Land governance arrangements in Tanzania: Actors, processes and instruments

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

Land governance in most developing countries remains a big challenge because of many factors particularly those related to tenure systems and institutional frameworks. This paper presents land governance arrangements in Tanzania whereby two dominant tenure systems, granted and customary, prevail. An exploratory research design was used in the study. As such, a critical review of documents embracing land governance arrangements and practices as well as training workshops on the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGTs) of 2012 conducted in four regions were useful in capturing primary data that exhibit real life cases that impact on land governance arrangements. The key respondents were professionals in the land, forestry and fisheries sectors who were the main targets in the VGGT programme. Findings revealed that Tanzania is rich in policies and laws which govern land; but still there are many challenges on land governance which have given rise to land use conflicts over time. We conclude that although a number of steps to improve land governance, poor land governance in the land sector is pivotal. Aspects of inclusive transactions, land use planning and implementation processes, local land administration capacity, transparency around valuable natural resources, women’s de facto land rights, and negotiate community driven solutions are crucial in the land governance spectrum.