Germany´s official development assistance in land policies
Roman Herre | Transnational Institute and 11.11.11 | 2009
The official development assistance (ODA) of the German government’s development
cooperation (DC) is the fifth largest in the world. In the first decades after
World War II land policy was a neglected field of DC. This changed sharply in
the mid-1990s: the German DC has since become actively involved in land policy
issues in more than 20 countries around the world. It is also an important actor in
multilateral land policymaking. This paper focuses on the Ministry of Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the technical cooperation arm (GTZ) and
the financial cooperation (KfW) as the three key actors in the German development
cooperation. The official aim of the German land policy is purportedly to effect
poverty reduction. The expression of this policy is the commitment and support to
technical land administration and management (e.g. titling, registration, cadastre,
land markets). Engagement in redistributive land policies like land reform is almost
non-existent. Altogether, the actual focus on land administration and technical
approaches is generally blind to the political dimension of land policies. A neglect
of political issues – equity issues, redistribution, meaningful participation, human
rights – is unlikely to lead to any significant positive impact on the rural poor in
developing countries worldwide.
Sprache | English
Germany´s official development assistance in land policies