Global Land Tool Network

The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) is an alliance of global, regional and national partners contributing to poverty alleviation through land reform, improved land management and security of tenure, particularly through the development and dissemination of pro-poor and gender-sensitive land tools.

Most developing countries use conventional land administration systems that cover less than 30 per cent of the country area, leaving up to 70 per cent of citizens looking to informal and/or customary approaches for their tenure security. While there are many examples of good land policies, few policies have been implemented in full due to a lack of pro-poor, gender-sensitive and large-scale land tools. Furthermore, conventional land titling approaches have largely failed to deliver their expected results since existing technical solutions are too expensive, inappropriate for the range of tenure options found in developing countries, or unsustainable in terms of finance or capacity.

GLTN aims to take a more holistic approach to land issues by:

  • Establishing a continuum of land rights, rather than a focus on individual land titling.
  • Improving and developing pro-poor land management, as well as land tenure tools.
  • Unblocking existing initiatives.
  • Assisting in strengthening existing land networks.
  • Supporting the development of gendered land tools that are affordable and useful to grassroots organizations.
  • Disseminating knowledge about how to improve security of land tenure.

In 2013, AAPS joined GLTN as a member in the International Training/Research Institutions cluster. Click here to download the letter from GLTN welcoming AAPS as a member.

AAPS members are also encouraged to register as individual GLTN members via the GLTN website.

GLTN land tools

A land tool is a practical way to solve a problem in land administration and management. It is a way to put principles, policies and legislation into effect. The term covers a wide range of methods: from a simple checklist to use when conducting a survey, a set of software and accompanying protocols, or a broad set of guidelines and approaches. The emphasis is on practicality: users should be able to take a land tool and apply it (or adapt it) to their own situation.

Land tools may complement each other, or they may offer alternative ways of doing something. For example, one tool may give overall guidance on how to address a land-related issue, while another may give detailed instructions on how to deal with a particular aspect of the same issue, such as checking whether the different needs and situations of women and men are taken into account.

The GLTN land tools are arranged according to five themes. Access the tools by clicking on the links below.

Theme

Related land tools

Access to land and tenure security
  • Enumerations for tenure security
  • Continuum of land rights
  • Deeds or titles
  • Socially appropriate adjudication
  • Statutory and customary
  • Co-management approaches
  • Land record management for transactability
  • Family and group rights

Land administration and information
  • Spatial units
  • Modernising of land agencies budget approach

Land-based financing
  • Land tax for financial and land management

Land management and planning
  • Citywide slum upgrading
  • Citywide spatial planning
  • Regional land use planning
  • Land readjustment (slum upgrading and/or post crisis)

Land policy and legislation
  • Regulatory framework for private sector
  • Legal allocation of the assets of a deceased person (estates administration, HIV/AIDS areas)
  • Expropriation, eviction and compensation

In 2012 GLTN produced a free e-book outlining its work on developing land tools, including useful case studies and insights, entitled Handling Land: Tools for Land Governance and Secure Tenure (also free to download from the GLTN website here).