of 27) stated that the investments in SDI Land infrastructure are limited and uneven. In the last few decades, there were just two legal documents related to the SDI Land development, neither of them mentioning the term SDI. The interviewees revealed that there had been a significant gap between the policy and its implementation, especially in SDI Land-related projects at both the provincial and the central government levels. 167

188 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long There had not yet been an investment directly for the development of network infrastructure in the land sector. This issue consequently caused less development in network infrastructure. On the other hand, limitations came from the procurement of hardware software licences. Normally, these components were equipped based on specific projects and had not been upgraded, but were upgraded irregularly to satisfy the demand of data processing (both the hardware capacity and software licences). This was because most of the projects focused on spatial data collections, while the investments in infrastructure normally suited and remained within a project s life only; Half of the interviewees at the provincial level (5 out of 10) were concerned whether the quality of current ADSL network installation in the related departments could satisfy the requirements of the SDI Land for processing of online data. For non-public stakeholders, access to land information and spatial data (maps) at both national and provincial was limited due to there being no land portal yet in place. The access to this information was conducted manually, and depended in some way on the human power of the stakeholders. There had as yet been no mechanism for non-public stakeholders to access land information. At the grassroots level, the stakeholders evaluated the development of access network through the ways people were accessing land information. The FGDs suggested that individuals and households at grassroots level normally choose the simplest ways to access land information. Approaching communal officers, consulting at village meetings, and following information on mass media were the cheapest and simplest measures for people to access land information. The use of the Internet was limited due to the poor knowledge of citizens, and limitations in services and equipment. The majority of participants did not think land information can be found on the internet, especially in their areas. A few participants accessed land-related information online, but mostly this was non-intentional because while 168

189 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long surfing websites for daily news. Others found it difficult to approach local government staff for information, but did not believe the information found on other channels Information sources for accessing land information at grassroots level There are many sources for approaching land information, officially and unofficially, compulsory and voluntary. Figure 5.2 shows the evaluation of quality of accessibility of land information, through the selected sources of access to land information at the grassroots level. From Figure 5.2 below, it is clear to see that people mostly gained information by attending village meetings and approaching village heads. In addition, mass media channels, such as television and radio, both national channels and local ones, played an important role in circulating information to the community. Posters and leaflets also contributed significant results in bringing information to grassroots stakeholders, with simple and short messages. Figure 5.2: Sources for accessing land information at the grassroots level 169

190 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long The most difficult way to find land information was through the Internet. There were approximately a half of (47%) participants who indicated that they found it very hard to access land information by searching on the Internet, while there were only 18% revealing that they could easily seek land information via this method. There was an average score of 2.49 out of 5 for accessing land information by using the Internet. The figure again reflects the disconnection between the implementation of related laws and regulations, and what the users prefer. According to the Law on Land, and Law on Urban Planning, the publication of information on land, such as urban planning, both drafting and approval plans, were required to be made public on the Internet through the websites of provincial people s committees or relevant departments and organisations. This result was consistent with the data shown in Table 5.6 above, with 71% of people informal not available or not updated were the main reasons for difficulty in accessing land information. Figure 5.2 also suggests the differences in accessibility to land information at three different communities. The traditional measures had been used to obtain information by participants in rural and peri-urban areas; whereas in urban areas the modern methods, even though remaining significantly limited, had been mentioned as a new way to search for information. In detail, in the peri-urban areas, in which the urbanisation processes and new urban projects were happening more than in the other areas, the published administration activities attracted more people than the other methods of information provision. The field observations suggest that this was due to the importance of land use plans and related information in the area. For instance, as noted in some recent literature and as the result of field observation, the information on plans for a new road expansion usually interests citizens, more than other general information (World Bank, 2014). In addition, the large difference between access to land information by using Internet, for urban and rural areas, could reflect relative availability in internet infrastructure, between the communities. Accessibility to land information by using the Internet in the urban area was about 170

191 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long 27% higher than that for the rural area. In contrast, the highest sources of access to land information in rural areas were village meeting and consultation. The outputs of FGDs suggest that the information people tried to search for on related websites, through popular search engines such as Google and Yahoo, include: Land-related administrative procedures for applying for land use right certificates, mortgaging land use right certificates for loans from commercial banks, and selling or buying land; Planning, land use plans, and urban planning, both maps and descriptions; Information about land recovery, compensation, and resettlement, especially when a new plan is approved; Information on land lease and land auction; Information on charges, fees and taxes related to land, including charges and fees for applying for land use right certificates, extracting cadastral maps, extracting legal status of land parcels, land mortgage, and subdivision. In contrast, the local meetings were still the most effective method for people to find information about land, especially in land use planning and land use right certificates. The field observations showed that, similar to the other traditional villages in the country, the heads of villages often organised meetings in both official and unofficial ways, usually in the night time, to gather villagers for provision and dissemination of information as well as to seek consultations. In these kinds of meeting, the villagers are usually provided with general information such as land use planning, new projects, and land taxation. Similar to the results of the questionnaire, the FGDs also recorded these results and information. Some relevant responses from the FGDs in all three communes were as follows: 171

192 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long The Internet is a huge store of information. However, it is hard to use this kind of service here. There are a few internet cafés, but mostly serving young children for chatting and online gaming. I have not thought about searching land information on the web, but sometimes got land information when hitting on the advertisements on the online newspaper such as Vnexpress or Dantri, said Ms Emma a young worker. Ms Rebecca, a communal staff, said: in the activities of the women association, we sometimes organised kind of competitions such as research and applying laws in life. Our members were asked to search information on the Internet. This is a huge storage of information. But for land information, particularly local land information, it was hard to find them. Normally, the manual ways and face-to-face approaching method still helped us in these demands. In fact, there have been more than 31 million Internet users in Vietnam (MIC, 2013). This huge number has continued to rapidly increase over the last few years, from three million broadband Internet subscribers in 2009 to approximately five million subscribers in 2012, and this is predicted to have doubled by the end of These figures show that the huge potential for provision of information on the Internet, as websites can offer access to basic information for everyone with a connection. On the other hand, the related laws and regulations have already set the types of information that would be and need to be published mandatorily online, or not online. Clearly, the lack of an effective infrastructure would make the access to land information difficult or impossible. The surveys, focus group discussions and field observations suggest that, at the grassroots level, the internet infrastructure is limited. The number of internet subscribers (ADSL) at the time of surveying was under 15% of households, in both rural and peri-urban areas; in the urban area, this number was much higher, about 64% of households. Computers with internet access were available at all three communal-level post offices, but the customers were mostly young children. There were some internet cafés also available in the case study sites, which can be used for 172

193 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long land information searching. In response to the question, Have you used Internet for searching land information or information regarding land management?, out of 122 participants, 32 (26.22%) indicated that they had used this kind of modern search engine for finding land information. The remainder, nearly three-fourths, said that they had never used the Internet for seeking information. Table 5.11 presents a view of the limitations of infrastructure used to search for land-related information at the grassroots level. Table 5.11: Participants searching land-related information on the Internet Have you used the internet for searching land information? No, I have not 90 74% Yes, I have used 32 26% If yes, where have you used? Internet café 27 84% At home 26 81% Communal post office 1 3% Information focal point 8 0 not available The internet infrastructure in the areas had some limitations. The questionnaire survey analysis shows that there were just over a quarter of participants who had used the Internet for searching land-related information and data. Of these, the majority used the internet at internet café services or at home about 81%. Only one participant indicated that he/she had used the communal post office, which location has been indicated in the VLAP Project document as one of the main focal points designated for information provision at the grassroots level (MONRE, 2008), to search for land information. Clearly, together with the information on ITC literacy of grassroots-level stakeholders presented in Figure 5.1, Section , the Internet access network at the grassroots level was at a low level of development. The result of FGDs at all three communities reveals that the questionnaire results reflected the actual situation. A few attendances commented that there had been some internet café services in the areas, but that these were mostly serving young 8 One of the ways of provision of administrative information in the country. 173

194 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long children for online games and chatting. Nevertheless, this was still the most popular service for people in the areas, especially rural areas, for searching the huge storage of information online. Table 5.12: Improvements in access to land information What kinds of improvements are needed to improve access to land information? Factors Yes % No % Reforming administrative procedures 82 67% 40 33% Reducing time 77 63% 45 37% Need more transparent 77 63% 45 37% Providing online services 71 58% 51 42% Reducing fees 66 54% 56 46% Providing clearly explanations 63 52% 59 48% Table 5.12 presents the recommendations of the grassroots-level stakeholders for increasing access to land information. The majority of participants requested improvements in all aspects, including administrative issues, financial constraints, time-consumption, and online service delivery. In terms of online services requested, all participants (24/24) in young age groups (under 35) requested the availability of online services to improve land information accessibility; whilst just over a half of the over-35 age group people requested this. It is easy to understand this trend, when more young people tend to approach information online than elder persons. The trend was consistent with the figure of the Internet user profile of Vietnam at the time of data collection, 2013, as illustrated by The Statistics Portal (2016). The figures are shown in Table Table 5.13: Online services requested by age groups Age group Number of participants Number of requests % % % % > % Total % The majority of participants in FGDs revealed that there was difficult to access land information at the grassroots level. The question asked regarding this topic was, Do you have any difficulties in access to land information?. The responses show that about half 174

195 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long of attendances indicated that it was not easy to meet with cadastral officers. They preferred to consult village heads for information. However, the information received from village heads was not up-to-date, especially on land use planning and LURCs procedures. In addition, the land related information received through the mass media system was occasional; while the majority of participants did not consider the Internet channel for land information. In summary, there was a limited accessibility of land information and documents at the grassroots level. The use of relative relationship has still had significant impacts for these activities. The reasons for such limitations in accessibility to land information include the unavailability of information, out of date information, complicated descriptions and high fees The issues of technological framework and consequences Although the literature review in Chapter 3, Section revealed that the technological framework of Vinh Long has some advantages, 56% of interviewees indicated that there was a limitation in network infrastructure. This issue may cause the weak access to detailed land information by stakeholders, leading to the inefficient interoperability of databases. Financial constraints were also counted as an issue for 41% of interviewees. Financial constraints may lead to the issues in the upgradability of infrastructure, in terms of technologies, both hardware and software. The limitation in network infrastructure was the most significant issue, raised by more than a half of interviewees. This limitation might lead to inefficiency in interoperability of data between the government levels, across government departments, and amongst stakeholders. Software renewal interest was also a significant issue related to the technology component. The discontinued licenses of software might lead to the locking of data and systems. These immediate consequences could be the reasons for interruption of jobs and endangering the security of data. Furthermore, financial constraints were also accounted as an issue 175

196 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long leading to difficulty in upgrading of systems. Finally, the use of different technologies in government departments might cause a loss of data when these later need to be integrated. The respondents raised several issues with the technology, and highlighted some consequences of these limitations, as shown in Table Table 5.14: What are the issues in the technology, and their consequences? Issue raised by interviewees Consequent effects Responses Limitation in network infrastructure Lacks of interest in software licences renewal 176 Limitations in interoperability of datasets 56% Data locked, system locked, jobs interrupted, data security 48% Financial constraints Upgradability 41% Differences in technology Difficulty in integrating database 33% used in different departments Recommendations for the development of access network of SDI Land Although the field observations and stakeholder consultations revealed gradual improvements in many aspects of access to land information compared to previous data (A. Nguyen et al., 2010), there were significant improvements revealed as needing to be made in all aspects, across financial, policy, technology and procedures, in the near future to inform the access network for an SDI Land in Vietnam and in Vinh Long. The following summarises the stakeholder recommendations: Removing all barriers that have created a monopoly in the collection, management, access, delivery, and utilisation of spatial data, to establish an appropriate mechanism to facilitate access to spatial data; Government agencies should be responsible for establishing a a policy on access networks, to improve the accessibility of land and spatial information. The policy on access networks should explore location-based data and land information, eliminating the monopoly on data access, and reducing the

197 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long duplication of data production and investment. This means a policy framework for the access network, to access officially to land information and data managed by either the central government or local government authorities, needing to be in place to establish the basis for development of an access network; Acceleration of the application of technology for the creation of an easyaccess mechanism: there has been no land portal placed to connect or integrate different sources of information produced and managed by different government agencies, or to disseminate information to stakeholders. Access to information, therefore, has only been conducted within single systems, not in a whole network. To eliminate this problem, the application of technology for creation of an easy-access mechanism needs to be accelerated to establish a one-stop online portal; Putting in place a land information system that is customised to integrate all kinds of data for establishment of a fit-for-purpose approach to the land information system as soon as possible; establishing an appropriate mechanism of synchronisation of data both on-line and off-line; and, concurrently, setting priority to the land titling process with official and formal cadastral map data stored in digital format, as these data should support the implementation of SDI Land under a unique standard; Preparing and applying metadata standards with geospatial data catalogues; Allowing access for stakeholders for exploring and updating spatial data with an appropriate validation system, by the development and deployment of a land portal at the provincial LRO; The traditional ways of accessing land information need to remain, as the most effective channel for grassroots rural and peri-rural areas: despite the development of ITC in land information provision, the traditional hubs to 177

198 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long deliver land information should be kept in parallel, and should not be replaced by any modern method. The above recommendations need a long-term plan for the development of access network, infrastructure and means for provision of accessing land data and information, to reduce time and fees of stakeholders, while still managing the quality of information, especially the information verifying other information Discussion This section summarises the overall findings of stakeholder consultation on the stakeholder requirements for an SDI Land in Vinh Long. Overall, the findings can be summarised as follows: There has been an uneven awareness of stakeholders: despite the term SDI being regularly mentioned in documents and presentations, the understandings of SDI concepts, ideas and benefits between stakeholders are uneven. The term SDI was reported as overused. The existence of different understandings of SDI concepts and ideas has led to the weak collaboration of stakeholders in building and implementing an SDI for the land sector in the country. This weakness of collaboration also limits the exchanging, updating and sharing of spatial data amongst government authorities, and public and non-public sectors, and will not increase the role and development of private enterprises. The participation of the grassroots-level stakeholders in data collection will also remain weak as a result. The marketing and promotion of SDI ideas, concepts and benefits should be conducted across the organisational and inter-organisational government agencies, across the private sector, NGOs, and to grassroots-level stakeholders. There has been a high demand for land and spatial information of many stakeholders: stakeholder demands for land information, both spatial and non- 178

199 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long spatial data, have been increasing significantly over the last few years. Stakeholders differ in their interests in land-related information, in accordance with their rights, functions and responsibilities. Government authorities require land information for administration purposes related to land issues, infrastructure development, and environmental issues, as well as for financial appraisals for investment. Public service agencies utilise land information for processing land tax notifications, mortgages, and land registrations. Financial institutions and investors use land information to process investments; while individuals and households need land information for better land registration participation, farmland enlargement, or credit access for economic development. The human resource capacity for the development of an SDI Land has remained inconsistent: the overlaps and gaps in functions and responsibilities of government agencies still exist, at both central and local levels. The overlaps are in the functions of production and management of spatial data, collection and store of land information between government departments. This, together with monopoly situation in information, has led to the duplication and redundancy of data and information of SDI Land datasets. The weak capacity at local level to operate the SDI Land: while most of the government departments at local level are competent to deploy current functions and responsibilities, the development of an SDI Land requires a higher capacity, not only in professional skill, but in career ethical matters, to collaborate with other stakeholders. The IT skills of grassroots-level stakeholders: this is the largest group of users of the system, but the weakest in terms of skills to operate it. The majority of individuals at the grassroots level are still most familiar with the traditional measures for obtaining land information, and changes of method need time for them to adapt. 179

200 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long The roles of the private sector, civil society associations, and non-government offices, have not been considered important: this will limit the participation of non-government stakeholders in development and implementation of the e- government program, which the service-oriented land administration system has been building. The encouragement of the private sector to deliver landrelated services is essential in the development of the surveying and landrelated consulting industry in the country, reducing dependence on the stateowned enterprises. Civil society associations play an important role at the grassroots level, regarding the resolving of land complaints and disputes. The participation of non-government and academic sectors in land-related policy consultations has been increasing; while the participation of the private sector in technical work within the land sector has remained limited. In addition, the weak awareness of grassroots-level stakeholders contributes a negative effect on the development of a modern land administration system. There has been not an overall policy for the development of an SDI in the country: This has led to inconsistency in development of SDI components and the lack of a vision in the development of a land administration system in the country. In addition, there has been the lack of the policy for provision of land information, data sharing, data privacy, and information consent. This issue has led to the constraints in implementation of data sharing and updating at all levels. There have been limitations in development and application of a standards framework for SDI Land: there have been some standards for technical requirements placed with a high requirement of knowledge, as pre-requisites to understand and apply at the operational levels, mostly for local authorities and contractors such as cadastral content standards. These high standard technical requirements are appropriate, but the implementation at the local level requires comprehensive training. In addition, there has been no land 180

201 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long registration service standard yet placed, especially for an automated land registration. The network access has been undeveloped and contains significant limitations: there has been a high demand for accessing spatial data and land information, such as land tenure, land information, land planning and land documents; however, the level of access to land data and related information by many stakeholders remains low, due to undeveloped network access. There has been no mechanism to access the databases managed by the land authorities at both central and local levels. The sharing of information has still been done manually. The updating and sharing of information has also remained ineffective due to the lack of an intelligent link between government agencies. There has been a weakness in updating and sharing land and spatial information amongst stakeholders: the updating and sharing of land information between government authorities remained weak due to the existence of an ineffective link among government authorities. The communications-related database exchange and sharing among government agencies is mostly done manually. There has not been a mechanism implemented by any agency for online access to the database managed by another agency. Consequently, land data managed by different departments is often of poor quality, out of date, and duplicated. In addition, one of the most significant problems found is the lack of interoperability and integration of land databases, both spatial and non-spatial, with other data such as databases for transportation, infrastructure, notary records and taxation. In consultations, some stakeholders suggested that the reasons for this situation include financial constraints, privacy of information issues, format and incompleteness of data, mobilisation of technologies, application of standards, and incompleteness of legal framework. These limitations have led to land administration processes becoming complicated. 181

202 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long There has been a limitation in updating and sharing land and spatial information: in some government authorities, an information monopoly still occurs. This limitation leads to the waste of resources, both financial and time of government, and creates risks to citizens when the database do not reflect the real situation of individuals land use. The reasons for such limitations are also due to weak awareness of SDIs, and in collaboration amongst stakeholders. Issuance and application of standards in data collection have been limited for the last few decades. Grassroots stakeholders have faced difficulty in accessing land information: access to land information of stakeholders, especially at the grassroots level, remains difficult, due to out-of-date information, unavailability of data, timeconsuming processes, and high fees and levies Chapter summary This chapter has examined and presented the status of development of an SDI Land in Vinh Long. The current status of investments in related components, such as data, standards, policy, technology, and services, have been analysed to have an overview of the barriers and challenges to, and opportunities for development, of an SDI Land. The overall findings have been presented in the previous sections. In summary, there is a high demand by stakeholders for land and geospatial data, but there remain weaknesses in sharing and accessing spatial data among stakeholders for all levels of data. The unevenness in the development of SDI components has reduced benefits for stakeholders and made the data collected to be wasted or duplicated. The participation of the private sector in geospatial data sharing and updating has been weak, owing to the lack of a mechanism for accessing land databases, as well as to charges and fees. In addition, the establishment of policy arrangements requires a high commitment of high-level leaders, and the capacity of technical staff at the local level to be improved. 182

203 Chapter 5: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long The chapter has included the requirements and recommendations of stakeholders for the development of an SDI Land in Vinh Long. The findings support the improvement of the land administration system, towards an automated land information system through the development and implementation of the SDI Land. The requirements and recommendations outlined contribute to the reforming of land administrative procedures, to effectively maintaining the land database, raising awareness for local citizens and businesses, and building capacity for government staff and authorities. The development of a conceptual SDI Land model could benefit significantly from these findings. This chapter has answered the research question, what are the barriers to the development of a provincial user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long province? This is a core research finding, which will be a foundation to discuss the policy framework for an SDI Land in Chapter

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205 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-Centric Land Administration System in Vinh Long 6.1. Introduction Chapter 4 presented the literature review on land administration and its components as well as the status of development of land administration in Vietnam. It also presented efforts in Vinh Long towards a user-centric land administration system. This chapter continues to present another major part of the results of stakeholder consultations of which one part has been presented in Chapter 5 about the stakeholder requirements for a user-centric SDI Land for Vinh Long. As mentioned, the stakeholder consultations were conducted by means of research methods stated in Chapter 2. The results of data analysis presented in this chapter are also based on interviews with selected stakeholders at the central and provincial levels, non-government offices, donors, the private sector, and academia; focus group discussions, with the attendance of individuals, households, and civil society association representatives at the communal level; and questionnaire surveys of individuals and households at the grassroots level, in the selected case study areas. This chapter aims to respond to RQ2, What do the related stakeholders require for a usercentric land administration system in Vietnam? This chapter commences with an introduction, before presenting the results of stakeholder perceptions of land administration. This includes their awareness of land administration, perceptions of land use rights, land information, barriers to 185

206 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long participating in land registration services, and support of government land authorities and staff as well as public awareness-raising programs conducted by local government. It then concludes with some recommendations by stakeholders, before closing with an overview of the overall chapter findings. As mentioned in Chapter 2, to protect the privacy of participants, pseudonyms will be used throughout Stakeholder perceptions of land administration The objective of this part of the stakeholder consultations was to identify current use, management, and sharing of land information by the managerial stakeholders identified in the previous section, by interviewing the people involved in state management and policy making. Furthermore, this part aims to identify limitations and opportunities in the use, access and sharing of land and spatial information amongst the stakeholders at the managerial level. In order to understand the current use, production and management of land information regulated by the government, managerial stakeholders were identified. Several senior staff working for five ministries in both technical and policy departments were interviewed. Related regulations and documents were also reviewed to assess the level of land information usage. The data analysis results on the stakeholder perceptions of land administration were based on the fieldwork observations, stakeholder consultations through individual and group interviews (FGDs), and questionnaires. The major limitations and barriers in the land sector of Vietnam in relation to increasing access to land information and services were identified, as discussed in the following sections Stakeholder awareness of land administration Stakeholder awareness has been an important factor for development in all fields, organisations, and systems, from public administration to civil society associations. The understanding of stakeholders of land administration contribute significantly to the development and implementation of good land governance, especially in 186

207 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Vietnam, a post-conflict country where the ownership of land has a complicated history as mentioned in Chapter 4. The results of stakeholder consultations on awareness of land administration in Vinh Long, presented in this section, are categorised according to types of stakeholder: public sector, non-public sector, and grassroots-level stakeholders Public sector stakeholders The interviews with stakeholders suggest the overwhelming importance of land administration to social and economic development. More than two-thirds of respondents indicated that the process of land reform, including the legal development program in recent decades, has made a significant contribution to the society. Land information and spatial data were also necessary for these stakeholders in their daily jobs. Stakeholders in land-related agencies needed land data as a part of their jobs, while other stakeholders, such as in construction, transportation, taxation, and finance sectors, used land information as reference sources in dealing with related tasks and projects. From the interviews, it was found that the understanding of public-sector stakeholders of land administration and management was either good or excellent, at both the national and provincial levels. All of the interviewees revealed that they were confident in their understanding of land system and land information; and almost all of them sufficiently understood land-related terms such as cadastral maps, land records, and land users, as well as land rights, as mentioned in the land laws and policies. In Vinh Long, the stakeholder consultation mostly focused on technical perspectives, both in term of techniques and technical regulations. The interviews were with staff working for related institutions. The interviewees acknowledged the significant importance of land information and land administration information, with approximately two-thirds of interviewees stating that both land information and land administration information were important to their daily activities. 187

208 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Other stakeholders Six interviews were conducted with non-public stakeholder interviewees, including two private company owners, one academic researcher, one non-government organization staff, and one donor s representative. Similar to the public sector stakeholders, these interviewees understood the land administration information to a satisfactory degree. However, all of them revealed that the land administration information held by land authorities was not always important to their jobs and tasks Grassroots-level stakeholders The examination of awareness of land administration of the grassroots-level stakeholders was conducted by both questionnaire and FGDs. The initial data collected was through questionnaires, with the group interviewing with individuals and households providing additional information that helped to test and verify the responses collected through the questionnaires. The results of data analysis show that the majority (about 78%) of participants indicated that they sufficiently understood their land use rights. There was little difference (around 1%) in the understanding of land use rights between men and women in relation to their understanding of their rights to land (including restrictions and responsibilities). Many (78.26%) male participants stated that their understanding of land use rights was at the level of sufficient or higher, whilst the number of females with the same understanding was 79.25%. These results reflect the benefits to women of public awareness campaigns undertaken under the VLAP during the previous few years. The results also showed that there was a considerable difference between the understanding of those land users who had been granted LURCs and those not granted LURCs. About 18% of participants who had LURCs indicated that their understanding of land use rights was poor, whilst of those participants who did not hold LURCs, this figure was about 39% (Table 6.1). 188

209 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Table 6.1: How well do you understand your land use rights? Level of understanding Poor Sufficient Good Total Number of respondents Percentage (%) 22% 61% 17% 100% Legal status With LURCs 19 (18%) 67 (64%) 18 (17%) 104 Without LURCs 7 (39%) 8 (44%) 3 (17%) 18 Gender Men 15 (22%) 40 (58%) 14 (20%) 69 Women 11 (21%) 35 (66%) 7 (17%) 53 Community Urban 6 (10%) 36 (60%) 18 (30%) 60 Peri-urban 10 (33%) 17 (57%) 3 (10%) 30 Rural 10 (31%) 22 (69%) 0 (0%) 32 Table 6.1 also indicates that citizens living in urban areas understood their land use rights better than did those living in rural and peri-urban areas. In the urban area, about 90% of participants indicated that their understanding of land use rights was sufficient or good, while the numbers for rural and peri-urban areas were 69% and 67%, respectively, for the same claim of level of understanding. The same question was asked by the investigator to investigate the perceptions of individuals of their land use rights during the three FGDs. Extended questions were also raised to test their responses. Similar figures to those in Table 6.1 were obtained from the majority of participants of the FGDs who considered that their understanding of the land use rights mentioned in the Law on Land and related legal documents was sufficient. Some of these revealed that their understanding was poor. They also explained their difficulties. The main reason was due to the formal and academic use of language, and complicated technical interpretations in landrelated documents. These factors might lead to difficulty for villagers at the grassroots level. In the rural area FGD, some individuals acknowledged that they understood they held rights on land use, but they revealed that they did not know that they had to do a registration when they perform transactions of their rights, especially for leasing and sub-leasing rights. Mr Phillip, a farmer, 43 years old, an attendee of the rural 189

210 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long area FGD, showed his knowledge of land administration by sharing his story about the implementation of leasing rights: We own an untitled land parcel of about 1,000 square meters for agricultural land use purpose. We leased this parcel to a neighbour; we had no contract, just verbal communication. The neighbor (leasing-in party) paid all agricultural levies and fees. I don t even think my neighbor can take my land as I know his family clearly. In the urban area FGD, about 80% of attendees perceived that they understood their land use rights sufficiently. Some of these could list the rights of land users set by the law; others could explain terminologies used in the legal documents in plain language. They could also provide some examples for others to understand and match their ideas. Even though individuals were aware that they could mortgage their LURCs to access loans from commercial banks, they were confused about the procedures and the credit thresholds/ceilings for borrowing. Ms Sophie, 57 years old, a farmer, an attendee of urban community focus group meeting said, Our family has been granted the red books 9 for both the residential and agricultural land parcels since a few years ago. I do not understand fully the rights we are holding but am aware that we own land as other property. I just understand that when we sell the land, we need to have an agreement of all family members. In summary, the majority of stakeholders displayed competent awareness about the land administration. Although public, non-public sector agencies, and grassrootslevel individuals and households had different demands of land administration, their understanding of land administration and land issues was good. People at grassroots level understood the simple procedures and regulations well, whilst the majority of public and non-public agencies responded that they understood land administration requirements competently. 9 Red book is a common word used for a land title or land use rights certificate/lurc. 190

211 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Perceived land use rights Table 6.2 presents the results of questionnaires on the importance of land use rights with grassroots-level participants. People were asked to score how important were the six basic rights set by the Law to them, as listed in Table 6.2. Table 6.2: How important are each of the following land use rights to you? Land use right Not important % Neutral % Important % Inheriting right Exchanging right Mortgaging right Transferring right Guaranteeing right Leasing right Average Generally, the majority of participants indicated that land use rights were important to them with an average of 66.8% stating that land use rights as important or very important. The first four rights as presented in Table 6.2 including inheriting, exchanging, mortgaging, and transferring land use rights received high percentages, ranged from 69% to 85%, of participant indicated they were important. The last two rights, guaranteeing and leasing, were evaluated important by around a half of participants, from 47% to 54%. Overall, the inheritance right was evaluated as the most important right for citizens. Of the 122 participants, 103 (84.4%) agreed that it was the most important right to land of the land users. Next in rank was the exchanging land use right, with 91 participants (equivalent to 74.6%) evaluating that it was an important right to them. The comparison of the importance of land use right for different communities is presented in Figure 6.1. The largest difference between communities in evaluation of the importance of land use rights is clearly shown to be in the guaranteeing right, between urban community and peri-urban communities (the difference is 1.48 points out of 5, equivalent to 29.7%). The lowest evaluation of the importance of this right was by the urban community, while the highest was of citizens living in the peri-urban area. The differences between communities in evaluations of the 191

212 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long importance of other rights, including exchange, transfer, inheritance, and lease, were slight, ranging from 1% to 5%. 1: very unimportant 2: unimportant 3: neutral 4: important 5: very important Figure 6.1: Comparison of the importance of land use rights by communities In peri-urban area, the right evaluated as the most important was the mortgaging land use rights, receiving a calculated score 10 of 4.57 out of 5. The field observation suggested that, despite the fact that just a few land users had mortgaged their land use rights for accessing credits in general, individuals living in peri-urban areas tended to participate in this service offered by commercial banks, as their demand for loans was normally higher than for people living in the rural area. This result was consistent with the output of all three FGDs. Almost all of attendees revealed that inheritance is important as it ensures that their children and grandchildren have land to use in the future. The same was found for the exchanging right, which supports land users, particularly farmers, to exchange land for owning a larger size of land parcels, for farming development. 10 Average score was calculated by the formula: a n n x i i 1 where n is number of sample, 122 in this case.

213 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long On the other hand, as mentioned above, only a half of participants evaluated that the guaranteeing right and leasing right were important to them. The field observation and group interviews at the FGDs suggest that there had been only a few participants that had done land leasing before (both leasing out and leasing in parties). None of them had had needed to call on guaranteeing services. Many of these even showed incomplete understanding of land use by raising some related questions. A few replies recorded at the FGDs about the understanding of participants on the land use rights are quoted here: For our family, we benefited very much from the right for exchanging land use. Last year, we did exchange land with some neighbours to have a larger field for planting potatoes. This saved us lots of labour work and brought us about double benefits compared to the previous years, said Mr River, 52, a farmer. Added to this, a communal civil society association staff said, the exchanging land use rights gives us better conditions for applying new agricultural technologies for farming. Some farmers invested more for their agricultural machinery. For peri-urban participants in the FGD, although the evaluation of guaranteeing rights also received a high score by questionnaire surveys (as shown in Figure 6.3), none of the FGD participants could explain how this right works. There were only about the half of respondents who could list it as a basic right of land users: What does the guarantee of land use right mean? How does it work? Can you explain more about this right?, was asked by a few participants in the peri-urban FGD. For the mortgaging land use rights, the participants in all three FGDs understood quite thoroughly how this right works, and the benefit it could bring to land users. However, they revealed that they were not willing to deal with commercial banks for accessing loans due to the complex procedures and small amount of money they could borrow. Consequently, this had still failed to assist farmers in expanding their agricultural production in some cases. 193

214 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long The importance of land information For public stakeholders: the consultation with public stakeholders made through interviews showed that the use of land information was regular for all stakeholders, with more than two-thirds of respondents indicating that land information was an important part of their jobs and that they needed to understand land information properly. People who worked for different stakeholders required different levels of land information detail. Land authorities dealt with land information daily in their jobs such as appraising land development projects, or deciding land use plan. Commercial banks used land information in processing guarantees of LURCs for loans. Taxation authorities utilized land information for processing taxation notifications to taxpayers. Other stakeholders required land information for integration into their databases for deciding land-related matters. For the grassroots level stakeholders: 74 of 95 participants (77.9%) indicating that land-related information was important to them, nearly three-fourths indicated that the land related information was essential in all aspects, including legal and policy, technical, and administrative procedure information. On the other hand, across scale of urban-rural, comparison of the evaluations between those of communities shows a similar figure, as land information was evaluated as important to citizens of all urban, peri-urban, and rural communities. Table 6.3 shows another data presentation that clearly demonstrates the average scores for the evaluation of importance of land information to land users in the different communities. Overall, there was not much difference in the evaluation of the importance of land information between kinds of information. Information about LURCs was still the most important to the majority of participants, whilst the less frequent service, land mortgage, and the technical land parcel drawings, were not really important to citizens, individuals and households at the grassroots level. In detail, the information on an application for LURCs was evaluated as the most important to the land users, especially in rural and peri-urban areas, with the scores of 4.91 and 4.73 out of 5.0, respectively: between important (4) and very important (5). Information about 194

215 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long cadastral maps and land parcel drawings, as well as information on land mortgaging, were marked at the lowest levels of importance to land users, with the scores of 3.82 and 3.78, respectively: between neutral (3) and important (4). Table 6.3: What kind of land information is the most important to land users? Land information Urban Peri-urban Rural Average community community community score Land use right certificates Land law and policies Land use planning Administrative procedures Legal services related to land Land value information Cadastral (parcel) maps Land mortgage Average by community As presented in Table 6.3, there were differences between communities in evaluations of the importance of land-related information. The gaps between communities on the importance of cadastral maps, land mortgaging, and land use planning, were small, about point out of 5, equivalent to 2-3%. However, there were considerable gaps between communities on the information about applications for LURCs, from 4% to 13%. The field observations and focus group discussions suggested differences in both factors of evaluation, the dissemination of information and the community demands on information. For land use planning information, the field observations witnessed better dissemination of information in the areas where urbanisation was in process, whilst it might not have satisfied the requirements of citizens in rural areas. In the same manner, the land titling in rural areas was processed more simply in comparison with other areas, due to the uncomplicated land use history by comparison to that of other areas. Information about LURCs included that for land titling schedules, administrative procedures, evidences, and supporting documents needed in applications for LURCs. LURCs are important to land users as they are legal agreements to establish the formal relationship between land and land users by informing of rights of land users on land, establishing responsibilities, and creating restrictions on land. Table 195

216 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long 6.4 presents the results of questionnaire surveying on how LURC-related information is important to individuals and households. The results of surveying show that, for all three types of community, the evaluation of the importance of application for LURCs was at the same level, increasing significantly when the choice moved from not important to very important. Collectively, there were 74% of participants evaluating that the mentioned right was significantly important to them, the other 11% indicating that it was important. These two choices, of important and very important (collectively, 85%), dominated the other two negative options of answer (see Table 6.4): very unimportant, and unimportant, for these two combined 2%; whilst the neutral option received approximately 13% of responses. Table 6.4: The evaluation of importance of LURC-related information Importance Rural area Peri-urban area Urban area Total Scale Number % Number % Number % Number % 1- Not important 0 0% 0 0% 2 3% 2 2% 2- Little not important 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 0 0% 3- Neutral 1 3% 0 0% 15 25% 16 13% 4- Important 1 3% 8 27% 5 8% 14 11% 5- Very important 30 94% 22 73% 38 63% 90 74% Sum From the above table, it is clear that the perceptions of community participants on LURC-related information were different. Individuals living in rural and peri-urban areas tended to evaluate LURC information as more important than did those who were living in the urban area. Nearly 100% of participants indicated that the information about LURCs was important or very important to them. These two choices of answer in the urban area collectively made up 71% of participants responses. A quarter of participants in the urban area evaluated the LURC information as being neutral: not important, nor un-important. In addition, there was a slight difference between the perceptions of male and female participants, about 3%, as shown in Table 6.5. In detail, there were approximately 87% of female participants indicating the LUCR-related information 196

217 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long as being very important to them, whilst the number of male participants was just over 84%. On the other hand, the difference between females and males in negative choices was just 0.44%. Table 6.5: The gender perceptions of LURC-related information Very Very Gender Unimportant Neutral Important Total unimportant important Female % 1.89% 0% 11.32% 15.09% 71.70% 100% Male % 1.45% 0% 14.49% 8.70% 75.36% 100% The related topics were discussed in all three FGDs, in which it was found that these results reflected partly the demands and understanding of local individuals and households on land information. Participants, especially those who were living in rural and peri-urban areas, evaluated the land value information and land use planning as important. These discussions suggested that more than half of responses at the rural FGD and about two-thirds of responses at the peri-urban FGD considered this type of information was most important to them for deciding family plans. Participants considered access to land planning information, including land use planning, to be difficult. In these discussions, it was also mentioned that the land valuation frame which is published annually by PPC normally not associated with spatial reference. This way of provision of land valuation information had made citizens hard to access information on land prices Limitations of land registration services Several limitations and barriers in the land registration services were mentioned and suggested by the interviewees; and these could be grouped into four categories: policy, technology, human capacity (including weak professional ethics), and stakeholder public awareness. The first limitation perceived in land registration services in Vietnam and in Vinh Long was in the policy in land registration services. The Land Law and guidelines documents have provided detailed regulations on land registration services, both 197

218 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long rights and responsibilities of government authorities and land users. However, some limitations have been suggested from the responses gathered at both central and provincial levels during the consultations and observations in the case study. The barriers related to land registration include: the complex/uncleared land administrative procedures; weak commitments of leaders; and high fees, charges, levies, and taxes. These limitations are not only affecting the initial land registration, but also registrations of land use changes. Following are some issues regarding policy in land registration discovered through analysis of the interviews with stakeholders: Most of the respondents, apart from those in the land registration-related departments at central levels, indicated that the administrative procedures were still complicated. Even though these have been reforming for a decade under the administrative reforming strategy of the government, there has been some significant barriers in land-related procedures, especially in clearance of land histories for the initial registration in the urban areas. The Land Law has addressed the kinds of evidence that can be used to establish of the ownership of land; but in many cases, it did not really promote the advantages of land titling progress. There were weak commitments at the direct implementation levels. For example, one government minister committed to complete the land titling by the end of 2013 (Trang Anh, 2012) (under the Resolution 30/2012/QH13 11 ); however, the results of this process depended very much on the implementation and performance of staff at the district and provincial levels, as well as the participation of land users. Ten out of twelve interviewees working for land-related departments/sub-departments in the central ministry and in Vinh Long, and three from other sectors, stated that the land titling process could not be finished within the expectation of the Government. The reasons for this included time strain, limitation in financial resources, and 11 The Minister of MONRE committed to complete the land titling process by the end of

219 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long procedures for contracts with contractors for technical services in survey and mapping (procurement procedures). In addition, the lack of budget within provinces and agencies to complete the land registration process was identified, in which large amounts of money are used for cadastral survey and mapping, to make land database available or for further maintenance to certain standards. While other respondents were concerned about the administrative procedures, people from financial and taxation institutions experienced the difficulties of getting land users to pay fees, levies, charges, and taxes from land users. A concerned reply was recorded as follows: There is a Land Administration Project funded by the World Bank, which has been implemented for few years in eight provinces and a city in the country. The Project has been considered as the leading project in the country on the progress of land titling. But, actually, about 80% of project time span has passed and the land registration has not been completed yet and no land information system has been placed and implemented. People at grassroots level still have to wait for from four to six months to complete applications for LURCs, supposedly the applications for LURCs have been regulated as a 55-day administrative procedure in the Law 12. This is unacceptable. I do not believe the project could complete, the land titling process, by its expected end date, said a senior operational staff of a donor. Secondly, the application of technologies in land registration services drew out some issues. In all five ministries, particularly people from the state administration on natural resources and environment, people were concerned about the ideas and progress of development of a land information system that could deliver online and automated land registration services to citizens as well as related stakeholders. One-third of interviewees mentioned the existing inefficient linkage amongst the government agencies. The communications related to land among government authorities, even 12 A Government decree 199

220 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long within land agencies, still occur manually in official writing (a sealed formal request letter), that takes time and resources. At the provincial level, technical staff revealed that the application of technologies in land registration activities had been improved over the previous few years. However, these high technologies had only partly helped, since there was no approved electronic process yet in place. All approvals of the leaders on land registration still have to be made manually, not electronically: There has been an urgent demand for the development of a land information system to deliver land registration services online to citizens. This action is accordance with the e- government development strategy for the delivery of land registration services online, reducing processing time and resources and satisfying citizens requirements, said Ms Emma, a senior staff of a central ministry. In summary, the interviews recognised certain limitations as follows: Limitations in application of information technologies in land registration services were obvious, with 67% of interviewees stating this issue. The deficiencies and limitations of a full deployment of cadastral data standards introduced in 2011, and the inconsistency of land databases, made the limitations of database integration one of the significant issues in the development of land information system in the country. One-third of respondents were concerned by this problem. Project-based land registration and cadastral mapping (spatial data collection in general) were conducted for a one-off project and were unlikely to be updated and maintained regularly, as set by the law, due to a lack of resources as well as inconsistencies of technologies used. Furthermore, a limitation of human capacity in land registration was found. The surveying results presented in Table 6.5 show that the majority (75 out of %) needed to visit more than one office to apply for LURCs. In fact, 43 participants (equivalent 200

221 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long to 35%) had to meet with more than five offices and agencies for completion of a LURC application. In addition, a few participants had to meet with all related organisations to deal with an application for LURCs. This was contradictory to the attempt of both central and local governments in terms of reforming land-related administrative procedures through the establishment of a one-stop shop system and its related policies and procedures in the country. Table 6.6: Number of organisations people needed to visit for LURC completion Number of organisation/s Number of respondents Collectively Percentage (%) The capacity of local government was clearly limited or had a weak user-focus. The group interviews at all three communities also confirmed the evaluation opinions and complaints of people on the lack of user focus of some staff. There had been no names mentioned, but these partly acknowledged the feedback of citizens concerning the quality of service delivery by local governments. In addition, the results of FGDs suggest that people at the grassroots level generally did not understand fully the regulation of related laws and guidelines; therefore, they followed the instructions of cadastral officers at communal levels. People attending the meetings at rural communities revealed that they requested (or sometimes, were requested by) cadastral officers to help personally complete land transaction procedures, including applying for LURCs. They needed to visit more than one organisation to complete procedures, including amendment of (unnecessary) supporting documents. The field observations showed that almost all grassrootslevel people did this. This was a habit of traditional villagers, where many of them were relatives. In most of these cases, people paid some money to these officers, unofficially. The same situation also occurred in measuring the time grassroots-level people had to wait for the results of their requested services from the local governments. Those who paid or agreed to pay some informal fees did not need to 201

222 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long wait for as long to complete the services, i.e. certification of land-related documents for land mortgages; but those who did not pay for this needed to wait for a few weeks up to several months. Finally, the lack of awareness of grassroots-level land users was recorded: there had been weakness in public awareness of the land users, especially at the grassroots level, in the rural areas. It was noticed that people did not know exactly what they had to do or which procedures they had to follow in applying for LURCs. These limitations led people to seek help from others by paying unofficial money. The FGDs revealed that participants were not really confident when they had to contact or work with the government authorities. At the three FGDs, the investigator also witnessed a number of cases revealing that land users refused to perform land registration due to several reasons. The grassroots-level land users, especially in rural areas where there had been no change in land use over a long period, were unaware of the risks in unregistered land transactions that they might face Barriers to participation in land registration services This section presents and discusses the experiences of land users participating in land registration services, by asking a simple question, What would be the biggest barrier to land registration services if you were selling or buying land? The results of responses to this question show that there have been a number of barriers that have impacted on the participation of stakeholders in land administration procedures, especially in the land registration process. As presented in Table 6.7, rather than the time consumed, or financial, professional or specific information, the administrative procedures were still problematic and were the largest barrier to the largest portion of participants - one-third (32.9%) - causing them to not undertake land registration when transferring land use rights. That is, one-third of participants indicated that the administrative procedures were complicated enough to prohibit them using registration services. 202

223 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Table 6.7: Barriers to participating in land registration services What would be the biggest barrier to land registration services, if you were: to sell land to buy land Average Percentage Complicated administrative procedures % Lack of land use planning information % High fees, charges and taxes % Lack of land value information % Time-consuming % Other factor % Total % The next-largest barrier was limitations in land use planning information, for 22.1% of respondents. However, there was a difference in the responses, between people selling and buying. While 22.1% of sellers revealed the limitations in land value information as being the second largest factor, 25.4% of buyers advised of the difficulty in accessing land use planning relating to land use purpose, land recovery and acquisition/consolidation, as well as land compensation, as being the second biggest impact for them in deciding whether to participate in formal land registration. Surprisingly, although many cases of complaints about the length of time taken for completion of land registration services were mentioned in the literature (Martini, 2012; World Bank, 2010, 2014). At the case study areas time-elapsed to process related services was not considered as a barrier by the majority of land users, both land sellers and land buyers. Of the responses, only thirteen sellers (10.8%) and four buyers (3.3%) stated that time-consumption was the biggest factor in the completion of land registration. This figure was of 7.08% of responses. However, as mentioned above in Section 6.3.4, this was also counted as a factor for increasing the petty bribery and corruption in the land sector, especially at the grassroots level. The outputs of the FGDs also suggested differences between factors, in comparison to the above statistical data. The detailed discussion shows that there were some differences between rural and urban communities. Attendees living in urban and peri-urban areas were most concerned about the limitation of land use planning out of 122 participants answered these two questions. 203

224 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long information, whilst citizens living in rural areas were more worried about the fees, levies, and taxes. There were more than thirty comments made from participants regarding the barriers on land registration services in the focus group discussions. The results are summarised and categorized into two groups, of land information provision and land policy practices, at grassroots level, as follows. For land information dissemination at grassroots level, the results show: More than two-third of respondents (73.33%) stated that the limitations and lack of land use planning information and documents affected their decisions in transferring land and involving land registration services. One-third of respondents mentioned the difficulty of accessing land value information for related land transactions, including selling, buying, and mortgaging. These people considered that this limitation was the most difficult for them to sell and buy land at the best prices. This difficulty was mentioned by 14.71% of respondents. For land policy practices at grassroots level, the research results show: The land-related fees, charges, and taxes were of concern to the attendees at the rural area FGD. All respondents indicated that these fees, charges, and taxes were still particularly high in comparison to their incomes. These high fees were the largest barrier to doing land registration for 57% of participants of the rural area FGD, and overall for 26.47% of participants of all three FGDs. At the urban and peri-urban area FGDs, the financial reasons were mentioned by lower rates of participants, 19% and 18%, respectively. There was a similar response regarding land related administrative procedures at the FGDs. Overall, 17.65% of participants stated that the administrative issues were significant reasons preventing them from participation in the land registration process. The figures were just slightly different between communities: with a range of 17 20% of participants. 204

225 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Only one respondent mentioned time-consumption in land administration services as a big issue. Others attendees just agreed that the land registration services took a longer time than the stipulated regulation, especially in the application for LURCs. Limitations existed in the dissemination of land use planning information, as interviewees perceived that they normally had to directly or indirectly contact cadastral officers to access land use planning information. The meetings noted that, in many cases, people had to pay unofficial incentives for that kind of information, which was sometimes considered as secret information: We do not know the procedures, in the last few months, when we sold one of our land parcels, we and the buyer had to contact with a communal staff to get the procedures done. We paid him a little amount of money to say thanks. That is normal and everyone does it, Ms Rebecca, 52 years old, revealed Informal land transactions Only 12% of participants indicated that they had informally transferred land across the three communes. However, due to the small number of respondents, the results are not conclusive. However, they have provided some indications of the factors in informal land transactions. The reasons varied, coming from financial issues, administrative procedures, timing, and legal status. Table 6.8: The reasons for transferring land informally Have you transferred your land informally? If Yes, why? Reasons Number of respondents Percentage Complicated administrative procedures 9 69% No land titles (illegal status) 3 23% High fees (financial issues) 2 15% Time-consuming (timing) 1 8% From Table 6.8, it can be seen that, of the participants who had transferred land informally, 69% stated that the complicated administrative procedures were the main barrier, while the legal situation was the reason for not doing registration for 205

226 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long 23% or participants. According to the Land Law, land users could only transfer land officially, providing that the land parcels have been issued LURCs (VNA, 2003). Time consumption was also not accounted as an issue to people, as only one respondent accounted this as a reason. However, in all three FGDs, about half of attendees agreed that the land registration services took a longer time than the regulations stipulate, especially in applying for land use right certificates. According to the attendees, they had to wait for from a few weeks to a few months for the administrative procedures to be completed: I have submitted my application for the red book and had to hand in some supporting documents a few times for a few months, and still have not yet received the red book, said Ms Sarah, 23 year old female worker. There was also discussion on transferring rural land informally in FGDs. This discussion suggested that, if the people have occupied and used land over a period of time, especially for agricultural production in areas without new land use planning projects, they do not really need LURCs. The majority of participants at the rural FGD revealed that they wanted to apply to obtain LURCs, but in case there was something which banned them from doing that, they would normally not continue the procedures to the end for years. Some people indicated that they have been staying there for a few decades, and inherited land from their parents; therefore, there had been no risk to continue to using land without LURCs. However, the output of the urban area FGD suggested that the biggest reason for which people transferred their land informally was not holding LURCs. A few participants revealed that they bought land from others and completed applying for LURCs after the purchase. Some highlighted the risks which land buyers may take if they buy land without registration; whilst another few participants objected and explained the low risk when both sellers and buyers know each other well, for example, as neighbours. Another reason was the high fees, taxes, and levies, some individuals deciding to not collect their LURCs because they were reluctant to pay the land levies for transforming land use purpose from agricultural land to residential land 206

227 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long from 40% to 100% of land price set by the government, depending on the time the agricultural land was occupied or allocated by the State. These informal transactions of land have in some way created an informal land market, which could result in land ownership disputes in the future. Therefore, this requires an improvement in public awareness campaigns at the grassroots level to reduce the informal transfer of land Support provided by local land administration authorities Individuals and households were asked to evaluate the support of local land administration authorities in specific land-related services and activities, including exchanging, transferring, inheriting, mortgaging, leasing, sub-leasing, and guaranteeing land use rights, and in two common activities, applying for LURCs and land subdivisions. Figure 6.2 presents a comparison of satisfaction of land users for the support of local land authorities and officers in different services and activities involved. Overall, there were 55% of participants satisfied with land administration services and activities. People evaluated highly the support of local staff for the related services of applying for LURCs (74% participants) and land subdivisions (66% participants). While the LURCs application activities establish the initial legal framework to implement other rights under land-related services, the subdivisions of land parcels occur more often in the rural and peri-urban areas due to the increasing expansion of families and rapid urbanization process. These results could be categorised into three groups. The most common services and activities (with an average of 67% of participants satisfied) were the inheritance of land use rights (63%), the subdivision of land parcels (66%), and the application for LURCs, in receiving the significant support from local authorities and staff (74%). The less common services (an average of 53.5% of participants satisfied) were transfer, exchange, and mortgage land use rights, receiving the acceptable support of local government offices such as land registration offices, cadastral 207

228 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long officials, and financial institutions, as well as heads of villages. The results ranged between 52% and 56% of participants. The services relating to less common processes (an average of 37.7% of participants satisfied), using land use right as guarantee, which had in fact never happened in rural communes of the case study, and leasing/sub-leasing land use right, received the lowest support of government agencies. 30% to 40% of participants satisfied with the support of government agencies and staff on these less-common services. Figure 6.2: The evaluation of support of government authorities and staff On the other hand, there were 45% of respondents who were not satisfied with the delivery of land related services by local related authorities and officers. Many of these evaluated the support of the local related staff and authorities as being below requirements (43%), and even far below their requirements (for the rest, 2%). The results of questions on the quality of support provided by local government authorities and staff by communities are shown in Figure 6.3. The scores were 208

229 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long computed based on the participants responses on a Likert scale 14, ranging from very poor (1) to very good (5). In general, the supports provided by local government authorities and staff in rural and peri-urban areas were evaluated as higher than they were in the urban area. On average, applying for LURCs received the best evaluation of stakeholders across all three communities, with an average score of In detail, it also received the highest score in both urban (3.00) and peri-urban (3.57) areas. Figure 6.3: The support of government authorities and staff The support of government authorities and staff for application for LURC service was evaluated as between meet requirement - fair and above requirement good. The service receiving the lowest score across all communes was support for leasing, sub-leasing land use right (2.43). The lowest evaluation was for the service, support for guaranteeing land use right in the urban area (2.20). 14 Each choice was given a numerical value, and a mean measured for all the responses was later computed. For example, in this case, a score of 1 relates to far below requirement, 2 means below requirement, 3 means meet requirement, 4 means above requirement, and 5 means far above requirement in the support of government authorities and staff. 209

230 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long For the application for land use right certificates, collectively, 28% of participants highly appreciated the support of local authorities and staff, and 46% indicated that the support met the requirements. There were only about a quarter of participants who evaluated the support as below the requirements (Figure 6.4). Figure 6.4: Evaluation of support in applying LURCs The discussion in the urban area FGD again reflected the results of surveying, where the support for applying for land use right certificates was highest, even though the discussion still advised of some limitations in the services: a few months ago, we were requested to apply for re-issuance of the land use right certificates. The reason for this request came from the government as the land had been resurveyed and the surveyors explained to us that the re-survey ensured the accuracy of measuring. Information about this was publicly displayed at the offices of the commune people s committee and through the local communication channel, as well as in the monthly community meetings. Even though I have not yet received the red books (some have received), I valued the support of the government in this context, Ms Sarah added to her speech quoted earlier. Similarly, the lowest score, which belonged to the support in land use rights leasing/subleasing, reflected a consistency with the results presented in Table 6.2, about the importance of land use rights to people, as well as the discussions in all the three FGDs. In the FGDs, there had been a few people relating their 210

231 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long understanding of releasing land use right and some people even did not understand the meanings of the term, Guaranteeing land use rights. There were some questions regarding the meanings of several land use rights asked by the participants during the FGDs. Having asked questions, participants showed their interest in land matters, for example as follows: I really do not understand about the releasing right and have no experiences about this. None of us did this right before. People in this area mostly sought the support of local offices for red books, for inheriting land, for selling and buying. Normally, the support of local officers was good but it took time to complete the requirements. They might be busy, said Mr Kevin, a 61 year old veteran. The differences between the results of questionnaires about support of government staff and authorities amongst the communities were partly explained in the FGDs. In total, there were sixty comments relating to the support of local authorities and government staff from the attendees. These can be summarised as follows: The support of local authorities and government staff was evaluated highest for activities related to the application for LURCs services. There was more than one-third of participants (22 out of 60, equivalent to 37%) who presented and shared experiences on the support of local authorities and staff regarding the activities for application for LURCs. Of these, 73% provided positive comments. This was the largest number of comments on this topic. The support for conducting land subdivision and inheritance of land use rights were positively evaluated by 18% and 13% of participants, respectively. The support for activities on lease and sub-lease of land use rights received only one comment. This suggested that the activities on leasing and subleasing land use rights at the local level were considered straightforward. The output of the urban FGD confirmed that the high support of government authorities and staff in services for applications for LURCs was considered highest, 211

232 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long as the majority of participants revealed that they mostly had contact with local government and staff regarding LURC issues. Only a few in the FGD indicated that they contacted government authorities and staff for other matters related to land. In the same manner, the outputs of the three FGDs revealed that the lowest level of support was considered to be for the sub-leasing services. This was consistent with the results presented in Table 6.2 how land use rights are important to people: There had never been a dispute arising concerning land lease in this commune. There had not been many cases, but villagers did land leasing simply by handwriting or even verbal communication, mostly short-term contracts. The local government knew this situation but did not require any party to register. This service, therefore, did not receive any support from local staff due to both sides, villagers and local staff, not requiring it, said Ms Moon, chairwomen of a civil society association of the rural commune. In addition, most of the attendees said that the most important land use right is the inheriting right. They also perceived that this is a basic right for every property as set by the laws. A few asserted that the most important right is that the land users can mortgage their land-use rights to access credits at the commercial banks, because land is a special asset: The inheritance is a basic right of every property, but land is special, the land is owned by State, we are just land users, but we have that inheriting right. For me, this is the most important right, it ensures that my children will continue to stay on and use my land when I pass away as I did before when my parents died, Mr Alex, a 61 year old veteran, shared. Even though individuals understood that they could mortgage their land-use right certificates to access loans from commercial banks, they were still confused about the procedures and size of loans that they could borrow: 212

233 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Ms Sanavath, 57 year old farmer, added: ten million dong was sometimes good for the families who had to pay their children s university expenditures in the city 15, but it was still too small, especially in comparison with the value of the land which is mortgaged. We have been told about the mortgaging our lands to the banks for money, but the local experiences showed that local commercial banks would not lend us more than ten million Dong. Ten million was a small amount for any economic development plan, even for a household s scale, responded Ms Atumm, a 48 year old housewife. On the other hand, the majority of attendees did not know their land price. A few had mortgaged their lands for access to credit; however, they did not really know the procedure of land valuation. All of them perceived the commercial banks as having applied the right prices set by the government: We do not know about the land price, the bank sent a staff to our family, he/she looked and checked the red book, asked us to fill and sign a form and then we received money after few days, normally, cash, said Ms Luna, a 26 year old farmer. These outputs were then confirmed by a DONRE staff. According to the information, due to the limitation on size of loans and the complicated procedures of the mortgage, many farmers hesitated to have contact with the banks, either commercial banks or banks for social policies for accessing credit. Disregarding the high interest and risks, many of them borrowed black credits when needed, especially in urgent cases Women s participation in land administration Related questions were included in the questionnaires to examine the participation of women in land-related activities. The results of the data analysis show differences from the attendance profile of FGDs, but unsurprisingly, at the grassroots level, men participated in meetings organised in the villages, as shown in Table 6.9. Traditionally, women in these areas, 15 HCM City or Can Tho City, where the living expenses are much higher than in Vinh Long Province. 213

234 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long like other rural areas, have been regarded as people who belong to home, expected to look after their husbands and children. Men take the lead to make any decisions of economic or legal issues. In rural villages, the attendees of meetings, formal or informal at village level, are mostly men; while the rates of women attending village meetings increased slightly in the peri-urban and urban areas, but only to about 20%. Nearly 100% of participants indicated that the LURCs should be issued with joint names, both husbands and wives, when responding to the question, Do you think the name of the women should be written on land titles? In fact, many women, especially in the rural areas, suddenly became landless when husbands sold the family land. Without sufficient legal protection LURCs with women names - they are at risk. Table 6.9: Who usually attend the village meetings? Community Rural area Peri-urban area Urban area Total Number % Number % Number % Number % Men Women Sum The outputs of FDG meetings suggest the idea of active participation of the grassroots-level citizens, especially women, in land-related activities. Meanwhile, in theory women have indirect or direct access to land to use land resources through their roles. The discussion was conducted by asking the same question at all the three FGDs, What would you do if your husband sells your family land unilaterally? Almost two-thirds of the women attending stated that they would actively object if their spouse unilaterally decided to sell the land without their consent. The outputs of discussions informed that the VLAP had conducted a public awareness campaign well, as the majority of attendees acknowledged that they understood the regulation of issuance of LURCs with names of both husbands and wives. They also pointed out some closely related regulations from the other related laws, such as the Law on Marriage and Family and Civil Code: 214

235 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long Nowadays, women are basically aware of the changes of land ownership rights as they undertake all tasks related to protecting family assets. Women may not always come out and say what they think, but they frequently think deeply about these issues and are often motivated to act. Actions like this improve timely action on the part of the family to protect their resources, said Ms Chiara, a representative of the rural area civil society association. Observations suggest that, in several cases, women were more centrally involved than men in ensuring timely completion of requirements from local project implementation. More women than men participated in surveying and data collection processes of surveyors. This is also to protect family resources, thus enhancing efficiency in projects operations Public awareness raising The data analysis indicates that the land authorities and local governments had implemented several public awareness campaigns to raise the awareness of the grassroots individuals on land administration related issues. These programs included gender perspectives in the issuance of LURCs, support policies to minority citizens, and rights, responsibilities, and restrictions on land as well as general administrative procedures. Although there had been some significant contributions of the public awareness-raising programs, the interviews of related stakeholders and the FGDs suggested limitations in these public awareness-raising campaigns at the grassroots level. These issues include: The majority of interviewees indicated that the materials used terminology that made it hard for individuals at the grassroots level to understand clearly. Examples are the use of several terms such as cadastral maps, cadastral documents, and land parcel technical documents; The implementation methods mostly involved using mass media systems at communal and village levels, without the community-level discussion; 215

236 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long There were local capacity limitations, including personnel, financial resources, and the participant mobilization mechanisms at grassroots level. The analysis of questionnaires shows that, in urban and peri-urban areas, citizens regularly received information on public awareness raising on land, especially in the roles of women in the land sector; while in the rural area, citizens rarely had opportunities to obtain such information fully. Table 6.11 presents that citizens living in urban and peri-urban areas regularly received more information related to land than did the rural citizens. There were only 12.5% of rural participants indicating they regularly received gender-related information in land management, whilst these figures for urban and peri-urban areas, respectively, were 55% and 40%. A few participants of the urban area case study did indicate, however, that they never received any information regarding gender in land management. Table 6.10: How often have you received information on gender in land management? How often Rural area Peri-urban area Urban area Total Number % Number % Number % Number % Regularly Rarely Never Sum Participants indicated that most of the information came to them through mass media channels such as national and local television or radio, and communal speaker systems; while some pieces of information were delivered to people through meetings at the local level such as in project documents (Figure 6.5). The majority of participants indicated that information was repeated regularly and was informative, but still needed to be improved, in terms of approaching local people, in availability times, length of items, and format. Collectively, 84 out of 96 (equivalent to 88%) of participants who had received the above-mentioned information indicated that they received information on public awareness raising from mass media channels, including television, radio, and the local speaking system. The percentages for rural and peri-rural areas were slightly 216

237 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long higher than for the urban area. However, for all three communities, the mass media channels were still the way by which most people received information about public awareness raising. The other method that worked efficiently in the delivery of information to citizens was through project documents, in this case, VLAP. The results show that more than two-thirds of participant obtained information through these media. Figure 6.5: Public awareness-raising channels at grassroots level On the other hand, the Internet still was not a common way for citizen themselves to explore information. 31% participants used this modern search engine for finding information to raise their own awareness. Although the use of the Internet for this kind of information surfing in the urban community was more efficient than that in peri-urban and rural areas, the percentage of participants exploring information by using the Internet was low, just 41% overall. It can be also seen that the rate of using the Internet for searching land-related information and services increased significantly when moving from rural community to urban community. Clearly, the infrastructure in the urban area could support the dissemination of information to citizens in a quicker and easier manner. Public awareness enhancing via project-based activities played an important role and contributed effectively to the results of the awareness program. Both leaflet/poster 217

238 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long and project documents were used for the provision of land-related information to raise awareness of communities. They, on average, brought information to twothirds (67.5%) of individuals at the grassroots level. However, the field observation and FGDs suggested that the project would cease and there might therefore be no more information to be provided to citizens by these means. The FGD output also advised that the traditional way of receiving information for grassroots stakeholders should be maintained, via village meetings where people come and can ask for information, formally or informally: Many people here and I attend most of the meetings, exchange information, ideas, and complete documents for registration and follow-up with our heads of villages. This is the best way to communicate officially with local government, receive information officially at the most suited time and places, Mr Anthony, a worker, attending the rural FGD, shared Discussion The above sections have presented the results of consultations with many stakeholders on the perceptions of land use rights, understanding of land administration, and evaluations of support of land authorities and staff in doing land registration services, as well as the accessibility to land-related information and land services. The key findings of these consultations on land administration can be summarized as follows: There has been unequal awareness of land administration between stakeholders: which is not surprising. Depending on the knowledge of stakeholders, they are aware of and understand land administration and its related information at different levels. The stakeholder consultations have suggested that, despite these facts and the differences of demands, functions, and responsibilities, the awareness of land administration of stakeholders was at a high level of competence. The understanding of land administration was good or excellent for all groups of stakeholders approached. The public stakeholders, those both 218

239 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long with or without the State administration on land functions and responsibilities, revealed that they were confident with their understanding and awareness of land administration; whilst the non-public stakeholders, such as in private enterprises, donors, and in academia, all needed to understand the land administration and its information for their businesses. At the grassroots level, participating individuals and households understood land administration and its related information mostly through the ways of implementation of their rights to land. The outputs of group consultation and questionnaire surveying suggested that the grassroots-level stakeholder awareness of land administration was also at the level of fundamental sufficiency. The role of awareness of land-related development, especially public awareness, has been discussed by Thellufen et al. (2009). They argued that effective and comprehensive public awareness and communications are essential factors for successful implementation of any land-related project. Providing that related stakeholders have been well informed prior to implementation of related services and jobs, stakeholders will participate actively. Good public awareness will ensure the trust of stakeholders in the government, in the delivery of landrelated services. This also helps the government to improve the system. From the results of stakeholder consultations, it can clearly be seen that, despite there having been an uneven awareness of stakeholders, the majority have been ready for change towards a modern land administration system with the support of ICT and the Internet. However, the awareness-raising campaign still needs to be implemented more effectively, especially at the grassroots level, to raise the level of participation in land administration activities under the user-centric SDI Land, once established. Perceptions of land use rights were uneven at the grassroots level: there has been an uneven perception of stakeholders on land tenure at the grassroots level. Individuals from different communities perceived land use rights differently. The perceptions of land use rights play an important role in the 219

240 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long implementation of good land administration, towards a user-centric land administration system that considers user community as a key service objective. Limitations in the delivery of land registration services: several limitations and barriers of the land registration services were mentioned and suggested by the interviewees, which could be grouped into policy, technology, human capacity (including weak professional ethics), and stakeholder public awareness. The delivery of land-related services, and land registration services, especially at this stage, is an important factor in ensuring that a user-centric land administration system works well and can serve as many stakeholders as possible. Policy regarding land registration needs to be improved by simplifying procedures and providing clear explanation to minimise the negative effects on the initial land registration, and helping the maintenance of registration of land use changes. Stakeholders also advised that the requirements of evidence of land use history in some cases are no longer appropriate, and that these become barriers, which should be removed to encourage the participation of stakeholders in land registration. In addition, as a consequence of unclear policy and weak investment in an integrated land information system, there has been an inefficient linking amongst stakeholders, which may lead the land registration to work ineffectively. Towards a user-centric land administration system, there should be a tight interconnection between stakeholders to establish an efficient linking, based on the application of ICT, for reducing the time to exchange information, increasing the accuracy of data, and enhancing the efficiency of public administration work. A comprehensive land registration system based on the principles of the fit-for-purpose land administration system should be in place to facilitate all existent data that have not yet been developed in accordance with the requirements of data standards, but which are still helpful in the determination of land use history. Such a system should allow the integration of scanned document images with appropriate formats and storage solutions (multipage, good resolution, pdf files; stored in single databases or 220

241 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long embedded directly in the database), and linking these with the appropriate land records so that the documents can be quickly searched and be accessible in the system. The updating of land data, including spatial data, and the change of usage information, should be then carried out continuously, in a timely and regular way, to ensure the updating of information and also enhancing the quality and accuracy of data, towards a spatially enabling society. Finally, staff training and capacity building should be implemented to increase the capacity of local staff and authorities, in both professional and customer skills. Low accessibility to land information by grassroots stakeholders: the level of access to land information by many stakeholders has also remained low: not only the detailed information on land parcels which can be served best with a land portal performing with support of an appropriate land information system -but accessibility to fundamental information related to land policies, administrative procedures, and land use planning, as well as land valuation, was difficult for individuals and households at the grassroots level, particularly through the Internet. The problems were identified through investigation of availability and interoperability of land information for stakeholders. Improved information dissemination and land administration services, including data interoperability, are required. The feedback from stakeholders is central to understanding the way they access information. There appears to be a significant dis-connect between the government s implementation policy for dissemination of land information through the internet, and the grassroots-level user needs. A number of possible reasons for this include: the internet infrastructure (speed and availability) may not be sufficient to meet this goal; the websites may be poorly designed resulting in many grassroots-level users not being able to find the information they need; many grassroots users may have limited internet skills, especially older users; and as mentioned in Chapter 5, there may be a greater social expectation of 221

242 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long face-to-face contact for important information exchanges, within cohesive communities. Of these reasons, the last possibility is likely to be the most difficult to change quickly. The government may need to consider changing its land information delivery policy to encompass dissemination by the Internet for government agencies, land professionals and perhaps the younger generation, while retaining manual delivery systems for some time for the majority of grassroots users. Lack of public awareness of grassroots stakeholders: the awareness of local stakeholders of land administration processes still remains weak. This limits, firstly, the rights of access to land for the local citizens and businesses, and secondly the development of a modern land administration system for the country. Local land users and businesses have been seen as the largest group of potential users of the system, so that their competent awareness will ensure the active participation in land administration services, and also put considerable pressure on the land authorities and staff for improvement of land service deliveries. The user-centric land administration system requires the active participation of land users in both spatial data and land information collection to keep the system up-to-date Chapter summary This chapter has presented the results of stakeholder consultations on their perceptions of land use rights, accessibility to land registration and land administration information, as well as participation in land administration, in Vinh Long. There has been a competent awareness of land administration and its information for the majority of stakeholders, from the central level to grassroots level, within the organisational level. Nevertheless, the perceptions of land use rights of grassroots-level stakeholders exist at unequal levels amongst participants and communities. However, there is just a slight difference in perceptions of land use rights between males and females, and of individuals with and without LURCs. The 222

243 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for User-centric LAS in Vinh Long delivery of land registration services at grassroots level continues to have many constraints, mostly in administrative procedures, support of government authorities and staff, as well as land-related policy regarding taxes, fees, and levies that land users have to pay for their applications for LURCs. The dissemination of land information at grassroots level contains significant limitations. Individuals are still not finding it easy to access land information. The participation of non-government and academic sectors in land-related policy consultations has been increasing, while the participation of the private sector in technical work within the land sector has remained limited. In addition, the weak awareness of grassroots-level stakeholders contributes a negative effect on the development of a modern land administration system. The results have included the perceptions of limitations and barriers in land administration, as well as opportunities that could support the improvement of the land administration system towards a modern system, reform of land administrative procedures, effective maintenance of the land database, raising of awareness for local citizens and businesses, and building of capacity for government staff and authorities. The development of the conceptual SDI Land model could benefit significantly from these results. Chapter 3 presented the literature reviews on SDI, its development in Vietnam and Vinh Long. That chapter also indicated some challenges and opportunities for the SDI Land development and implementation, then suggested the development of SDI Land in Vietnam in the next ten years, , as a user-centric model. Chapter 3 then concluded that there has been no comprehensive policy framework for SDI Land in the country. Chapter 4, in the same manner, presented literature reviews of land administration, and the current development of land administration in Vietnam and Vinh Long. The chapter also presented limitations in the land tilting process, land registration, and land information system development. Chapter 4 concluded that the 223

244 Chapter 6: Stakeholder Requirements for a User-centric LAS in Vinh Long development of an FFP land administration, towards concepts of a spatially enabled society in Vietnam, and in the Vinh Long context, is a necessity. Chapter 5 investigated the requirements of stakeholders for a user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long, which together with this chapter set a foundation for the discussion of the necessity of an SDI Land, and identify the main features and principles for its policy framework, to increase access to land information by all stakeholders. The next chapter will present the policy framework and a user-centric SDI Land. 224

245 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long 7.1. Introduction Chapter 3 presented the general concepts of SDIs, their common components and features, before narrowing to the development of an SDI to support land administration in Vietnam, and a user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long in particular. The literature review concluded that there were uneven developments in the SDI Land components in Vinh Long, with significant challenges. However, there were also some opportunities identified for speeding up the development process. The literature review was then enriched by the presentation of the results of stakeholder consultations in Chapter 5, which investigated the problems, challenges, and opportunities for a user-centric SDI Land development and implementation in the case study province. In the same manner, Chapters 4 and 6 presented, respectively, the literature reviews and the results of stakeholder consultations on land administration system towards a service-oriented system in Vietnam, from general and academic perspectives, on the reality of its development in Vinh Long. This chapter discusses the rationale for a policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land to support land administration at the provincial level in Vietnam. The rationale and policy framework presented in this Chapter is based on the findings from the case study fieldwork (as presented in Chapters 5 and 6) supported by the literature reviews (as presented in Chapters 3 and 4). The chapter commences with a summary of the development of SDI generation, discussing the needs of a user- 225

246 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long centric SDI Land in Vietnam, and proposing its hierarchy, before presenting the policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land in accordance with its common components, mentioned in Chapter 3. The chapter will then focus on recent approaches to spatially enabled government, industry and citizens, towards a spatially enabled society (SES). This chapter responds to the RQ4: What is an appropriate policy framework for a provincial user-centric SDI Land to support land administration system in Vinh Long? 7.2. SDI generation In the land administration sector, during the last few decades, the central and local governments focused mostly on the data collection and land registration for land titling processes. The data collection was conducted manually in the period from 1980 to In 1998 the land authorities began using information technology in data collection and cadastral digital database establishment with the support of FAMIS-CADDB software packages. These projects, with the main purpose of datacollection, continued until 2005, when the introduction of ViLIS software enabled these projects to be performed on the Intranet. The process-focus commenced concurrently with the introduction of the land registration office (LRO) system at both provincial and district levels. From the literature review and stakeholder consultations, it can be asserted that both data-focused and process-focused approaches have not yet been developed completely. The recent policy of the Government has indicated that the development objective of the land administration sector of Vietnam is to build a service-oriented land administration system (GoV, 2016; MONRE, 2014a; MONRE et al., 2015). As mentioned in Section (SDI development generations) and illustrated in Figure 3.10 (SDI development continuum), the next stage of development of SDIs is the third generation: a user-centric model based on the bottom-up approach (Budhathoki et al., 2008; P. Singh, 2009). Chapter 3 argued that no formal SDI policy has been developed in Vietnam. Furthermore, the SDI components have not been fully developed to support land administration comprehensively. 226

247 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long As presented in Chapters 5 and 6, the fieldwork findings indicate the high demand of stakeholders for land-related information and services. For instances, Table 5.1 presented information on evaluation of the importance land-related information to land users at the grassroots level. According to the calculated results, all of the landrelated information was evaluated as important by participants. However, as illustrated in Table 6.7, grassroots stakeholders considered complicated administrative procedures (32.9%) as the largest barrier to land registration services when selling or buying land. This illustrates the need for a user-centric model. The findings of the literature review chapters on spatial data infrastructures and land administration presented in Chapters 3 and 4, and of stakeholder consultation results presented in Chapters 5 and 6, as well as the state of information and communications technology (ICT) development, highlight the importance of a usercentric approach. They support the view of Government (GoV, 2013, 2015, 2016; MONRE, 2015a) that within the next ten years, , Vietnam should focus on the development of a user-centric model of SDI Land at provincial level where most of the land activities occur. The provincial level user-centric SDI Land will be able to support land administration in order to build a transparent system, reduce corruption, and increase access to land information by all stakeholders. The user-centric model of SDI Land can only be successful if the data- and process-focused approaches have been conducted fully. In this regard, the data collection (first generation SDI) and process purposes (second generation SDI) would still be supported under the usercentric SDI Land concept (Sadeghi-Niaraki et al., 2010). Once all provinces have had their own SDI Land developed, the integration of these to build the national SDI Land would be more efficient. As mentioned earlier, since the study conducted by the World Bank (World Bank, 2011), there has been no detailed analysis of SDI issues conducted by either researchers or government agencies. Therefore, it is argued here that the development of an SDI in Vinh Long is only at the stage of a conceptual study, to 227

248 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long propose a strategy and a vision for the development of an NSDI in Vietnam. Chapter 3 indicated there were several plans and programs (in 2005 and 2010) related to the application of ITC for land database development that has been approved by the government. The development of a land database, spatial data collection, and other features of SDI Land, have benefited from these plans and programs. However, neither a data- nor process-focused policy framework has been fully developed for SDI to support land administration in the country. The next section will present a discussion on the need for a user-centric SDI Land policy framework On the need for a user-centric SDI Land policy framework In Vietnam, the central government is responsible for policy development at the highest level, for example policy strategy or frameworks. The policy development process is continually evolving, particularly in the area of land administration (Dang & Ngo, 2008; T. Nguyen, 2010; VNA, 2013a). The Government has committed itself to developing an e-government approach towards an e-society. Therefore, in the land sector, it is necessary to foster policy development in order to support best practice in the development of the SDI for land administration (World Bank, 2010). However, with the exception of ICT policies for the land sector, there are no policy frameworks that relate to SDI activities spatial data and land information collection, management, access, delivery, and utilisation. This lack of a policy framework has significant negative implications for the development of an SDI for the land sector, as none of the SDI components, for either data- or process-focused models, have been fully developed. As mentioned, land administration has four functions, the management of land use, land tenure, land valuation, and land development. The functions all operate based on the main component, the land information system, of which the cadastre is the core engine (Williamson et al., 2010). As an information infrastructure, SDI has as its main activities to ensure the collection, management, access, delivery, and utilisation of land information and spatial data (Nebert, 2000). 228

249 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long In addition, when developed in conjunction with all government jurisdictions and the private sector, an SDI can be used to overcome many barriers to information access, such as: organisational boundaries; lack of consistent information standards; and use of incompatible or inappropriate technologies. By removing these barriers, the spatial information industry can improve the confidence of users, as they will have an understanding that the information they are using is suitable for their needs. To examine the needs of a user-centric SDI Land in Vietnam, the following sections summarise the issues related to the land administration and SDI functions, based on the literature review and the results of stakeholder consultations, and the benefits that a user-centric SDI could bring to user communities Shared data approach a cost-based analysis In terms of land administration and spatial data collection, the development of ICT, especially GIS technology, has evolved into more component-based designs. The recent developments of map server, web services, and business applications comprise components in designing databases and service portals that are shared across several government agencies in a country, and even at the regional scale. Architectural and interoperability compatibility thus requires direction from government. Within this effort, the land sector should ensure the provision of the land-related information and services, including geospatial data and land information, in terms of both accuracy and timing (Bennett et al., 2008; Enemark et al., 2005; Williamson et al., 2010). From this point of view, a common approach to technology standards, policy and regulatory issues, such as privacy, and information consent, is necessary. On the other hand, if agencies were to develop their own systems independently and in parallel, there would be significant duplication of effort, resources, and infrastructures; and the result would be a costly, fragmented, agency-oriented approach to service delivery (Harvey & Tulloch, 2006; Masser et al., 2008). In addition, as mentioned in Section (using, updating and sharing land information), there has been a low level of sharing land-related information based on a common infrastructure. This obstacle has caused the information to become 229

250 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long out-of-date and also limited the application of ICT in processing land-related services such as administrative operations for land allocation, land registration. Therefore, a shared platform would be a reasonable choice for the development of an infrastructure for accessing and sharing spatial data in general and SDI Land in particular. However, a shared platform would require extremely strong, sustained central leadership to bring separate departments together on this shared initiative. The potentially significant difference between the two approaches, individual and shared, is conceptually illustrated by Britton (2005), in Figure 7.1. Total cost is reduced VS Business opportunities to address WofG priorities Common platform Individually built systems Shared platform Figure 7.1: Cost comparison between two models (Britton, 2005) By using a shared platform, a key benefit is that government agencies together build an information infrastructure to integrate spatial data and land information and share these with other agencies. The information infrastructure such as the usercentric SDI Land model can only be built at a low cost if a policy framework is in place The benefits of an SDI Land As mentioned in Chapters 3 and 4, beginning around 1998, Vietnam started collecting cadastral data digitally, including cadastral maps and land registries, towards the development of a land information system. From 2005, when the ViLIS was deployed in some provinces as pilot projects, the development of a processcentric land information system commenced, but not nationwide until 2007, when the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) decided ViLIS 230

251 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long would be the main land information system software in the whole country (MONRE, 2007). During the last few decades, the development of SDIs has not appeared in any plans of Government. The implementation of land administration mostly focused on the completion of processes of issuance of land use right certificates (LURCs) and cadastral survey and mapping, and some activities related to land policy reform. This effort has achieved significant results (T. Do & Iyer, 2008; Saint-Macary et al., 2010). During the last decade ( ), several projects focusing on cadastral data collection and information system development for a land information system were implemented by the mobilisation of all available financial resources, including from the World Bank, ABD, NZAID, KOICA and Government (MONRE, 2008, 2015b; Pullar, 2013). Despite the above developments, there has been no SDI development conducted during the last few decades, due to there being no detailed long-term plans for an SDI Land. All documents mentioning the objectives of land administration system merely indicate the development objective of land administration system being to build a modern or multipurpose land administration system; however, as mentioned, in the last few years, the development of land administration system in Vietnam has mostly focused on data collection. The terms modern, modernisation, and multipurpose have been overused in the field of land administration at all levels of government of Vietnam. Government has invested a huge amount in the land sector, with the purpose of developing an online land information system, but none of the provinces has achieved this goal (MONRE, 2015b). Therefore, a policy framework for an SDI Land would emphasise detailed plans for the development of a user-centric SDI Land model within the timeframe of the next decade. Chapter 3 indicated that SDIs, where implemented in other countries, have provided significant benefits to the user communities, including citizens, stakeholders and government authorities, in having mechanisms for accessing spatial data and land information, rather than agencies developing a profusion of access 231

252 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long points and duplicating the underpinning infrastructure. Besides that, governments manage the best way to deliver land-related information and services to stakeholders and citizens. The user-centric SDI Land, once in place, could contribute to the overall goals of online business, e-government and supporting internal needs for land management to serve a citizen-centric society. In addition, the user-centric SDI Land provides a shared enabling architecture and technology, including software and hardware, standards for both services and technical requirements, and mechanisms to allow the development and management of a shared approach to the delivery of land information. As mentioned in Chapter 3, besides the general benefits of an SDI, the SDI focus on land administration would bring benefits to society such as: (i) reducing the time and the redundancy of spatial data and land information production; (ii) supporting access to spatial data; (iii) enhancing transparency of government and decision-making in landrelated issues; (iv) providing the foundation in a consistent and cost-effective manner for land administration; and (v) supporting maintenance land data integration and security. In Vietnam, SDI has not, until recently, been a feature of government programs; but it is becoming a priority of government in the form of component-based programmes (World Bank, 2011). The development of this approach requires the inclusion of many government authorities at all levels, and of other stakeholders, in business, the private sector, civil society associations, and academia. The inclusion approach requires sharing between stakeholders in the user community, through the regulation of policy. Therefore, a user-centric SDI Land policy framework should be in place at this time, for the journey forward to achieve e-government goals. The land administration vision proposed by Williamson, Enemark and Wallace (2006) 232

253 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long has been adapted to present the idea of importance of user-centric SDI Land for Vinh Long based on the country and province s contexts (Figure 7.2). Figure 7.2 illustrates the importance of the policy framework to the user-centric SDI Land. The SDI Land vision incorporates, at the centre, an effective and user-centric SDI Land that promotes improves access to spatial data, which will enhance the effectiveness of the land administration system. The result will be a 3rd-generation SDI and a modern and user-centric land administration system. Spatially enabled Land Administration Vinh Long User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework Implementing land administration functions of land tenure, land use, land valuation and land development Vinh Long User-centric SDI Land Facilitating SDI-related activities of data collection, management, access, delivery and utilisation e-government (iland: access to land information and services by all stakeholders) Vinh Long Context challenges and opportunities Country Context Figure 7.2: The importance of Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land policy framework (Adapted from Williamson et al., 2006 and Hopfstock et al., 2013) There are four key linkages for the user-centric SDI Land. Firstly, the user-centric SDI Land and the policy framework will be based on the country context. Secondly, the user-centric SDI Land will be designed and implemented based on its policy framework. The implementation of the user-centric SDI Land will also inform the policy framework, in a cyclical loop. Improved information provision will assist the development and implementation of a user-centric land policy framework. Thirdly, improved access to information and services, under an e-government approach in user-centric SDI Land, will mean that land administration is more effective at 233

254 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long determining, recording, and disseminating information about the tenure, value, and use of land. Finally, the user-centric SDI Land will support a more spatially enabled land administration system and, more broadly, spatial enablement of government, and will also be informed by the spatial enablement of the land administration system. Information is a key input and output of both land administration functions and SDI activities, for sustainable development (Hopfstock et al., 2013; Williamson et al., 2010). Land information is also one of six elements of an SES (Steudler & Rajabifard, 2012). Based on the cost-based analysis of a shared platform and the summary of SDI benefits, as well as the literature reviews on development of SDI and land administration in Vietnam, and the requirements of stakeholders on SDI and land sector presented in the previous four chapters, the sufficiency of the policy framework for a user-driven SDI specified for land administration is concluded within the present work. The policy framework, once developed, will be a useful mechanism for promoting best practice in SDI development, particularly in the area of increasing accessibility to land information by all stakeholders. The policy framework presented in Section 7.5 below is based on the five common components of SDIs and their main activities, datasets, user community, policies, standards, and technology, concluded and synthesised in Chapter 3; and land administration core functions, use, tenure, valuation, and development SDI Land hierarchy Rajabifard, Escobar, et al. (2000) apply a hierarchical spatial reasoning (HSR) concept for SDIs where the levels of administrative units could attach to a hierarchical model of SDI with strategic, managerial, and operational levels. The SDI hierarchy can be applied to any SDI, especially for a non-federal country such as Vietnam. 234

255 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long User-centric SDI Land hierarchy Based on the hierarchy and SDI generation presented in Sections and 3.2.4, and the administrative management model of Vietnam, the hierarchy for a usercentric SDI Land in Vietnam could be presented as in Figure 7.3. According to this hierarchy, a user-centric SDI Land would be organised mainly at the provincial level, both organisational, personnel, and database, based on the organisation of LRO and existing land authorities. The replications of SDI Land databases at district (managed under the function of BONREs if any), communal (managed by cadastral officers if any) or organisational levels might not need to exist in terms of physical actuality. However, they would still exist through digital access to the provincial database. Strategic less detailed data RSDI Database RSDI Database GSDI Regional SDI Operational Managerial Vinh Long DONRE BONRE BONRE BONRE BONRE BONRE BONRE BONRE BONRE BONRE NSDI Database more detailed data Database National SDI Backup Database Provincial SDI District SDI Commune 1 Commune 2 Commune 3. Commune n Communal SDI Figure 7.3: Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land hierarchy (Adapted from Rajabifard et al., 2000) As mentioned, there are three types of approaches: bi-directional link between the levels of data providers in the first generation data-centric; top-down approach 235

256 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long during the second generation process-centric; and bottom-up approach for usercentric generation in the SDI development. Based on this, the development of SDI Land for Vinh Long would focus at the provincial level only, the same functions and database access permissions being granted to lower levels (district and communal) fully; whilst at the national level, there would be a national SDI to aggregate generated information to high-level leaderships. Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land would have both managerial and operational functions in its hierarchy. The user-centric SDI Land would be a bottom-up approach, which is built upon the principles of the two preceding generations, and mostly magnifying the roles of the spatial data user community. Vinh Long User-centric SDI Land would mostly be based on the demands of the user community, including all stakeholders and endusers. Therefore, it would still be serving the goals of process- and data-focused models, as argued by Sadeghi-Niaraki et al. (2010) User-centric SDI Land institutional relationships There are both vertical and horizontal institutional relationships in a user-centric SDI Land. The relationships between stakeholders of different administrative levels for example, between Vinh Long and MONRE, or between Vinh Long and its districts - are the main vertical relationships which have been described in the HSR model. The main horizontal and vertical relationships between user-centric SDI Land institutions are presented in Figure 7.4. The horizontal relationships between stakeholders within the Province for example between Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DONRE) and Department of Finance (DOF) of Vinh Long are the main horizontal relationships. Besides these, there are some complex relationships between institutions trans-horizontal ones, for example between a commune of one district to a commune of another district within Vinh Long. 236

257 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Horizontal Relationship Vinh Long User-centric SDI Land Vertical relationship Provincial Office Department of Internal Affairs Department of Construction Department of Transportation DONRE Department of Finance Provincial Level Taxation Authority Department of Information and Communication Department of Agricultural and Rural Development Departments of... LRO s Branches LRO s Branches BONRE BONRE LRO s Branches LRO s Branches District Level Cadastral Officer/s Cadastral Officer/s Cadastral Officer/s Cadastral Officer/s Cadastral Officer/s Cadastral Officer/s Communal Level Horizontal Relationships Vertical relationships Trans-horizontal relationships Figure 7.4: User-centric SDI Land institutional relationships As mentioned in Chapters 4 and 6, the support of local land authorities to land users for implementing land-related activities such as applications for LURCs, enquiries for cadastral maps, and land use planning, was found to be at an acceptable level. However, citizens still needed to visit more than one government authority to undertake land-related services. In addition, the majority of citizens, as non-professionals regarding spatial data and land information, faced difficulties when carrying out tasks related to the use of resources that could be provided by a SDI Land once it has been in place. Also, as mentioned in Chapters 4 and 6, grassroots-level individuals revealed that there were some forms of corruption appearing when citizens worked with government staff for land-related services: for example, in enquiring for land use 237

258 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long plans, applying for LURCs, and seeking consultation on land matters. The benefits a user-centric SDI Land could bring to the Province rely on the above-mentioned institutional relationships to be appropriate to gain the best benefits. This was also mentioned in Chapter 3 and in Section A user-centric SDI Land would also result in more transparency in the provision of spatial data and land information, as well as in the provision of land administration services. The greater transparency and faster processes should help reduce opportunities for officials to behave in a corrupt manner by expediting or delaying access to information or the completion of land transaction decisions. Different stakeholders would find it easier to obtain the information and data they need by accessing the land portal established under the user-centric SDI Land. Increased transparency in planning and decision making processes would also reduce time and resources for implementing administrative procedures for citizens and businesses User-centric SDI Land policy framework components Based on the information presented in Chapters 3 and 4 the literature reviews on SDI and land administration development in Vinh Long as well as the results of stakeholder consultations presented in Chapters 5 and 6, this section presents some immediate solutions that could be useful for the datasets of the policy framework of a user-centric SDI Land for Vinh Long. The principles for developing the policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land presented in this thesis are as follows: 1. The user-centric SDI Land focuses on the needs of end-users rather than on the requirements of government authorities; 2. The user-centric SDI Land can only be achieved if the end-users see benefit in using it; 3. Government stakeholders are responsible for helping end-users understand what is possible with a user-centric SDI Land; 4. User-centric SDI Land end-users need to know what is required for government to deliver useful services to them; 5. User-centric SDI Land stakeholders know what is required to make it work; 238

259 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long 6. All stakeholders need to encourage end-users to use the user-centric SDI Land. The following sections present the contents of policy requirements for a usercentric SDI Land policy framework, based on the common components of an SDI Land mentioned in previous chapters Datasets As another information database, a user-centric SDI Land datasets policy framework has six key elements: data stewardship, compliance, security, share, quality, and documentation (Figure 7.5). The elements of a datasets policy framework would help to facilitate the functions of a user-centric SDI Land regarding datasets, including collecting, managing, accessing, delivering and utilising geospatial data for specific communities or purposes. User-centric SDI Land datasets elements Stewardship Compliance Security Sharing Quality Documentation Stewards Custodian Copyright Accountability Standards Legislation Regulation Privacy Confidentiality Sensitivity Access Rights Openness Reuse Accuracy Timeliness Value Metadata Consistency Taxonomy Figure 7.5: SDI Land datasets policy elements The data stewardship element is to present the information about the steward, custodian, copyright, and accountability of data (LINZ, 2014). SDI Land datasets need to be set requirement standards and regulatory roles by its stewardship at managerial level. At operational level, the data custodian ensures the requirements and standards set by data stewardship are met. Standards, legislation and regulation of datasets regulate the compliance of data in the SDI Land. These items set the standards the data producers have to obey when establishing data. These regulations are important to decide whether the data is readily able to interoperate with other spatial information. These standards 239

260 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long regulations will decide the opportunities for data sharing, which regulates the rights to access to spatial data from the data owners to other stakeholders, the openness, and the reuse of data (ESRI, 2003). The security element is important to keep data content safe, in terms of the privacy of data and information, especially related to the human ownership of land and properties, land owner information confidentiality, and the sensitivity of information of the data (NSW Government, 2013). In addition, the security element includes keeping hardware that hosts the databases so that the data is safe from all forms of disasters. In spatial data and land information, these common elements of datasets ensure that the spatial data and land information will be collected, managed, accessed, shared, and utilised by stakeholders efficiently. The element quality of SDI Land datasets regulates the accuracy of spatial data (NSW Government, 2013), such as the accuracy and updating of cadastral maps and land registries. This element decides the quality standard applied, geodetic framework used, and sometimes informs the technology used in collecting spatial data and land data. Metadata, consistency, and taxonomy of data are grouped into the documentation element to provide the information about data (data of data) informing the availability, quality and completion of data (FGDC, 2010) Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land datasets Much has been written about the contents of datasets of an SDI. In general, the datasets component of SDIs typically consists of: a spatial data framework such as geodetic control, and digital elevation; core data of SDI-focused disciplines; and added-value data. Based on the literature and results of stakeholder consultations, it can be concluded that the datasets of a user-centric SDI Land contain three main categories of spatial data. The first category includes a spatial framework incorporating a digital elevation model (DEM), and topographic and administrative maps. Aerial imagery is also included in this category, although it is worth noting that the spatial framework 240

261 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long (including aerial imagery) form part of the spatial framework under the FFP land administration approach. The integration of imagery in the base maps was argued a long time ago by Chrisman and Niemann (1985) in their paper proposing a multipurpose cadastre. Vegetation Soil quality Construction Transportation Added-value data Hydrography Geology Land price maps Land use planning Land use Cadastral maps SDI Land main datasets Topographic maps / Administrative maps DEM/TIN Aeriel photos Foundation data Figure 7.6: SDI Land datasets layers The second category consists of cadastral maps, including land registries to represent the land tenure and building ownership information; land use planning to represent land use and land development; and land valuation maps to represent land valuation and taxation. 241

262 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long The third category is value-added spatial data, such as transportation maps, urban planning maps, and hydrographical maps. All of the above-mentioned spatial data layers are registered on a geodetic reference framework (Figure 7.6). As presented in Sections , and on the importance of land-related information and perceived land use rights to stakeholders, the core data of SDIfocused disciplines, containing cadastral maps (land parcel location), land use planning information, land use information, and land valuation information were all evaluated as being significantly important to grassroots individuals. However, in the same manner, as other provinces (mentioned in previous chapters), in Vinh Long data is usually collected via particular projects. The issues are that the data is not updated regularly or shared between different province s departments. Therefore, data is often not available for all users. Based on the collection periods, technologies mobilised, and standards used, the quality of data might be inconsistent, not collected, or redundant, creating a lack of integration of data, and inconsistency in accuracy of information, as well as limited metadata development. These problems create an obstacle for development and implementation of the user-centric SDI Land. Nevertheless, as mentioned in Chapters 3 and 5, the datasets component of SDI Land was basically well-developed in comparison to the other components. In detail, the development of core data for an SDI Land has achieved significant results. The cadastral maps in both digital and analogue formats have covered almost the whole province approximately 96% with good quality and digital format availability; but the metadata for cadastral maps is not yet fully developed. According to the recent statistics, around 50% of this kind of data was associated with metadata. The other spatial data, including land use maps, land use planning maps, topographic maps, and administrative maps, are necessary and provide added value for datasets of SDI Land, and are also available in digital format. However, these kinds of spatial data are generally not associated with metadata. 242

263 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Since the cadastral data is considered as the core component of datasets, the integration of as many data types as possible could maximise the benefits of end users in terms of delivery of services to citizens, and increase of interaction of other stakeholders. The datasets also requires consistency in data formats, accuracy, quality, and referencing frames, for implementation of service delivery at the best quality. To do this, several solutions based on the availability of data in Vinh Long could be taken into consideration, including: spatial data management solution; integration of aerial photo and scanned documents; consistency in data formats and referencing frames; requirements in data accuracy and quality; and development of metadata Spatial data management Spatial data, both for government use and community use, should be assigned to an agency with certain rights, responsibilities, and functions, for the collection and management on behalf of the user community. Together with the development of ICT, spatial data have been, not surprisingly, considered as soft infrastructure contributing significantly to economic development (Button, 2002), and have increased their impact on both poverty and inequality reductions (UN-HABITAT, 2011). As with the other resources, spatial data need to be made available with several conditions on accessibility, quality, and format, as well as standards. These conditions usually relate to the functions and responsibilities of a certain stakeholder. The efficient collaboration on interagency agreements would ensure the accessibility of spatial data and land information. Initially, a spatial data management policy is required, starting with a set of principles for the responsible management of spatial data as an important national resource, serving the SDI Land. This spatial data management policy requires commitment from all related stakeholders, to cooperate in the implementation of the SDI Land. The policy should build upon tight cooperation with all related government departments, to make spatial data more accessible and improve institutional arrangements to avoid duplication and overlap in the collection and 243

264 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long maintenance of data. The policy should include agreed principles on access, data conformity and quality, as well as data content, to engage other stakeholders participating in data collection, updating and sharing, to eliminate the data redundancy and clear the monopoly situation in spatial data management. In case of Vietnam, the cooperation with regards to the SDI Land datasets should commence with the regulation on how datasets, especially the core components of spatial datasets are made available, shared and updated between stakeholders, especially government departments. For instance, cadastral maps would be key information for any other land administration activities. These maps should be more accessible and free of charge between government stakeholders. The mechanism for verifying data before they can be updated by land authorities and other institutions should also be formed to regulate the updated information Integration of aerial photo and scanned documents The datasets of the user-centric SDI Land would integrate other kinds of data and information such as aerial photos, and scans of related documents such as historical information on land occupation and use. The integration of aerial photos would facilitate affordable modern technologies rather than ground surveying methods, especially for maintenance of land use and land ownership changes. The utilisation of aerial images in the Province should focus on certain remote areas, and also on serving the purpose of the SDI Land by providing security of tenure and control of land use. This would also allow the land administration system to be incrementally improved over the time (Enemark et al., 2015). As mentioned in Chapter 3, there has been aerial photography covering 50% of the Province area with full metadata developed. Most of the aerial photography data were collected to serve the pilot project named establishment of high accuracy GIS database for flooding reduction and adaptation purposes, commenced in The boundaries in agricultural land are expected to have changed little in the last 10 years since the majority of this imagery was obtained. Under a fit-for-purpose approach, the utilisation of these photos would help to eliminate the cost for ground surveying 244

265 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long in the remote rural areas where not many transactions of land use have occurred. Therefore, in accordance with the fit-for-purpose land administration (FFP) principles 1 and 2, which have been developed and applied in many countries (Bennett & Alemie, 2016; Enemark et al., 2014; Lemmen et al., 2016), the utilisation of aerial imagery and scanned supporting documents is an appropriate solution in place of field surveying especially in rural agricultural areas. The integration of aerial photos and all kind of supporting documents into an SDI Land dataset would support the enhancement of data collection processes and ensure flexibility in the spatial data capture by means of varying data sources. Aerial photography helps to determine the current land use quickly, and allows efficient solutions for dealing with the change of land use, especially in dealing with climate change and natural disasters. In addition, the utilisation of aerial photos supports inclusion in scope to cover all land tenure types quickly and cheaply. Finally, aerial photos and the scans of different kinds of supporting documents would encourage the participation and support of the community in data capture to eliminate errors. From the view of system development, the use of aerial photos and scanned documents could be considered as the integration of the lower level of accuracy documents and information in comparison to the ground surveying results. However, it would be appropriate for the remote areas, and the system could still be upgradable with regard to incremental improvement over time in response to the needs and opportunities of society (Enemark et al., 2015). Steudler (2016) argues that these related ideas are not a step backward in the land administration system development process Consistency in data formats and referencing frames The literature review in Chapter 3 and the result of stakeholder consultations presented in Chapter 5 indicate that the inconsistency in data formats and referencing frames might lead to an inefficient integration of an SDI Land database. This issue might also limit the effective re-use of spatial data and reduce the benefits 245

266 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long for stakeholders. Therefore, to maximise the benefits of stakeholders, consistency in data formats and referencing framework is a must. Consistency in data formats would increase the utilisation of spatial data of many stakeholders, reduce the redundancy of data, and facilitate the efficiency of output data. This requirement can be achieved through the data standardisation process. It would firstly require policies or high-level guidelines on data format standards for the data contents, and technical standards for referencing frames. For instance, all cadastral maps where possible need to be constructed and digitised by mapping office software packages such as MicroStation using DGN format, and to be converted into databases managed by ViLIS software that use shape file of the geodatabase concept supported by ESRI. On the other hand, all kinds of thematic maps such as land use planning maps and land use maps need to be constructed in or transformed to the same geodetic frame, VN2000, using the same central meridian, to minimise errors due to the transformation of coordinating systems Consistent data accuracy and quality required The differences in data accuracy, especially spatial data cadastral maps, with other thematic maps might lead to the inefficient integration of data, creating low quality outputs for other purposes. This requirement seems to be inconsistent with the idea mentioned in Section , about the integration of aerial photos and scans of supporting documents; this requirement, however, also needs to be applied for spatial data that have been acquired modern technology. A technical requirement of spatial data accuracy would be applied to regulate the consistency and clear identification of data accuracy. Also, in accordance with the FFP principle 3 (mentioned in Section 4.1.6), the accuracy of data, especially spatial data, needs to relate to the purpose of administration rather than to the technical development. Therefore, for the areas for which spatial data have not been collected at a high level of accuracy, the use of 246

267 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long aerial photos and scanned supporting documents could be considered as an appropriate solution. When the budget permits, the accuracies of data could be improved to meet with higher requirements of both government and citizens. This is suitable with the fourth FFP principle, of ensuring updating, upgrading, and improvement Metadata As mentioned, metadata is an important part of data, especially in the era of interoperability. It is required to promote a consistent standard of description of core information about the data elements. Metadata are used to identify which data exists, and describe content, quality and geographic extent of data to enable users to assess the suitability of data for various purposes, and to indicate where more information about the data can be obtained. Metadata assists the access, use, transfer and management of data, especially when managing the FFP with more accurate data. Of the metadata attributes, spatial accuracy is important to inform the quality of spatial data as mixed methods of obtaining accuracy and potential upgrade of some elements over time are proposed under the user-centric SDI Land. A user-centric SDI Land requires the active participation of its user community. However, as mentioned, the stakeholders will only involve themselves if they see the benefits they can obtain or procure. From the stakeholder engagement perspective, metadata would play an extremely important role in presenting the availability and interoperability of spatial data to all stakeholders with quality fitness for various purposes. In creating a user-centric SDI Land, metadata will provide data producers with information to: characterise their geographic data properly; assess the data quality and accuracy of sources; facilitate discovery, retrieval and re-use of spatial data and land information. Metadata will help stakeholders to locate, access, evaluate, and download data to use for their own purposes; and to enable the user community, especially end-users, to seek and apply spatial data most effectively. 247

268 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Development of metadata takes time, but does not involve complex technical requirements. Vietnam can quickly apply International Standards of metadata, for example, the ISO 19115/International Metadata Standard for Geographic Information, for development of metadata for all kinds of data. However, it requires a data policy to regulate the metadata-related issues. In addition, stakeholders the data producers - need to have a greater awareness of the role of metadata. Regulations enforcing the recording of metadata may meet some resistance from the data producers as developing additional metadata records can be time-consuming. Therefore raising awareness is necessary to convince stakeholders of the usefulness to their own organisations and their own key stakeholders Integrity of database structures Inconsistency in database structures might lead to the failure of database integration and synchronisation of data between administrative levels, for example, between communal databases and the district database. The integrity of database structures requires a database policy to regulate the related issues. These would be easier to overcome if the database structures of different land information system software are made public. This, therefore, would support stakeholders to develop tools for database standardisation and integration Stakeholder demand for land-related geospatial data As presented in Chapters 5 and 6, land data and information was deemed important to the majority of stakeholders approached. Government, the private sector, NGOs, academia, civil society associations, and individuals need land information and data at the different levels. What data do government need? One of the most important functions of a user-centric SDI is to deliver public services to citizens, and enable individual and stakeholder involvement in collecting, updating and sharing information in the system. Therefore, the requirements of datasets of government departments are significant. The user-centric SDI Land datasets will provide government agencies with 248

269 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long information they need for their daily jobs through direct accessibility with rights and functions assigned. Datasets including all land-related data collected by government stakeholders at all levels for any purpose, such as government administration, and research or service delivery related to land administration, should be included in the datasets of SDI Land. At the central level, the government ministries, such as natural resources and environment, transportation, construction, information and communication, agricultural and rural development, finance, and taxation have their own demands in spatial data and land information. MONRE, the main responsible agency for land administration, and SDI development, as the main stakeholder of SDI Land, is responsible for implementation of the model of SDI Land at both national and subnational levels. According to the responsibility of MONRE for land administration and spatial data, the data on land the central agencies need are general information about the land use, land tenure, land valuation, and land development. This information should be synchronised and generated from the detailed database managed at the provincial level. An example of best practice was the synchronisation of the database of the land statistics and inventory from the local to the central level. At the provincial level, the same as with the central-level stakeholders, provinciallevel departments have their own demands for land information and spatial data. However, their demands on the information are detailed. Therefore, the datasets of SDI Land should contain all detailed information about land use, land tenure, land valuation, and land development. As mentioned in Chapter 5, the demands of provincial public stakeholders are the accessibility to land information directly to reduce time dealing with customer requests, and increasing the accuracy of decisions made. In detail, DONRE, as responsible for land administration at provincial level, needs the datasets to be as detailed as possible. The cadastral data would be the core 249

270 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long component of datasets for presenting the land tenure; whilst the other layers of land use and land use planning presenting the land use, land price maps presenting the land valuation, land fund maps and land use planning maps presenting the land development, and imagery presenting land occupation and parcel fences would be integrated. As such, the data provincial department required would contain several kinds of data, as mentioned in Chapter 3. The other stakeholders at provincial level would have different demands on the information from SDI Land to serve their communities and purposes. What data does the private sector need? The private sector mostly works with land data and services through implementation of consultancy or service contracts provided by the governments at central or local levels. Therefore, the demands of the private sector in land data and information are different from those of the other stakeholders. Private companies usually need to access the geodetic network database to find and get details of control points, and to seek referencing maps for establishing new ones or updating old ones. The private sector also needs detailed data of land parcels to serve their customers in land subdivision services and resurveying. The results of their services would be of benefit to the datasets managed by the Government in terms of improvement of accuracy, quality and updating of spatial data. Data priorities for grassroots level: as presented in Chapter 5, the accessibility to land information at grassroots level is limited due to several reasons, including both subjective and objective reasons. As one of objectives of the user-centric SDI Land is to increase access to land information by the user community, of which the grassroots-level user group shares the largest part, some solutions could be considered regarding datasets. There are two things that can be improved to achieve this purpose: the contents, and the methods of information provision. As mentioned, grassroots-level stakeholders demand information about applications for LURCs, land use planning, and land valuation. The information on land use planning and land valuation were both evaluated as significantly important to 250

271 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long individuals when buying and selling land, and were not easy to access by individuals, by either traditional or modern approaches. In particular, the unavailability of spatial data on land prices in either hard or digital copy might cause individuals confusion in finding the land price for a particular location. Therefore, one of the priorities of datasets should be to deliver this information to citizens by both traditional methods and through the Internet. In conclusion, at the grassroots level, the provision of information should be considered by both traditional and modern means. For example, in the urban area, people find it easy to access the Internet for seeking information; whilst in the rural areas, the traditional village meetings are the best channels. Young people tend to access the Internet more easily than do the older people. Therefore, the deployment of traditional channels for provision of land information should be conducted concurrently with the modern methods User community SDI Land is an integrated network of land data producers, distributors, and consumers. In the present research, the SDI Land user community could be identified as stakeholders involved in SDI Land, including: government departments who play roles as the policy makers, data producers, service providers; industries including the private sector, NGOs, and civil society associations, who play roles as data producers, service providers, brokers, resellers, and end-users; as well as individuals at grassroots level who play a role as end users. This classification of stakeholders was based on the model of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) identified by Hjelmager et al. (2008). According to the model, stakeholders of a general SDI are identified by their roles, such as policy making, data and service production, information broking, value-added reselling, and end use. As presented in Section 5.3.2; and Tables 6.5, 6.7 and 6.10; creating a more effective link between data and users involves identifying the right stakeholders, building capacity for them and enhancing public awareness. Table 5.8 presented the list of 251

272 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long issues identified during the fieldwork including weak partnerships, limited awareness of SDIs, low public awareness, lack of data sharing mechanism and overlapping functions and responsibilities. The following requirements for the policy framework for SDI Land for provincial level includes the identification of user-centric SDI Land key stakeholders and engagement and collaboration of stakeholders User-centric SDI Land key stakeholders As illustrated in Table 5.8 and discussed in Section 5.3.2, limitations in partnerships with the user community was seen as a key issue. Also, the desire by grassroots stakeholders for less complicated administrative procedures to reduce this barrier to land registration services when selling or buying land is acknowledged. Based on the ICA model of stakeholders of SDI, there are six kinds of stakeholders, comprising policy makers, producers, providers, brokers, value-added resellers, and end users. Their descriptions are summarised as follows and in Table 7.1. Table 7.1: Type of stakeholders in the SDI Land (adapted from Hjelmager et al., 2008) Stakeholder Policy makers Producers Providers Brokers Value-added resellers (VAR) End users Description Government departments who set the policy pursued by SDI Land and its stakeholders Who produce related data and services Who provide related data and services Who bring users and providers together Who add new features to an existing land data and make them available as new data Who use data, services provided by SDI Land for their purposes Policy makers: As mentioned before, MONRE was responsible for the development and implementation of the land administration system and its related strategies. It, therefore, on behalf of the Government of Vietnam, is the main policy maker. Other related ministries at central government include the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) with responsibility for development of ICT strategy - 252

273 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long the Ministry of Construction (MOC) with responsibility for state administration of construction and building - and the Ministry of Transportation (MOT) with functionalities of transportation development, etc. Producers: under MONRE and its departments and general department, the major official data and services producers are the surveying departments, land registration and statistics departments and offices, and land legislation departments. The surveying agencies are responsible for producing and managing geodetic frameworks and networks, aerial photos, and other activities related to surveying and its production. Land registration and statistics departments and offices are responsible for cadastral data and land registries. On the other hand, private companies, NGOs, and communities involved in the data collection process, including surveying, registering and collecting information, verifying information and updating data through procurement processes or stakeholder participation engagement initiatives, are also considered as producers of an SDI Land. In the same manner, at the local levels, provincial and district, the DONRE and its subsidised departments, such as land-related divisions, land registration office and its branches, surveying centre, and information and technology centre, play the roles of producers. The knowledge of the data producer is identified at different levels, from a professional database administrator with very high-level skill, in database management, to an amateur producer with low-level skill, in the surveying process. Provider: all data and services will be delivered to the user community. The usercentric SDI Land employs many kinds of provision of information and data, from the SDI Land portal, which allows stakeholders to access data for exploring and updating these, to the traditional methods, through village consultation meetings at grassroots level. As the user-centric SDI Land will mostly serve the communities in land administration services and information, the Land Registration Office at provincial level would be an appropriate agency to manage and implement the services as a provider. 253

274 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Brokers: under the ICA model, a broker has been described as a stakeholder who brings users and providers together. No facilitator was identified in the literature and during the fieldwork. Therefore, it could be concluded that there is no clear role for broker stakeholders in the user community in the SDI Land at the current stage in Vietnam, particularly in Vinh Long. In the ICT era, within the next ten years, as value-adding resellers become more involved the information will be considered more like goods. For example, this may occur with enhanced cadastral maps used for market-analys by a mobile phone service provider, or through users retrieving updated and accurate addresses for a navigation device (including software). Therefore, the role of broker stakeholders may be more evident and recognised. Value-added resellers: many stakeholders, government authorities, and geospatial industries that gain benefits from the data provided by an SDI Land can play roles of value-added resellers. Local navigation service providers and real estate agencies are typical examples of this type of stakeholder. Policy Makers: Providers * Government * MONRE * MIC * MOF * MOC * MOT * PPC * DONRE Datasets Spatial data/land registry Metadata * Etc. * Notaries * Banks * Taxation authorities * CSO * NGO * Investors * Private sectors * Grassroots individuals End users Policies Policy, laws Legal documents User Community Stakeholders Institutional arrangement Standards Data standards Service standard *Public service agencies * Real estate agencies * Private companies Brokers Technology Hardware, software Access networking * LROs * Surveying agencies * Private companies * IT centres * Land departments * Etc. Producers *Tourism companies *Publishing houses *Public service agencies * Real estate agencies * Private companies Value-added Resellers Figure 7.7: Key stakeholders of the provincial user-centric SDI Land User Community 254

275 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long End users: grassroots-level citizens, businesses, government authorities and employees, related consultants, banks, taxation authorities, financial institutions, and private companies, are the main end users of an SDI Land. Figure 7.7 presents the key stakeholders that comprise the Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land user community. In line with the institutional relationships presented in Figure 7.4, the organisational arrangements of Vinh Long, and functions and services of stakeholders, the key stakeholders of Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land would include policy makers, providers, producers, value-added resellers, and endusers. Many stakeholders play more than one role in the SDI Land. For example, the financial institution at provincial level can play the role of a policy maker when deciding a policy which affects the SDI Land in terms of fee collection mechanism, and can play the role of an end-user when accessing the SDI Land datasets to verify information for appraisal of an investment project; or, a notary office can play the role of an end user when accessing to the SDI Land to verify information, concurrently playing the role of a data provider when updating information on a land-parcel related transaction Stakeholder collaboration requirements As mentioned in Section and Section 6.2.2, there have been some limitations in Vietnam that may result in significant consequences to the development and implementation of an SDI Land. These issues include limitations in partnerships, limitations in awareness of SDIs, lack of a mechanism for data sharing, and overlap of functions and responsibilities. To overcome these issues to increase access to land information, an appropriate framework of stakeholder collaboration is required. The user community framework, based on the participative approach and transparent decision making, will motivate the Province to invest resources in a user-centric SDI Land master plan. The consultations with stakeholders need to be included in the development strategy of SDI Land, to maximise stakeholders 255

276 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long understanding of the benefits of a user-centric SDI Land. Strong user-provider relationships are required to facilitate the network access and sharing of SDI datasets. A good collaboration of stakeholders expands the boundaries of the SDI Land and creates new relationships between the traditional roles of consumers and providers. The collaboration network also benefits and enriches the development of the SDI Land, in both policy making and dataset development. Therefore, a policy that engages collaboration between stakeholders in SDI Land development is necessary. As mentioned, there are many parties involved in spatial data collection and use, along with survey and mapping organisations and agencies at the central level. They all play an integral role in SDI Land activities, once it has been established. It is important to encourage cooperation, collaboration and communication amongst stakeholders, as much as possible. The participative approach should be considered to build common interests. This involves a participative process among the representatives of stakeholders whose database systems already exist. Stakeholders will then need to agree on common standards and procedures. This may be difficult due to the existing functionalities and responsibilities, as well as differences in databases and system configurations of different disciplines. However, the process should begin as soon as possible to come to an agreement in stakeholder policy, which would require the participative approach and a transparent decision-making process. Regulation of user community policy has to include and convey the need for consistent processes, and will lead to an acceptance of the need for change. This also means that the main stakeholders of the user-centric SDI Land need to communicate widely and effectively to reach other stakeholders. Interconnection and collaboration are key principles for developing any common use system, database, or infrastructure, especially for the information and spatial data which has been considered as a highly sensitive soft infrastructure. Therefore, the stakeholders need to be engaged to build strong relationships. The successful 256

277 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long establishment of relationships between government agencies, and between government authorities and non-government entities, for common regulations in SDI Land, will gain valuable inputs to identify and validate the opportunities to facilitate the development of an SDI Land. The tight collaboration of stakeholders also improves the quality of the final decision and output through to the SDI Land user community, and related policies for increasing access to relevant land information and spatial data. Furthermore, the interconnection between stakeholders supports the development of a working model for the ongoing management of the user-centric SDI Land. Finally, the strong relationships of stakeholders, between users and providers, provide transparency, accountability and integrity to the development and implementation of a user-centric SDI Land model User community policy requirements Based on the results of stakeholder consultations and literature reviews, there are several requirements that need to be conducted under the policy framework to establish a user-centric SDI Land to facilitate a platform for enabling data access and sharing. These requirements include: changing to an ICT-based system in which government stakeholders implement their functions and responsibilities with the strong support of ICT; eliminating overlaps of functions and responsibilities of government authorities; raising the roles of the private sector; and raising public awareness at the grassroots level. These actions would improve the knowledge and awareness of stakeholders to ensure they know of the availability of data and services, system performance, and improvement of ICT literacy, in order to facilitate the implementation of e-government. Each of these user community requirements involves very significant changes. Therefore it is possible that there will be strong resistance to these recommendations by some stakeholders. Government departments: as mentioned in Section 5.2.1, there has been a lack of familiarity of SDI by interviewees of both central and provincial government departments. Several constraints need to be overcome by the government stakeholders to develop and implement successfully an SDI Land, especially a user- 257

278 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long centric model. The first requirement, coming from the largest issue of limitation in partnership arrangements, is to strengthen the partnership of stakeholders. The fact is that every department has their own power associated with their functions. Therefore, to seek a common agreement between them is not an easy task. The stakeholder engagement would help to lower their individual powers and strengthen the collaboration amongst public stakeholders, which would affect the policymaking process. The second requirement is to build a mechanism for data sharing associated with the stakeholder responsibilities for access, use, and sharing of spatial data and land information. This technical requirement should commence with training concerning the common benefits of sharing datasets under an SDI Land. Therefore, no duplicated investment would be made for creation of the same products, even immediate products. Furthermore, the reluctance to change to an ICT-based system of stakeholders needs to be overcome. Private sector: as mentioned in the above section, a strong relationship between stakeholders with the same roles or different roles - is needed. The private sector in land administration mostly plays all roles of stakeholders, excluding policy making. The improvement in their capacity to provide services in the land sector is important to create a strong market of technical services, and create equality between state-owned enterprises and the non-state sector, especially private companies. The responsibilities, rights, and restrictions in participation of the private sector in a user-centric SDI Land should also be indicated: to ensure the security of datasets and information; to protect the privacy of land ownership information; and to respect the information consent requirements. These requirements are noted in Section Policies to support a user-centric SDI Land. Grassroots stakeholders: as presented in Section , only a quarter of participants used the Internet for searching land-related information. This was further illustrated in Figure 5.1 which reported on the low ICT literacy of grassroots-level stakeholders. Therefore, one of the most important goals for 258

279 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long individuals, households and civil society associations the members of grassrootslevel stakeholders of a user-centric SDI Land is to raise awareness of the benefits of SDI Land to them, and how they can use the system. This can be achieved through the development and implementation of appropriate action plans for public awareness-raising programs, improvement of ICT literacy for grassroots-level citizens, and stakeholder engagement campaigns to encourage the participation of citizens in data development. As mentioned in Chapters 5 and 6, due to the awareness of grassroots-level stakeholders being weak (especially on SDI-related topics), a public awarenessraising policy needs to be included in the requirements of a user-centric SDI Land user community. The public awareness raising can be conducted by various approaches. The first step would be via formal and informal workshops on land policy, land information system, and land registration at local levels to train a number of trainers (ToT). The workshops should mostly focus on the benefits, rights, restrictions, and responsibilities of land users. The engagement process to encourage citizens to participate in and complete land registration processes needs also to be conducted. In addition, the questionnaires and FGD meetings outputs suggests that the ICT literacy of grassroots individuals remains significantly limited; thus, as presented in Chapters 5 and 6, ICT literacy improvement for grassroots-level citizens needs also to be planned as another requirement of a user-centric SDI Land user community. The increased access to ICT, with both direct and indirect instruction, is necessary to improve their capacity to explore the benefits of information the user-centric SDI Land could bring to them, and what they could input into the datasets to enrich the data. However, as stakeholder consultations and questionnaires, as well as the field observations, show, the majority of elder citizens choose traditional meetings to query information on land, especially land use planning, whilst young people (under 35 years old) tend to seek information by using the Internet. Therefore, grassrootslevel individuals and households should be provided not only with the modern 259

280 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long method of accessing land information and spatial data, but also with traditional methods of information consultation. The efficiency of information provision needs also to be improved, in both ways, to ensure that citizens can obtain all related information. Furthermore, another need at grassroots level is to increase the participation of citizens in data development. This is an appropriate approach and is consistent with the main objective of a user-centric SDI Land which is based on the bottom-up strategy. Most of the information on a user-centric SDI Land comes from the enduser demands. Therefore, the active participation in data collection and development of grassroots-level stakeholders not only benefits themselves in the availability of data but also supports the correction of information by the data producers. Finally, even though there was a balance in grassroots-level stakeholder perceptions of land use rights and level of access to land information, there should be content in the public awareness-raising programs related to these issues Policies to support a user-centric SDI Land The Government is responsible at national level for policy development, which is continually evolving in all sectors, particularly in ICT development. Until now, as mentioned in Chapter 3 and in Chapter 5, there have been no policies that directly relate to spatial information and data management, excluding the general policy on information technology. This lack of policy has negative implications for the development of the SDI in general and SDI Land, especially a user-centric one, including the weak commitment of high-level leaders, and inconsistency in development of components. It has also led to the inconsistency in policy of land administration and spatial information data, as well as the overlaps of functions and responsibilities of related stakeholders. Therefore, one of the first priorities for Government is to foster policy development in order to support best practice in the development of the SDI Land. 260

281 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Policies would very much affect the other components of a user-centric SDI Land, from the collaboration of stakeholders to data privacy and prices, from human resources to financial resources. The accessibility and usability of spatial data, especially relating to the ownership of land information, relies heavily on the policies used, due to the sensitivity and privacy of information. In addition, the collaboration of stakeholders, between government departments and the private sector, amongst disciplines, and between administrative levels, can be strengthened due to the elimination of overlaps in functions and responsibilities, and a ceasing of the monopoly on spatial data storage and use. This strong collaboration could create a number of opportunities for stakeholders to make data become more useful, by adding some new features. Policy also supports the development of an SDI Land to overcome many barriers to information access, such as organisational boundaries, lack of consistent information standards, and use of incompatible or inappropriate technologies. Several issues regarding the policy framework and their consequences were discussed in Section 5.3.3, based on the fieldwork data analysis. In the same manner, Sections summarised the importance of land-related information, the difficulties in gaining access to these data and the support of local staff to land administration. To overcome the issues and reduce the consequences, a better policy for a user-centric SDI Land is required. There are some requirements needing to be addressed, including: a high-level commitment of government in SDI Land development through issuance of an SDI Land policy at national level; ensuring the consistency of related laws and regulations; mobilisation of stakeholders in policy development; and some data policies including privacy, sensitive issues, and prices Strong commitment to a user-centric SDI Land development Changing to a new land administration system which is based on intensive use of ICT, is a massive change, not only for Vietnam but for many countries. This could have significant effects on other related activities, both in terms of political and 261

282 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long social changes, and always requires a master plan to achieve the final goal. The Vietnam government has set the goal for its development of an e-government towards an e-society, with the active participation of stakeholders and grassrootslevel citizens. However, this cannot work without the clear and strong commitment of the higherlevel leadership. The highest commitment from Government should be through the issuance of an overall plan or strategy to build an SDI Land, clearly and reasonably. The plan should also set its own milestones for each of the overall goals Ensuring the consistency of law on land and spatial data regulations Currently, the Law on Land (2013) regulates all the activities related to land and spatial data collection and management. Under this Land Law, there are decrees of the government regulating the activities of land registration, land information system development, land use planning, and land valuation, as well as spatial data collection and management. The main requirement of the policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land is that the legal documentation on land and spatial data must be consistent. This will involve issuance of government decrees regarding the establishment, management and operation of the land information system (or land database); and the electronic transaction of land use rights. These legal documents will encourage provinces to build the land database, inform the process of land transaction, and support grassroots individuals to obtain land-related information by using the Internet (see Table 5.2 results on searching for land-related information in the internet). This consistency of law on land and regulations for spatial data is consistent with the principles 3 and 4 of the FFP land administration, on the accuracy relating to the purpose rather than technical standards; and with the opportunities for updating, upgrading and improvement. 262

283 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Active participation in policy development The development of a user-centric SDI Land is based on the demands of users; therefore, the active participation of users and stakeholders in policy development is a must. This will maximise the involvement of user demands, thoughts, and conditions in the policy regarding the SDI Land. The understandings of user demands and capacity would decide the time frame for development of the usercentric SDI Land model, with certain milestones and goals Policy on privacy To achieve open and transparent land administration system, and reduce and fight corruption in the land sector, it is necessary for the Government to improve the quality of services and accessibility of spatial data and land information. This will encourage the innovation and competition of stakeholders and foster the responsibility of all the levels of government in land administration. However, advancements in ICT often bring its user community concerns about their impact on their privacy. Therefore, the government needs to strive to communicate that the benefits from a user-centric SDI Land, in terms of easier accessibility to land information and spatial data, as well as land registration services, are realised without any threat to personal privacy. There are also ideas for policy development regarding privacy, including: determination of necessary data and information only; fair and lawful data collection; consent and direct information collection by informing people, and disclosing information to people; and data management and personal information security Accessibility to sensitive information Provision of information always comes with advantages and disadvantages. Under the user-centric SDI Land, all non-sensitive land information and spatial data would be obtainable and available by default. However, for sensitive information, especially 263

284 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long land ownership information, the user-centric SDI Land needs a policy on publication of such sensitive and privacy information. Therefore, a requirement of regulation on sensitive information needs to be included in the policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land, in terms of what kind of information cannot or should not be provided publicly to the community: for example, information about how many land parcels a land user has can be sensitive information. The policy on this should be taken into consideration for privacy, national transparency, and social equality. The non-sensitive information can be accessed by default Data access and pricing A policy with the objective of providing easy, efficient and equitable access to spatial data and land information is required. All stakeholders of a user community should have their own permission to access data. The establishment of levels of access to datasets is required based on the functions of different stakeholders. For example, as an owner of datasets, DONRE will grant itself full permission to access data for management of datasets. Others may have lower permissions for access to view, update, and download information and spatial data; whilst citizens could only be able to access data for viewing maps and information and printing without being accessible to edit anything on the datasets. The user-centric SDI Land technology, data formats, and standards themselves will support stakeholders access to datasets, with location, costs and conditions as other factors. Together with other spatial data, land information and spatial data of a user-centric SDI Land should be available to support economic, environmental and social needs through the regulation of policy initiatives. This ensures the government maximises the benefits to the community. Making data available online and supporting stakeholders, especially grassroots-level citizens, to access professional spatial data would be a credit to the society. Based on the needs of stakeholders, a fee collection mechanism should be also developed as a policy to make sure that the user-centric SDI Land can partly re-invest in itself. 264

285 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Standards As presented in Table 5.7 and as summarised in Table 5.3, there have been issues raised related to the standards framework of a user-centric SDI Land, which could consequently lead to significant effects on SDI Land development and implementation. The standardisation and consistency of data collection, utilisation and management, and service provision, are necessary to ensure the suitability of data from different sources. Also, as mentioned in Section (issues and consequences of SDI Land datasets), there were several issues raised regarding data format, data accuracy and metadata. These issues have some consequential effects on the development and implementation of SDI Land, regarding the lack of data interoperability and database integration due to the differences in data formats and reference frames (52% of responses indicated), data accuracies and quality (33% of responses mentioned), and database structures (15% of responses raised), as well as the lack of metadata (16% of interviewees). Therefore a comprehensive policy framework for standards components of a user-centric SDI Land, focusing on data standards, technical standards, and service standards is required. The requirements for the data standards include the issuance of new policies to regulate the application of data standards in cadastral survey and mapping. Several international standards can be considered, such as geographic data content standards, spatial data accuracy standards, spatial reference standards, and metadata standards. The issuance and improvement of data-related standards could be conducted via the improvement of the cadastral data content standard, which was issued in 2010, participation and application of International Standard for Metadata (ISO 19115:2003), Standards for Geographic Information (ISO/TC211 standards), and full deployment of the 2013 National Standard on Cadastral Survey and Mapping accuracy requirements (Circular 55/2013/TT-BTNMT cadastral map accuracy standards). The development and application of standards for metadata will provide information about the identification, the extent, the quality, the spatial and temporal schema, spatial reference, and distribution, of digital geographic data. 265

286 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long In addition, technical standards relating to the process standards, technology standards, and database design standards, need to be developed and fully deployed based on international standards, to ensure that the harmonisation of all standards is fundamental to ensuring the efficient exchange of spatial data and land information. The process standards should be developed based on the business work flows, with the work breakdown structure approach, whilst the database design standards should be applied for all works related to land information software development. This will reduce the monopoly of use of specific software packages in the country, as all software will perform in one database. This also increases the competition between software developers and ensures the exchange of data between systems. Technology standards refer to the minimum requirements of the technology component. Finally, to best serve the user community, a service standard that regulates the steps and documents required by government agencies in dealing with the application of land services is required. This standard will minimise the chances of asking for unnecessary documents by the government staff, and makes sure all services requested by citizens will be solved within appropriate time frames. Nevertheless, there also are priorities for the user-centric SDI Land policy framework, including adaptation of SDI standards for user-centric SDI Land, where a small part of spatial data may be supported by volunteered geographic information (VGI), which usually does not associate with metadata. The utilisation of an automated metadata collection tool to create metadata is also necessary Technology The performance of an SDI, particularly a user-centric SDI Land, relies heavily on the technology component development. The technology component of an SDI includes: hardware, software, network infrastructure, internet services, equipment, and information provision methods. Based on the limitations, constraints, and stakeholder recommendations that were identified in the previous four chapters, there are several requirements for the technology component in the user-centric 266

287 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long SDI Land policy framework, including internet infrastructure, software licence, upgradability, and consistent technology across departments. As presented in Section and illustrated in Table 5.14, several consequences might occur in Vietnam due to the issues regarding to the development of technology policy framework component for SDI Land. These include limitations in network infrastructure, software licences renewal, financial constraints, and differences in technology across departments. Following are the requirements of policy framework of technology component in SDI Land Interoperability The interoperability characteristic is a must of any commonly-used infrastructure, including SDI. This is to ensure that the exchange of data and information managed by SDI datasets is manageable. This will remove the technical barriers that have partly created the monopoly in data collection, management, utilisation, access, and sharing of spatial data and land information. The policy framework of the usercentric SDI Land would create regulations for mobilisation of technology for development of datasets, and ensure that the dataset is exchangeable. For instance, regulation for using remote sensing technology and aerial photogrammetry could create products that may be appropriate for purposes in other sectors such as forestry management Adaptability and upgradability The user-centric SDI Land has to be adaptable and upgradable, especially to suit the concept of fit-for-purpose land administration in accordance with the principles 3 and 4 of the FFP (Enemark et al., 2015). These principles could benefit the development of LAS in Vietnam, as presented in Chapter 4. The adaptability allows that the user-centric SDI Land, once established, accepts all kinds of data and information collected and technology used, and is on-purpose customised. The upgradability allows that its improvement could be more easily conducted to reach a 267

288 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long high level for any purposes and goals, or change with the requirement of stakeholders. The guiding principles for fit-for-purpose land administration include the need for land administration systems that are attainable, affordable, and adaptable to meet actual needs for specific functions and locations. This is consistent, under a usercentric approach, with the desire from grassroots stakeholders for less complicated procedures when buying or selling land Internet infrastructure development Internet infrastructure is an important factor to serve the user-centric SDI Land user community to access information. A policy on the development of Internet infrastructure was already set in the policy on ICT development. However, to expand and improve the capacity of Internet infrastructure, especially in the rural areas, there is a need to include this requirement as one of the priorities Consistency in technology across stakeholders Different agencies use different technologies, which may limit the integration of data performed by different systems. The requirement for using the same technology at all government agencies is a difficult one. However, the requirement of consistency in technology across stakeholders would be possible based on the requirements of a policy framework on standards. This would allow stakeholders to mobilise their own technology for producing data or providing services, but still meet the requirements of interoperability and integration Hardware, software requirements The policy framework should indicate the priorities for hardware and software requirements to avoid the expiration of licenses of software, and under capacity of hardware. The related issues may lead to the data being locked, affecting the work and data security. 268

289 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Information provision and data delivery The policy framework needs to include regulation on provision of land information and delivery of spatial data and information, both manually and automatically. However, as presented in Section and Table 5.2, there was a low level of use of the Internet for seeking land-related information. Therefore the information should not only be provided by modern methods particularly the Internet - but also shared by traditional methods including unofficial meetings at grassroots level, at which gatherings many people who do not have access to the Internet can go for information. However, at the level of government departments at provincial level, the policy should indicate the automatic ways to transfer and share land data via the land portal, with permissions set for particular stakeholders. In summary, the policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land consists of all requirements at policy levels to regulate its components. The policy framework has pointed out the components and its sub-components. The datasets component policy contains all requirements for the data collection, management, access, delivery, and utilisation of spatial data and land information. The user community policy indicates the requirements of stakeholder collaboration, change reluctances, awareness, and capacity building. The policies component addresses the requirements for high-level policy on SDI development, data privacy and sensitivity, data access and pricing, as well as service delivery. The standards component requires the consistency and applicability of standards on the datasets, technology, and services such as accuracy requirements, metadata, and land registration services. The technology component requires regulations on interoperability, upgradability, adaptability, internet infrastructure development, hardware, software, and methods of data delivery and information provision Towards a spatially enabled society Spatially enabled land management provides high quality services and improved information access for many stakeholders. Apart from providing land tenure 269

290 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long security for land users, good land governance ensures that the government can provide land-related services to society, to better manage the overlapping rights, restrictions, and responsibilities regarding land resources (Rajabifard & Coleman, 2012; Stanley & Torhonen, 2013). The benefits of good land governance would come to all stakeholders, both public and private, who are demanding land information for locating and identifying investments in land, state administration of land, land use planning, cadastral information, and land taxation; by providing upto-date, complete and ready-to-use information, such as on rights, duties, owners, occupants, and finance. SDI and land ownership information have been assessed as two critical elements for a spatially enabled society (Steudler & Rajabifard, 2012), in which the best use of spatial data by all members of the society is facilitated, supported and encouraged. Much has been written on this topic indicating the benefits of an SDI Land for land administration, e-government, and sustainable development, as well as the challenges of SDIs in the society, shared by the majority who are not spatially aware (Masser et al., 2008; Rajabifard, Binns, Masser & Williamson, 2006; Steudler, 2016; Williamson et al., 2010). An effective system of land administration should also inform sustainable development in all aspects, economic, social, and environmental sustainability (Enemark et al., 2005), by providing an automated platform for integrating all types of information produced by the implementation of its functions, and for providing related process and services with the support of an appropriate SDI (Steudler & Rajabifard, 2012). In the context of SES, the citizens play an important role in spatial data sharing and updating by means of VGI providers. Various studies have explored spatial enablement through an SDI by means of creating a platform for spatial data updating and exchanging. VGI also informs capitalisation on investments in land information (Williamson et al., 2010). As the main infrastructure informing the collection, management, use, sharing, and updating of spatial data and land information based on user demand, the user- 270

291 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long centric SDI Land would eliminate the limitations related to spatial data update and sharing, as well as VGI utilising. The appropriate policy framework for the usercentric SDI Land would be considered as a start in designing a preferred SDI Land model to support the delivery of location-based data, and land registration services. It would also support decision-making processes, and enhance effective interaction across stakeholders and the interaction between citizens and local governments. The role of the user-centric SDI Land, and broadly, the role of its policy framework, reflect the growing trend for the timely accessibility of precise spatial data and land information. As such, a user-centric SDI Land policy framework would contribute as a key framework in building a society with greater participation in the creation and use of spatial data Chapter summary This chapter has presented a summary of SDI generation in Vietnam, current status of development of SDI, and a discussion of the need for a user-centric SDI Land policy framework to support land administration in Vietnam. The SDI Land hierarchy, institutional relationship model, and the content of the policy framework have been discussed, before closing with the opportunities towards a spatially enabled society concept, by summarising the benefits that a SDI Land could bring to land administration, and concluding how these factors make society more spatially enabled. The literature review suggested that, even though the development of SDI components has achieved some results, there has not been either a data- or a process-focused SDI model established comprehensively in Vietnam. Over the next ten-year planning and development cycle in Vietnam, moving towards a serviceoriented land administration system will result in the development of a thirdgeneration model for an SDI Land a user-centric SDI Land. The benefit of the user-centric SDI Land has been proven by analysing the cost-effective approach of a shared platform and the benefits the SDI Land could bring to support land administration. 271

292 Chapter 7: A User-centric SDI Land Policy Framework for Vinh Long Based on the organisational structure of Vinh Long regarding land administration and HSR, a user-centric SDI Land hierarchy has been proposed. According to this model, in Vietnam the SDI at national level plays a role as a managerial model, and at the provincial level as an operational model. There will be no practical replications of SDI Land databases required at the district and communal levels, but these would still exist by direct access to the centralised SDI Land database managed at the provincial level. Added to this, the user-centric SDI Land institutional relationship diagram has been drawn to represent all kinds of relationships between stakeholders. The chapter then presented the policy framework for the user-centric SDI Land, based on the literature review and results of stakeholder consultations. The framework proposed contains all policy requirements for all five common components of SDI Land synthesised in Chapter 3, and its principles. 272

293 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations 8.1. Introduction This research has discussed stakeholder perceptions about the importance of SDIs for land administration, as well as the level of stakeholder s accessibility to land services and the land information they require. In Chapter 7, a policy framework for a third generation SDI for land administration was proposed in order to provide a foundation for a policy framework to support a provincial user-centric SDI Land model, using a case study of the Province of Vinh Long, Vietnam. The development of a provincial user-centric SDI Land policy framework, to support the implementation of a provincial user-centric SDI Land model, is expected to increase accessibility to location-based data and land information by all stakeholders and improve the land administration service delivery by government authorities and public agencies. In this regard, the research commenced by identifying the current stage of development of SDIs in Vietnam to support land administration, and the problems and barriers as well as opportunities for such development, based on the literature review of SDIs and LAS in Vinh Long. The research has outlined the hierarchy of a user-centric SDI Land for Vinh Long, based on the best practices and HSR approach, and then discussed the needs of a provincial user-centric SDI Land policy framework, before presenting a detailed discussion, in the main part of the chapter, of an appropriate provincial user-centric SDI Land policy framework, based on the literature reviews, and the critical issues and recommendations from the results of stakeholder consultations and questionnaires. 273

294 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations This concluding chapter summarises the results of the research, based on the research objectives and research questions outlined in Chapter 1, and using the research methodology presented in Chapter 2. The research implications and limitations are also addressed, along with further research opportunities in the field of SDIs for land administration Research summary The present research has investigated problems in the development and implementation of a spatial data infrastructure for the land administration system in Vietnam, based on a case study of Vinh Long province. Literature reviews in Chapters 3 and 4 presented the current situation of development and implementation of the land administration system and SDI in Vinh Long, and revealed the limitations in delivery of land administration services and land information to public, and issues in data sharing and updating between stakeholders, in the relationship of government to government, business to government and citizens to governments. Many barriers have resulted in the abandonment of the development and implementation of an SDI Land to support land administration in Vinh Long. Chapters 5 and 6 presented the key findings and critical analysis of the research, which formed the fundamental basis for the discussion of the need for a policy framework for a provincial user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long, as presented in Chapter 7. As presented in Chapter 1, the research has had as its main objective: to develop a policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land using a case study of Vinh Long Province to contribute to the government s strategy in implementation of the usercentric land administration system in accordance with the e-government agenda. In order to meet the research objective, the following sections describe how the thesis has responded to the research questions presented in Chapter 1. The following sections also summarise the results of the research and list the key research findings. 274

295 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations Responses to Research Questions The discussion that follows describes how the research has answered each of the research questions and met the main research objective.. RQ1: How can an SDI Land support land administration in Vietnam? The first research question related to the way that SDI Land supports land administration in Vietnam. Having reviewed literature in two related themes, land administration and spatial data infrastructure, the research indicated the benefits that an SDI Land would bring to support land administration in Vietnam, and in Vinh Long in particular. According to the literature review, land administration in Vietnam has several key challenges including in the areas of land policy, land registration services delivery, land information development, and provision of land information. These challenges have been indicated and summarised in Chapter 4. As mentioned, in the last few decades the government of Vietnam has invested a huge amount of resources with an aim to build a modern land administration system. While there was no deadline set, to date there have been few land-related services delivered online, and these are still limited at levels 1 or 2 in accordance with the regulation of government, as mentioned in Section (GoV, 2011a); and the management is still effectively manual, with the support of ICT. None of the land-related services associated with spatial data and digital records have been provided online amongst stakeholders. Therefore, the development of an effective SDI Land is concluded to be necessary. With the direction to build a transparent land administration system towards an e- land administration, in which land services would be delivered mostly online, an SDI Land can support land administration in Vietnam through: (i) improvement of access to land information by all stakeholders; (ii) enhancement of government land processes; and (iii) contribution to good land governance. 275

296 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations An SDI Land will strongly support stakeholders and grassroots-level citizens to access spatial data and land information by the establishment of an information mechanism with an efficient land portal at the appropriate levels provincial and national. The improvement of access to land information will result in: (1) sharing and exchanging spatial data and land information between government authorities, industries and the community, in the framework of the user community, to avoid the monopolies on spatial data creation and usage that have been recognised in Vietnam for several years; (2) improving the quality of decision-making and reaction times by reducing time and cost of consultation among government agencies in processing a land-related request; (3) reducing mistakes and subsequent re-work at an administrative level by sharing information; and (4) ensuring the consistency in land information by integrating and storing information in datasets to use in appropriate contexts. In addition, an SDI Land will improve and guarantee government processes in land issues, since the geo-information will be available to people who need it, at the time when they need it, and especially in a form that they can use it to make decisions. This benefit will result in: (5) developing a large-scaled spatial framework that underpins an FFP approach to the land administration system; (6) reducing government administrative effort and resources by linking government agencies in processing land-related services; (7) supporting greater responsiveness in land-related processes, in a timely, costeffective and accurate manner, especially in land complaints and dispute handlings: for example, the time-consuming paperwork in agencies regarding these issues will be reduced significantly; 276

297 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations (8) supporting streamlined public services and reduced transaction time by providing a service standard that clearly sets a time frame for all services, as well as required forms and related proofs. Furthermore, an SDI Land will contribute to good land governance, which refers to the processes, rules and rationalities affecting the way land issues are solved at different levels, particularly in terms of openness, participation, accountability, effectiveness, and interoperability. Good land governance is important as a precondition for sustainable development, for example encouraging long-term investments in land, protecting livelihoods of vulnerable groups such as women and ethnic minorities, and encouraging private sector development through the use of land as well as participation in land administration services. This benefit will result in: (9) supporting the integration of data by accessing directly and ensuring every error is corrected in the source data; (10) improving communication with the public and easier access for citizens to participate in government land related decision-making such as land use planning community consultation; (11) increasing inter-agency collaboration; (12) providing opportunities for revenue growth by a land information fee collection regulation under a sustainable financial model; which revenue will help offset the ongoing cost of the system. RQ2: What do the stakeholders require for a modern land administration system in Vinh Long Province? The second research question was answered in Chapter 6, which presented the results of stakeholder consultations on land administration. The requirements of stakeholders for a user-centric land administration system include both technical and non-technical elements. 277

298 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations The user-centric SDI Land requires an active participation of land users in both spatial data and land information collection to keep the system up-to-date. Therefore, the stakeholders require the recognition of their own roles in land administration activities through their particular demands. Firstly, the improvement of stakeholder awareness and perception of land administration, especially for those at the local levels, and grassroots level, is a high priority. The stakeholder consultations have suggested that, despite these facts and the differences of demands, functions, and responsibilities, the awareness of land administration of stakeholders was at high level of competency but uneven amongst user communities. Whilst the non-public stakeholders demanded to understand the land administration and its information for their businesses, at the grassroots level, individuals and households needed to understand land administration to benefit better from their rights and responsibilities on land. Therefore, awareness-raising campaigns need to be implemented more effectively to raise the level of participation in land administration activities under the user-centric SDI Land, once established. Secondly, stakeholders require a better delivery of land registration services with the support of ICT, and a high level of ethics in the careers of government staff. These requirements may lead to changes in policy for land registration, and the strategy of service delivery, as well as the direction and vision of land administration system in Vietnam: not a product- or data-centric, but user-focused approach. Finally, the accessibility to land administration by the majority of stakeholders remains low, not only for land information but also for land administration procedures. Young people are interested in modern ways of obtaining information, including online provision of information services, and mobile phone services. In rural areas, especially for elder people, the most suitable approach to delivery land information is still traditional dissemination through village meetings and consultations. Therefore, there is a requirement for improvement of accessibility to land information at the grassroots level. This requirement leads to the necessity of 278

299 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations implementation of both traditional and modern forms of information and service provision. RQ3: What are the barriers to the development of a user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Province? The third research question was answered in Chapter 5, which presented the results of stakeholder consultations on SDI for the land administration system in Vinh Long. Despite that there has been significant development in separate SDI components related to land administration, the literature review and stakeholder consultations show that there have been a number of barriers to the development of a user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long. These constraints contain both technical and non-technical issues. Firstly, in Vietnam, in general, there has not yet been a policy framework for SDI development in place. This challenge, together with the uneven investment in spatial data collection and other components of LAS and SDI, have led to the uneven development of SDI components in the country and also in Vinh Long. The research has indicated the barriers and provided recommendations as the main results of this research to overcome this issue. Secondly, there has been a monopoly mechanism in government authorities in terms of data collaboration, due to the non-existence of a common agreement or a specific regulation on the sharing of spatial data and land information. This issue has led to a waste of time, human resources, and finances in terms of recollection of data. A geospatial portal that supports access to spatial data and land information should be established for delivery of data and provision of information to all stakeholders who require and demand data. Thirdly, the limitations in data quality, including un-standardised data and lack of metadata, have been counted as a significant barrier to the development of the usercentric SDI Land in the country and in Vinh Long. Spatial data and land information are the main parts of a key component of the user-centric SDI Land. 279

300 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations The literature has clearly indicated that the development of the user-centric SDI Land is to connect user community to datasets, by classification of the role of users data producers, or data providers, for example. In addition, there have been limitations in the participation of stakeholders in collecting data. During the last few decades, the collection of spatial data and land information has been the responsibility of land authorities. The linking and collaboration between agencies has been evaluated as weak for many reasons. There has been no policy to encourage the participation of other stakeholders in collecting land data. The private sector faced difficulties in the procurement process to supply technical services for cadastral survey and mapping, due to the implementation of procurement regulations. In Vietnam, the VGI has not yet been considered as a source for updating land information and spatial data. Furthermore, there has been weakness in human resources of stakeholders as well as individuals at the grassroots level. These limitations include professional skill and ICT literacy. Moreover, the public awareness of many stakeholders and citizens has been weak. The training program should be included in the policy framework to enhance the role of end users grassroots-level individuals who shared the largest part of the user community. Finally, limitation in financial resources has been counted as one of the most important barriers. This issue has led to the uneven development of SDI components. It was also indicated as one of the significant problems once the usercentric SDI Land model has been established, due to the cost for the upgrading of hardware, software, and related infrastructures. Thus, what are the stakeholder requirements for a user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long? Chapter 5 has indicated some recommendations for the development of the user-centric SDI Land. These requirements include: the raising of public awareness; high demands for spatial data and land information; development of human resources to be adaptable with the placement of the user-centric SDI Land; training 280

301 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations local government agencies to use the system; and supporting customers by increasing accessibility to the datasets and training in ethical requirements. In addition, the literacy of IT skill for the grassroots-level stakeholders also needs to be enhanced. Furthermore, the role of the private sector and civil society should be raised. The application of standards needs to be implemented fully. Finally, a policy framework needs to be developed to regulate the development of the user-centric SDI Land. RQ4: What is the appropriate policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land in Vinh Long Province? The policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land has been developed based on the current stage of development of SDI components in Vinh Long, and the results of the discussions with interviewees from central and provincial levels as well as other stakeholders, of grassroots-level questionnaires, and output of FGDs. The development of a policy framework has also been based on the theory and practices of SDI development, FFP land administration experiences, and VGI approaches throughout the world. Chapter 7 presented the contents of the policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land. It concluded the SDI generation development in Vietnam by indicating that there has not been a comprehensive data- or process-focused SDI model in the country. However, the development of SDI components has achieved some considerable results, which support the development of any SDI with opportunities, as mentioned previously in Chapter 3. Chapter 7 also addressed the SDI hierarchy using the HRS model, based on the current organisational chart of Vinh Long department and agencies, their basic functions, responsibilities, and rights. The hierarchy also indicated that, in Vietnam, the provincial level SDI Land model would be the most detailed. There is no necessity to operationally manage SDI Land at the sub-provincial levels. Instead, the stakeholders at sub-provincial levels are permitted to access directly to the SDI Land at the provincial level to explore information. At the higher level, an NSDI Land at central level connects all 281

302 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations provinces SDI Lands to generate general information on land tenure, land use, land valuation, and land development, whilst still managing accessibility to the spatial data and land information, with all SDI activities including spatial data synchronisation, management, access, delivery, and utilisation. The chapter examined the three kinds of institutional relationships between institutions, consisting of vertical, horizontal, and trans-horizontal relationships. The policy framework was developed based on the common components, which were selected by synthesising the different definitions of SDI, datasets, user community, policies, standards, and technology. The user-centric SDI Land policy framework was proposed based on several principles and issues related to SDI common components. The user-centric SDI Land policy framework regulates the integration of land administration core functions and SDI main activities, upon the demands of end users and needs of stakeholders. In this regard, the policy component of the policy framework needs a high level of commitment from the government for the development of an SDI to support the land administration functions and activities. It requires a consistency in land and spatial policy, such as consistency in the Law on Land and spatial data regulation. Privacy and sensitive information were discussed and set in the policy framework to ensure the privacy of citizens and organisation. Data access and pricing were initially included in the policy component of the policy framework. The policy on data access will indicate the levels of accessibility of different stakeholders in accordance with their roles in the model, while data pricing may support forming a fee collection mechanism for accessing spatial data. The fee collected could partly finance the improvement of services provided by government authorities, and upgrade the model once it has been in place. However, while it is an interesting topic, it is one that needs further in-depth research, for example to take account of any unintended consequences such as discouraging the participation of grassroots-level stakeholders. 282

303 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations The datasets component in the user-centric SDI Land policy framework regulates the data types, data quality, metadata, and spatial reference frameworks regarding cadastral maps and land registry databases. The datasets policy indicated the general requirements of the data policy framework, with its fundamental elements of quality, description, ownership, compliance, security, and sharing. These elements have been included in the policy framework, and should be applied to spatial data and land information of the user-centric SDI Land datasets to ensure that spatial data and land registers are being collected, managed, accessed, shared, and utilised efficiently and effectively. This will form the basis for an FFP approach to the land administration system in the country. The datasets policy framework also indicated the components of datasets of the Vinh Long user-centric SDI Land. According to the discussion, the datasets include three groups of information and data: (1) foundation data, including geodetic networks which should be developed based on the VN2000 referencing system, and DEM and TIN to ensure the inclusion of evaluation of objects represented, and topographic maps and administrative maps; (2) SDI Land main data, including cadastral maps (land tenure), land use maps (land use), land use planning maps (land development), and land price maps (land valuation); and (3) added-value data layers, including several layers of information from other fields, of management, soil, vegetation, construction, transportation, hydrography, and geology. The addedvalued data layers could be expanded to help other stakeholders to utilise the SDI datasets most effectively. Other than the above-mentioned regulations of datasets, the policy framework also includes the regulation of spatial data management, requirements on data format and reference frame consistency, data accuracy and quality requirements, the inclusion of aerial photos and scanned documents in the SDI Land, and the integrity of LIS database structures. The policy framework on the user community component has identified key stakeholders of SDI Land based on their functions and responsibilities in the land and spatial 283

304 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations data sector. The stakeholders have been categorised into stakeholder types. The policy framework also indicated the requirements of stakeholder collaboration in a shared platform once the user-centric SDI Land has been in place. Public awareness raising, training, and capacity building for stakeholders have been included in the policy framework. The standards component policy framework has taken into consideration three focused areas: technical, data, and services. Broadly accepted standards that have been developed by International organisations related to SDI datasets should be applied for SDI Land datasets. Other standards, including service standards, VGI metadata standards, and database structure standards, have been included in the policy framework. There are some standards that have been mentioned in the policy framework of a user-centric SDI Land for Vinh Long, including: standards on geographic information (ISO/TC Geographic information); for metadata (ISO 19115:2003); for cadastral survey and mapping; for cadastral content standards; and for database design. The technology component policy framework, in general, requires the characteristics of interoperability, upgradability, and adaptability of any SDI. The policy framework also included some requirements for Vinh Long for the development and implementation of a user-centric SDI Land. These included the improvement of internet infrastructure, the requirement of consistency in technology mobilisation of government authorities, hardware and software license upgrade and renewal, methods of information provision, and spatial data delivery to serve all stakeholders and grassroots-level individuals. Finally, the technological requirements for metadata have been also included. In regarding the user-centric SDI Land, the research has included the principles for designing a user-centric model to build an appropriate policy framework to suit the situation of Vinh Long land administration and SDI development. 284

305 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations In conclusion, the research literature review presented in Chapters 3 and 4, the stakeholder consultation results presented in Chapters 5 and 6, and the policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land presented in Chapter 7, have resulted in the overall research objective. Having answered all the research questions, the research has fulfilled its main objective Major research findings The present research has investigated the problems and issues regarding the development of an SDI to support land administration in Vietnam, with a case study of Vinh Long. In the research, the need for a user-centric SDI Land has been analysed by literature reviews of international best practices, and the current situation in Vietnam regarding research and development of SDIs for Vietnam. The analysis of collected data revealed the high demand for land data and land administration information by stakeholders. It also advised on the difficulties in accessing land information, and limitations in the delivery of land registration services to citizens by the government. In summary, the research has drawn some key findings, as follows. Firstly, there has been no policy to establish a master plan for SDI development and implementation. The research literature review and stakeholder consultations suggested that there has been no policy that directly indicates the development of SDI in the country. The recent study on the NSDI strategy for Vietnam conducted by the World Bank in 2011 proposed some preliminary ideas, which could be considered as a roadmap for the development of the NSDI in Vietnam, but mostly focusing on the technical aspects. Secondly, there has been a high demand for access to land information and land administration services from the majority of stakeholders at the central, local and grassroots levels. The present research has indicated the limitations in access to land information and land administration services. At all levels of stakeholders, especially at the grassroots level, there have been inappropriate methods of provision of land information and services. For instance, at the central and provincial levels, the 285

306 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations manual ways of delivery of land information have limited many benefits of ICT, whilst at the grassroots level, traditional village meetings are still the choice of the majority of individuals to access land information for elder people and rural villagers. Furthermore, urban area residents and young citizens in rural areas are interested in approaching the Internet for seeking land information. Thirdly, there has been a limited level of the delivery of land registration services due to several constraints including inconsistency in land policy, the limitations and lack of online land registration services, the weak collaboration and ethical careers of government stakeholders (both at the level of organisations and of individuals), as well as limitations in public awareness. The policy of land registration needs to be reformed to the simplest measures in procedures of land registration, with clear explanations for the land users to understand easily. In addition, there has been an inefficient collaboration of government departments in dealing with land service applications, whilst some small corruption phenomena have appeared in communications between citizens and grassroots-level government staff. Moreover, the public awareness of individuals at the grassroots level has remained limited. Therefore, people do not really understand the benefits that official land registration could bring to them. Furthermore, the accessibility to spatial data and land information by stakeholders was weak due to many reasons, such as infrastructure, methods, demands, and information quality, as well as personal skill. The limitations in Internet infrastructure have constrained both government authorities and stakeholders in the provision of and accessibility to land information. The methods of delivery of spatial data and land information also limit the sharing between agencies. Most of the activities regarding the information were made in writing, whilst the transfer of electronic data between them was limited, mostly through DVDs, CDs, or flash disk devices. Of the reasons for this, personal skill in ITC also shared a significant part. 286

307 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations Furthermore, the development and application of standards, including data and metadata standards, were limited. Datasets still consist of many kinds of unstandardised data, whilst metadata were not always associated. Finally, stakeholder collaboration in the development of an SDI Land has never been taken into consideration. Many functions in spatial data collection and management overlapped across different stakeholders. On the other hand, the mobilisation of the community for actively participating in land administration activities was limited Assumptions and limitations In the development of the policy framework for a provincial user-centric SDI Land, the present study acknowledges many SDI concepts and definitions from different researchers, country contexts, and perspectives. The present research has investigated definitions of SDI and examined their components, to conclude their commonality and differences, and decided the common components of an SDI to support land administration. In establishing the policy framework for a provincial user-centric SDI Land, the common components of an SDI, including datasets, user community, policies, standards, and technology, have been considered as main components of a user-centric SDI Land model, which can be assumed as the next step result based on the policy framework proposed from this research. However, in practice, the design of a user-centric SDI Land model may still deal with the separate components differently. The research employed quantitative and qualitative analysis methods based on the data collected from interviews, FGDs, and questionnaires. Despite the in-depth interviews being conducted to gather thoughts, opinions, and recommendations from a wide range of experts and senior staff, the results may contain subjective opinions, which could be considered as biased, from the respondents. In addition, according to statistical theory, the analysed results from a limited number of questionnaires in comparison to the population are accurate within a range of about 287

308 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations ±9% for the general conclusions. Therefore, these differences may slightly effect the overall result, and may not always truly reflect the real situations. The policy framework has been proposed and based on the results of stakeholder consultations and literature reviews without any prototype and model formed and built to test its appropriateness. In the case of designing a model or a framework, there should be some problems in dealing with the issues coming from some stakeholders in terms of modelling their responsibilities and functions. However, the policy framework proposed could be used as starting point for future research into this topic Future directions, further implications, and ways forward The analysis results of stakeholder consultations have been presented in the previous chapters within the main topics of stakeholder perceptions of land administration, the accessibility to land administration, spatial data, and land information, in both land administration and SDI contexts. The policy framework for a provincial user-centric SDI Land has been proposed specifically for the purpose of building a foundation for a user-centric SDI Land model design, in order to increase accessibility to spatial data and land information, as well as accessibility to land administration services by all stakeholders. The policy framework and its next step result, a user-centric SDI model, has not been placed or designed for testing in practice. For these reasons, the present research has addressed a number of suggestions as follows as further research related to the topic. Firstly, the accessibility to land administration, spatial data, and land information needs further work by addressing questions related to technical and non-technical aspects, to understand comprehensively the reasons for the limitations in accessing location-based data, and land services provided by the government. Secondly, further investigation of the concept of fit-for-purpose land administration and ideas of a spatially enabling society in relating to the user-centric SDI Land, is required at the national level to see what benefits the two-mentioned concepts could 288

309 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations bring into designing the user-centric SDI Land. This requirement is due to the strong implications, benefits and opportunities a user-centric SDI Land can provide once it has been in place. The detailed investigation could provide ideas in designing a cadastral database structure the main component of datasets to integrate aerial photos and scanned documents to support land administration, especially in terms of land tenure, land development, and mobilisation of the community in land management. Each province may have different features that can affect the development of its SDI Land. Thirdly, the user-centric SDI Land governance model has been mentioned but has not been proposed. This should be taken into consideration in designing an SDI Land. Their detailed guidelines should also be developed and associated. Furthermore, the research has mentioned a fee collection mechanism in the policy framework. This mechanism was not discussed in detail due to the limitations in the scope of the research; however, it would be an interesting topic to investigate in the context of Vietnam. This mechanism would also benefit the investment of government in the public administration system. Lastly, the governance framework for a user-centric SDI Land, which should indicate the important role of end users, should be studied and developed to ensure consistency in the development of the user-centric SDI Land model at both provincial and national levels. Other issues that could be considered when studying related issues to the usercentric SDI Land topic include the funding model, capacity building, awareness raising, database architecture, and interoperability of data in the concept of fit-forpurpose land administration, and the integrated and automated National SDI Land. Another area warranting future research is the role and use of volunteered geographic information (VGI) in land administration. 289

310 Chapter 8: Conclusion and Recommendations 8.5. Concluding remarks This research has examined problems and issues in terms of stakeholder perceptions of land administration and SDI, and stakeholder accessibility to land administration, spatial data and land information, by investigating the stakeholder opinions, thoughts, and beliefs based on an appropriate multi-method strategy with a casestudy approach. The research has fulfilled its main objective: the development of an appropriate policy framework for a provincial user-centric SDI Land, in order to set a policy foundation to increase accessibility to land services and information by all stakeholders, towards an e-land administration in Vietnam. The main contribution of the research is a policy framework for a user-centric SDI Land for Vinh Long, which could apply for other provinces in Vietnam, to deliver betterment in land-related services and information, towards an enabling platform for a spatially enabled society. The research has successfully addressed the requirements of stakeholders to build a policy framework resulting in the most efficient implementation of a user-centric SDI Land, for enhancing accessibility to land-related services and information by all stakeholders. Despite the limitations, the research has its own practical implications and would contribute to knowledge and land administration and SDI in Vietnam in various aspects. While there have been significant issues in relation to both land administration and SDI, the present author considers that further enhancement and development of a user-centric SDI Land based on this policy framework would have considerable benefits for the continuing land administration reform process. These SDI benefits for land administration were outlined in the previous chapters, and the policy framework proposed would benefit as a foundation for the establishment of a user-centric SDI Land model at the provincial level in Vietnam, focusing on the improvement of access to land information by all stakeholders, towards the development of transparent land administration system. Ultimately, this would enhance land governance in Vietnam, and contribute to the fight against corruption, elimination of hunger, and reduction of poverty. 290

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330 List of References World Bank Annual Land and Poverty Conference. Retrieved from opening-keynote UN-HABITAT. (2011). Infrastructure for economic development and poverty reduction in Africa. Nairobi: UN-HABITAT. UNECE. (1996). Land administration guidelines with special reference to countries in transition. Geneva, Switzerland: United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. UNICEF. (2013). At a glance: Viet Nam. Statistics. Retrieved July 29, 2016, from Vaez, S. & Rajabifard, A. (2012). Seamless SDI Design by Using UML Modelling. International Journal of Spatial Data Infrastructures Research, 7, pp doi: / art11 Vandenbroucke, D., Crompvoets, J., Vancauwenberghe, G., Dessers, E. & Orshoven, J. (2009). A Network Perspective on Spatial Data Infrastructures: Application to the Sub-national SDI of Flanders (Belgium). Transactions in GIS, 13, doi: /j x VGP. (2016). Du thao Nghi dinh quy dinh ve giao dich dien tu trong linh vuc dat dai (Draft Decree on electronic transaction in land sector). Retrieved from July 13, 2016 Vinh Long Portal. (2016a). An Introduction to Vinh Long Province. General Information. Retrieved 6 June, 2016, from Vinh Long Portal. (2016b). The Status Development of Information and Communication Infrastructure in Vinh Long Province. Retrieved 6 June, 2016, from Vinh Long DONRE. (2015). Result of Cadastral survey and mapping, issuance of LURCs, and establishment of LIS till 12/2014. Vinh Long: Vinh Long DONRE. Vinh Long DONRE. (2016). Lists and statuses of documents Stored at Centre of Information and Technology. Retrieved June 6, 2016, from Vinh Long PPC. (2016). Decision No. 05/2016/QD-UBND dated 29th of February 2016 defining the functions, tasks, powers and organisational structure of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Vinh Long Province. Vinh Long City, Vinh Long. Retrieved from VNA. (2003). Law on Land Hanoi, Vietnam: National Political Pulishing House VNA. (2013a). The 2013 Consitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (adopted by National Assembly Term XXII at its sixth Session on November 28, 2013). Hanoi, Vietnam: National Political Pulishing House 310

331 List of References VNA. (2013b). Law on Land Hanoi, Vietnam: National Political Pulishing House VNA. (2015). Law 77/2015/QH13 on oganising local administration and governments. Hanoi, Vietnam: National Political Pulishing House Wallace, J., Williamson, I., Rajabifard, A. & Bennett, R. (2006). Spatial information opportunities for government. Journal of Spatial Science, 51(1), doi: / Warnest, M., Rajabifard, A. & Williamson, I. (2005). A collaborative approach to building national SDI in Federated State Systems: case study of Australia. Paper presented at the Joint Conference FIG Working Week 2005 & GSDI-8, Cairo. West, L. & Hess, T. (2002). Metadata as a knowledge management tool: supporting intelligent agent and end user access to spatial data. Decision Support Systems, 32(3), doi: /S (01) Wiegersma, N. (1988). Vietnam: Peasant Land, Peasant Revolution: Patriarchy and Collectivity in the Rural Economy. New York, USA: St. Martin Press. Wikipedia. (2012). Vu cuong che dat dai o Tien Lang (Land recovery enforcement in Tien Lang). Wikipedia. Retrieved July 27, 2016, from Williamson, I. (2001). Land administration best practice providing the infrastructure for land policy implementation. Land Use Policy, 18(4), Williamson, I. (2008). Using Cadastres to Support Sustainable Development. International Federation of Surveyors - Article of the Month, April Williamson, I. (2009). Is spatial special? Coordinates, JUN 2009 Retrieved from Williamson, I., Chan, T. & Effenberg, W. (1998). Development of spatial data infrastructures: lessons learnt from the Australian digital cadastral databases. Geomatica, 52(2), Williamson, I., Enemark, S. & Wallace, J. (2006). Incorporating sustainable development objectives into land administration. Paper presented at the XXIII FIG Congress: Shaping the Change, Munich, Germany (October 8-13). Williamson, I., Enemark, S., Wallace, J. & Rajabifard, A. (2010). Land Administration for Sustainable Development. California, USA: ESRI Press Academic. Williamson, I., Grant, D. & Rajabifard, A. (2005). Land Administration and Spatial Data Infrastructures. Paper presented at the FIG Working Week 2005 and GSDI-8: From Pharaohs to Geoinformatics, Cairo, Egypt. World Bank. (2008). Land Administration Project - The Project Appraisal Document (Report No VN). Washington D.C.: World Bank. Retrieved from 311

332 List of References D0P0961ly10IDA1R pdf World Bank. (2009). Vietnam Development Report Modern Institutions. Hanoi, Vietnam: Joint Donor Report to the Vietnam Consultative Group Meeting (December 3-4, 2009). World Bank. (2010). Vietnam Development Report Natural Resources Management. Hanoi, Vietnam: Joint Development Partner Report to the Vietnam Consultative Group Meeting (December 7-8, 2010). World Bank. (2011). Report of the Study on National Spatial Data Infrastructure Development Strategy for Vietnam. Hanoi, Vietnam: Joint Working Group of the World Bank and MONRE. World Bank. (2012). Vietnam Land Administration Project (P096418): Implementation Status & Results (ISR7001). Washington DC: World Bank. Retrieved from Administration-Project-P Implementation-Status-Results-Report-Sequence-06 World Bank. (2014). Land Transparency Study: Synthesis Report. Hanoi, Vietnam: Hong Duc Publishing House. World Bank. (2015). Implementation Completion and Results Report: Vietnam - Land Administration Project. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. Retrieved from World Bank. (2016). Vietnam - Improved Land Governance and Database (VILG) Project. Washington, D.C.: World Bank. Retrieved from Improved-Land-Governance-and-Database-VILG-Project World Bank & GIV. (2013). Corruption from the Perspective of Citizens, Firms, and Public Officials - Results of Sociological Surveys. Hanoi, Vietnam: National Political Publishing House. Yin, R. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Washington DC, USA: SAGE Publications. 312

333 Appendix: Maps and Stakeholder Consultation Guide Appendix 1: Appendix 1: Maps of Case Study Ward 2, Vinh Long City Trung Thanh Tay Commune, Vung Liem District, Vinh Long Trung Hiep Commune, Vung Liem District, Vinh Long Appendix 2: Appendix 3: Appendix 4: Appendix 5: Appendix 6: Appendix 7: Appendix 8: Appendix 9: Letter of Ethics Approval Invitation for potential interviewees Semi-structured Interviewing Questions (for interviewees) Invitation for potential focus group participants Semi-structured interviewing questions (for focus groups) Invitation for households/individuals Questionnaires for households/individuals Consent Form 313

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335 Appendix 1: Maps of Case Study Administrative Map of Vinh Long Province (DONRE of Vinh Long Province Website, accessed date July 20, 2016) 315

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337 Land Use Maps of Ward 2, Vinh Long City, Vinh Long Province (DONRE of Vinh Long Province Website, accessed date July 13, 2015) 317

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339 Land Use Map of Trung Hiep, Vung Liem District, Vinh Long Province (DONRE of Vinh Long Province Website, accessed date July 13, 2015) Land Use Map of Trung Thanh Tay, Vung Liem District, Vinh Long Province (DONRE of Vinh Long Province Website, accessed date July 13, 2015) 319

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341 RMIT University Science Engineering and Health 13 th June 2013 David Mitchell Building 12 Level 11, Room 12 School of Mathematical & Geospatial Sciences RMIT University College Human Ethics Advisory Network (CHEAN) Plenty Road Bundoora VIC 3083 PO Box 71 Bundoora VIC 3083 Australia Tel Fax Dear David BSEHAPP MITCHELL-NGO A Spatial Data Infrastructure Model for Improvement of the Land Administration system in Vietnam Thank you for submitting your amended application for review. I am pleased to inform you that the CHEAN has approved your application for a period of 12 Months from the date of this letter to June 13, 2014 and your research may now proceed. The CHEAN would like to remind you that: All data should be stored on University Network systems. These systems provide high levels of manageable security and data integrity, can provide secure remote access, are backed up on a regular basis and can provide Disaster Recover processes should a large scale incident occur. The use of portable devices such as CDs and memory sticks is valid for archiving; data transport where necessary and for some works in progress. The authoritative copy of all current data should reside on appropriate network systems; and the Principal Investigator is responsible for the retention and storage of the original data pertaining to the project for a minimum period of five years. Annual reports are due during December for all research projects that have been approved by the College Human Ethics Advisory Network (CHEAN). The necessary form can be found at: Yours faithfully, Linda Jones Chair, Science Engineering & Health College Human Ethics Advisory Network Cc CHEAN Member: Kevin Zhang School of Civil, Environmental & Chemical Engineering RMIT University Student Investigator/s: Mau Ngo s School of Mathematical & Geospatial Sciences RMIT University Other Investigator/s: Nicholas Chrisman School of Mathematical & Geospatial Sciences RMIT University 321

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343 Appendix 3: Invitation for potential interviewees INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH PROJECT 16 (for interviewees) PARTICIPANT INFORMATION Project Title: A Spatial Data Infrastructure Model for Improvement of the Land Administration system in Vietnam Investigators: 1. Dr. David Mitchell; PhD. Land Administration david.mitchell@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Mr. Mau Duc Ngo, MEng. Urban Planning and Management, BA. Land Administration mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Prof. Nicholas Chrisman; PhD. Geography, BA. Geography nicholas.chrisman@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Dear Participants, You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by RMIT University. Please read this sheet carefully and be confident that you understand its contents before deciding whether to participate. If you have any questions about the project, please ask one of the investigators. The research is carried out by Mr. Mau Duc Ngo, a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. David Mitchell, a senior lecturer and Prof. Nicholas Chrisman, Head of Geospatial Disciplines at the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University. The consultant of research is Prof. Vo Hung Dang, the former Vice Minister of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam. The research is partly funded by AusAID through proving a PhD scholarship for above-mentioned candidate and is being conducted as part of the PhD Degree in Land Information. The research has been approved by the RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee. We, the investigators working in this field of land administration, understand and are familiar with the experts and stakeholders in the field and intend to approach you to participate in the research. You have been selected as you are working for the related stakeholders identified in the research. We believe that your participation will bring benefits to the research. Limitations in data coordination and sharing results in issues such as duplication of data collection and production, data incompleteness, non-standardized or poor quality data, and more importantly, inefficiency and low financial sustainability. In addition, the limitations in organisational arrangements as well as the constraints of information policies cause in-efficient dissemination and delivery of land information and land registration services. This project aims to develop a conceptual model of spatial data infrastructure for the land sector in Vietnam in order to contribute to the modernization of land administration strategy for providing a better public service in land management in the country. To conduct this project, we aim to answer the following questions: - How a spatial data infrastructure for the land sector can support Vietnam land administration system? - What are the limitations of the development of a spatial data infrastructure for land sector in Vietnam? 16 This will be translated into Vietnamese. 323

344 - What is the suitable structure of a spatial data infrastructure for land sector to improve land administration system in Vietnam? The outcomes of this research will benefit government decision on development and implementation of a spatial data infrastructure as well as improvement of land administration system. For land users and related stakeholders, the access to land information will be improved. If you agree to participate, I will arrange a time to meet with you to ask questions attached. This should take approximately one hour. During the interview, I will take notes and also do an audio recording. There are no perceived risks when you participate in this project. However, if you are unduly concerned about your responses to any of the questionnaire items or if you find participation in the project distressing, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Mau Duc Ngo as soon as convenient. You can also contact with the Office of School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University at smgs@rmit.edu.au or telephone: We will discuss your concerns with you confidentially and suggest appropriate follow-up, if necessary. As a purely voluntary participant, you have: - The right to withdraw from participation at any time. - The right to request that any recording cease. - The right to have any unprocessed data withdrawn and destroyed, provided it can be reliably identified, and provided that so doing does not increase the risk for the participant. - The right to have any questions answered at any time. Your privacy will be protected as no names or addresses of yours will be used, instead of this, the use of pseudonyms will be applied if necessary. Only investigators can access privacy of participants. The information you provide will be kept securely at RMIT for five years after publication, before being destroyed. Any information that you provide can be disclosed only if (1) it is to protect you or others from harm, (2) a court order is produced, or (3) you provide the researchers with written permission. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Mau Duc Ngo at mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; or telephone: +(61 3) Yours sincerely, (signed) David Mitchell PhD. Land Administration (signed) Mr. Mau Duc Ngo MEng. Urban Planning and Management, BA. Land Administration (signed) Prof. Nicholas Chrisman PhD. Geography If you have any complaints about your participation in this project please see the complaints procedure on the Complaints with respect to participation in research at RMIT page: 324

345 Invitation for potential interviewees (in Vietnamese) THƯ MỜI THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC Tên đề tài: Mô hình Cơ sở Hạ tầng Dữ liệu không gian nhằm tăng cường Hệ thống Quản lý đất đai Việt Nam Những người thực hiện: 1. David Mitchell, Tiến sĩ Quản lý đất đai Thư điện tử: điện thoại: Ngô Đức Mậu, Thạc sĩ Quy hoạch và quản lý đô thị, Cử nhân Địa chính Thư điện tử: mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; điện thoại: Nicholas Chrisman, Giáo sư, Tiến sĩ Địa lý Thư điện tử: nicholas.chrisman@rmit.edu.au; điện thoại: Kính gửi Ông/bà, Học viện Công nghệ Hoàng gia Melbourne (Đại học RMIT) trân trọng kính mời ông/bà tham gia hỗ trợ việc nghiên cứu khoa học thực hiện bởi Nhóm cán bộ, nghiên cứu sinh có tên nêu trên. Chúng tôi rất mong ông/bà đọc kỹ thông tin trong Thư mời này để hiểu nội dung cụ thể trước khi quyết định ông/bà có thể tham gia hay không. Nếu ông/bà có bất kỳ câu hỏi nào, xin hãy liên hệ với một trong những người thực hiện nêu trên. Nghiên cứu này được thực hiện chính bởi Ông Ngô Đức Mậu, Nghiên cứu sinh chuyên ngành Hệ thống thông tin đất đai, dưới sự hướng dẫn của Tiến sĩ David Mitchell, Giảng viên chính và Giáo sư Nicholas Chrisman, Chủ nhiệm bộ môn Địa không gian thuộc Khoa Toán và Địa không gian của Đại học RMIT. Nghiên cứu này được tài trợ bởi Cơ quan Hợp tác Phát triển quốc tế Australia (AusAID) thông qua việc cấp học bổng học tiến sĩ chuyên ngành Hệ thống thông tin đất đai cho nghiên cứu sinh nêu trên. Đề cương và Yêu cầu chuẩn mực đạo đức của nghiên cứu này đã được phê duyệt bởi Ủy ban Chuẩn mực đạo đức nghiên cứu khoa học liên quan đến con người của Đại học RMIT. Chúng tôi, những người thực hiện nghiên cứu này làm việc trong ngành quản lý đất đai, có thông tin về các chuyên gia cũng như các đối tượng có liên quan đến quản lý đất đai và dự kiến tiếp cận để mời ông/bà tham gia nghiên cứu. Ông/bà được lựa chọn vì hiện tại ông bà đang làm việc cho cơ quan có liên quan được xác định trong nghiên cứu của chúng tôi. Chúng tôi tin tưởng rằng, sự tham gia của ông/bà sẽ mang lại lợi ích cho nghiên cứu của mình. Ở Việt Nam, sự hạn chế trong việc chia sẻ dữ liệu đã ảnh hưởng đến hàng loạt các vấn đề gây lãng phí tiền của như việc phải làm đi làm lại dữ liệu, dữ liệu không đầy đủ, không theo chuẩn, chất lượng thấp và quan trọng nhất là vấn đề đầu tư tài chính cho ngành quản lý đất đai không được bền vững. Thêm vào đó, sự hạn chế trong tổ chức thể chế, sự không đầy đủ của khung pháp lý về chia sẻ thông tin đã làm cho hiệu quả của việc công bố, cung cấp thông tin trở nên yếu kém. Cùng với đó việc chia sẻ thông tin và hoạt động đăng ký, quản lý đất đai chưa thật hiệu quả. Nghiên cứu này có mục tiêu xây dựng một khung chính sách cho mô hình cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu bản đồ cho ngành quản lý đất đai tại Việt Nam nhằm hiện đại hóa chiến lược quản lý đất đai để Chính phủ thực hiện cung cấp dịch vụ công trong lĩnh vực đất đai tốt hơn. Để thực hiện nghiên cứu này, chúng tôi dự kiến trả lời một số câu hỏi nghiên cứu dưới đây: 325

346 - Một cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian sẽ hỗ trợ thế nào cho hệ thống quản lý đất đai Việt Nam? - Đâu là những hạn chế trong xây dựng và vận hành cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cho hệ thống quản lý đất đai Việt Nam? - Đâu là mô hình cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian phù hợp nhất có thể giúp tăng cường hệ thống quản lý đất đai ở Việt Nam? Sản phẩm của nghiên cứu này sẽ có lợi cho các quyết định cấp chính phủ liên quan đến xây dựng và vận hành cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cũng như tăng cường hệ thống quản lý đất đai ở Việt Nam. Đối với người sử dụng đất và những đối tượng có liên quan, việc tiếp cận thông tin đất đai, thực hiện các dịch vụ công về quản lý đất đia sẽ được thực hiện dễ dàng hơn. Nếu ông/bà đồng ý tham gia, tôi sẽ sắp xếp một cuộc hẹn để hỏi ông/bà những câu hỏi được đính kèm. Thời gian dự kiến là khoảng một giờ. Trong thời gian đó, tôi sẽ ghi và ghi âm lại nội dung cuộc phỏng vấn. Sẽ không có một rủi ro nào khi ông/bà tham gia vào nghiên cứu này. Mặc dù vậy, nếu ông bà còn e ngại về bất cứ câu hỏi nào hoặc cảm thấy không thoải mái khi tham gia, xin hãy liên hệ với ông Ngô Đức Mậu theo địa chỉ nêu trên càng sớm càng tốt. Ông/bà cũng có thể liên hệ với Văn phòng Khoa Toán và Địa không gian thuộc Đại học RMIT theo địa chỉ thư điện tử: smgs@rmit.edu.au hoặc điện thoại: Chúng tôi sẽ thảo luận về những lo ngại với ông/bà một cách riêng tư và hướng dẫn ông bà những bước tiếp theo (nếu cần). Như một người tình nguyện tham gia vào nghiên cứu khoa học, ông/bà có quyền: - Rút lại sự tham gia của mình bất cứ khi nào; - Chấm dứt việc ghi âm cuộc phỏng vấn (nếu có); - Rút lại và hủy bỏ những câu trả lời chưa được phân tích hoặc cung cấp các chỉ dẫn cần thiết với điều kiện là không ảnh hưởng, không làm tăng nguy cơ rủi ro cho người tham gia nghiên cứu; - Được trả lời các câu hỏi, thắc mắc liên quan vào bất cứ thời gian nào. Sự riêng tư của ông/bà sẽ được bảo đảm vì tên và địa chỉ của ông bà sẽ không được nêu ra, thay vào đó, chúng tôi sẽ sử dụng các bí danh nếu cần thiết. Thông tin ông/bà cung cấp sẽ được lưu trữ trong thời hạn 5 năm kể từ khi báo cáo của nghiên cứu được công bố và sau đó sẽ được tiêu hủy. Bất kỳ thông tin nào ông/bà cung cấp sẽ được nêu ra chỉ khi: (1) nó giúp bảo vệ ông bà khỏi các nguy cơ rủi ro; (2) theo phán quyết của tòa án; hoặc (3) khi ông bà cho phép những người thực hiện nghiên cứu thông qua văn bản. Nếu ông bà có bất kỳ câu hỏi nào, xin hãy đừng ngần ngại liên hệ với ông Ngô Đức Mậu tại địa chỉ thư điện tử: mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au hoặc điện thoại (Úc) / 09xxxxxx8 (Việt Nam). Kính thư, (đã ký) TS. David Mitchell (đã ký) Ths. Ngô Đức Mậu (đã ký) GS.TS. Nicholas Chrisman Nếu ông bà có khiếu nại nào liên quan đến việc tham gia nghiên cứu này, xin hãy thực hiện theo thủ tục nêu tại địa: 326

347 Appendix 4: Semi-structured Interviewing Questions (for interviewees) Land Information SEMI-STRUCTURED INTERVIEWING QUESTIONS 17 (for interviewees) 1. What kind of land information is used in your organisation in relation to land ownership, land value or land use? For what purpose is the land information used? 2. Have you used land registration services offered by government agencies? 3. What are the limitations of these land registration services? How can they be improved? Spatial data usage, exchange and sharing: 4. What kind of spatial data about land ownership, land value or land use is used in your organisation? Who uses it and what for? 5. How does your organisation obtain data about land ownership, land value or land use and how is these data shared with other agencies? 6. Are there any standards and policies govern this land ownership, land value or land use data? What are they? 7. Are there any standards to collect and share spatial data as well as land information when doing land projects? How do you evaluate the quality of those standards? 8. What are the issues/problems regarding sharing and exchanging of land ownership, land value or land use data? Can you provide an example? 9. How do you think the Government can promote data sharing and integration? 10. What should be the priority for the Government in spatial data exchange and sharing? An SDI for land management: 11. Have you heard about spatial data infrastructures? 12. How can a spatial data infrastructure for the land sector support Vietnam land administration system? 13. How may the development of technological components assist the spatial data infrastructure for the land sector for improvement of land data integration and management in Vietnam? 14. What are the limitations to the development of a spatial data infrastructure for land sector in Vietnam? 15. What are the optimal institutional and legal arrangements for a spatial data infrastructure for the land sector at national and local levels of government in Vietnam? 16. What are the respective roles of the private and public sectors share in the proposed model to delivery of land registration services in Vietnam for sharing and updating land information under the SDI Land? How to improve the role of private sector in land administration system? 17 This is used for experts from ministries, private sector, NGOs and donors as well as technical staff at provincial level. This will be translated into Vietnamese. 327

348 17. What is the suitable structure of a spatial data infrastructure for land sector to improve land administration system in Vietnam? And how can it support development and implementation of the e-government agenda? 18. How can a spatial data infrastructure for land sector be sustainably managed? 19. What kind of services related to land are you providing? How do you participate in spatial data development? Are there any regulation regarding security of information under the services you have provided? 20. What are your expectations of a land administration system regarding data management and sharing? Gender and Ethnic Minority 21. Have been there any land administration programs for improvement the role of women in land management? 22. How can we improve women s access to information about land ownership, land value or land use? 23. Have been there any awareness rising programs for ethnic minority people? 24. How can we improve ethnic minority people s access to information about land ownership, land value or land use? 328

349 Semi-structured Interviewing Questions (in Vietnamese) DANH MỤC CÂU HỎI PHỎNG VẤN Thông tin đất đai: 1. Những thông tin đất đai nào liên quan đến sở hữu đất đai, sử dụng đất đai và giá đất đang được sử dụng tại cơ quan của ông/bà? Mục đích của việc sử dụng những thông tin đó là gì? 2. Cơ quan của ông bà có/đã từng sử dụng dịch vụ đăng ký đất đai được cung cấp bởi Chính phủ hay không? 3. Những hạn chế đối với dịch vụ đăng ký đất đai hiện nay theo ông/bà là gì? Làm thế nào để khắc phục được những hạn chế đó? Sử dụng, trao đổi và chia sẻ thông tin không gian: 4. Những thông tin không gian nào (bản đồ, sơ đồ) liên quan đến sở hữu đất đai, sử dụng đất đai và giá đất đang được sử dụng tại cơ quan của ông/bà? Ai là người sử dụng những thông tin đó là gì? 5. Cơ quan ông/bà làm thế nào để có những thông tin đó? Cơ quan ông/bà chia sẻ thông tin thu thập được với các cơ quan khác như thế nào? 6. Có chuẩn nào, chính sách nào quy định về dữ liệu sở hữu đất đai, định giá đất và sử dụng đất? Đó là những chuẩn nào, chính sách nào? 7. Đã có những chuẩn nào quy định về thu nhận, chia sẻ thong tin không gian cũng như thông tin đất đai khi thực hiện các dự án về đất đai? Ông/bà có thể đánh giá về chất lượng của các chuẩn đó? 8. Có những vấn đề/khó khan gì liên quan đến chia sẻ và trao đổi thông tin, dữ liệu về sở hữu đất đai, giá đất và sử dụng đất? ông bà có thể cho một ví dụ? 9. Ông bà nghĩ Chính phủ nên tang cường công tác chia sẻ và tích hợp thông tin đất đai theo hướng nào? 10. Điều gì Chính phủ nên đầu tư ưu tiên trong việc chia sẻ và trao đổi thông tin không gian? Cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian trong quản lý đất đai: 11. Ông bà đã từng nghe về cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian? 12. Theo quan điểm của ông/bà thì một cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian sẽ đóng góp/giúp ích gì cho công tác quản lý đất đai tại Việt Nam? 13. Việc phát triển thành phần công nghệ sẽ hỗ trợ thế nào trong việc xây dựng cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cho lĩnh vực quản lý đất đai ở Việt Nam trong việc tích hợp và quản lý cơ sở dữ liệu đất đai? 14. Những hạn chế trong việc phát triển một cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cho lĩnh vực quản lý đất đai hiện nay ở Việt Nam là gì? 15. Các thể chế chính sách và pháp luật cần được xây dựng nhằm hỗ trợ sự phát triển một cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian tại cấp quốc gia cũng như cấp địa phương ở Việt Nam là gì? 329

350 16. Vai trò của các cơ quan nhà nước, doanh nghiệp tư nhân trong mô hình đăng ký đất đai ở Việt Nam nhằm thực hiện tốt việc chia sẻ và cập nhật thông tin đất đai trong khuôn khổ mô hình cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian là gì? Làm thế nào để tang cường vai trò của các doanh nghiệp tư nhân? 17. Đâu là cấu trúc hợp lý của một cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cho lĩnh vực đất đai ở Việt Nam? Điều này giúp gì cho chương trình chính phủ điện tử ở quốc gia này? 18. Mô hình cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian nên được quản lý thế nào cho bền vững? 19. Công ty/cơ quan ông bà đang cung cấp loại dịch vụ gì liên quan đến thông tin đất đai? Công ty/cơ quan ông bà tham gia công tác xây dựng dữ liệu không gian theo cách nào? Có quy định nào về an toàn dữ liệu khi Công ty/cơ quan ông bà tham gia các dự án này không? 20. Ông bà mong muốn gì về hệ thống quản lý đất đai Việt Nam liên quan đến cung cấp dịch vụ đăng ký đất đai? Vấn đề giới và dân tộc thiểu số: 21. Đã có những dự án đất đai nào đề cập đến việc tăng cường vai trò của người phụ nữ trong lĩnh vực đất đai? 22. Chúng ta có thể tăng cường sự tiếp cận của người phụ nữ với thông tin về sở hữu đất đai, giá đất và sử dụng đất như thế nào? 23. Đã có những chương trình tăng cường nhận thức cộng đồng nào được thực hiện đối với người dân tộc thiểu số? 24. Làm sao chúng ta có thể tăng cường tiếp cận thông tin đất đai của người dân tộc thiểu số? 330

351 Appendix 5: Invitation for potential focus group participants INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH PROJECT 18 (for focus group) PARTICIPANT INFORMATION Project Title: A Spatial Data Infrastructure Model for Improvement of the Land Administration system in Vietnam Investigators: 1. Dr. David Mitchell; PhD. Land Administration david.mitchell@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Mr. Mau Duc Ngo, MEng. Urban Planning and Management, BA. Land Administration mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Prof. Nicholas Chrisman; PhD. Geography, BA. Geography nicholas.chrisman@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Dear Participants, You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by RMIT University. Please read this sheet carefully and be confident that you understand its contents before deciding whether to participate. If you have any questions about the project, please ask one of the investigators. The research is carried out by Mr. Mau Duc Ngo, a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. David Mitchell, a senior lecturer and Prof. Nicholas Chrisman, Head of Geospatial Disciplines at the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University. The consultant of research is Prof. Vo Hung Dang, the former Vice Minister of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam. The research is partly funded by AusAID through proving a PhD scholarship for above-mentioned candidate and is being conducted as part of the PhD Degree in Land Information. The research has been approved by the RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee. We, the investigators working in this field of land administration, understand and are familiar with the experts and stakeholders in the field and intend to approach you to participate in the research. You have been selected randomly as you belong to one of the most important stakeholders at the grassroots level of the land administration system. Limitations in data coordination and sharing results in issues such as duplication of data collection and production, data incompleteness, non-standardized or poor quality data, and more importantly, inefficiency and low financial sustainability. In addition, the limitations in organisational arrangements as well as the constraints of information policies cause in-efficient dissemination and delivery of land information and land registration services. This project aims to develop a conceptual model of spatial data infrastructure for the land sector in Vietnam in order to contribute to the modernization of land administration strategy for providing a better public service in land management in the country. To conduct this project, we aim to answer the following questions: - How a spatial data infrastructure for the land sector can support Vietnam land administration system? - What are the limitations of the development of a spatial data infrastructure for land sector in Vietnam? 18 This will be translated into Vietnamese. 331

352 - What is the suitable structure of a spatial data infrastructure for land sector to improve land administration system in Vietnam? The outcomes of this research will benefit government decision on development and implementation of a spatial data infrastructure as well as improvement of land administration system. For land users and related stakeholders, the access to land information will be improved. If you agree to participate, please attend a meeting arranged in consultation with the village head to discuss the questions/topics attached. You will be advised the date, time and venue of the meeting. It should take approximately three hours. During the discussion, I will take notes and also do an audio recording. There are no perceived risks when you participate in this project. However, if you are unduly concerned about your responses to any of the questionnaire items or if you find participation in the project distressing, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Mau Duc Ngo as soon as convenient. You can also contact with the Office of School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University at smgs@rmit.edu.au or telephone: We will discuss your concerns with you confidentially and suggest appropriate follow-up, if necessary. As a purely voluntary participant, you have: - The right to withdraw from participation at any time. - The right to request that any recording cease. - The right to have any unprocessed data withdrawn and destroyed, provided it can be reliably identified, and provided that so doing does not increase the risk for the participant. - The right to have any questions answered at any time. Your privacy will be protected as no names or addresses of yours will be used, instead of this, the use of pseudonyms will be applied if necessary. Only investigators can access privacy of participants. The information you provide will be kept securely at RMIT for five years after publication, before being destroyed. Any information that you provide can be disclosed only if (1) it is to protect you or others from harm, (2) a court order is produced, or (3) you provide the researchers with written permission. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Mau Duc Ngo at mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; or telephone: +(61 3) Yours sincerely, (signed) David Mitchell PhD. Land Administration (signed) Mr. Mau Duc Ngo MEng. Urban Planning and Management, BA. Land Administration (signed) Prof. Nicholas Chrisman PhD. Geography If you have any complaints about your participation in this project please see the complaints procedure on the Complaints with respect to participation in research at RMIT page: 332

353 Invitation for potential focus group participants (in Vietnamese) Tên đề tài: THƯ MỜI THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC (Dùng cho Nhóm đối tượng được chọn lọc ở cấp cơ sở) Mô hình Cơ sở Hạ tầng Dữ liệu không gian nhằm tăng cường Hệ thống Quản lý đất đai Việt Nam Những người thực hiện: 1. David Mitchell, Tiến sĩ Quản lý đất đai Thư điện tử: điện thoại: Ngô Đức Mậu, Thạc sĩ Quy hoạch và quản lý đô thị, Cử nhân Địa chính Thư điện tử: mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; điện thoại: Nicholas Chrisman, Giáo sư, Tiến sĩ Địa lý Thư điện tử: nicholas.chrisman@rmit.edu.au; điện thoại: Kính gửi Ông/bà, Học viện Công nghệ Hoàng gia Melbourne (Đại học RMIT) trân trọng kính mời ông/bà tham gia hỗ trợ việc nghiên cứu khoa học thực hiện bởi Nhóm cán bộ, nghiên cứu sinh có tên nêu trên. Chúng tôi rất mong ông/bà đọc kỹ thông tin trong Thư mời này để hiểu nội dung cụ thể trước khi quyết định ông/bà có thể tham gia hay không. Nếu ông/bà có bất kỳ câu hỏi nào, xin hãy liên hệ với một trong những người thực hiện nêu trên. Nghiên cứu này được thực hiện chính bởi Ông Ngô Đức Mậu, Nghiên cứu sinh chuyên ngành Hệ thống thông tin đất đai, dưới sự hướng dẫn của Tiến sĩ David Mitchell, Giảng viên chính và Giáo sư Nicholas Chrisman, Chủ nhiệm bộ môn Địa không gian thuộc Khoa Toán và Địa không gian của Đại học RMIT. Nghiên cứu này được tài trợ bởi Cơ quan Hợp tác Phát triển quốc tế Australia (AusAID) thông qua việc cấp học bổng học tiến sĩ chuyên ngành Hệ thống thông tin đất đai cho nghiên cứu sinh nêu trên. Đề cương và Yêu cầu chuẩn mực đạo đức của nghiên cứu này đã được phê duyệt bởi Ủy ban Chuẩn mực đạo đức nghiên cứu khoa học liên quan đến con người của Đại học RMIT. Chúng tôi, những người thực hiện nghiên cứu này là những người làm việc trong ngành, có thông tin về các chuyên gia cũng như các đối tượng có liên quan đến công tác quản lý đất đai và dự kiến tiếp cận để mời ông/bà tham gia nghiên cứu. Ông/bà được lựa chọn ngẫu nhiên vì ông bà thuộc vào nhóm đối tượng quan trọng nhất tại cấp cơ sở của hệ thống quản lý đất đai. Ở Việt Nam, sự hạn chế trong việc chia sẻ dữ liệu đã ảnh hưởng đến hàng loạt các vấn đề gây lãng phí tiền của như việc phải làm đi làm lại dữ liệu, dữ liệu không đầy đủ, không theo chuẩn, chất lượng thấp và quan trọng nhất là vấn đề đầu tư tài chính cho ngành quản lý đất đai không được bền vững. Thêm vào đó, sự hạn chế trong tổ chức thể chế, sự không đầy đủ của khung pháp lý về chia sẻ thông tin đã làm cho hiệu quả của việc công bố, cung cấp thông tin trở nên yếu kém. Cùng với đó việc chia sẻ thông tin và hoạt động đăng ký, quản lý đất đai chưa thật hiệu quả. Nghiên cứu này có mục tiêu xây dựng một mô hình cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu bản đồ cho ngành quản lý đất đai tại Việt Nam nhằm hiện đại hóa chiến lược quản lý đất đai để Chính phủ thực hiện cung cấp dịch vụ công trong lĩnh vực đất đai tốt hơn. Để thực hiện nghiên cứu này, chúng tôi dự kiến trả lời một số câu hỏi nghiên cứu dưới đây: 333

354 334 - Một cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian sẽ hỗ trợ thế nào cho hệ thống quản lý đất đai Việt Nam? - Đâu là những hạn chế trong xây dựng và vận hành cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cho hệ thống quản lý đất đai Việt Nam? - Đâu là mô hình cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian phù hợp nhất có thể giúp tăng cường hệ thống quản lý đất đai ở Việt Nam? Sản phẩm của nghiên cứu này sẽ có lợi cho các quyết định cấp chính phủ liên quan đến xây dựng và vận hành cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cũng như tăng cường hệ thống quản lý đất đai ở Việt Nam. Đối với người sử dụng đất và những đối tượng có liên quan, việc tiếp cận thông tin đất đai, thực hiện các dịch vụ công về quản lý đất đia sẽ được thực hiện dễ dàng hơn. Nếu ông bà đồng ý tham gia, xin hãy tham gia cuộc họp được tổ chức bởi chúng tôi để thảo luận về những câu hỏi được đính kèm theo. Ông bà sẽ được thông báo cụ thể về thời gian, địa điểm của cuộc họp. Dự kiến cuộc họp sẽ kéo dài khoảng 2-3 giờ. Trong quá trình thảo luận, tôi sẽ ghi chép lại và ghi âm cuộc thảo luận. Sẽ không có một rủi ro nào khi ông/bà tham gia vào nghiên cứu này. Mặc dù vậy, nếu ông bà còn e ngại về bất cứ câu hỏi nào hoặc cảm thấy không thoải mái khi tham gia, xin hãy liên hệ với ông Ngô Đức Mậu theo địa chỉ nêu trên càng sớm càng tốt. Ông/bà cũng có thể liên hệ với Văn phòng Khoa Toán và Địa không gian thuộc Đại học RMIT theo địa chỉ thư điện tử: smgs@rmit.edu.au hoặc điện thoại: Chúng tôi sẽ thảo luận về những lo ngại với ông/bà một cách riêng tư và hướng dẫn ông bà những bước tiếp theo (nếu cần). Như một người tình nguyện tham gia vào nghiên cứu khoa học, ông/bà có quyền: - Rút lại sự tham gia của mình bất cứ khi nào; - Chấm dứt việc ghi âm cuộc phỏng vấn (nếu có); - Rút lại và hủy bỏ những câu trả lời chưa được phân tích hoặc cung cấp các chỉ dẫn cần thiết với điều kiện là không ảnh hưởng, không làm tăng nguy cơ rủi ro cho người tham gia nghiên cứu; - Được trả lời các câu hỏi, thắc mắc liên quan vào bất cứ thời gian nào. Sự riêng tư của ông/bà sẽ được bảo đảm vì tên và địa chỉ của ông bà sẽ không được nêu ra, thay vào đó, chúng tôi sẽ sử dụng các bí danh nếu cần thiết. Thông tin ông/bà cung cấp sẽ được lưu trữ trong thời hạn 5 năm kể từ khi báo cáo của nghiên cứu được công bố và sau đó sẽ được tiêu hủy. Bất kỳ thông tin nào ông/bà cung cấp sẽ được nêu ra chỉ khi: (1) nó giúp bảo vệ ông bà khỏi các nguy cơ rủi ro; (2) theo phán quyết của tòa án; hoặc (3) khi ông bà cho phép những người thực hiện nghiên cứu thông qua văn bản. Nếu ông bà có bất kỳ câu hỏi nào, xin hãy đừng ngần ngại liên hệ với ông Ngô Đức Mậu tại địa chỉ thư điện tử: mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au hoặc điện thoại (Úc) / 09xxxxxx8 (Việt Nam). Kính thư, (đã ký) TS. David Mitchell (đã ký) Ths. Ngô Đức Mậu (đã ký) GS.TS. Nicholas Chrisman Nếu ông bà có khiếu nại nào liên quan đến việc tham gia nghiên cứu này, xin hãy thực hiện theo thủ tục nêu tại địa:

355 Appendix 6: Semi-structured interviewing questions (for focus groups) SEMI-STRUCTURED FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 19 Land use rights 1. How well do you understand your land use rights (rights, restrictions and responsibilities)? 2. What kind of information about land ownership, land value and land use is the most important to you (hint: land use planning, land price, land recovery and compensation)? 3. Have you ever attended any meeting related to land issues conducted at the village level? Participation in Land Registration Services 4. What difficulties have you experienced when you participated in the government land registration process (such as applying for land titles, land transactions, or land inheritance)? 5. What are the best parts of the government land registration process? 6. In your opinion, how should the land registration services be improved? 7. What is your expectation of the government land registration services? Spatial data Collection and Usage 8. How effective is the adjudication and marking boundaries in the government land surveying process? 9. Are you aware of information on cadastral maps at the communal level? 10. Have you used any spatial data about land ownership, land value or land use? And what for? 11. What are the issues/problems regarding provision of spatial data about land ownership, land value or land use? Do you have any example? Land Use Master Planning 12. Have you ever been required to contribute your input in land use master planning? 13. Do you know how to hand your opinions regarding land use master planning? Land Value Information 14. Have you received any information on land price related to your land? How did you receive it? 15. Have you mortgaged your land to access credits at commercial banks? How your land was valued at that time? Access to Land Information 16. Is it possible for you to access the information about land ownership, land value or land use including cadastral maps as well as land use planning maps at the communal level? Do your know how to get the information? 17. Do you have to pay fees for access to the information? 19 This is used for focus group discussion at grass-root level. This will be translated into Vietnamese. 335

356 18. Do you know how to submit your complaint or disputes regarding land use rights, land boundaries or land use planning? Social Associations roles in land management 19. What are the roles of social associations at the communal level in land related issues? 20. Do the social associations receive any supported information to involve in land issues? What kind of information have you received? Gender in land tenure 21. Are you aware of the policy on issuance of land use right certificates with two names? What do you think about this policy? 22. Have you attended any land administration programs for improvement the role of women in land management? 23. How can we improve women s access to information about land ownership, land value or land use? 24. Have you attended any awareness rising programs for ethnic minority people? 25. How can we improve ethnic minority people s access to information about land ownership, land value or land use? 336

357 Semi-structured interviewing questions (in Vietnamese) DANH MỤC CÂU HỎI THẢO LUẬN (Dành cho Nhóm đối tượng được chọn lọc ở cấp cơ sở) Quyền sử dụng đất: 1. Ông bà hiểu thế nào về quyền sử dụng đất (quyền lợi, hạn chế và những trách nhiệm)? 2. Thông tin nào liên quan đến quyền sử dụng đất, giá đất và quy hoạch sử dụng đất là quan trọng nhất đối với ông, bà (gợi ý: quy hoạch sử dụng đất, giá đất, thu hồi và đền bù đất đai)? 3. Ông bà đã từng tham gia cuộc họp nào được tổ chức tại cấp thôn có liên quan đến vấn đề đất đai (triển khai dự án, thu hồi đất, quy hoạch sử dụng đất, cấp giấy chứng nhận quyền sử dụng đất)? Tham gia vào thực hiện dịch vụ đăng ký đất đai: 4. Những khó khăn mà ông bà đã gặp phải khi tham gia vào quy trình đăng ký đất đai của chính phủ (như đăng ký cấp giấy chứng nhận, các giao dịch về quyền sử dụng đất đất đai, thừa kế quyền sử dụng đất)? 5. Theo quan điểm của ông bà, đâu là bước tiến bộ nhất trong quy trình đăng ký cấp giấy chứng nhận quyền sử dụng đất? 6. Theo quan điểm của ông bà, hệ thống đăng ký đất đai có thể được tang cường như thế nào? 7. Mong muốn của ông bà về hệ thống đăng ký đất đai trong tương lai là gì (ví dụ: cung cấp hệ thống đăng ký trực tuyến, tra cứu thông tin trực tuyến)? Thu thập và sử dụng thông tin không gian 8. Theo ông bà, bellaviệc tham gia cắm mốc ranh trong công tác đo đạc bản đồ địa chính của người dân có vai trò như thế nào? 9. Ông bà có biết là có các bản đồ địa chính lưu tại cấp xã không?? 10. Ông bà đã từng sử dụng các bản đồ, sơ đồ liên quan đến quyền sử dụng đất, giá đất hay quy hoạch sử dụng đất chưa? Nếu đã từng thì việc sử dụng nhằm mục đích gì? 11. Theo ông bà thì có những hạn chế nào trong việc cung cấp thông tin không gian về quyền sử dụng đất, giá đất và quy hoạch sử dụng đất? xin ông bà cho một ví dụ? Quy hoạch sử dụng đất: 12. Ông bà đã từng được yêu cầu/được mời tham gia ý kiến vào việc lập quy hoạch sử dụng đất chưa? 13. Khi có ý kiến về quy hoạch sử dụng đất, ông bà có biết làm thế nào để nộp những ý kiến đó không? Thông tin về giá đất: 14. Ông bà có nhận được bất kỳ thông tin nào về giá đất của ông bà không? Ông bà nhận được thông tin đó như thế nào? 337

358 15. Ông bà đã từng thế chấp quyền sử dụng đất của mình để vay vốn ở các ngân hàng chưa? Nếu đã từng, đất của ông bà được định giá như thế nào? Tiếp cận thông tin đất đai 16. Ông bà có thể tiếp cận những thông tin về quyền sử dụng đất, giá đất hay quy hoạch sử dụng đất như bản đồ địa chính, bản đồ quy hoạch sử dụng đất, bảng giá đất ở cấp xã hay không? Ông bà có biết làm sao để tiếp cận những thông tin đó không? 17. Ông bà có phải nộp phí để tiếp cận những thông tin liên quan đến đất đai hay không? 18. Ông bà có biết làm thế nào để nộp những khiếu nại, tranh chấp về quyền sử dụng đất, ranh giới thửa đất hay quy hoạch sử dụng đất hay không? Vai trò của các tổ chức xã hội trong quản lý đất đai: 19. Ông bà cho biết vai trò của hội ông/bà trong các vấn đề liên quan đến đất đai là gì? 20. Tổ chức hội của ông bà có nhận được sự hỗ trợ cần thiết để giải quyết các vấn đề liên quan đến tranh chấp đất đai? Những thông tin mà tổ chức hội của ông bà hay nhận được là gì? Giới trong quản lý đất đai: 21. Ông bà có biết về chính sách ghi tên cả vợ và chồng trên giấy chứng nhận hay không? Ông bà suy nghĩ gì (đánh giá thế nào) về chính sách này? 22. Ông bà đã từng tham gia bất kỳ một chương trình nào nhằm tăng cường vai trò của người phụ nữ trong công tác quản lý đất đai? 23. Theo ông bà, chúng ta có thể tăng cường tiếp cận thông tin liên quan đến sử dụng đất cũng như các chính sách về đất đai cho phụ nữ như thế nào? 24. Ông bà đã từng tham gia bất kỳ chương trình tăng cường nhận thức của cộng đồng liên quan đến đất đai ở cấp cơ sở chưa? Ông bà có biết có chương trình nào về nâng cao nhận thực cộng đồng dành cho người dân tộc thiểu số ở địa phương không? 25. Chúng ta có thể tăng cường tiếp cận thông tin đất đai cho người dân tộc thiểu số như thế nào? 338

359 Appendix 7: Invitation for households/individuals INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE IN A RESEARCH PROJECT 20 (for questionnaires) PARTICIPANT INFORMATION Project Title: A Spatial Data Infrastructure Model for Improvement of the Land Administration system in Vietnam Investigators: 1. Dr. David Mitchell; PhD. Land Administration david.mitchell@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Mr. Mau Duc Ngo, MEng. Urban Planning and Management, BA. Land Administration mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Prof. Nicholas Chrisman; PhD. Geography, BA. Geography nicholas.chrisman@rmit.edu.au; Tel: +(61 3) Dear Participants, You are invited to participate in a research project being conducted by RMIT University. Please read this sheet carefully and be confident that you understand its contents before deciding whether to participate. If you have any questions about the project, please ask one of the investigators. The research is carried out by Mr. Mau Duc Ngo, a PhD candidate under the supervision of Dr. David Mitchell, a senior lecturer and Prof. Nicholas Chrisman, Head of Geospatial Disciplines at the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University. The consultant of research is Prof. Vo Hung Dang, the former Vice Minister of Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment of Vietnam. The research is partly funded by AusAID through proving a PhD scholarship for above-mentioned candidate and is being conducted as part of the PhD Degree in Land Information. The research has been approved by the RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee. We, the investigators working in this field of land administration, understand and are familiar with the experts and stakeholders in the field and intend to approach you to participate in the research. You have been selected randomly as you belong to one of the most important stakeholders at the grassroots level of the land administration system. Limitations in data coordination and sharing results in issues such as duplication of data collection and production, data incompleteness, non-standardized or poor quality data, and more importantly, inefficiency and low financial sustainability. In addition, the limitations in organisational arrangements as well as the constraints of information policies cause in-efficient dissemination and delivery of land information and land registration services. This project aims to develop a conceptual model of spatial data infrastructure for the land sector in Vietnam in order to contribute to the modernization of land administration strategy for providing a better public service in land management in the country. To conduct this project, we aim to answer the following questions: - How a spatial data infrastructure for the land sector can support Vietnam land administration system? - What are the limitations of the development of a spatial data infrastructure for land sector in Vietnam? 20 This will be translated into Vietnamese. 339

360 - What is the suitable structure of a spatial data infrastructure for land sector to improve land administration system in Vietnam? The outcomes of this research will benefit government decision on development and implementation of a spatial data infrastructure as well as improvement of land administration system. For land users and related stakeholders, the access to land information will be improved. If you agree to participate, please complete the questionnaires sheet. It should take approximately an hour. There are no perceived risks when you participate in this project. However, if you are unduly concerned about your responses to any of the questionnaire items or if you find participation in the project distressing, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Mau Duc Ngo as soon as convenient. You can also contact with the Office of School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University at smgs@rmit.edu.au or telephone: We will discuss your concerns with you confidentially and suggest appropriate follow-up, if necessary. As a purely voluntary participant, you have: - The right to withdraw from participation at any time. - The right to request that any recording cease. - The right to have any unprocessed data withdrawn and destroyed, provided it can be reliably identified, and provided that so doing does not increase the risk for the participant. - The right to have any questions answered at any time. Your privacy will be protected as no names or addresses of yours will be used, instead of this, the use of pseudonyms will be applied if necessary. Only investigators can access privacy of participants. The information you provide will be kept securely at RMIT for five years after publication, before being destroyed. Any information that you provide can be disclosed only if (1) it is to protect you or others from harm, (2) a court order is produced, or (3) you provide the researchers with written permission. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Mr. Mau Duc Ngo at mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; or telephone: +(61 3) Yours sincerely, (signed) David Mitchell PhD. Land Administration (signed) Mr. Mau Duc Ngo MEng. Urban Planning and Management, BA. Land Administration (signed) Prof. Nicholas Chrisman PhD. Geography If you have any complaints about your participation in this project please see the complaints procedure on the Complaints with respect to participation in research at RMIT page: 340

361 Invitation for households/individuals (in Vietnamese) Tên đề tài: THƯ MỜI THAM GIA NGHIÊN CỨU KHOA HỌC (sử dụng cho đối tượng hộ gia đình, cá nhân sử dụng đất) Mô hình Cơ sở Hạ tầng Dữ liệu không gian nhằm tăng cường Hệ thống Quản lý đất đai Việt Nam Những người thực hiện: 1. David Mitchell, Tiến sĩ Quản lý đất đai Thư điện tử: điện thoại: Ngô Đức Mậu, Thạc sĩ Quy hoạch và quản lý đô thị, Cử nhân Địa chính Thư điện tử: mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au; điện thoại: Nicholas Chrisman, Giáo sư, Tiến sĩ Địa lý Thư điện tử: nicholas.chrisman@rmit.edu.au; điện thoại: Kính gửi Ông/bà, Học viện Công nghệ Hoàng gia Melbourne (Đại học RMIT) trân trọng kính mời ông/bà tham gia hỗ trợ việc nghiên cứu khoa học thực hiện bởi Nhóm cán bộ, nghiên cứu sinh có tên nêu trên. Chúng tôi rất mong ông/bà đọc kỹ thông tin trong Thư mời này để hiểu nội dung cụ thể trước khi quyết định ông/bà có thể tham gia hay không. Nếu ông/bà có bất kỳ câu hỏi nào, xin hãy liên hệ với một trong những người thực hiện nêu trên. Nghiên cứu này được thực hiện chính bởi Ông Ngô Đức Mậu, Nghiên cứu sinh chuyên ngành Hệ thống thông tin đất đai, dưới sự hướng dẫn của Tiến sĩ David Mitchell, Giảng viên chính và Giáo sư Nicholas Chrisman, Chủ nhiệm bộ môn Địa không gian thuộc Khoa Toán và Địa không gian của Đại học RMIT. Nghiên cứu này được tài trợ bởi Cơ quan Hợp tác Phát triển quốc tế Australia (AusAID) thông qua việc cấp học bổng học tiến sĩ chuyên ngành Hệ thống thông tin đất đai cho nghiên cứu sinh nêu trên. Đề cương và Yêu cầu chuẩn mực đạo đức của nghiên cứu này đã được phê duyệt bởi Ủy ban Chuẩn mực đạo đức nghiên cứu khoa học liên quan đến con người của Đại học RMIT. Chúng tôi, những người thực hiện nghiên cứu này là những người làm việc trong ngành, có thông tin về các chuyên gia cũng như các đối tượng có liên quan đến công tác quản lý đất đai và dự kiến tiếp cận để mời ông/bà tham gia nghiên cứu. Ông/bà được lựa chọn ngẫu nhiên vì ông bà thuộc vào nhóm đối tượng quan trọng nhất tại cấp cơ sở của hệ thống quản lý đất đai. Ở Việt Nam, sự hạn chế trong việc chia sẻ dữ liệu đã ảnh hưởng đến hàng loạt các vấn đề gây lãng phí tiền của như việc phải làm đi làm lại dữ liệu, dữ liệu không đầy đủ, không theo chuẩn, chất lượng thấp và quan trọng nhất là vấn đề đầu tư tài chính cho ngành quản lý đất đai không được bền vững. Thêm vào đó, sự hạn chế trong tổ chức thể chế, sự không đầy đủ của khung pháp lý về chia sẻ thông tin đã làm cho hiệu quả của việc công bố, cung cấp thông tin trở nên yếu kém. Cùng với đó việc chia sẻ thông tin và hoạt động đăng ký, quản lý đất đai chưa thật hiệu quả. Nghiên cứu này có mục tiêu xây dựng một mô hình cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu bản đồ cho ngành quản lý đất đai tại Việt Nam nhằm hiện đại hóa chiến lược quản lý đất đai để Chính phủ thực hiện cung cấp dịch vụ công trong lĩnh vực đất đai tốt hơn. Để thực hiện nghiên cứu này, chúng tôi dự kiến trả lời một số câu hỏi nghiên cứu dưới đây: 341

362 - Một cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian sẽ hỗ trợ thế nào cho hệ thống quản lý đất đai Việt Nam? - Đâu là những hạn chế trong xây dựng và vận hành cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cho hệ thống quản lý đất đai Việt Nam? - Đâu là mô hình cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian phù hợp nhất có thể giúp tăng cường hệ thống quản lý đất đai ở Việt Nam? Sản phẩm của nghiên cứu này sẽ có lợi cho các quyết định cấp chính phủ liên quan đến xây dựng và vận hành cơ sở hạ tầng dữ liệu không gian cũng như tăng cường hệ thống quản lý đất đai ở Việt Nam. Đối với người sử dụng đất và những đối tượng có liên quan, việc tiếp cận thông tin đất đai, thực hiện các dịch vụ công về quản lý đất đia sẽ được thực hiện dễ dàng hơn. Nếu ông/bà đồng ý tham gia, chúng tôi mong ông/bà trả lời vào Phiếu Khảo sát hộ gia đình sử dụng đất kèm theo. Thời gian dành cho việc trả lời có thể sẽ mất khoảng một giờ. Khi hoàn thành, xin ông/bà bỏ vào phong bì có ghi sẵn địa chỉ và tem thư kèm theo, dán kín và bỏ vào thùng thư của bưu điện nơi gần nhất. Ông bà KHÔNG ghi tên, địa chỉ lên phiếu điều tra hay phong bì thư. Sẽ không có một rủi ro nào khi ông/bà tham gia vào nghiên cứu này. Mặc dù vậy, nếu ông bà còn e ngại về bất cứ câu hỏi nào hoặc cảm thấy không thoải mái khi tham gia, xin hãy liên hệ với ông Ngô Đức Mậu theo địa chỉ nêu trên càng sớm càng tốt. Ông/bà cũng có thể liên hệ với Văn phòng Khoa Toán và Địa không gian thuộc Đại học RMIT theo địa chỉ thư điện tử: smgs@rmit.edu.au hoặc điện thoại: Chúng tôi sẽ thảo luận về những lo ngại với ông/bà một cách riêng tư và hướng dẫn ông bà những bước tiếp theo (nếu cần). Như một người tình nguyện tham gia vào nghiên cứu khoa học, ông/bà có quyền: - Rút lại sự tham gia của mình bất cứ khi nào; - Chấm dứt việc ghi âm cuộc phỏng vấn (nếu có); - Rút lại và hủy bỏ những câu trả lời chưa được phân tích hoặc cung cấp các chỉ dẫn cần thiết với điều kiện là không ảnh hưởng, không làm tăng nguy cơ rủi ro cho người tham gia nghiên cứu; - Được trả lời các câu hỏi, thắc mắc liên quan vào bất cứ thời gian nào. Sự riêng tư của ông/bà sẽ được bảo đảm vì tên và địa chỉ của ông bà sẽ không được nêu ra, thay vào đó, chúng tôi sẽ sử dụng các bí danh nếu cần thiết. Thông tin ông/bà cung cấp sẽ được lưu trữ trong thời hạn 5 năm kể từ khi báo cáo của nghiên cứu được công bố và sau đó sẽ được tiêu hủy. Bất kỳ thông tin nào ông/bà cung cấp sẽ được nêu ra chỉ khi: (1) nó giúp bảo vệ ông bà khỏi các nguy cơ rủi ro; (2) theo phán quyết của tòa án; hoặc (3) khi ông bà cho phép những người thực hiện nghiên cứu thông qua văn bản. Nếu ông bà có bất kỳ câu hỏi nào, xin hãy đừng ngần ngại liên hệ với ông Ngô Đức Mậu tại địa chỉ thư điện tử: mauduc.ngo@rmit.edu.au hoặc điện thoại (Úc) / 09xxxxxx8 (Việt Nam). Kính thư, (đã ký) TS. David Mitchell (đã ký) Ths. Ngô Đức Mậu (đã ký) GS.TS. Nicholas Chrisman Nếu ông bà có khiếu nại nào liên quan đến việc tham gia nghiên cứu này, xin hãy thực hiện theo thủ tục nêu tại địa: 342

363 Appendix 8: Questionnaires for households/individuals QUESTIONNAIRES 21 Participant Information Are you? Are you? Male Female Kinh Ethnic group:.. Are you? Above 50 years old What is your qualification? Under secondary school Secondary school High school Above high school Land Use Rights and Land Registration Services 1. Have you been granted land use right certificates? Yes No If No, please provide reasons (can choose more than one)? not yet applied too expensive too complicated procedure dispute & complaint issues no demand don t know how to apply other reason: If Yes, what type of land use have you been granted land title? Residential land Agricultural land Other land type:.. 2. How do you understand your land use rights? Not at all Poor Sufficient Good Excellent 3. How important are the following selected land use rights to you? Land use rights How they are important to you? Not important Very important Applying for land use right certificates Not important Very important Exchanging land use rights Not important Very important Transferring land use rights Not important Very important Land use rights leasing/sub-leasing Not important Very important Inheriting land use rights Not important Very important Mortgaging land use rights Not important Very important Guaranteeing land use rights Not important Very important Land subdividing Not important Very important 21 This is used for households with mix of gender and cultural background. This will be translated into Vietnamese. 343

364 4. Please tick if you had to visit these following government land authorities and officers when you applied for a land registration service (such as applying for a land use right certificate, mortgaging, transferring)? Cadastral officer(s) One-stop shop at district level Land registration office Notaries/Legal support centre(s) Local treasuries No activity, please skip to Question #6 Communal people committee Section of natural resources and environment District people committee Taxation authority Financial Division 5. How long did you take (or have to wait) to complete the following services? Applying for land use right certificates for residential land Mortgaging land use rights.. days.. days 6. If you were to transfer (sell) your land, what would be the biggest problem with land registration services? High fees Time-consuming Administrative procedures Land value information Land use planning information Other: If you were to buy land, what would be the most difficult for you? High fees Time-consuming Administrative procedures Land value information Land use planning information Other: Have you transferred your land informally? Yes No If Yes, why (tick as many as apply)? No land title Too complicated procedure High fees Time-consuming Other reason:.. 9. How do you evaluate the support of government authorities and officers in doing land registration services? Service on: Applying for land use right certificates Exchanging land use rights Transferring land use rights Land use rights leasing/sub-leasing Inheriting land use rights Mortgaging land use rights Guaranteeing land use rights Land subdividing How government authorities and officers serve you? Not at all Poor Sufficient Good Excellent Access to Land Information 10. What kind of information related to land is the most important to you? How is it important to you? Land related information Not important Very important Administrative procedures Not important Very important 344

365 Land related information How is it important to you? Not important Very important Legal services related to land Not important Very important Land use right certificates Not important Very important Cadastral maps / land parcel sketches Not important Very important Land use planning Not important Very important Land value information Not important Very important Land mortgage Not important Very important Land law and policies Not important Very important 11. How easy is it for you to access land related information? Land related information How can they be accessed? Difficult Easy to access Administrative procedures Difficult Easy to access Legal services related to land Difficult Easy to access Land use right certificates Difficult Easy to access Land law and policies Difficult Easy to access 12. Can you access land documents? Land related documents How can they be accessed? Difficult Easy to access Land use right certificates Difficult Easy to access Cadastral maps / land parcel sketches Difficult Easy to access Land use planning Difficult Easy to access Land value information Difficult Easy to access 13. By which sources of information can you access land information? Sources of Information How easy land information can you access to? Difficult Easy to access Published administrative procedures Difficult Easy to access Internet surfing Difficult Easy to access Radio/TV Difficult Easy to access Poster/Leaflet Difficult Easy to access Village meeting and consultations Difficult Easy to access Government staff approaches Difficult Easy to access Newspapers Difficult Easy to access 14. Do you face any of these following difficulties for accessing land information (tick as many as apply)? Information not available Un-updated information Terminologies are complicated High fee required Identity required Permission required 15. What kinds of improvements are needed to improve access to land information (tick as many as apply)? Reducing fee Reducing time Providing clearly explanations Providing online services Need more transparent Reforming administrative procedures 345

366 Participate in Spatial Data Collection 16. Have you participated in spatial data collection processes (eg. land boundary marking, adjudication for land surveying)? Yes No If Yes, how did you participate? Have you received your land parcel sketches for checking during data collection processes? Yes No 18. Have you raised any feedback regarding land surveying results to government land authorities or officers? Yes No If Yes, by which way did you do? Post Telephone Internet In person Other: How were your feedbacks solved? Satisfactory Non-satisfactory Non-response 19. Is it possible for you to access cadastral maps or any other thematic maps? Possible Impossible If Possible, by which of the following ways can you access (tick as many as apply)? Enquiry at communal level Published at commune Online publication via internet Other (details): ICT in Land management 20. What is your family computer capacity (anyone in your household)? Kind of functions How well you can use? Not at all Very well Documents composing Not at all Very well Internet surfing Not at all Very well Web navigations Not at all Very well 21. Have you used Internet for searching land information or information regarding to land management? Yes No If Yes, where do you use? At home At café-internet At community access point Other What kind of information have you searched for? land related procedures land price land use planning fees Is the information you have found through searching on the Internet informative? Not at all Poor Sufficient Good Excellent 346

367 22. Have you done any land registration services via the Internet? Yes No If Yes, what kind of services can you do (tick as many as apply)? Applying for land use right certificates Exchanging land use rights Transferring land use rights Land use rights leasing/sub-leasing Inheriting land use rights Mortgaging land use rights Guaranteeing land use rights Donating land use rights Contributing capital by land use right Land subdividing If No, what are the reasons (tick as many as apply)? no services provided complicated workflows weak IT skills payment process unbelievable Gender and Minority Languages in land management 23. Who usually attend the village meeting in your family? you your spouse your child (male) your child (female) 24. Do you think the name of the women should be written on land title? No, not necessary Yes, compulsory 25. Have you received any information performed by the government regarding to gender in the land registration as well as land administration? Yes, regularly Yes, rarely No If Yes, by which sources did you get information (tick as many as apply)? Leaflet /poster Radio/TV Newspapers /Internet Project documents Is the information? Informative Uninformative Informative but need to be improved 26. Are there any documents related to land management written in minority language? Yes, No THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION! 347

368

369 Questionnaires for households/individuals (in Vietnamese) Thông tin về người tham gia Ông/bà là? PHIẾU KHẢO SÁT (sử dụng cho đối tượng hộ gia đình, cá nhân sử dụng đất) Ông/bà thuộc dân tộc? nam nữ Kinh dân tộc thiểu số:.. Độ tuổi của ông/bà: trên 50 tuổi Trình độ học vấn: Dưới THCS THCS THPT Trên THPT Quyền sử dụng đất và dịch vụ đăng ký đất đai: 1. Gia đình ông/bà đã được cấp giấy chứng nhận quyền sử dụng đất, quyền sở hữu nhà ở và tài sản khác gắn liền với đất (gọi tắt là Giấy chứng nhận) chưa? Đã được cấp Chưa được cấp Nếu Chưa, xin hãy nêu lý do (có thể chọn nhiều hơn một lựa chọn)? chưa nộp hồ sơ chi phí quá đắt thủ tục phức tạp đất có tranh chấp không có nhu cầu không biết thủ tục đăng ký lý do khác: Nếu Đã được cấp giấy, loại đất nào gia đình ông bà đã được cấp Giấy chứng nhận? Đất ở Đất nông nghiệp Đất khác:.. 2. Mức độ hiểu biết của ông/bà với quyền sử dụng đất thế nào (xin chọn một)? Không biết gì Yếu kém Cơ bản Khá Đầy đủ 3. Các quyền của người sử dụng đất dưới đây quan trọng thế nào với ông/bà? Quyền sử dụng đất Mức độ quan trọng? Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Nộp hồ sơ cấp Giấy chứng nhận QSDĐ Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Chuyển đổi quyền sử dụng đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Chuyển nhượng quyền sử dụng đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Cho thuê/cho thuê lại quyển sử dụng đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Thừa kế quyền sử dụng đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Thế chấp quyền sử dụng đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Bảo lãnh bằng quyền sử dụng đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Chia tách thửa đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng 349

370 4. Ông/bà đã phải đến những cơ quan nào dưới đây khi nộp hồ sơ đăng ký đất đai (ví dụ: đăng ký cấp Giấy chứng nhận, chuyển đổi, chuyển nhượng đất đai)? Cán bộ địa chính xã/phường Văn phòng một cửa tại cấp huyện Văn phòng ĐKQSDĐ cấp huyện Phòng công chứng/tt Hỗ trợ pháp lý Kho bạc nhà nước địa phương Nếu chưa tham gia dịch vụ, xin chuyển đến Câu hỏi 6 5. Ông/bà phải chờ bao lâu để hoàn thành dịch vụ dưới đây? Xin cấp Giấy chứng nhận Thế chấp quyền sử dụng đất.. ngày.. ngày Ủy ban nhân dân xã/phường Phòng Tài nguyên và Môi trường huyện Ủy ban nhân dân cấp huyện Cơ quan thuế địa phương Phòng Tài chính cấp huyện 6. Nếu ông bà bán quyền sử dụng đất, đâu là trở ngại lớn nhất trong các vấn đề dưới đây? Phí/thuế cao Mất thời gian Thủ tục hành chính Thiếu thông tin về giá đất Thiếu thông tin về quy hoạch sử dụng đất 7. Nếu ông bà dự định mua đất, đâu là khó khăn lớn nhất trong các vấn đề sau? khác:... Phí/thuế cao Mất thời gian Thủ tục hành chính Thiếu thông tin về giá đất Thiếu thông tin về quy hoạch sử dụng đất khác: Ông bà đã chuyển nhượng (mua bán) quyền sử dụng đất không chính thức chưa (không làm thủ tục)? Đã thực hiện Chưa thực hiện Nếu đã thực hiện, tại sao ông bà lại không đăng ký với cơ quan địa quản lý ở địa phương? Chưa có GCN Thủ tục phức tạp quá Chi phí cao Mất thời gian Khác:.. 9. Ông/bà đánh giá mức độ hỗ trợ của cơ quan quản lý đất đai ở địa phương khi thực hiện dịch vụ ĐKĐĐ? Dịch vụ về: Nộp hồ sơ cấp Giấy chứng nhận QSDĐ Chuyển đổi quyền sử dụng đất Chuyển nhượng quyền sử dụng đất Cho thuê/cho thuê lại quyển sử dụng đất Thừa kế quyền sử dụng đất Thế chấp quyền sử dụng đất Bảo lãnh bằng quyền sử dụng đất Chia tách thửa đất Các cơ quan/cán bộ địa phương hỗ trợ thế nào? Không Yếu kém Trung bình Khá Tốt 350

371 Tiếp cận thông tin đất đai 10. Loại thông tin nào liên quan đến đất đai/dịch vụ đăng ký đất đai quan trọng với ông/bà? Thông tin liên quan Mức độ quan trọng Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Thủ tục hành chính Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Các dịch vụ pháp lý Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Giấy chứng nhận QSDĐ Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Bản đồ/sơ đồ địa chính Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Quy hoạch sử dụng đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Thông tin về giá đất Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Thế chấp đất đai Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng Luật và chính sách đất đai Không quan trọng Rất quan trọng 11. Mức độ để ông bà tiếp cận thông tin đất đai? Thông tin đất đai liên quan Mức độ tiếp cận được Khó khăn Dễ dàng Thủ tục hành chính Khó khăn Dễ dàng Các dịch vụ pháp lý Khó khăn Dễ dàng Giấy chứng nhận QSDĐ Khó khăn Dễ dàng Luật và chính sách đất đai Khó khăn Dễ dàng 12. Ông bà có thể tiếp cận đến những thông tin nào dưới đây? Hồ sơ, thông tin liên quan đến Mức độ tiếp cận được Khó khăn Dễ dàng Giấy chứng nhận QSDĐ Khó khăn Dễ dàng Bản đồ/sơ đồ địa chính Khó khăn Dễ dàng Quy hoạch sử dụng đất Khó khăn Dễ dàng Thông tin về giá đất Khó khăn Dễ dàng 13. Bằng nguồn thông tin nào ông bà có thể tiếp cận được các thông tin về đất đai? Nguồn thông tin Mức độ tiếp cận Khó khăn Dễ dàng Thủ tục hành chính được công bố Khó khăn Dễ dàng Qua mạng internet Khó khăn Dễ dàng Qua đài tiếng nói/ vô tuyến truyền hình Khó khăn Dễ dàng Tờ rơi, bảng tuyên truyền Khó khăn Dễ dàng Các cuộc họp ở thôn/bản Khó khăn Dễ dàng Tiếp cận với cán bộ nhà nước Khó khăn Dễ dàng Qua báo chí Khó khăn Dễ dàng 351

372 14. Ông bà có gặp phải những khó khan sau khi tiếp cận thông tin đất đai hay không? Không có thông tin Thông tin thiếu cập nhật Thông tin khó hiểu Phải đóng phí Yêu cầu giấy tờ tùy thân Yêu cầu phê duyệt của lãnh đạo 15. Theo ông/bà, những vấn đề nào nên được thực hiện để tăng cường tiếp cận thông tin đất đai? Giảm thiểu chi phí Giảm thiểu thời gian Diễn đạt thông tin rõ ràng hơn Cung cấp dịch vụ trực tuyến Cần minh bạch hơn Cải cách thủ tục hành chính Tham gia của người dân vào quá trình đo đạc 16. Ông bà đã từng tham gia vào công tác đo đạc bản đồ chưa? (ví dụ: xác định mốc giới, kiểm tra kết quả đo đạc)? Đã từng Chưa từng Nếu đã từng tham gia, ông bà đã thực hiện những gì (ngắn gọn)? Ông bà có nhận được sơ đồ thửa đất nhằm kiểm tra kết quả đo đạc trong quá trình thực hiện đo đạc không? Có Không 18. Ông bà đã từng có ý kiến liên quan đến kết quả đo đạc với cơ quan có thẩm quyền chưa? Đã từng Chưa từng Nếu đã từng, ông bà thực hiện điều đó bằng cách nào? qua bưu điện qua điện thoại qua mạng trực tiếp khác: Ý kiến đó được giải quyết thế nào? hài lòng không hài lòng không có phản hồi 19. Ông bà có thể tiếp cận với bản đồ địa chính hoặc các loại bản đồ khác không? có không Nếu có, bằng cách nào ông bà có thể tiếp cận các nguồn bản đồ đó? Yêu cầu tại cấp xã Được công bố tại xã Truy cập qua mạng Cách khác (chi tiết): Công nghệ thông tin trong quản lý đất đai: 20. Khả năng sử dụng máy tính của gia đình ông/bà (bất kỳ thành viên nào)? Chức năng Khả năng sử dụng Không có khả năng Rất tốt Soạn thảo văn bản Không có khả năng Rất tốt Tìm kiếm thông tin trên mạng Không có khả năng Rất tốt Mạng xã hội Không có khả năng Rất tốt 352

373 21. Ông bà đã từng sử dụng mạng internet để tìm kiếm thông tin liên quan đến đất đai chưa? Đã từng Chưa từng Nếu đã từng, ông bà thực hiện điếu đó ở đâu? tại nhà tại tiệm café-internet tại điểm bưu điện văn hóa xã nơi khác Ông bà thường tìm kiếm thông tin gì? thủ tục hành chính về đất đai giá đất quy hoạch sử dụng đất thuế và phí Thông tin ông bà tìm được trên mạng có bổ ích? không nghèo nàn tạm đủ đầy đủ rất đầy đủ 22. Ông bà đã thực hiện bất kỳ giao dịch đăng ký đất đai nào quan mạng? Đã từng chưa từng Nếu đã từng, dịch vụ nào ông bà đã thực hiện? Đăng ký cấp giấy chứng nhận (sổ đỏ) Chuyển nhượng quyền sử dụng đất Thừa kết quyền sử dụng đất Bảo lãnh bằng quyền sử dụng đất Góp vốn bằng quyền sử dụng đất Nếu chưa, đâu là những lý do chính? Chuyển đổi quyền sử dụng đất Cho thuê/cho thuê lại quyền sử dụng đất Thế chấp quyền sử dụng đất Cho tặng quyền sử dụng đất Chia tách thửa không có dịch vụ qua mạng quy trình phức tạp kỹ năng tin học kém lý do về thanh toán Giới và vấn đề tiếng dân tộc thiểu số không đủ tin tưởng 23. Trong gia đình ông/bà, ai thường tham gia các cuộc họp ở tổ dân phố (hoặc thôn, ấp bản)? bản thân ông/bà vợ/chồng con trai con gái 24. Ông bà có nghĩ cần thiết phải ghi tên người vợ (phụ nữ) lên giấy chứng nhận? Không, không cần thiết Rất cần thiết, bắt buộc phải ghi 25. Ông bà có đón nhận được bất kỳ thông tin nào do chính quyền cung cấp có liên quan đến vấn đề giới trong công tác quản lý đất đai hay không? Có, khá thường xuyên Có, nhưng hiếm khi Không Nếu có, ông bà đón nhận các thông tin đó từ nguồn nào? Tờ rơi, pano Đài phát thanh/truyền hình Báo chí/internet Tài liệu của dự án Thông tin đó thế nào? Khá đầy đủ Không đầy đủ Cần phải bổ sung 26. Có tài liệu nào liên quan đến quản lý đất đai ông bà nhận được được viết bằng tiếng dân tộc không? Có, Không Xin ông/bà bỏ vào phong bì kèm theo, dán kín và bỏ vào thùng thư của bưu điện nơi gần nhất. Ông bà KHÔNG ghi tên, địa chỉ lên phiếu điều tra hay phong bì thư. TRÂN TRỌNG CÁM ƠN ÔNG/BÀ ĐÃ GIÚP ĐỠ THỰC HIỆN CUỘC ĐIỀU TRA NÀY! 353

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375 Appendix 9: Consent Form CONSENT FORM I have had the project explained to me, and I have read the information sheet. 2. I agree to participate in the research project as described. 3. I agree to be interviewed and/or complete a questionnaire 4. I acknowledge that: (a) (b) (c) I understand that my participation is voluntary and that I am free to withdraw from the project at any time and to withdraw any unprocessed data previously supplied (unless follow-up is needed for safety). The project is for the purpose of research. It may not be of direct benefit to me. The privacy of the personal information I provide will be safeguarded and only disclosed where I have consented to the disclosure or as required by law. (d) The security of the research data will be protected during and after completion of the study. The data collected during the study may be published, and a report of the project outcomes will be provided to RMIT University. Any information which will identify me will not be used. Participant s Consent Participant: (Signature) Date: Participants should be given a photocopy of this PICF after it has been signed. 22 This is used for interviewees and focus group participants. This will be translated into Vietnamese. 355