Reports written by Geir Sundet for Norwegian People`s Aid and for the Norwegian Embassy in Tanzania about the formalisation process.
1)
“Getting to grips with realities: Is it possible to realign MKURABITA to empower the poor?” is a report prepared by Geir Sundet for Norwegian People’s Aid – Tanzania.
Norwegian People’s Aid - Tanzania is actively engaged in promoting critical and constructive engagement of Tanzanian civil
society in MKURABITA, the Business and Property Formalisation Programme that is implemented by the Tanzanian Government in partnership with Hernando de Soto’s Institute for Liberty and Democracy
(ILD).
The formalisation programme builds on de Soto’s well known hypothesis that the most effective way to empower the poor is to
provide them with formalised rights to their property. NPA’s role in Tanzania has been to support and facilitate debate on the implementation of the programme and to support civil
society to monitor implementation.
The purpose of this report is to highlight some critical features of the formalisation programme, particularly as they relate to the needs and challenges faced by the poor. It is argued that the formalisation programme builds on a highly theoretical understanding of formalisation and that the analytic groundwork that has been done has failed to capture the political economy of change. It is suggested
that to support the organic development of formalisation in a manner that will indeed empower the poor, much more groundwork
needs to be done to ensure that formalisation will not weaken rather than strengthen the poor’s rights to their land.
Please read the MKURABITA NPA report.
2)
“The formalisation process in Tanzania: Is it empowering the poor?” is a note prepared by Geir Sundet for the Norwegiam Embassy in Tanzania.
The purpose of this note is to provide some thoughts about some of the basic premises of the Property and Business Formalization Program, also known as the De Soto approach. Special considerations are given
on the possible impact on the poor and on issues of gender. Specific references are given to the Tanzanian context, but the
analysis provided can equally be applied to most countries that are considering the De Soto approach.
Please read the report "the formalisation process in Tanzania."
3)
“The 1999 Land Act and Village Land Act: A technical analysis of the practical implications of the Acts” by Geir Sundet, has been published on the Oxfam website.
Please read the analysis "1999 Land Act and Village Land Ac".