Issue Brief

Principles into Practice: 

Property Rights and Land Policy

In Principle: MCC’s Approach 

to Property Rights and Land Policy

MCC’s principle of country ownership empowers its partner countries, upon becoming eligible for a compact, to prioritize investments 

that address their most binding constraints to economic growth 

and poverty reduction. Many country governments, in consultation 

with citizens, civil society and the private sector, have sought MCC 

investments in property rights and land policy (PRLP) because of the 

central role that land, natural resources and other real property assets 

can play in economic development. 

For a poor rural family, access to a small farm plot can be vital to 

day-to-day survival, providing family members with food, household 

income and an opportunity for working their way out of poverty. 

Access to well-managed grazing areas can support livestock for entire 

rural communities. In urban or peri-urban areas, a small building or 

other real property asset can provide a poor family with shelter or a 

space for entrepreneurial activities essential to survival and growth. A 

well-functioning PRLP system not only can help the poor, but it also 

can help investors and companies obtain the land they need to start 

and expand businesses.

In Practice: MCC’s Approach 

to Property Rights and Land Policy 

MCC is investing in PRLP activities in 13 of its 25 compacts, totaling 

$260 million across the rural-urban spectrum. 

PRINCIPLESinto PRACTICE

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

MCC was founded with a 

focused mandate to reduce poverty through economic growth. 

MCC’s model is based on a set 

of core principles essential for 

development to take place and 

for development assistance to 

be effective—good governance, 

country ownership, focus on 

results, and transparency.

The MCC Principles into Practice

series offers a frank look at what 

it takes to make these principles 

operational. The experiences 

captured in this series will inform 

MCC’s ongoing efforts to refine 

and strengthen its own model. 

In implementation of the U.S. 

Global Development Policy, 

which emphasizes many of 

the principles at the core of 

MCC’s model, MCC hopes this 

series will allow others to 

benefit from and build on 

MCC’s lessons.

The series also offers insights 

into MCC’s experience with 

the technical and operational 

approaches it uses to support 

poverty reduction through 

economic growth. The full 

Principles into Practice series 

is available at www.mcc.gov/

principlesintopractice.

April 20, 2012 | www.mcc.gov
Principles into Practice: Property Rights and Land Policy  | April 20, 2012 2

PRINCIPLESinto PRACTICE

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

Many PRLP investments have focused in rural areas, where they contribute to MCC’s broader investments in agriculture, rural development and food security. MCC’s PRLP investments fall into two general 

categories.

1. Stand-alone, comprehensive projects that address PRLP constraints to economic growth through 

formalization of land rights and complementary land administration activities such as legal, regulatory 

and institutional reform. 

2. Supporting activities designed to complement or mitigate risk for other MCC investments, such as in 

infrastructure or agriculture.

MCC’s approach toward PRLP activities has seven core elements. 

 The importance of effective governance: Effective governance is at the heart of land and property 

investments that will spur long-term economic growth. 

 One size does not fit all: MCC’s interventions are tailored to each country’s culture, laws, customs and 

traditions, as well as their unique economic growth constraints. 

 Cause no harm: Constructing roads, irrigation systems and other infrastructure projects can have 

unintended effects. PRLP activities can help mitigate risks. 

 Securing land rights is not only about land titles: MCC is supporting the strengthening of customary 

land rights in addition to titling. 

 Inclusion: Well-functioning real property rights systems should work for everyone, including women, 

the poor and minority groups.

 Learning and results: MCC monitors all PRLP projects closely and is funding rigorous impact evaluations as part of almost every PRLP project.

 Country ownership: Many MCC partner countries are addressing politically challenging policy and 

institutional reforms necessary to improve property rights. 

Eleven Lessons: MCC’s Experience 

with Property Rights and Land Policy

This brief offers lessons drawn from MCC’s PRLP portfolio, focusing on project implementation, not impact. MCC’s impact evaluations will soon begin to yield additional learning about the economic impact of 

PRLP projects and an understanding of how these projects elicit changes in the behaviors and outcomes 

of the beneficiaries. While many of these lessons will be familiar to those who work in the PRLP and 

other development fields, it is hoped that the discussion here will contribute to better project design and 

implementation. 
Principles into Practice: Property Rights and Land Policy  | April 20, 2012 3

PRINCIPLESinto PRACTICE

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

Lesson 1 

Focus on results up front—get the 

economics and the policy reforms right.

Having access to land, natural resources and real property assets is not itself sufficient to spur economic 

development. Countries need proper policy and institutional frameworks so these assets can lead to 

increased incomes through an improved investment climate, increased productivity from land or reduced 

costs imposed on households and firms as a result of weak PRLP systems. Therefore, proposed PRLP 

investments must be cost-effective and lead, through a clear program logic, to the outcomes MCC and its 

partner countries aim to achieve. 

Lesson 2 

Be bold in program design 

and proactive in managing risks.

MCC has supported ambitious PRLP projects because they can have “game-changing” effects on 

economic growth and poverty reduction in its partner countries. These interventions have been innovative and, in some cases, unprecedented in MCC’s partner countries. At the same time, being bold and 

ambitious has risks. All development projects face various forms of risk, and the political sensitivities 

around property rights and land policy make investments susceptible to resistance. These risks need to be 

managed proactively and creatively, and future PRLP proposals must be assessed according to the related 

policy and institutional environment, and institutional commitment and capacity, as well as the strength 

of their program logic and cost-effectiveness, as noted in Lesson 1. See the full paper for examples from 

Burkina Faso and Cape Verde. 

Lesson 3

Protect against risks to 

poor and smallholder farmers. 

MCC’s programs are intended to improve the environment for investments of all sizes and from a variety 

of sources—domestic and foreign, private and public—that will increase agricultural productivity and 

achieve food security. However, the rights of poor and smallholder farmers can be at risk in countries that 

are undertaking processes of formal recognition of traditional, informal land rights or are opening up new 

areas for farming as a result investment in infrastructure such as irrigation systems and roads. 

Formalization of informal rights will eventually make them stronger, but the formalization process itself 

can create risks of insecurity because some informal rights fail to get recognized or because people use 

the formalization process to establish new rights or expand their existing rights at the expense of others. 

Similarly, poor and smallholder farmers can be disadvantaged in gaining access to farmland that is newly 
Principles into Practice: Property Rights and Land Policy  | April 20, 2012 4

PRINCIPLESinto PRACTICE

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

developed as the result of investment in farming infrastructure. MCC and its partner countries use a 

variety of safeguards to minimize risks faced by poor and smallholder farmers. See the full paper for an 

example from Mali.

Lesson 4 

Strengthen rights of women. 

Women play a central role in improving household agricultural productivity, food security and nutrition. 

Economic development programs can significantly alter the allocation and control of resources within 

households, as well as provide opportunities for improving gender equality and poverty reduction. Thus, 

projects dealing with land and property rights, where women are historically disadvantaged, need to 

be structured such that the rights and interests of women are protected and enhanced. Together with 

its partner countries, MCC has supported legal reforms in three countries, but unless legal reforms are 

supplemented by efforts to improve or develop regulations, procedures and practices that explicitly 

address gender-specific rights and equality, they may not have a discernible impact on local practices. See 

the full paper for examples from Ghana, Lesotho, Mali, Nicaragua and Senegal. 

Lesson 5 

Knowledge is power—public outreach and consultation 

are essential for broad acceptance, participation and sustainability. 

Many MCC PRLP projects take place in areas where people may be unaware of their rights under formal 

land and property laws or may be suspicious of government land programs. Failure to effectively communicate project objectives can undermine or cause the local population to oppose it. MCC PRLP projects 

focus on creating awareness among citizens of their land rights and opportunities to use their land and 

property as economic assets. This “knowledge is power” lesson goes both ways—program designers seeking information from experts, stakeholders and potential beneficiaries to inform program design, as well 

as program implementers sharing information during implementation to ensure impact and sustainability. 

See the full paper for examples from Cape Verde, Ghana, Lesotho, Mongolia, Mozambique, 

and Namibia.

Lesson 6 

Be creative in resolving disputes. 

Land disputes can arise from a number of causes, including unclear or overlapping individual or community boundaries, multiple grants of rights to different holders, conflicting jurisdictions of land administration institutions, inheritance issues, and lack of adequate land-use planning or violations of land-use rules. 

The existence of a dispute can prevent an individual landholder or a community from putting their land or 

other real property asset to productive use. Where courts are not meeting the need for resolution of land 

disputes, existing alternative methods must be supported or new methods must be developed. See the full 

paper for examples from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar, and Senegal.
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PRINCIPLESinto PRACTICE

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

Lesson 7 

Build and strengthen institutions to serve people. 

In many of MCC’s PRLP countries, citizens do not have access to basic land administration services. There 

is nowhere to turn when they want to record or confirm their land rights, obtain authorization to use 

their land in a certain way or even pay land taxes, because land administration institutions do not exist or 

are too distant or costly to be accessible. Where land administration institutions exist, many face serious 

challenges of insufficient funding, equipment and staff capacity. Good laws and policies will not result in 

economic growth if land administration institutions are unwilling or unable to implement them. MCC’s 

PRLP projects frequently support institutional improvements, but results are hard to achieve. An obvious 

key to success is the willingness of the counterpart agency to embrace the proposed changes in its institutional operations. See the full paper for examples from Lesotho, Mongolia, and Namibia.

Lesson 8 

Time matters—the five-year compact duration 

helps achieve results but also creates challenges.

The legally mandated five-year limit on compacts creates a strong incentive for partner countries to complete all compact activities on time. The time limit has also reaffirmed what many who work in the PRLP 

field know too well: PRLP projects can be slow to start, and achieving targets often takes time. MCC and 

its partner countries have learned a number of lessons associated with making the most of MCC’s fiveyear clock, including accounting for start-up delays when setting implementation targets, ensuring that 

legal and policy reforms are completed early, and mobilizing and coordinating with other donors. See the 

full paper for examples from Benin, Burkina Faso, Madagascar and Mongolia.

Lesson 9 

Prepare to adjust and capitalize on opportunities. 

Even during a five-year timeframe, there are bound to be shifts in technology, political leadership, public 

perceptions, and implementation partnerships as well as lessons learned that provide opportunities 

for improvement. Close monitoring of progress can lead to adjustments during implementation, and 

sometime delays or poor project performance can require changes in project scope and implementation. 

Making adjustments can be challenging, and requires careful balance with MCC’s country ownership 

principles. But it can also create opportunities for innovation and greater progress toward results without 

sacrificing standards related to economic returns, environmental and social safeguards and gender equity. 

See the full paper for examples from Benin, Lesotho, and Nicaragua.
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PRINCIPLESinto PRACTICE

MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION

Lesson 10 

Plan for sustainability. 

Donor-financed development is sometimes criticized for supporting projects that do not survive past the 

donor’s departure. PRLP projects face various sustainability challenges including. The goal of sustainability needs to be the point of departure for investment decision-making, and MCC has learned that it must 

continue to ask fundamental questions at all stages of project design and implementation. Such questions 

include: Is demand for this outcome sufficient that it will be sustained? If demand does not exist, why? Is 

weak demand or refusal to use a land system because of lack of awareness or incorrectly aligned incentives, or something else? Project activities need to be designed and managed with these questions in mind. 

See the full paper for examples from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar, and Namibia.

Lesson 11 

Back to results—measuring impact at 

the end requires careful planning up front. 

One of MCC’s founding principles is focus on results. Under this principle, MCC is committed to assessing the expected economic returns of proposed projects before making investment decisions and to 

rigorously evaluating, documenting and learning from programs once they have been implemented. MCC 

uses impact evaluations to independently and transparently measure the impact of PRLP interventions 

on investment, income and household consumption, as well as provide a better understanding of how the 

interventions affect these outcomes. MCC has yet to see the results of any PRLP impact evaluations, but 

a number of lessons about how to manage evaluations have been learned in the PRLP context, including 

the importance of close collaboration between program and evaluation planning, and finding ways that 

impact evaluations can contribute to improved project design. See the full paper for examples from Benin 

and Mali.

To read the full Principles into Practice: Land Policy 

and Practice paper, visit www.mcc.gov/principlesintopractice.

2012-002-1071-01