NES ILC's National Engagement Strategy

Transcription

1 NES ILC's National Engagement Strategy Promoting people centred land governance MALAWI

2 ILC wishes to thank the following donors, whose support made this research possible: The contents of this work may be freely reproduced, translated, and distributed provided that attribution is given to the International Land Coalition, and the article s authors and organisation. Unless otherwise noted, this work may not be utilised for commercial purposes. For more information, please contact info@landcoalition.org or go to Edited by David Wilson. Design by Federico Pinci. Printed on recycled/fsc paper. ILC is a membership-based network, opinions expressed in this document are the result of a national multi-stakeholder process and therefore its contents can in no way be taken to reflect the official views and/or position of ILC, its members or donors. The ILC Secretariat would appreciate receiving copies of any publication using this study as a source at info@landcoalition.org ISBN:

3 The National Engagement Strategies The concept: what is a NES? In recent years, equitable access to land, particularly in rural areas, has been high on the international policy agenda and is recognised as a crucial element attributing to sustainable development and poverty reduction. Innovative and progressive land policies and laws, particularly at the national level, are key to determining equitable access to, use of, and control over land and other natural resources. The National Engagement Strategy (NES) is the first step of an approach being promoted by the International Land Coalition at country level, in order to create conditions for inclusive and people-centred land-related policy change. Jointly formulated and co-owned by ILC members and other relevant actors at national level, the NES itself is a framework for identifying key priority areas on which land-concerned actors see opportunities for catalysing change, either at the level of policy formulation or at the level of implementing existing progressive policies. The NES process also involves the establishment of a multistakeholder platform that accompanies the implementation of the NES, and makes necessary adjustments on the basis of lessons learned. A NES process is therefore aimed at facilitating collaborative and coordinated action amongst different stakeholders involved with land at the national level to promote people-centred land governance. Through these NES processes, opportunities are increasingly made available to national civil society actors to collaborate among themselves and with international actors, both governmental and non-governmental, and to engage with local and national governments.

4 Why a NES? Political will is a fundamental prerequisite for addressing inequalities in land access and fighting poverty. However, the effective development and implementation of policies, laws and institutional frameworks requires the inclusion of a wide range of actors working together and sharing different perspectives and expertise. A NES arises in recognition of this reality; that corrections in land inequalities, in favour of poor and marginalised groups, are more effectively achieved through the collaborative and coordinated efforts of multiple actors, rather than adopting overlapping or even confrontational approaches. Experience has proven that NES processes have strengthened partnerships and the mutual recognition of diverse actors, producing a momentum for improved land rights. By fundamentally changing the quality of interaction between CSOs and Governments, NES processes have helped increase the political weight of civil society and vulnerable groups, shifting perspectives of Governments to see CSOs as credible sources of knowledge and experts on land related matters. National use of international instruments, such as the VGGTs and F&Gs have also fostered improvements in collaborations, as well as promoting a stronger focus on women s land rights and gender justice. How? A NES is developed in two phases, the first being formulation, and the second being actual implementation of the strategy. The formulation phase of the NES is carried out through regional and national multistakeholder consultations and workshops, where participants identified amongst the key national players identify priorities, potential synergies and agree on joint actions to be undertaken resulting in an action plan that will guide the implementation phase of the NES for the following years. Who? While national civil society members of ILC represent the starting point and main promoters of NES during their initial stages, NES are to be considered open and living processes for knowledge production and sharing, policy dialogue and coordinated action, and are therefore open to any civil society, public or private land actor willing to participate and contribute to working towards a united goal, that is: the realisation of people-centred land governance.

5 Contents Executive summary 7 Introduction 10 Context and background 11 Land context 12 Legal framework: rights to use and land holdings 13 Land administration 15 Justification for the National Engagement Strategy 16 Extent of land available for smallholder farming 16 High population to land ratio 16 Insecurity of land tenure 17 Commercial pressures on land 18 Land-related conflicts 19 Lack of transparency in land administration and land related corruption 20 Unused and under-utilised private land 20 Large inequalities in land access for women and vulnerable groups 21 Weak land governance, legal, and regulatory framework 22 Objectives of the National Engagement Strategy 23 Overall objective 23 Strategic objectives 23 Strategies 24 Strategy for strengthening the land dialogue and advocacy platform 24 Strategy for implementing existing tools such as the VGGT and ALPFG 26 Strategy for obtaining the passage of the Land Bill, Strategy to ensure that the new Land Bill is implemented for the benefit of the people 28 Strategy to ensure that the new Land Bill is gender-sensitive Strategy to secure access to justice for displaced / vulnerable communities 29 Implementation arrangements 30 Communications and fundraising 32 Monitoring and evaluation 33 ACTION PLAN 35 LOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MALAWI NES 38 ANNEX 1: LANDNET MALAWI 42

6 Acronyms AGM Annual General Meeting AGRA Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa ALPFG African Land Policy Framework and Guidelines CBNRM Community-Based Natural Resources Management CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women CONGOMA Council for NGOs in Malawi CSO Civil society organisation CURE Coordination Union for the Rehabilitation of the Environment FAO UN Food and Agriculture Organization GBI Green Belt Initiative GDP Gross domestic product GEC Gender Evaluation Criteria IBHR International Bill of Human Rights ICT Information and communications technology ILC International Land Coalition LGT Land Governance Taskforce MGDS II Malawi Growth Development Strategy II M&E Monitoring and evaluation MNLP Malawi National Land Policy NGO GCN NGO Gender Coordination Network VGGT Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land

7 Executive summary Malawi is a landlocked country with an area of 11.8 million hectares (ha), though only 5.3 million ha (52%) is suitable for cultivation. It has a predominantly agricultural economy, with 89% of its population directly dependent on subsistence agriculture. However, these households collectively cultivate only 1.8 million ha of land, while 3.5 million ha are under large-scale estate farming. Smallholder production takes place on customary land, to which rights are conferred by traditional chiefs. Over half of rural households farm less than 1 ha of land, while a quarter cultivate less than 0.5 ha; the average landholding size is less than 0.8 ha per farm family. Population growth is one of the main factors putting pressure on land, and is a major cause of landlessness and fragmentation of customary land. There is also a trend of continued land concentration, leaving the most economically valuable land in the hands of a small number of actors and excluding many of the poorest people, including women. Insecurity of tenure has increased and more people are losing their land, either to foreign investors or to large scale domestic land users. Vulnerable groups, especially women, are particularly affected. Existing legislation does not adequately protect smallholders land rights or safeguard the interests of poor land users. In the absence of pro-poor land legislation, initiatives such as the Green Belt Initiative (GBI) of 2009 have intensified commercial pressures on land. This initiative seeks to increase the land area under irrigation to improve agricultural production and food security; however, it is biased towards the interests of large-scale investors. Similarly, the National Export Strategy demands large-scale farming investments that are predicated on the availability of land. Such pressures have led to smallholders losing their land or being forced to work in outgrower schemes for large estates, with little control over their own production. In recent years there have been a number of land grabs by large-scale investors, with dispossessed farmers receiving no compensation and having no recourse to justice. There has also been an increasing number of disputes and conflicts related to land and other natural resources (such as water), often stemming from poor enforcement of regulations or corruption by officials. Another serious issue is the marginalisation of women in land ownership. page 7 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI

8 page 8 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI The current land regime is governed by the Land Act of 1965, and is in urgent need of review and updating. Over the past 18 years there have been attempts at reform and decentralisation, including the Malawi National Land Policy (MNLP) of 2002, which was an initial step towards revising the legal framework governing land rights, improving security of tenure, and decentralising land administration to the local and district levels. The MNLP also advocated the introduction of land tribunals, better access to land records, and improved public participation in land governance. The policy led to the formulation of the Land Law (Amendment) Bill of 2006, though this was not adopted. The process culminated in the Land Bill of 2012, which was one of 11 land-related bills drafted and presented to Parliament in June These bills aimed to harmonise the existing legal framework with the aspirations of the MNLP. Three of the bills, including the new Land Bill, were debated and approved, but presidential assent was withheld due to the divergent views of various CSO groups, in particular traditional chiefs (in relation to customary land) and CSOs working on gender. Since then, LandNet Malawi has played a pivotal role in consolidating and harmonising divergent views to establish a common advocacy agenda, in preparation for obtaining the passage of the amended bills. The National Engagement Strategy (NES) was conceived by the International Land Coalition (ILC) with the aim of formulating and implementing a medium- to long-term action plan on land issues with the active participation of a wide range of land actors in selected countries. In Malawi, the overall objective of the NES is to strengthen the collective voice of CSOs in influencing and engaging with the national policy space on core land issues identified by network members, and to guide the process of civil society engagement with various stakeholders, enabling it to speak with a single, unified voice. To achieve this, LandNet and its partners have defined a number of strategic objectives for the implementation of the NES, to be attained over a three-year period (mid-2014 to mid- 2017). These include: Strengthening the Malawi NES Platform, comprising the LandNet Secretariat and its member organisations, in its performance, governance, management, and membership base, supported by an effective land knowledge and communications management strategy; Leading an advocacy platform in collaboration with CSOs to implement existing tools such as the African Land Policy Framework and Guidelines (ALPFG) and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land (VGGT), as championed by ILC and FAO, in Malawi s legal and policy frameworks; Ensuring that the new Land Bill is people-centred and that it is enacted; Ensuring that the new Land Bill is implemented for the benefit of the people; Ensuring that the new Land Bill is gender-sensitive and responsive to the needs of women; Securing access to justice for displaced/vulnerable communities. A detailed action plan has been formulated to achieve these objectives, and is set out in this document. The plan will be implemented through LandNet s existing platform and structures, with its Secretariat taking the lead on day-to-day implementation of the NES

9 process, in partnership with member organisations and all stakeholders in the country. The only new structure to be created is the Land Governance Taskforce (LGT), a technical committee answerable to LandNet s General Assembly. A communications strategy has been devised for lobbying and for the generation and sharing of knowledge via publications, campaigns, and a new website. A monitoring and evaluation (M&E) strategy has also been put in place. Finally, LandNet will work to diversify its donor base, targeting potential new donors while continuing to participate in strategic alliances and partnerships. page 9 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI

10 page 10 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Introduction The National Engagement Strategy (NES) is a multi-stakeholder, participatory, and constructive policy dialogue and action strategy addressing land-related issues in Malawi. Its purpose is to guide civil society s process of engagement with various stakeholders and enable it to speak with a single, unified voice. The NES was conceived in response to the International Land Coalition (ILC) s need to engage in selected countries in a focused, coherent, and coordinated manner emerging from past lessons. Formerly, ILC supported its members working in a particular country, often through grants, in interventions that were developed and implemented by members themselves but were not always linked to one another. This lack of coordination resulted in sub-optimal impacts. As part of its Strategic Framework for , ILC identified Malawi as one of the first countries in which it would promote coordinated engagement. The civil society network on land in Malawi has until now operated without a coordinated strategy, and a number of developments have justified the formulation of the NES. For example, civil society organisations (CSOs) have been participating in land law review processes for 18 years now, since However, over the past few years the voices of CSOs have lacked focus and coordination, and this has derailed advocacy initiatives on reviewing land laws. This lack of coordination has resulted in sub-optimal impacts and missed opportunities for advocacy with policy-makers. The NES therefore also sets the agenda for strengthening CSOs collective voice in influencing and engaging with the national policy space on land issues identified by network members as being core. The NES process is being spearheaded by LandNet Malawi, a network of CSOs, individuals, and other networks working on and with an interest in land and natural resources management in Malawi. Its mission is to provide a robust platform for advocating for the adoption and implementation of pro-poor and equitable land and natural resources management policies, legislation, and programmes. Through the NES process, LandNet has formulated and intends to implement an in-country medium- to long-term action plan on land issues with the active participation of a wide range of land actors. It will build on current efforts and existing expertise to strengthen synergies within its own network and with national-level actors through the formulation and implementation of a participatory and coherent land governance strategy. The development process of the NES began with a scoping study. This was followed by a stakeholders validation workshop in September 2013, and the strategy was then adopted by the LandNet Board in early The NES process involved the 40 LandNet member organisations, the Government of Malawi, strategic partners such as donors, and other stakeholders. Implementation of the NES will be carried out by LandNet in partnership with its member organisations and in collaboration with all stakeholders. This strategy seeks to begin and continue implementation of the NES activities in Malawi outlined in this document.

11 Context and background Geographical and environmental context Malawi is a landlocked country with an area of 11.8 million hectares (ha), of which 9.8 million ha is land. The rest is water, mainly three lakes (Lake Malawi, Lake Malombe, Lake Chirwa) and 13 perennial rivers. Of the 9.8 million ha of land, only 5.3 million ha (52%) is considered suitable for cultivation. The rest comprises hills, rocky ground, and marshes. Economic and social context Malawi has a predominantly agricultural economy, with 89% of its population directly dependent on subsistence agriculture, and access to land is the key asset and basic resource for livelihoods. Over half of rural households farm less than 1 ha of land, while a quarter of households cultivate less than 0.5 ha. Compounding constraints on land holdings is the issue of population growth, which has been a major cause of landlessness and fragmentation of customary land in recent years and is putting pressure on land. The country s population grew from around 4 million in 1966 to over 13 million in 2008, when the last census was conducted, and in 2014 was probably above 15 million, given an average annual growth rate of 2.8%. In the period , Malawi achieved a gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate of 7.5%. 1 page 11 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Political context and governance Malawi has been a multi-party democracy since With existing legal frameworks on land negatively affecting the security of land tenure of poor people, political commitment to review land laws led in 1999 to the government establishing a Presidential Commission of Enquiry on Land Policy Reform. It also enacted a National Decentralisation Policy in the same year, which provided for the devolution of certain central government functions, including land administration. The results of research and studies on land and the report of the Presidential Commission on land policy review led to the production of the Malawi National Land Policy (MNLP), which was adopted by Cabinet in In 2006 the Land Law (Amendment) Bill, 2006 was presented to Parliament but was not approved, instead being referred back to the parliamentary technical committee for review. 1 Government of Malawi, Malawi Growth Development Strategy II, (MGDS II).

12 page 12 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Eleven land-related bills were formulated and presented to Parliament in 2013, three of which were debated and approved; however, Presidential assent was withheld due to the divergent views of various CSO groups. Land context Categories under the prevailing Land Act, 1965 There are three categories of land under the Land Act, These are: Customary land, which is held, occupied, or used under customary law but does not include public land; Public land, which is land that was previously customary but was then acquired by the government or its agencies to be used exclusively for or to serve specific national purposes such as government buildings, schools, hospitals, and government infrastructure; Private land, which means all land that is owned, held, or occupied under a freehold or leasehold title or a Certificate of Claim, 2 or which is registered as private land under the Registered Land Act. Categories of land as proposed in the Malawi National Land Policy of 2002 that are intended to be adopted under the new law: Government land: The MNLP defines government land as land acquired and privately owned by government or its agencies to be used exclusively for or to serve specific national purposes such as government buildings, schools, hospitals, or public infrastructure, and land made available for private use at the discretion of the government. Public land: The MNLP defines public land as land held in trust and managed by agencies of Government or Traditional Authorities and openly used or accessible to the public at large. This category of land includes land gazetted for use as National Parks, recreation areas, forest reserves, conservation areas, historical and cultural sites, land designated for military use, etc. It also includes common access land reserved and not allocated exclusively to any group, individual, or family, e.g. dambos (permanent wetlands), community woodlots, dry season communal grazing area, graveyards, community meeting places, etc. Customary land: With the exception of land expressly registered as private land, or gazetted as government land, all remaining land in Malawi will be classified as customary land. Customary land is all land falling within the jurisdiction of a recognised traditional authority which has been granted to a person or a group and used under customary law. It is important to note that the land-related bills proposed in 2013 aimed to harmonise the existing legal framework with the aspirations of the MNLP and translate the findings and recommendations of the policy into law. 2 The Certificate of Claim was a form of legal instrument used by the colonial administration of the British Central Africa Protectorate to grant title to individuals, companies, and others who claimed to have acquired land within the protectorate by grant or purchase.

13 Existing land tenure systems Private customary estate: This is customary land allocated exclusively to a clearly defined community, corporation, institution, clan, family, or individual. All customary land is registered and protected by law as private customary estate under freehold title. This is intended to ensure security of tenure. Freehold tenure: Non-citizens were no longer allowed to acquire any new freehold rights or interests in Malawi after 17 January All land under freehold was converted into leasehold title. Foreign investors interested in freehold land are encouraged to form partnerships with Malawian individuals or entities, as only citizens are permitted the privilege of owning freehold title. Access to land for non-citizens is construed as being purely for residential and investment purposes and appropriate renewable leasehold terms are determined. Leasehold tenure is simply a personal contract granting the exclusive right of use of land for a fixed period shorter than the private ownership rights held by the person issuing the lease. Private leasehold estate can be created out of registered customary estate, public land, or government land. Legal framework: rights to use and land holdings The 1994 Constitution of the Republic of Malawi provides that all land is vested in the state. However, sections 10 and 12 of the Land Bill 2012 vest all public and customary land in perpetuity in the republic and its people. Under the Constitution, all citizens have the right to acquire property and to engage in economic activity. 3 Malawi s land legislation dates primarily from the post-independence era and includes: (1) the 1965 Land Act, which sets out the classification of land and recognises types of land tenure; (2) the 1967 Customary Land (Development) Act, which provides for the conversion of customary land for agricultural development and establishes the means for adjudicating disputes over customary land; (3) the Deeds Registration Act, which supports a system of deeds registration; (4) the 1967 Registered Land Act, which provides the legislative foundation for a transfer from a deed registration system of land administration to a title registration system; (5) the 1989 Control of Land (Agricultural Leases) Order (amended in 1996), which introduced a prohibition on the conversion of customary land to leaseholds; and (6) the 2003 Land (Amendment) Act, an amendment to the principal act of 1965, which prospectively prohibits non-citizens from purchasing land in Malawi. Implementation of the Customary Land (Development) Act and the Registered Land Act has been limited to Lilongwe West, a district of the capital. The 2002 MNLP was an initial step in revising the legal framework governing land rights. It expressed the goals of ensuring tenure security and equitable access to land, and of facilitating the attainment of social harmony and broad-based social and economic development through optimum and ecologically balanced use of land and land-based resources. The MNLP s objectives are to (1) promote tenure reforms that guarantee security and instil confidence and fairness in all land transactions; (2) guarantee secure tenure and page 13 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI 3 Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, Government of Malawi (1994).

14 page 14 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI equitable access to land for all citizens of Malawi, without any gender bias or discrimination; (3) instil order and discipline into land allocation and land market transactions to curb land encroachment, unapproved development, land speculation, and racketeering; (4) promote decentralised and transparent land administration; (5) extend land use planning strategies to all urban and rural areas; (6) establish a modern land registration system for delivering land services to all; (7) enhance conservation and community management of local resources; and (8) promote research and capacity-building in land surveying and land management. 4 In 2003, a Special Law Commission on the Review of Land-Related Laws was formed to draft a new land law implementing the 2002 Land Policy. However, the draft land bill was withdrawn from consideration by the National Assembly in 2006 following opposition from LandNet and other CSOs, who deemed it an insufficient response to the legislative requirements of the National Land Policy, which identified the need for a basic land law. In 2009, in part to assist the government in enacting a new land law, the World Bank requested an extension of its Community-Based Rural Land Development Project, which had begun in 2004, to Amendments have been made to various laws that deal with land administration and management in Malawi. Some acts have been repealed and totally new acts have been promulgated. As a result of this process, 11 bills were drafted, approved by Cabinet, and presented to Parliament in February 2013 and debated in June They were the: Land Bill, 2012 Customary Land Bill, 2012 Registered Land (Amendment) Bill, 2012 Physical Planning Bill, 2012 Forestry (Amendment) Bill, 2012 Mines and Minerals (Amendment) Bill, 2012 Land Survey Bill, 2012 Land Acquisitions (Amendment) Bill, 2012 Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2012 Malawi Housing Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2012 Companies (Amendment) Bill, The first three bills were approved by Parliament but did not receive Presidential assent, due to divergent views expressed by civil society, especially traditional chiefs and members of the NGO Gender Coordination Network (NGO GCN). Stakeholders contested some of the proposed institutional arrangements, especially those contained in the Customary Land Bill. Since then, LandNet has played a pivotal role in consolidating and harmonising these divergent views to establish a common advocacy agenda, a process that forms part of this proposal. 4 Government of Malawi (2002). 5 Centre for Environmental Policy and Advocacy (CEPA) (2013) Review of the Land Bills 2013 ; World Bank (2012) Malawi Community-Based Rural Land Development Project.

15 Land administration In 1997 the Ministry of Lands and Valuation, the Ministry of Physical Planning and Surveys, the Ministry of Housing, and the Department of Buildings in the Ministry of Works and Supplies merged to create the Ministry of Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Surveys. This ministry is the primary agency responsible for land and housing in Malawi. Its mission is to provide efficient and effective land services and to promote and encourage sustainable management and utilisation of land and land-based resources. At the local level, traditional authorities are responsible for allocating customary land and ensuring that land is passed on through customary laws of inheritance. Chiefs tend to rely on clan and family leaders to identify and allocate plots of land to individuals and households from land owned by that group. Once allocated, the land is held and managed by the family. The MNLP envisions a decentralised system of land administration in which local- and district-level offices are responsible for land administration and the role of traditional authorities is formalised in bodies such as Customary Land Committees and Traditional Land Clerks. page 15 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI

16 page 16 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Justification for the National Engagement Strategy Extent of land available for smallholder farming Land is central to the social and economic development of Malawi, which has high levels of poverty, estimated at 65%. Agriculture and exploitation of natural resources are the mainstays of the country s economy: 89% of its population live in rural areas and rely on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods. However, land is a scarce productive resource: Malawi s 1.6 million smallholder households cultivate only 1.8 million ha of land, while the rest 3.5 million ha is under estate farming. Smallholder production takes place on customary land, where rights to cultivate and transfer land are conferred by traditional chiefs. Over half of rural households farm less than 1 ha of land while a quarter of households cultivate less than 0.5 ha, indicating the constraints on land holdings. High population to land ratio Malawi s population grew from just over 4 million in 1966 to over 13 million in 2008, the most recent census year (see Table 1). With the growth in population, customary land has become more fragmented and sizes of land holdings have declined. Land is recognised as a key resource which enables poor people to overcome poverty, yet the trend observed in Malawi, and indeed in many other countries, is one of continued land concentration, leaving the most economically valuable land in the hands of a small number of actors and excluding many of the poorest people, including women. The country s population density stands at 139 people per square kilometre, which has been a major cause of landlessness and fragmentation in recent years and is putting pressure on the basic resource of land. A majority of Malawians no fewer than 85% depend directly on subsistence agriculture for their livelihoods, and access to land is their key asset. These smallholder farmers cultivate smallholdings whose sizes are dwindling due to rapid

17 population growth; the average landholding size is now less than 0.8 ha per farm family. The agriculturally based nature of the economy gives great economic importance to land tenure. Due to increasing pressure on land, insecurity of tenure for a majority of Malawians, especially smallholders and vulnerable groups, has increased and more people are losing their land, either to foreign investors or to large-scale domestic land users. Table 1: Population growth, Year of census Total population Average annual/intercensal growth rate ,039, % ,547, % ,988, % ,933, % ,077, % Source: National Statistical Office (NSO) (2010) Insecurity of land tenure Vulnerable groups, especially women, widows, and orphans, are affected in particular by insecurity of tenure. For example: The HIV and AIDS pandemic has caused an increase in the number of orphaned children and has exacerbated vulnerability to landlessness. If both parents die while the eldest child is under age, tradition provides that a family leader owns the land of the deceased parents in trust for the children; in most cases this is an uncle. However, often uncles who have been cultivating the land for some years refuse to surrender it when the children attain adulthood, and there is no adequate legal framework for redress by the children. Women face similar problems, even though women s rights are clearly stated in the following instruments: International Bill of Human Rights (IBHR), 1966 The African Charter on Human and People s Rights The Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); and The Constitution of the Republic of Malawi, Revised Edition of May 2002, which enshrines rights specific to women. Although Malawi has a reasonably progressive constitution (which represents supreme law in the country), in reality there is tension between constitutional supremacy and the supremacy of customary law. Despite a constitutional declaration that invalidates all customary laws that contravene the spirit of the constitution, customary laws and practices that harm women s (land) rights continue to hold sway. page 17 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI

18 page 18 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Commercial pressures on land These factors, which threaten food security, have led to calls to increase investment in irrigated agriculture and for large-scale land investments around the country s lakes and rivers as the solution to ensuring food security and sustainable livelihoods. A programme called the Green Belt Initiative (GBI) was introduced in 2009, which seeks to increase the land area under irrigation in order to improve agricultural production and productivity using Malawi s water bodies. The GBI seeks to address the challenge of food insecurity by shifting from subsistence farming to estate farming, especially in wetlands where crops can be irrigated outside the rainy season. The rationale of the GBI is to ensure that commercial farmers have access to large tracts of land for agriculture at the greatest possible economy of scale. The ultimate desire, as expressed in the GBI concept paper, is to make large tracts of land available to large-scale investors. 6 However, given the landholding constraints described above, the initiative has intensified competition over land resources. In the absence of pro-poor land legislation, small-scale farmers are being lured with promises of improved farm incomes to give up their arable land, either to participate in sugarcane production or to sell their land to large-scale investors, who are mostly non-malawians. Furthermore, despite Malawi achieving a national GDP growth rate of 7.5% between 2006 and 2010, the country s trade balance worsened over the same period. It showed a slight improvement in 2006 and 2007 but then declined further from 2008 to This is because over the years Malawi has prioritised welfare (subsidies for food security) as opposed to production. There was a need therefore for a paradigm shift from prioritising welfare to prioritising productivity and increased incomes. This necessitated the development of the National Export Strategy, whose aim is to build the productive base of the economy by diversifying exports. This strategy, by default, demands large-scale farming investments that are predicated on the availability of land. Large-scale land acquisitions will enable overseas investors to expand areas of production for export and thereby assure their own markets of food supply. However, while these initiatives are expected to make a great contribution to economic growth, they have little or nothing to offer small-scale farmers, who risk ending up as tenants or employees on their own land, with little or no security. Commercialisation of land has created multiple pressures on resources and has had negative impacts on the livelihoods of smallholders. Land is commercialised mainly by granting either leases or concessions for uses such as large-scale commercial agriculture or mining. Smallholders land is lost either when it forms part of a large chunk of land that is converted from customary land to public land for onward leasing to a large commercial farmer or commonly through outgrower schemes. These schemes work by allowing the smallholder to continue cultivating on his/her customary land but obliging them to grow a commercial crop chosen by the company. The company supplies the inputs for the crop on loan and the harvest must be sold to the company at a price which it determines as the buyer. 6 See, for example, Future Agricultures (2012) The Green Belt Initiative and Land Grabs in Malawi ; CiSANET (2012) Green Belt Initiative: An Assessment of the Policy Processes and Civic Engagement.

19 Existing policies and legislation do not adequately protect smallholders land rights or safeguard the interests of poor land users in the face of commercial pressures. Initiatives have resulted in a number of land grabs from poor rural people who have no access to justice and are left helpless. The Customary Land Act of 1967 states that customary land is not available for sale but is held by chiefs in trust for the people of Malawi. When the need arises for large-scale land investment, the chief must first forfeit the land by signing a consent form. The land is then converted to public or government land, and the investor either buys or leases it from the government. Meanwhile the original user of the land can be compensated only for the loss of a permanent house (i.e. built with bricks, mortar, and an iron roof ) which the majority of smallholder farmers do not have or for any fruit trees on the land. The value of lost livelihoods from cultivating staple crops is not considered. Section of the MNLP recognises that people s demand for land is not for the land itself but for farming, residential, and investment purposes. Failure to include the loss of food harvests in customary land compensation is in a way a land grab that threatens the livelihoods of poor farmers. Land-related conflicts Disagreements over ownership, boundaries, and access to and use of land and water are major causes of disputes. Every year sees conflicts arise between neighbouring smallholders from the annual process of hand hoeing, when farmers encroach onto neighbours plots. Cases are settled within the village, but as a lasting solution the planting of live hedges or trees is promoted to mark boundaries. In areas containing private estates, there are often conflicts between private owners and surrounding communities who were displaced when the land was acquired. These communities sometimes encroach onto the estates, especially when they see that the land is not being used or is under-utilised. Where the land title is held by the head of a clan on behalf of family members (as in the old Lilongwe West Ndunda system, a kind of customary freehold tenure), conflicts can arise if the head of the clan sells the land or part of it without the consent of other clan members. This is common in the Lilongwe West area and has sometimes led to family members attempting to reclaim land from legitimate buyers. Outside the Ndunda system, traditional leaders have sometimes sold land to local or foreign investors at the expense of local communities. There have also been instances where the same land has been sold to more than one buyer. Land-related conflicts are frequent and arise from corrupt practices by authorities at different levels, lack of awareness of applicable policies and laws, and lack of enforcement of policies. Conflicts can arise from the application of different land uses on communally owned land, such as dimba (dry season river-edge) cultivation as opposed to communal grazing. Currently the mechanisms available for dealing with land conflicts are neither participatory nor transparent. The new policy proposes the creation of land tribunals at different levels to hear land cases, but this requires the enactment of new land laws if it is to become a reality. page 19 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI

20 page 20 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Lack of transparency in land administration and land related corruption Land administration is so centralised that land transactions are not transparent and are often open to corruption. Cases of corruption involving officials in the ministry responsible for land matters have been reported in the past, and it is possible that other cases have gone unreported. In urban areas there have been cases where investors have been allocated land for development, have had their plans approved, and have gone ahead with development, only to have the structures demolished because procedures had allegedly been flouted. There have been instances where developers have purchased plots to build houses, only to be told later that the landlord knew nothing of the transaction. There have also been frequent cases where developers have been allocated plots in areas that are not zoned for the kind of development intended. Structures have been built along main sewer lines, above mains water supply lines, and sometimes below high-voltage power cables; such developments can only have happened as a result of a lack of transparency or of corruption. The MNLP, which is supported by the Land Bill, 2012, attempts to address this issue by, among other things, advocating the decentralisation of land administration down to the village level, improving the accessibility of land records, establishing land tribunals, and improving public participation in effective land governance. The possibility cannot be discounted that the delay in passing the new land laws is benefiting individuals involved in corrupt land practices, who are afraid of functions being devolved and are unhappy with some of the checks and balances proposed by the new legislation. Lack of transparency in transactions breeds corruption in the land sector. Corruption has serious effects, including denying communities benefits from the sustainable management of land resources and mismanagement of land and other resources that leads to degradation and deforestation, and eventually contributes to climate change. Corruption can also lead to the concentration of land resources in the hands of a small number of land owners, who may not always use them optimally. Unused and under-utilised private land The 1970s and 1980s saw massive conversions of customary land to private estates, mainly for plantations and the growing of tobacco. This was driven by individuals and companies who now own large areas of land, most of which is under-utilised. Although the extent of this under-utilisation has not been quantified, it is evident that there is a scenario of landlessness amidst unutilised estate land, and with rapid growth in the population this will certainly create conflicts with surrounding communities. This is a sensitive topic, but it looks as though there may be a need in future to turn to this resource to address the mounting pressures on land, which are forcing people to cultivate environmentally fragile areas and encroach on protected areas, thereby reducing biological diversity and contributing to climate change through deforestation.

21 The extent of under-utilised and unused land in both the private and customary land tenure categories is not currently known, but quantification of this problem would go a long way towards strategising the use of such land through market-based land reform programmes. The first step therefore is to conduct land utilisation studies that will determine the utilisation of available land resources. Large inequalities in land access for women and vulnerable groups The most important issue relating to gender is the inequality of land access for men and women. Despite legislative and policy reforms, women in Malawi have largely remained marginalised when it comes to land rights, despite their high degree of involvement in agricultural and land-related activities. Whether in patrilineal or matrilineal societies, access to land is typically mediated by men (spouses or uncles). Women have difficulties both in making independent decisions about land use and in accessing the benefits derived from land ownership and utilisation. The Third Integrated Household Survey by the National Statistical Office provides data on the sex of managers of land plots across the country. 7 It concludes that there is an equal distribution of plot ownership between males and females, with both registering 35%. About 20% of plots are not owned by those who manage them, while around 11% are jointly owned by male and female managers. The survey also observes that there is little difference in the sex of managers acquiring plots through inheritance, recording 78% for males and 81% for females. Although this may be the case in terms of inheritance and management of plots, it is the conviction of the author of this paper that in terms of ownership and control males outnumber their female counterparts. Evidence of gender bias against women in land inheritance is strong in many parts of the country. The excerpt below from a 2009 report by ActionAid, cited in the Land and Agriculture chapter of the Malawi State of the Environment and Outlook Report (2010) by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Energy and Environment, bears witness to this: She narrated her life story to stress just how difficult it is for a woman to own land under Ngoni culture. My father had three wives, mum was the second wife. There were two of us in our family. My sister got married a long time ago and lives at her husband s village. I visited the chief three times to request him to instruct my stepbrother to give us our share of our deceased father s land. But on all three occasions the chief said a woman is not allowed to own land in Ngoni culture. So we somehow got used to our fate and suffered silently year in and year out. page 21 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Source: Malawi State of the Environment and Outlook Report (2010) Issues include low participation by women in the land reform process; women s limited awareness of their land rights; and the prevalence of customary laws that tend to favour men when it comes to land access, ownership, and land use decisions and sharing of benefits from land-based activities. Another issue is the delay in enacting land-related laws that have the potential to improve land rights for women. 7 NSO, (2011).

22 page 22 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Weak land governance, legal, and regulatory framework Gaps exist in prevailing policies, which continue to marginalise smallholder farmers, women, and other vulnerable groups. In an agriculturally based society like Malawi s, secure land rights are important for development and poverty reduction. Regardless of this, in both rural and urban areas there are multiple and complex determinants in the social, political, and economic environment that interact to enable the violation of land rights to occur. The situation is particularly bad for women under customary land tenure systems, as they are always subject to patriarchal norms and practices. Malawi has nonetheless for the past 18 years been involved in a land reform process. In 1995, the government openly recognised the existence of land pressures when the Policy Planning Unit was established in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Physical Planning to review existing policies and laws and steer a comprehensive approach to land policy reform. The reform process included the development of the National Land Policy, which was approved by Cabinet in 2002, the formulation of a Malawi Land Reform Programme Implementation Strategy, and revision of land legislation in order to address some of the agrarian challenges faced by the country. The process culminated in the Land Bill of 2012, which was one of the 11 bills to be drafted, approved by Cabinet, and presented to Parliament in These bills propose the repeal of existing acts and the introduction of totally new ones. Parliament approved the first three of the 11 bills in June 2013 and, to some extent, this seemed to answer most of the concerns held by the majority of Malawians. However, after Parliament had passed the bills, there arose divergent views from a small number of CSOs, who prepared and presented their own position papers to stop the President from granting the bills assent. Since then, in various meetings of network members and in stakeholder meetings convened by LandNet, these divergent views have been consolidated and a common advocacy agenda has been reached. Nevertheless, legal input is still required to establish to what extent this agenda synchronises with the rest of the 11 bills before they are presented again to government. Today, 18 years down the line, reform of the land laws remains incomplete. These new laws will define the nature and extent of the land-related challenges that face the country as it struggles to address the overarching problems of poverty and deprivation.

23 Objectives of the National Engagement Strategy Overall objective The overall objective of the NES is to strengthen the collective voice of CSOs in influencing and engaging with the national policy space on the land issues identified by network members as being core, and to guide the process of civil society engagement with various stakeholders, enabling it to speak with a single, unified voice. page 23 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Strategic objectives The following objectives have been identified for implementation of the NES over a period of three years (from mid-2014 to mid-2017), subject to annual review: Strengthen the Malawi NES Platform, comprising the LandNet Secretariat and its member organisations, in its performance, governance, management, and membership base, supported by an effective land knowledge and communications management strategy, by the end of Lead an advocacy platform in collaboration with CSOs to implement existing tools such as the African Land Policy Framework and Guidelines (ALPFG) and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), as championed by ILC and FAO, in Malawi s legal and policy frameworks. Ensure that the new Land Bill is people-centred and that it is enacted by the end of Ensure that the new Land Bill is implemented for the benefit of the people by Ensure that the new Land Bill is gender-sensitive and responsive to the needs of women, by the end of Secure access to justice for displaced/vulnerable communities by 2017.

24 page 24 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Strategies Strategy for strengthening the land dialogue and advocacy platform One of the main purposes of the NES is to create a constructive space for policy dialogue, and this strategy will focus on developing a land dialogue and advocacy platform. In its current activities, Landnet is already to a significant extent facilitating and engaging in a multi-stakeholder land dialogue and advocacy platform, and acting as a representative of CSOs on land matters. It has carried out a number of activities towards pro-poor and inclusive land reforms. For example, when the government circulated a land amendment bill in the June 2006 sitting of Parliament, LandNet held consultations with its stakeholders and managed to convince the government to withdraw the bill and replace it with a totally new, pro-poor land bill that took into account issues raised by grassroots stakeholders. In January 2003, LandNet was appointed a member of the Special Law Commission on the Review of Land-Related Laws, whose main task was to translate the findings and recommendations of the National Land Policy into a new law. The work of the Special Law Commission culminated in the repeal of at least four acts and the drafting of the 11 landrelated bills presented to Parliament in its June 2013 sitting. The 2013 bills seemed to largely answer most of the concerns expressed by Malawians, but some CSOs and traditional leaders dissented. In particular, gaps in women s rights of ownership were identified. LandNet, through its members, performed a general assessment of the Land Bill as a basic law for land governance and evaluated various provisions to consider their internal consistency as well as cross-sector harmonisation. Since June 2013, therefore, LandNet has focused most of its efforts on facilitating the consolidation of the divergent views that have emerged from civil society. These developments also demonstrate that LandNet is now recognised as the legitimate voice of civil society on matters relating to land legislation. With active participation of network members and strategic partners including research experts, academics, legal practitioners, human rights advocates, organisational development practitioners, farmers organisations, women s movements, and many more, LandNet has in recent months facilitated: Stakeholder meetings to establish a shared view on positions. These meetings brought together various sections of society, including traditional chiefs, CSOs working on land and gender, and legal personnel. LandNet was mandated to take a leading role in the CSO agenda in the land reform process;

25 The creation of a taskforce to consolidate divergent views; and Consultations with the Law Commission and the Ministry of Lands. LandNet is now overseeing the refinement of the consolidated civil society position on the bills for submission to government. This strategic component therefore aims to streamline, improve, and develop existing interactions and activities. It will have two specific subcomponents: strengthening LandNet membership and also strengthening the wider platform, which includes other actors who are not LandNet member organisations. LandNet s membership is currently expanding, but its Secretariat lacks capacity to effectively coordinate the network s activities. In addition, although LandNet has a wide membership base, it has not yet created a platform where members can share information on land for learning and decision-making. The current platform s work and experiences are not being systematically captured, packaged, or shared with all stakeholders for re-use, awareness raising, and learning. This is mainly due to the absence of basic and effective tools and systems for generating, capturing, and sharing knowledge, such as a website for the network. The strategy will therefore include: Enhancing the capacity of the LandNet Malawi Secretariat and in turn the NES coordinating team via a knowledge management strategy; Developing a means of collecting and sharing information and knowledge. Information and communications technology (ICT) and communications skills within the network will facilitate the learning objective; Maintaining linkages with the policy frameworks of global and regional partners. Specifically, LandNet Malawi will strive to be an active ILC member and will contribute to the knowledge base that will inform land policy debates at international level; Expanding membership and creating and strengthening strategic partnerships with non-members and all land actors in the country; Networking by platform members with one another, with the government, and in the wider region to tap into expertise and share experiences and knowledge for collective success; Training of both Secretariat staff and platform member organisations on essential tools and instruments for advocacy on land legislation. Further, for the LandNet network to make an advocacy impact, it has to grow its membership, strengthen its advocacy capacity, and improve and motivate participation by members. page 25 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI The expected result of this strategy is an active, participatory, and influential platform that will lobby for people-centred land governance, coordinated by a well resourced Secretariat which has an effective knowledge and communications management strategy. Specific activities will include: Recruiting an NES Programme Officer and providing operational support to the LandNet Secretariat; Training staff on international land instruments, resource mobilisation, team-building, and management;

26 page 26 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Developing a membership database and expanding membership; Conducting coordination and networking meetings and workshops; Consolidating and unifying divergent civil society views on the 2012 land-related bills; Developing an internal monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system; Hiring specialised human resource support in the form of either a staff member (communications officer) or a consultant; Training on communications skills and effective tools for knowledge generation and reporting; Refining existing tools and developing new tools for generating, capturing, and sharing knowledge, including a dedicated website; Conducting a National Land Symposium every two years; Developing systems for collecting, analysing, and sharing information and knowledge on land-related issues; Producing and disseminating knowledge management products (annual reports, evaluations, results of review meetings, policy briefs); and Maintaining linkages with ILC and contributing to the knowledge base on global and regional partners policy frameworks. Strategy for implementing existing tools such as the VGGT and ALPFG One of the major ongoing processes that this strategy will be linked to is the stakeholder platform on the VGGT. The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, with support from FAO, is already strategising the development of a stakeholder workshop on the guidelines which, among other things, will discuss ways in which they might be implemented in Malawi. This workshop, which is expected to attract more than 80 stakeholders, is a positive step by the Ministry of Lands as it will create an enabling environment in which stakeholders can share information and ideas on how the VGGT can best be used in land governance and implemented in the context of Malawi. It is likely that by 2015 many CSOs will have adopted the VGGT and will be using and popularising them amongst poor people. Civil society, with facilitation by LandNet, will also establish a Civil Society Platform on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of Food Security. This platform will aim to enhance coordination, participation, and transparency in engagement processes. It will incorporate ongoing initiatives of a similar nature, such as the national Community-Based Natural Resources Management (CBNRM) Forum, which is multi-sectoral, and the Coordination Union for the Rehabilitation of the Environment (CURE), as well as initiatives by development partners and other stakeholders. The Civil Society Platform will collaborate and coordinate with the government platform. Under this strategy, LandNet will: Lead the creation of an advocacy platform within the NES on the VGGT and the ALPFG; Create awareness of and promote the implementation of the VGGT and the ALPFG; Collaborate with the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development, ILC, and FAO on popularising the VGGT more widely among stakeholders in Malawi.

27 It is expected that this strategy will result in the mainstreaming of the VGGT and ALPFG into Malawi s legal and policy frameworks on land and other natural resources by both CSOs and the government. Specific activities will include the following: Participation by LandNet in the Ministry of Lands stakeholder platform on the VGGT; Conducting a CSO assessment of the extent to which the current land framework (in law and in practice) reflects the provisions of the VGGT; Strengthening the Civil Society Platform on the VGGT; and Creating awareness and promoting the implementation of the ALPFG and the VGGT for the benefit of poor people through ILC capacity-building programes. Strategy for obtaining the passage of the Land Bill, 2012 It is necessary to ensure that the new Land Bill is people-centred and that it is enacted. The current legislation on land is out of date and does not reflect the situation of poor people. Through the Civil Society Platform, this strategy will aim to consolidate and unify any divergent views. Currently the following steps are envisaged: Target chiefs, in view of the position paper they presented, which has a high capacity to derail the whole land law review process; Target the NGO GCN, in view of the concerns outlined in its position paper on some components of the pending bill; Sell the conclusions from these two meetings to relevant government ministries; Lobby Parliamentary committees, especially the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Legal Affairs Committee, and the Women s Caucus. This is critical, as Malawi has recently elected new legislators who need thorough orientation on issues relating to the bill before it is tabled in Parliament. Assess and provide relevant support to Parliamentary drafters in order to speed up the process of redrafting and enacting the Land Bill; Popularise the mainstreaming and use of the NES in the plans and activities of platform members for effective lobbying of Parliament for a speedy enactment of the new Land Law, and of the government for the inclusion of land as a priority in the country s development agenda e.g. under the Malawi Growth Development Strategy II (MGDS II). page 27 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI This strategy is expected to result in a new, people-centred Land Bill being presented to Parliament and being passed. Related activities will include: Mobilising CSOs to lobby Parliament for the enactment of the new Land Bill; Lobbying for land to be included as a priority in the country s development agenda, e.g. under the MGDS II, and meeting with Parliamentary committees to orient them on the Land Bill, especially the Committee on Agriculture and Natural Resources, the Legal Affairs Committee, and the Women s Caucus; Supporting the redrafting of the bill financially and technically; Creating awareness of the proposed bill amongst rural people;

28 page 28 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Conducting meetings with supportive chiefs to equip them with information to lobby other chiefs who are unsupportive, and support them to do so financially and logistically; Hold lobbying meetings with relevant government ministries, the Law Commission, and Parliamentary drafters; Mainstreaming use of the NES into the plans and activities of platform members. Strategy to ensure that the new Land Bill is implemented for the benefit of the people The current law benefits only the rich and foreign investors, and exploits the people of Malawi. This strategy proposes to support the speedy enactment of the 2012 Land Bill, which promises to provide tenure security for poor people and to put in place legislation that will benefit poor people in every land transaction through the registration of customary estate. This effort will result in a progressive, pro-poor land law being implemented and will guarantee security of tenure of land for the grassroots. Related activities will include: Lobbying for proactive acquisition of unused or under-utilised private land for resettlement, regardless of gender; Promoting decentralisation of the Land Bill. Strategy to ensure that the new Land Bill is gender-sensitive and incorporates the use of the Gender Evaluation Criteria (GEC) Traditional customary laws do not recognise land ownership by women, which means that they are marginalised from land ownership, even though Malawi s constitution promotes the rights of all. Even in matrilineal systems where land ownership is traced through the female line, it is still controlled by men, usually uncles. Under this strategy the NES Platform will endeavour to advocate for all-inclusive land legislation that seeks to remove the current challenges faced by women in land ownership, access, and decision-making over the land they cultivate. The strategy will involve training platform members to appreciate the importance of advocating for a gender-sensitive law and also lobbying for government drafters to incorporate gender issues into the proposed new land law, as highlighted in the NGO GCN position paper on the land bills. The aim is that the new Land Bill will be gender-sensitive and that gender is mainstreamed into policy formulation processes. Activities under this strategy will include: Conducting training on mainstreaming gender in land issues and on effective participation in policy formulation processes for CSOs involved in advocacy on the Land Bill; Training on the use of the GEC; a learning exchange on land issues using the GEC; and an actual evaluation process using the GEC to assess the land policy or related bills, such as the National Land Use Planning Policy and the Agricultural Land Management Bill, or to assess customary laws; Consensus meetings with members of the NGO GCN; Media campaigns and coverage of women s challenges and the Inclusion of gender issues in the land policy reform process.

29 Strategy to secure access to justice for displaced / vulnerable communities Without a progressive land law, rich people and investors will continue to take advantage of the poor, acquiring large chunks of land through dubious deals that result in the displacement of poor people, who do not have the financial muscle to seek legal assistance to reclaim their land or demand compensation. The proposed strategy is to provide displaced communities with legal assistance to either receive fair compensation or reclaim land that has been taken illegally. Pro bono legal institutions will be identified and trained on land issues so that they can properly assist vulnerable communities. The strategy will also build the capacity of communities to report any suspicious land transactions or dubious deals that result in them being illegally displaced. Communities will be empowered with skills to claim their rights and to hold duty-bearers accountable for their actions, and to seek justice for any illegal land transactions. Communities will also be empowered to report any suspicious land transactions within their areas. The expected result of this strategy will be for displaced/vulnerable groups, such as women, to have access to a justice system that ensures protection from illegal land grabs. Supporting activities will include: Developing a systematic approach for access to justice by identifying communities that have experienced land-grabbing; Supporting community efforts by building the capacity of vulnerable people to seek justice for any dubious land transactions in their communities; Raising awareness on land rights and empowering communities to demand their rights from duty-bearers; Linking displaced/vulnerable people with pro bono legal institutions; and Training pro bono legal institution on land issues. mallholder page 29 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI

30 page 30 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI Implementation arrangements LandNet Malawi already has a platform and structures for land governance and will therefore avoid creating parallel structures. The only additional structure will be the Land Governance Taskforce. Annual General Meeting (AGM) The LandNet General Assembly will be the national governance platform and is the supreme decision-making body on all issues, including strategy processes for engagement on land governance. It is chaired by the chair of the LandNet Board of Trustees. The General Assembly consists of all LandNet members who are committed to good land governance. Other members without voting powers include the Ministry of Lands, financial and technical partners, and other stakeholders. The General Assembly has powers to establish subcommittees and to determine their tenure, composition, and responsibilities. Therefore, the Land Governance Taskforce will be established by the General Assembly, which was due to convene in late July Land Governance Taskforce (LGT) The LGT is a more technical committee on land engagement matters. It is answerable to the General Assembly, which is the national land governance platform. It will back up the Secretariat in liaison and coordination with government and other constituents. It will receive and analyse NES reports before they are circulated to trustees and to the General Assembly. It will ensure effective, efficient, and economic implementation of the NES and will put in place systems that ensure continued and periodic evaluation of NES implementation. The LGT will also provide advice to the Secretariat on matters relating to NES implementation. In general, it will exercise oversight on the implementation of the NES and will ensure that the strategy is reviewed and updated periodically. The chairperson of the LGT will automatically be a member of the LandNet Governing Board. LandNet Secretariat The LandNet Secretariat, based in Lilongwe, will serve as the NES Secretariat and will be the lead organ responsible for the implementation of the NES process, in partnership with relevant platform member organisations. It will therefore be responsible for the

31 implementation of the day-to-day tasks necessary to ensure the effective and efficient implementation of the NES. The key contact person for the NES is Emmanuel Mlaka, the National Coordinator. Mr. Mlaka has been directly associated with LandNet activities right from the organisation s formative phase; he has been a key trainer and awareness campaign facilitator for LandNet and so has in-depth knowledge of its objectives. He represented the network at the ILC Africa Regional meeting in Lomé, Togo in November He has also served on the LandNet Board for two consecutive terms. For 13 years he served as the National Director of an NGO (EDETA) that was a member of LandNet. Using the mandate granted by the board at its last meeting, the Secretariat will recruit a Programme Officer to implement the project. He/she will be answerable to the National Director, who in turn is answerable to and will give regular progress reports to the Governing Board. The Governing Board currently comprises five members elected at the LandNet AGM (note: re-elections were due in July 2014). The full participation of network members will be critical for the success of this strategy. LandNet will tap into the skills and expertise of member organisations. Regular progress reports will be circulated to members and feedback will be solicited. Through the National Coordinator, the Programme Officer will submit regular reports to ILC Southern Region Desk and to Rome. LandNet has in place a trained and qualified finance manager/accountant, who will ensure that all financial procedures and processes are carried out in line with grant terms and acceptable accounting ethics. He is also responsible for submitting financial reports to both the Board and to ILC structures through the National Coordinator. A separate bank account will be opened for the NES process. page 31 NES Promoting people centred land governance in MALAWI