subdivision of parcels between 1 and 5 ha requires approval by a competent authority. The law also lays the basis for land expropriation (with appropriate compensation) in the public interest.

To translate the unification of land tenure systems into reality, the OLL recognizes land acquired through customary law but makes first-time land registration and recording of any follow up transfers compulsory. At national and district levels, land commissions were formed to oversee OLL implementation.<sup>4</sup> The National Land Center (NLC),<sup>5</sup> which includes the registrar‟s office, was established as the technical agency in charge of all activities related to land administration, land use planning and management, and OLL implementation more generally. At district, town, and municipality level, District Land Bureaux (DLBs) are made responsible for land administration and use planning, complemented by land committees at sector and cell levels to serve as focal points for land registration and land use planning and thus facilitate a decentralized and participatory implementation process.

# **3.3 The national land tenure regularization (LTR) program**

To clarify existing land rights on all of the country‟s estimated 11 million land parcels, the NLC has been tasked with development and implementation of a program of land tenure regularization (Sagashya and English 2010). The goal is to create the precondition for formalization and full legal recognition of rights to these lands, as manifested in the award of title certificates to land holders. Given the lack of successful models that could be drawn upon and the heterogeneity of situations across different parts of the country, it was decided to develop and fine tune the methodology through a pilot exercise in 4 cells, chosen to reflect typical situations encountered throughout the country, before embarking on a national roll-out.

This pilot, which was implemented in 2007/2008, resulted in demarcation and adjudication of 14,908 parcels with a total area of 3,448 hectares, owned by 3,513 households. After declaration of an area as subject to adjudication and conduct of stakeholder sensitization programs, locally trained para-surveyors conducted land demarcation in the field to identify parcel boundaries in the presence of land owners and all adjoining neighbors, mark them on an aerial photo to create a graphical record and, for undisputed parcels,<sup>6</sup> issue a claim receipt that is signed by all adjoining neighbors. Information from this receipt, in particular the names of all persons, including women and minors, with a claim or interest on the property, is then transferred to a registry book, digitized, and displayed publicly. If no objections are raised within a

> 4 The Republic of Rwanda is composed of five local administrative entities along with that of the central government. Accordingly, the country is divided into four provinces (North, South, East and West) and the city of Kigali, 30 districts (of which three of them are in the city of Kigali), 416 sectors, 2,146 cells, and 14,876 villages ( _umudugudu_ ). The roles and responsibilities of each of the entities are clearly specified in the “Rwanda Strategic Decentralization Framework”(Republic of Rwanda 2007). Provinces are to serve as a liaison “for coordinating district development planning with the national policies and programs” and to supervise their implementation at the district level. The districts play a prominent role in the decentralization process as they are responsible for “local economic development planning and coordinating the delivery of public services”. Sectors assume a coordinating role in the delivery of public services and gather data and information. As the smallest administrative unit, cells prioritize needs and mobilize the community to address them. They are composed of villages that do not have specific administrative functions. 5 In 2011, the NLC was integrated into the Rwanda Natural Resource Authority as the Department of Land and Mapping. 6 Parcels, the ownership claims to which are disputed, are recorded in a separate dispute register. Disputed claims can then be pursued separately through either administrative or judicial channels with the possibility of legal NGOs playing an important role in moving the process along.

9