Approach
Fit-for-Purpose in Benin
Alongside the existing title system with a property right guaranteed by the Benin state, there is a need for an approach that is cost and time efficient for the initial establishment of the land administration. Such an approach was developed in the so-called Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration. This approach entails a land administration that has been designed to achieve “tenure security for all” within a relatively short time, with relatively low costs and applied within the legal, spatial and institutional framework.
In order to test whether this land administration approach is possible, PMAF and ANDF applied a “Fit-for-Purpose” methodology in both rural and semi-urban areas in four municipalities across Benin
In the three months of the test period, a total of 2,349 plots of land with a total surface area of 3,500 hectares were collected in the four geographically dispersed test areas. The test proved that a fit for purpose approach can achieve high coverage at a relatively low cost. The average cost for the test area was 17 euros per collected hectare.
However, the test also showed that the high coverage and relatively low price are only feasible if the original approach of land registration of only (few and expensive) land titles as end result is relinquished and broadened to also include land tenure with a well defined, lower level of legal certainty. The ownership is not established as absolute right, but as a verified presumption of ownership. In contrast to the property right supported by a title, this presumed ownership recorded in the national land administration is not absolute, but can be disputed. It is applicable until a legal procedure decides otherwise. The introduction of the possibility for later correction provides space for a less formal, faster and cheaper approach that better aligns with the political goal of quickly achieving a land registration that covers the entire country. Although the recorded land rights are not guaranteed by the state, the registration by a Fit for Purpose approach will still be reliable. That is because the process of registration contains several checks and balances, like consulting witnesses and organising a public inspection of the recorded data.
The Fit-for-Purpose initial land administration will considerably contribute to “tenure security for all” in Benin. Besides that, introducing less heavy registration procedures will also enable fast and affordable (Fit-for-Purpose) procedures for the updating of the land administration when parcels are transfered to others because of sale, inheritance etcetera.
