Securing tenure for conflict-affected populations: A case study of land titling and fit-for-purpose land administration in post-conflict Sri Lanka

Abstract

This article assesses the efficacy of best-practice tenure reforms for conflict-affected populations, using a case study of Sri Lanka’s post-conflict Northern Province. In Sri Lanka, as in other conflict and post-conflict societies, increasing tenure security is a policy priority to build peace and foment socioeconomic development. This paper finds, however, that increasing tenure security through land titling in the Northern Province has been difficult, because allocating indefeasible ownership rights is challenging in a context of mass displacement and the erosion of subnational land administration capacity. In contrast, the paper charts the experience of a recent fit-for-purpose land sector intervention, which has enabled rapid increases in tenure security at scale through distributing intermediary tenure documents that confer occupancy rights. The paper argues that the fit-for-purpose land administration model could be strengthened to engender further increases in tenure security in Sri Lanka. It should also be considered as a scalable best-practice alternative to land titling in post-conflict and other challenging contexts.