Environmental and Gender Impacts of Land Tenure Regularization in Africa : Pilot Evidence from Rwanda

Although recent developments have increased interest in African land tenure, Rwanda's nation-wide Land Tenure Regularization (LTR) program is one of a few models to address these issues at the required scale. An impact evaluation of this progr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ali, Daniel Ayalew, Deininger, Klaus, Goldstein, Markus
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/386191468209367432/Environmental-and-gender-impacts-of-land-tenure-regularization-in-Africa-pilot-evidence-from-Rwanda
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25527
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Summary:Although recent developments have increased interest in African land tenure, Rwanda's nation-wide Land Tenure Regularization (LTR) program is one of a few models to address these issues at the required scale. An impact evaluation of this program highlights four main effects; namely, 1) significant and large investment impacts that are particularly pronounced for women; 2) improved land access for legally married women and better recordation of inheritance rights; 3) a reduction in the probability of having documented land ownership for legally unmarried women; and 4) a reduction in land market activity rather than distress sales. A primary reason for the Government of Rwanda to initiate LTR was to increase levels of land tenure security. LTR also demonstrated a major impact on inheritance related knowledge and awareness. Authors found a significant increase in the likelihood that landholders in the program areas would now know who would inherit their parcel.