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Overview of key Strategy outputs

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Contents1 The chapter at a glance 4

2 Strategy outputs 4

2.1 A website on CD-ROM 4

2.2 The SIS Strategy base document 6

2.3 Strategy and evidence synthesis document 11

2.4 The SIS Strategy at a glance 12

3 Conclusion 12

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1 The chapter at a glanceThis chapter provides:

• A brief introduction to the key outputs of the

strategy development process.

• An overview of how the base Strategy document

is structured.

2 Strategy outputsThe Department of Land Affairs (DLA) contracted

the Sustainable Development Consortium (SDC) to

develop a detailed strategy for providing settlement

and implementation support (SIS) to people acquiring

land through the Restitution Programme, the Land

Redistribution for Agricultural Development (LRAD)

Programme and the Commonage Programme.

SDC has approached the development of the ten-year

Settlement and Implementation Support (SIS) Strategy

for Land and Agrarian Reform in South Africa as an

iterative process. Each of the different areas of inquiry

has come up with findings which have informed the

strategy development process.

The evidence framing the strategy is drawn from:

• Diagnostic case studies that cover different

elements of the land reform programme

– restitution claims in different contexts, LRAD,

and Commonage projects.

• Thematic reviews and comparative analysis of

the international land reform experience.

• A field-based learning programme that has

involved land reform practitioners from different

departments and provincial contexts in reviews

of selected projects to identify key lessons and

implications for national strategy development.

• A programme of technical support to selected

projects designed to provide evidence of

practical interventions required and institutional

arrangements necessary for effective delivery of

services.

• A series of consultative forums that brought

together key provincial actors responsible for

supporting land reform projects post transfer

to share ideas and to think strategically and

critically about improving SIS.

• A review of the policy, legislation and regulations

that impact upon different dimensions

of land reform implementation including

intergovernmental relations, planning and

township establishment, environmental

management the legal instruments and

institutions which define and secure the new

owners’ and users’ rights in, and access to, land.

• Commissioned research on business models

and institutional arrangements to best effect

the delivery of a suite of SIS services including

interim arrangements for the holding and

management of land prior to its takeover by the

new owners.

• A review of current communication strategies

and an assessment of the requirements to

communicate a new integrated and area-based

strategy effectively to a variety of institutional

actors.

• Reviews of current decision support systems,

monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and the design

of new approaches.

This process has generated a large of amount of

documentation. To ensure that the DLA and its

partners in government derive the maximum value from

the knowledge assets created through the strategy

development process, SDC has packaged the SIS

Strategy in four ways, as described below.

2.1 A website on CD-ROM

This website brings together all the principal research

reports, learning materials and related source

documents, organises them thematically, and makes

them easily accessible through a web browser. The site

will help to ensure that the outputs of this evidence-

based research process are protected as part of

DLA’s institutional memory. It can make an important

contribution to the accumulation of knowledge for a

more effective land and agrarian reform programme.

This material will also be a valuable resource for future

learning programmes as the SIS Strategy is rolled out.

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Base strategy document 14 chapters

Strategy essentials poster

Website on CD-ROM containing all key

documents

Strategy and evidence synthesis document

Breadth/scope

Figure 1.1: Strategy outputs

Figure 1.2: Screenshot of website on CD-ROM (homepage)

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The CD-ROM includes a searchable help file and it can

be used on almost any computer running web browser

software. Key advantages of the CD format are that

the website can be copied freely, users do not need

an internet connection, and large documents can be

accessed quickly from the disk. The contents of the CD

can also be hosted on the internet.

2.2 The SIS Strategy base document

This 490-page document provides a comprehensive

review of the Strategy as a whole and provides a

Introduction Executive summary

This provides a snapshot of the key findings and proposals in the base Strategy document.

Chapter 1 Overview of key Strategy outputs

This chapter:

• clarifies the relationship between the different Strategy outputs: a comprehensive website, the Strategy base document, the Strategy and evidence synthesis documents, and the Strategy essentials poster for communication purposes;

and

• introduces the structure of the Strategy base document.

Chapter 2 The challenge of evidence-based strategy development: Linkages between evidence, policy and practice

This introductory chapter:

• provides background on the Terms of Reference and how these changed during the course of the contract;

• examines the linkages between evidence, policy and strategy formulation and changes in land reform practice; and

• reviews factors in the current context that will enhance or undermine adoption and implementation of the Strategy.

Chapter 3 Land reform in a changing development context: Linkages between evidence, policy and practice

Chapter 3 provides an overview of key changes in the development environment in which the land reform programme is located and:

• summarises the constitutional and legislative mandates driving the land and agrarian reform programme;

• provides a brief history of the evolution of the land reform programme since its inception;

• examines the process of local government transition, the relations between the three spheres of government and the implications for land reform and development planning; and

• highlights the range of legislation with implications for people acquiring rights in land through the land reform programme and shaping the content of SIS.

Chapter 4 Learning from experience – An overview of the evidence: Reviewing Restitution, LRAD and Commonage from a SIS perspective

Chapter 4 provides a summary of the evidence gathered from literature reviews, analyses of policy, law and regulations, diagnostic, thematic and special focus research studies, project interventions, field-based learning, and assessment of communications, monitoring and evaluation capability. The first section of the chapter compiles all the Restitution-related evidence. This section:

guide to its

operationalisation.

The document

is organised into

an introduction

and executive

summary and

14 chapters,

which are briefly

outlined below.

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• provides a review of the available data on settled and outstanding claims;

• identifies key trends relating to the settlement of community claims on rural land;

• summarises the findings from a range of overview studies conducted by DLA and independent researchers;

• reviews the findings of a set of diagnostic studies to assess the impact of Restitution on livelihoods;

• identifies key issues emerging from a review of the Restitution claims studied as part of the SDC field-based

learning programme;

• tabulates the issues related to the projects which were the focus of the project support interventions;

• presents findings and recommendations from the different provincial consultative forums; and

• brings together all the evidence from the different Restitution-related enquiries to identify key factors undermining

project sustainability as a basis for strategy determination.

The next section compiles evidence relating to LRAD, Commonage and Share Equity projects. It provides:

• an overview of statistics relating to these land reform project categories;

• a review of the findings of selected overview studies and DLA reviews; and

• insights into the issues presented by the field-based learning investigation into nine projects with a particular focus on

economic and livelihood impacts.

The third main section provides a review of issues which cut across the Restitution, LRAD and Commonage programmes.

These include:

• an assessment of the unintended consequences of Project Gijima;

• uncertainty about mandates for the provision of SIS;

• the current state of intergovernmental relations and their implications for the provision of SIS;

• a review of current SIS capacity in relation to the exponentially increasing scale of the task;

• a comparative assessment of the pros and cons of project versus area-based planning;

• the widespread failure across land reform to adequately determine rights in land, ensure equitable access to resources

and provide ongoing support to communal property institutions (CPIs);

• an assessment of the impacts of HIV/Aids on the land reform programme and the extent to which this is factored

into planning;

• the extent to which gender and age perspectives inform the land reform planning process;

• an assessment of the adequacy of the current approaches to capacity development;

• a review of current information management, monitoring and evaluation systems; and

• a review of current communications systems and strategies and public perceptions of land reform.

The fourth section reviews the commonalities between Restitution, LRAD and Commonage and sets out the process through

which the evidence is turned into building blocks of the Strategy.

Chapter 5 Learning from the international land reform experience

This chapter reviews the international experience of delivering post-settlement support (PSS) and:

• draws lessons from experience in Brazil, the Philippines, Australia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique;

• highlights the strategic approach adopted and the institutional arrangements established in order to implement the

objectives of land reform and provide PSS to beneficiaries;

• warns that there is an inherent risk in drawing conclusions from one country and applying them to another without

taking adequate account of the specific context and peculiarities that enabled such reforms to be realised; and

• identifies the paradigm shift that is required for the State, together with private sector and civil society partners, to put

in place an effective framework for the provision of SIS.

Chapter 6 A framework for securing effective settlement and implementation support

Chapter 6 introduces a framework for effective SIS built around four interlocking quadrants which enable:

• the achievement of functional and spatial integration to overcome the current fragmented approach to the planning and

support of Restitution, LRAD and Commonage projects, the provision of planning and support on an area basis, the

clarification of intergovernmental relations, and the participation and contribution of the private sector, NGOs (non-

governmental organisations) and CBOs (community-based organisations);

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• the profiling of members, the clarification and securing of their rights, the development of institutions to hold land, manage rights and enable social development, the establishment of operating companies to undertake business ventures, and the building of management capacity and skills;

• the planning, establishment and servicing of sustainable human settlements and the integrated management of natural resources; and

• the enhancement of livelihood security of members and the stimulation of enterprise and local economic development through the provision of business support services and access to finance and markets.

Chapter 7 Quadrant 1: Achieving functional and spatial integration

This chapter details the proposed approaches and measures to achieve improved functional and spatial integration. The chapter analyses:

• factors in the current institutional and development planning environment which enhance area-based planning and settlement support; and

• obstacles that must be overcome.

The chapter provides an assessment of what needs to change to get to where we want to be including:

• the need to distinguish between front-end area-based project services and back-end support systems;

• institutional and organisational measures to make co-operative governance work;

• the establishment of local SIS entities;

• improved communication;

• mapping land reform projects and building knowledge for area-based and district decision-making; and

• identification of sites for initial roll-out of area-based planning and settlement support services.

Chapter 8 Quadrant 2: Securing rights, enabling social, institutional and capacity development

Chapter 8 focuses on the importance of securing rights and ensuring that land-holding and business entities function effectively. It reviews key issues and problems to be addressed by the Strategy including:

• the current situation with respect to the determination of membership rights and equitable access to resources;

• the relationship between business entities and land-holding entities;

• the current level of social and capacity development support; and

• the extent to which land reform participants are organised at area and district scale.

The chapter identifies key goals determining where we want to be and sets out a number of measures to enable us to get there. These include measures to:

• improve household profiling to establish a social and economic baseline;

• secure membership rights, fix and support communal property institutions (CPIs), develop accreditation systems for service providers to ensure competence, and enable support to be provided to trusts;

• improve commonage management;

• build business entities and ensure their compliance with founding and tax legislation;

• enable improved social development;

• put in place a comprehensive capacity development system across three spheres of government; and

• encourage the development of associations to represent the interest of people acquiring land through the programme and improve their voice in local planning and development processes.

Chapter 9 Quadrant 3: Integrated natural resource management and sustainable human settlements

Chapter 9 outlines measures to develop a more integrated approach to natural resource management and the development of sustainable human settlements. The chapter provides background on the overall sustainable development imperative which is given legal force by the National Environmental Management Act (NEMA). It examines DLA’s obligations in terms

of NEMA and related legislation and highlights the need to conceptualise land reform as a nexus of social, institutional, economic and environmental issues.

The chapter provides an overview of the issues relating to human settlement and service provision with particular reference to:

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• the obligations of local government to provide municipal services;

• the legal position in relation to the provision of services on private land; and

• the problems associated with private townships.

The chapter also highlights key issues with respect to the management of natural resources. It reviews:

• current national trends in the state of the environment;

• the extent to which natural resource planning and related resource tenure dimensions are addressed as aspects of land

reform planning and implementation;

• the proliferation of environmental management legislation and the limited support for its communication and

implementation; and

• the variety of laws and the rights, duties, obligations and liabilities which they create for new owners of land.

The chapter summarises the human settlement and environmental status quo with respect to land reform and sets out:

• strategic options to ensure sustainable provision of services through township establishment;

• measures to service remote settlements;

• a proposed process for enabling integrated natural resource management including the alignment of key departments at

district scale, area- and project-based environmental assessment, and the utilisation of approved DLA guidelines on the

integration of environmental planning into land reform; and

• support measures to enable the implementation of co-management agreements on conservation land.

Chapter 10 Quadrant 4: Household livelihoods, enterprise development and technical support

This chapter details a strategic approach to ensure that planning and the SIS process within land and agrarian reform

projects recognise a livelihoods continuum which ranges from:

• individual and household food security;

• small-scale individual and group-based economic activities; and

• the management of medium and large fully-fledged commercial enterprises, either independently or with a strategic

partner.

It provides an overview of the key issues and problems facing people acquiring land through the land reform programme

including:

• a flawed approach to livelihoods and enterprise planning;

• the inadequacies of current extension support;

• limited access to capital;

• obstacles to market access; and

• weak local organisation of landholders.

The chapter details an approach based on an assessment of people, their current livelihood strategies, assets, capabilities,

and the extent of the natural resource base, resulting in the identification of a spread of livelihood options and appropriate

enterprise models. It sets out proposed measures to:

• make land reform a joint programme of government with presidential oversight;

• establish national and provincial land and agrarian reform intergovernmental forums;

• establish a CPI and business entity support unit within DLA;

• enable a seamless process between planning and implementation by encouraging the formation of consortia of service

providers who enter into performance-linked contracts to take responsibility for both planning and provision of

implementation support at area-based scale;

• undertake market scoping;

• identify opportunities for joint procurement, realisation of economies of scale, alignment of producers in the same area

producing similar commodities through joint marketing and value-adding activities;

• identify appropriate finance options;

• put in place dedicated support entities at municipal scale;

• provide a suite of business and technical support services drawing on the Small Business Enterprise Agency (SEDA) and

other resources;

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• put in place peer learning circles; and

• reskill existing extension personnel and create a new cadre of rural development workers.

Chapter 11 Assessing institutional options

ThiThe various institutional options are all based on the premise that DLA has a mandate for facilitating the provision of SIS to ensure the success of land reform across the Restitution, LRAD and Commonage programmes.

The chapter highlights a range of proposals from reviews and the strategy development process. It reviews provincial models, proposals from the LRAD and Commonage reviews, the Land Summit and proposals currently taking shape in the DLA including the Area-Based Planning (ABP) process, the Proactive Land Acquisition Strategy (PLAS), Project Tsoseletso and the establishment of special purpose vehicles (SPVs).

Institutional options include:

• establishing a new Chief Directorate or Branch within DLA, with staff decentralised to district and local municipality levels, responsible for putting in place institutional arrangements for providing SIS using an area-based approach;

• establishing a parastatal ‘special purpose vehicle’ to facilitate local-area SIS services; and

• establishing municipal entities in the form of area-based Section 21 companies, with representatives from relevant government departments, organised agriculture and local associations representing land reform participants incorporated into a board of directors to ensure provision of SIS, alignment of grants and services and integration of land reform projects into municipal integrated development plans (IDPs).

The chapter sets out proposed measures to:

• make land reform a joint programme of government with presidential oversight;

• establish national and provincial land and agrarian reform intergovernmental forums; and

• establish a CPI and business entity support unit within DLA.

Chapter 12 A proposed SIS Communications Strategy

This chapter highlights the importance of a dedicated communications function to facilitate the roll-out of the Strategy. It underscores the key message that land reform is everybody’s business – that land reform must be conceptualised as a joint programme of government and a joint venture with the private sector and civil society.

The chapter outlines the key components of the proposed communications campaign. It outlines proposed structures and systems including:

• national, provincial and local communications structures and the interrelationship between them; and

• structures to improve client service including a media and communications research unit, client walk-in centres and a national call centre.

It sets out proposals for improved branding, a more diverse communications mix, linked capacity development and communications management support together with a draft implementation strategy.

Chapter 13 Information management, monitoring, evaluation and decision support

This chapter reviews the status quo of information management, M&E and decision support. It identifies current initiatives within DLA to improve management of information and spatial data. It identifies the needs of the land reform programme for an information management system that enables the key role-players and decision-makers to obtain an accurate, up-to-date and relevant picture of the current status of settlement support of the various land reform projects, individually, regionally and nationally. The chapter contains specific recommendations for a linked information management and M&E strategy.

With regard to information management, the chapter recommends:

• building a data clearing house to allow for on-the-fly extraction of information from custodian databases;

• establishing an intergovernmental task team to oversee the integration of spatial data within the National Spatial Information Framework;

• ensuring that government data collection conforms to the stipulations of the Spatial Data Infrastructure Act;

• ways to improve the use of spatial information in support of spatial planning, socio-economic development and related activities;

• eliminating dependence on physical data registries and improving registry management;

• finding ways to make information more accessible to a range of different actors;

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• creating a web-based resource centre within the proposed SIS Branch of DLA; and

• steps to develop a knowledge-sharing organisational culture and good knowledge management practice between the various role-players involved in SIS.

With respect to M&E, the chapter recommends indicators to enable the monitoring of individual project performance and indicators which allow monitoring of the effectiveness of personnel, systems and service providers. This allows for the development of an integrated M&E and decision support system in which it is envisaged that:

• the collection of M&E data is decentralised to area-based task teams using specially designed data loggers; and

• quarterly project assessments will be prepared and service provider performance will be monitored through a web-based M&E and decision support system.

A prototype of such a system has been developed and the platform is available for further elaboration.

Chapter 14 Rolling out the SIS Strategy

This chapter identifies key decisions and tasks required to roll out the Strategy. These include:

• ensuring the adoption of the Strategy by DLA and the National Department of Agriculture (NDA);

• negotiating with other departments to refine and adopt the Strategy;

• getting Cabinet approval and acceptance by the Presidency that land reform should be regarded as a joint programme of government driven by DLA and NDA with presidential oversight;

• deciding on the future of the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights (CRLR) and the integration of its staff within provincial land reform offices (PLROs);

• establishing key institutions, including a National Implementation Forum for Land and Agrarian Reform, the institution(s) to drive SIS, and a national CPI support unit;

• developing co-ordinated implementation plans for an improved planning approach and a comprehensive capacity-building programme;

• effecting key operational processes including the communication strategy, policy clarification summits at national and provincial level, mobilisation and reorientation of extension staff, and putting in place legislative amendments;

• identifying start-up districts;

• establishing provincial SIS and CPI support units;

• establishing SIS municipal entities together with financial management systems and controls;

• developing area-based plans and aggregating these into local municipality and district plans; and

• implementing district plans.

2.3 Strategy and evidence synthesis document

This 100-page document synthesises and provides a

more accessible and portable summary of the base

document and the key interventions required. The

document is divided into three parts:

• Part 1 provides background on the SDC’s Terms

of Reference (TOR), describes our approach

for developing an evidence-based strategy, and

summarises the key Strategy outputs.

• Part 2 provides an overview of the changing

development context within which land reform

takes place, provides a condensed review of

the evidence, and highlights lessons from the

international

experience

of providing

development

support services.

• Part 3 introduces

the SIS strategic

framework and

outlines the

interventions

required to put

the proposed SIS

Strategy in place.

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2.4 The SIS Strategy at a glance

This is in the form of an A0 poster (Figure 1.3),

which captures the key elements of the Strategy in a

condensed and visual form. It will be used as part of a

wider communication process.

3 ConclusionThe SDC has undertaken a rigorous assessment of

the evidence and used this as the building blocks of a

comprehensive strategy to provide SIS. The combined

outputs of the different enquiries and the Strategy

document itself should make an important contribution

to:

• how the land reform programme has developed;

• where we are now with respect to Restitution,

LRAD and Commonage; and

• where we need to be to ensure that we

secure rights, enhance livelihoods and make

a sustainable contribution to local social and

economic development.

Figure 1.3: SIS Strategy fundamentals poster