Property Rights & Land Titling Project, Lao PDR.

In previous newsletters we have reported on the major expansion program the TA team is supporting here. It is only ten months before the end of TA inputs for Phase 2 and yet the project is increasing in size – we have just added five provinces, taking us to 14 provinces where systematic adjudication is supported. And of course the Department of Lands must also build capacity within five additional provincial land offices to support the flow of subsequent registrations that are expected after the public education program. But that is not all … we are currently in the middle of the World Bank, AusAID and GTZ assessment of the project, where we expect the go-ahead to be given to the expansion into the remaining three provinces, commencing in a few months!

The White Paper on the Australian Government’s overseas aid program identified the need for a collaborative and demand driven Pacific land mobilisation program. The AusAID Pacific Land Program that is being developed has two objectives; (i) to survey and disseminate innovative land mobilisation practices in the Pacific and (ii) to resource innovations and improvements in land tenure arrangements.

From Public Relations To Social Mobilization: Tweaking LAMP II IEC To Fit Philippine Social Realities

We indicated in the December 2006 Newsletter that a key issue in our project was the establishment of the National Land Management Authority (NLMA).

In the last newsletter in Project Opportunities we flagged that LEI had tendered for projects in Dubai and Vanuatu. It is pleasing to be able to report that LEI was successful in winning both these projects. The awarding of the Land Registration Project in Dubai resulted in much frantic preparation over the Christmas period by Chris Lunnay and a number of the consultants.

As mentioned in Newsletter No 9, LEI was successful in its bid to undertake the Policy Studies Component of the Palestinian National Authority’s Land Administration Project. After some delay created by the general strike by Palestinian Authority employees over the non-payment of their salaries (due to the freezing of funds following the election success of the Hamas Islamic Party in March 2006) the inception period finally kicked off in January 2007.

PROVIDING A SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT AND GENDER FRAMEWORK FOR LAMP2