Philippines-Australia Land Administration and Management Project – Phase II

PROVIDING A SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND GENDER FRAMEWORK FOR LAMP2

A Social Development and Gender Framework was developed to systematically apply a social perspective across the LAMP II project. The central presumption of LAMP II is that improved land administration and management is a pre-requisite for pro-poor, socio-economic development. The responsibility for Social Development is to ensure that LAM (land administration and management (LAM)) interventions explicitly recognise:

a) The different types of land tenure for which security must be provided
b) That the capacity of citizens to benefit from improved LAM systems is determined by gender, geography, socio-economic circumstance, literacy, etc
c) That existing formal and informal institutions operate to enhance or constrain citizens’ ability to exploit new opportunities provided through LAM; and
d) That unless these differences, factors and institutions are explicitly recognised in design

This means that LAMP II must reflect three key principles of Social Development: inclusiveness, cohesiveness, and accountability.

Inclusiveness is achieved when men and women with different land tenures, socio-economic endowments and capabilities are able to participate in the processes through which LAM policy, institutional arrangements, instruments and procedures are defined and implemented in ways that promote equal access to opportunities, good governance and positive outcomes for the poor.

Cohesiveness is achieved by a systematic approach to LAM that has three attributes:

a) the integration of land adjudication,registration, record management and valuation to underpin improved land management practices that are administratively, fiscally and politically sustained by higher and lower levels of government
b) provides incentives that foster effective partnerships between government and donor agencies, inter-sectoral collaboration, and concerted effort by central government and LGUs, civil society and service providers, and
c) restores trust between citizens and agencies responsible for LAM.

Accountability is achieved when the LAM system is fully institutionalized within the rule of law. This requires that LAM systems promote the legal mandates of governments at different levels and their functioning in ways that are transparent and operate in the public interest. In the Philippines’ decentralized governance arrangements, this will require LAM interventions to promote the functioning of five key accountability relationships, namely:

a) elected leaders and policy makers who are held accountable by citizens empowered by awareness of their entitlements

b) effective management by elected leaders of administrative officials responsible for LAM

c) good performance by LAM service providers/administrators for the clients of their services

d) citizens who operate within the formal system of LAM, and

e) rule-based relations between LGUs and higher levels of government.

The Framework incorporates the Gender policy and operation framework established in LAMP I (Gender Mainstreaming Handbook, 2004). Central to the Framework is the social mobilization strategy. This strategy is time and context bound and is intended to build towards reforms in land administration and management. The schematic below captures the crucial role of social mobilization in achieving the reform agenda.

Provided by Rae Porter – Social Development and Gender Adviser Edited by Ian Lloyd