Pro-poor and gender responsive urban land governance for increased security of tenure and equitable access to adequate housing in the city

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Uganda and Uganda Community Based Association for Women and Children’s Welfare (UCOBAC) launched their Policy Brief with findings from Kampala Urban Thinkers’ Dialogues under the theme “Pro-poor and gender responsive urban land governance for increased security of tenure and equitable access to adequate housing in the city”.

The Policy Brief summarizes the challenges and recommendations towards responsive urban land governance that were identified during the public community dialogues in Kampala’s five divisions of Central, Kawempe, Makindye, Nakawa and, Rubaga. It highlights that especially corruption in the land sector, uncoordinated institutions, the gap between policy and practice along with the lack of public information towards rights and processes, restrict the equitable access to land, housing and public open spaces. Thus, urban planning in Kampala and in other urban areas has to improve drastically. Best practices need to be shared and replicated in the sprouting urban areas to improve the urban development. The Policy Brief therefore recommends to:

• enhance effective, just and transparent urban land administration
• harmonize the coordination of urban development programs of the government and programs with other stakeholders
• improve the funding and enforcement of the regulatory framework
• strengthen institutions of land governance and management
• ensure the construction of affordable housing
• provide sufficient public open spaces
• ensure inclusive, participatory urban planning taking into account the interest of vulnerable groups

This Policy Brief highlights that solving the current issues within urban land governance requires multi-level stakeholder engagements between authorities, the community and civic organizations necessary to enhance an inclusive, participatory urban planning.