Land Reform and Rehabilitation Project

Project Narrative

The development objective of the project is to improve land tenure security in Liberia by (a) recommending specific reforms to the Liberian land law; (b) putting in place policies and pilots that assist in restoring the land administration system- through (i) building national institutional capacity for land surveying, cartography and adjudication within the Ministry of Lands, Mine and Energy (MLME); (ii) rehabilitation of the deed registration system and deed records and (iii) piloting a system to resolve land disputes and reduce the number of cases in the docket. Interventions will occur at the level of the national institutions and also at the county level, where at least four counties will be chosen for targeted interventions.

Key services provided

• Conducting a needs assessment to achieve the objectives of the below 2 components. This included examining staffing/human development requirements; equipment needs, training and types of training required, technical skills development required; computer software and hardware required; and mapping and imagery resources. The needs assessment was prioritised, costed and tailored to Liberia’s social and political environment. In particular it took into consideration Liberia’s post-conflict status;
• examining the processes and procedures of adjudication and demarcation, and identifying surveying and cadastral mapping requirements as well as operational guidelines for a Manual to be used to guide field implementation of the pilot. The Manual included criteria for selection and prioritization of pilot adjudication, demarcation and registration areas; and
• Developing a process framework for sorting, consolidating, verifying and rehabilitating deed records and an associated and costed action plan.