The Consortium for Development Partnerships is a research
organization linking different research institutes from countries in West
Africa, Europe and the US. Its aims include developing a research programme
that is policy relevant, building research capacity within the institutes
involved and furthering research collaboration between the different
institutes. The consortium, founded by CODESRIA (Council for the
Development of Social Science Research in Africa) and PAS (Programme of
African Studies of North Western University, USA) was set up in the
Netherlands in 2004. 2007 saw the first periods of fieldwork thanks to a
large grant from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the first research phase, the ASC was responsible for one of the nine research projects, ‘Dynamics of
Local Conflicts’, in which six institutes are collaborating in a comparative
research project in Ghana, Nigeria, Mali and Ivory Coast. The ASC’s Mirjam
de Bruijn and Stephen Ellis are responsible for the overall coordination of
this project. Activities started with a meeting in Benin City in Nigeria to
draw up a common framework for methodology and suggested directions for the
project researchers. Each sub-project will highlight aspects of the local
dynamics of conflict and reach out to policy and decision makers at national
and regional levels. Data collection through fieldwork then started and the
first draft reports were presented at a restitution workshop in Mali in
June. A further workshop was held in Nigeria in October 2007 to link research
results with policy discussions, and the synthesis report was finished in
December although no meaningful policy dialogue has yet taken place.
The results of the work in Ghana on land as a source of local conflict are
worth mentioning here. The study revealed that the land sector is facing
challenges because large tracts of land in Ghana are not mapped to show land
boundaries. People consequently sell land that, unknown to them, is on other
properties. Double registration and sales of the same parcel of land to
different people continue to be among the recurrent complaints of land
developers, property owners and business entities. And this naturally leads
to disputes and, in some cases, protracted litigation.
Those who depend on land conflicts are playing a major role in escalating
conflict. Groups such as land guards and some lawyers are intentionally
fuelling conflicts, to their own advantage. Laws govern land administration
and the institutions that enforce them but there are inconsistencies in
their operations as these are not synchronized to obtain a level of
efficiency that could minimize conflict. The state’s jurisdiction is
overtaxed when it comes to finding solutions to conflicts at regional and
local levels despite recent reforms in the economic and legal systems. Too
few courts of first instance deal with jurisdiction over land in the rural
areas and people do not trust the law. They avoid taking a case to court in
the face of high fees, transport costs and the money required for bribes.
Insecurity of tenure affects a greater proportion of society than is
generally recognized and although it is often possible to identify ‘win-win’
strategies, hard choices have to be made. Ensuring security for farmers and
other land users is emerging as a fundamental economic and social concern
and as a key issue of citizenship.
Report
of the Ghana research group
Report of
the Nigeria research group
Report of
the Mali research group
Report
of the Ivory Coast research group
In the second phase of research (to begin in January 2010) the ASC will
coordinate three projects:
- Local Governance and Decentralization
- Local Dynamics of Conflict and Peacebuilding
- Media and Voice in Democracy
For information please contact Linda van de Kamp (LvandeKamp@ascleiden.nl)
or Maaike Westra (westra@ascleiden.nl) |
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