Land Administration to Nurture Development in Ethiopia
More than three-quarters of Ethiopia’s population derive their income from agriculture, and social and cultural norms in rural areas are largely shaped by land use practices. Maintaining agriculture as a major source of economic growth is a pillar in Ethiopia’s Growth and Transformation Plan. Tetra Tech is supporting improvements to Ethiopia’s capacity to administer and plan for sustainable and fair land use for its citizens.
The Land Administration to Nurture Development (LAND) project, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is structured around the sustainable use and management of land, a high priority for the Government of Ethiopia. LAND was created to instill proper governance in the nation’s agenda for food security, poverty reduction, and accelerated economic growth to achieve the status of a middle-income country.
The purposes of LAND are to help strengthen rural land tenure security and women’s land use rights, encourage efficient land transactions, build the capacity of federal and regional land administration agencies to improve service delivery, and pilot surveying and certification methodologies to recognize and document rural land use rights.
Tetra Tech is implementing activities under four main objectives:
- Improve legal and policy frameworks at national and local levels
- Strengthen capacity in national, regional, and local land administration and use planning
- Strengthen capacity of Ethiopian universities to engage in policy analysis and research related to land tenure and train land administration and land use professionals
- Strengthen community land rights in pastoral and agro-pastoral areas to facilitate market linkages and economic growth
We are implementing the project with and through the Ministry of Agriculture’s Land Administration and Use Department at the national level and the regional land administration bureaus, thereby ensuring that the local bodies of government will be able to sustain and further develop project activities and objectives long after the project ends.
We are also helping Ethiopian universities to strengthen their capacity to train land administration officials and professionals in survey and certification procedures and property rights, including women’s land use rights, conflict mitigation, and land use planning. In pastoral areas, we are piloting activities to demarcate and certify community boundaries to form community land-holding governance entities. The local entities will represent their communities before the government and in dealings with investors, thereby providing communities with decision-making rights over their natural assets.