81261385 — Sensitisation at Commune Level and Support to Women in Land Rights Matters

Senegal is one of Germany's key partner countries in the context of the ‘Compact with Africa’ and has concluded a reform partnership with Germany in November 2019. In line with the Plan Sénégal Emergent 2019-2023 (PSE II), the objective of this partnership is to support the Senegalese Government's efforts to improve the framework conditions for private sector investment in order to generate more jobs, promote the transition of enterprises into the formal sector, reduce obstacles to private sector development and improve the qualification of the workforce. Land sector reform has been selected as one of the priority areas for 2019 to 2023. The project ‘Support to land rights and land management in Senegal’ is part of the German government's commitment to support the priority area ‘Access to Land’ and is implemented by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ). Land tenure in Senegal is currently managed in a dualist way based on: (i) a formal legal framework that has been progressively elaborated since independence; and (ii) customary practices that are based on traditional land law and continue to prevail in most parts of the country. Senegal's current reform efforts aim at establishing a national land register in which all land is clearly registered with a specific identification number (cadastral identification number, NICAD). Despite these reform efforts, the legal and regulatory framework does not yet meet the requirements to effectively secure land rights while avoiding negative impacts, especially on women. In particular, family rights registration, pastoral land rights registration, communal property management and the need for communes to reserve public spaces have not yet been sufficiently addressed. National, regional and especially commune-level authorities lack capacities to monitor, plan and implement procedures for an effective enforcement of the land law. Communal decision-makers as well as decentralised services and private sector actors have limited knowledge of the various procedures and the reform steps planned. The project therefore aims at strengthening capacities for the protection of land rights. The project will work at national, regional and local level and cover 10 communes in the regions of Kaffrine and Kaolack between 06/2020 and 05/2023 (3 years). Pilot communes will be selected in close consultation with the Senegalese partners as well as World Bank and KfW at the beginning of the project. The project will work directly with commune authorities whose capacities to ensure the formalization of traditional user rights and undertake the necessary preparatory work are mostly limited. The overall goal reads as follows: National and deconcentrated services, local authorities and local actors are able to improve land tenure security for the local population in selected regions in Senegal. In order to achieve this objective, the following outputs have been defined: 1) land governance and land management in pilot communes is improved; 2) capacities to implement procedures to improve land security in decentralised services as well as in the private and education sector are strengthened; 3) the legal and regulatory framework for land security is improved. For the implementation phase, the project seeks support by a consulting company working in this specific technical field.