Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ Lens
A Fit-for-Purpose (FFP) land administration system strives for a more flexible, inclusive, participatory, affordable, reliable, realistic, and scalable approach to land administration and management in developing countries. The FFP finds itself thus at the interface with the coordination and governa...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-05-01
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Series: | Land |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/5/534 |
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author | Evert Waeterloos |
author_facet | Evert Waeterloos |
author_sort | Evert Waeterloos |
collection | DOAJ |
description | A Fit-for-Purpose (FFP) land administration system strives for a more flexible, inclusive, participatory, affordable, reliable, realistic, and scalable approach to land administration and management in developing countries. The FFP finds itself thus at the interface with the coordination and governance challenges of the mainstream promotion of democratic decentralization of the past decades in general, and collaborative systems for decentralized and participatory land governance in Africa, in particular. One recent example of such collaborative systems for decentralized land governance is the introduction in South Africa between 2015 and 2019 of District Land Reform Committees (DLRCs). We analyze this official experiment in collaborative land governance from a ‘system of innovation’ (SI) perspective. An adapted SI framework is developed and applied in three DLRCs. This study points out that for the innovation of collaboration to be effective, DLRCs require a firm operational and institutional backup. This is an important lead for the general discussion on inclusion, participation, and collaboration in FFP. We not only need these innovations to be well-supported and -resourced; they also require the explicit adoption of a systemic perspective in which various technical and social dimensions are interlinked. |
first_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:16:52Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-2eac73fdf5a847c4ab23b7e784be2841 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2073-445X |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-10T11:16:52Z |
publishDate | 2021-05-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
record_format | Article |
series | Land |
spelling | doaj.art-2eac73fdf5a847c4ab23b7e784be28412023-11-21T20:19:40ZengMDPI AGLand2073-445X2021-05-0110553410.3390/land10050534Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ LensEvert Waeterloos0Institute of Development Policy (IOB), University of Antwerp, 2000 Antwerp, BelgiumA Fit-for-Purpose (FFP) land administration system strives for a more flexible, inclusive, participatory, affordable, reliable, realistic, and scalable approach to land administration and management in developing countries. The FFP finds itself thus at the interface with the coordination and governance challenges of the mainstream promotion of democratic decentralization of the past decades in general, and collaborative systems for decentralized and participatory land governance in Africa, in particular. One recent example of such collaborative systems for decentralized land governance is the introduction in South Africa between 2015 and 2019 of District Land Reform Committees (DLRCs). We analyze this official experiment in collaborative land governance from a ‘system of innovation’ (SI) perspective. An adapted SI framework is developed and applied in three DLRCs. This study points out that for the innovation of collaboration to be effective, DLRCs require a firm operational and institutional backup. This is an important lead for the general discussion on inclusion, participation, and collaboration in FFP. We not only need these innovations to be well-supported and -resourced; they also require the explicit adoption of a systemic perspective in which various technical and social dimensions are interlinked.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/5/534land governance reformcapacity developmentFit-for-Purpose land administration (FFP)institutional frameworks |
spellingShingle | Evert Waeterloos Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ Lens Land land governance reform capacity development Fit-for-Purpose land administration (FFP) institutional frameworks |
title | Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ Lens |
title_full | Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ Lens |
title_fullStr | Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ Lens |
title_full_unstemmed | Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ Lens |
title_short | Introducing Collaborative Governance in Decentralized Land Administration and Management in South Africa: District Land Reform Committees Viewed through a ‘System of Innovation’ Lens |
title_sort | introducing collaborative governance in decentralized land administration and management in south africa district land reform committees viewed through a system of innovation lens |
topic | land governance reform capacity development Fit-for-Purpose land administration (FFP) institutional frameworks |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/10/5/534 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT evertwaeterloos introducingcollaborativegovernanceindecentralizedlandadministrationandmanagementinsouthafricadistrictlandreformcommitteesviewedthroughasystemofinnovationlens |