Land settlement review: settlement experiences and development strategies in the Onchocerciasis Control Programme areas of West Africa; addendum

onchocaciasis Contml Prognmmd'h Wtst Afrlca Programme de Lutte contrc l'Onchoceocose e,n Afriq,ue do l'Ouest. JOINT PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Office of the Chairman JPC.CCP COMITE CONJOINT DU PROGRAMME hrreeu du Pt€sident JOINT PROGRAMME COMMITTEE Eleventh session Conakry, 3-6 December 1990 JPC1l/rNT {OOC.3 Add.1 July 1991 LAND SETTLEMENT REVIEW SetElement Experiences and Development SLrategies in the Onchocerciasis Control Programme Areas of lrlest Africa ADDENDUM De1la McMillan Thayer Scudder November 1990 Prepared for Ehe CommitEee of Sponsoring Agencies of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme by the Institute for Development, Anthropology The findings and recommendaEions in this report engage only their auEhors and do not necessarily represent, positions of the Sponsoring Agencies i' I I fr JPC11/rNF/Poc.3 Add. 1 Page 2 ADDENDI]MI. Int,roducEion During Ehe recent Land seEtlement Review seminar Dr.Samba, asDirector of the 0nchocerciasis Control programme (ocp), remindedparticipant,s Ehat, the ultimaEe purpose of the ocp is socioeconomicdevelopment. As cont,ractor for Ehe Land Seutlement Review, Ehernstitute for Developmenr AnEhropology (rDA) made a speciai efforr rofamillarlze the eleven OCP countries, the Committee oi SponsoringAgencies, and the donors wiEh Ehe globaI experience with land setE,lement in the cropics and subEropics, and with Ehe relevance of E,hat experience Eo the west African river basins in which vector conErol has occurred or is intended. Emphasis was placed on the dynamics of the settlement process as irlustraE,ed by the global experience and on t,he rride range of critical issues that should be addressed t,o increase t,he chances for success. Success was defined asincreases in producEion Ehat are environment,ally sust,ainable; risingliving standards for the different cat,egories of seEElers, for Ehe hosE populaEion, and for pastoralists; and significant spread effects at a financial cost that could be borne by rhi @p countii"=. As a result of such a broad social science approach to setEletrenE experiences, iE was possible t,o present in the Finar Report low-cosE development, straEegies for Ehe eleven countries that were considered appropriat,e for Euo reasons. First, Ehey were at, a sufficienEly highlevel of generalization to be applicable to each country. Second, - sufficient flexibility was built inro rhe srrategies to al1ow each country Eo modify them in accordance niEh nationil policies anddisEincEive national features. These strat,egies, along wiEh the conclusions and recommendaEions of the Land Settlement Review, were discussed in detail during the Land Set,trement Review Semj-nar that was held in ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 25-27 _September 1990. At Ehar t,ime parricipants requesred furtherclarificat,ion concerning the type of land set,Element recomnended by Ehe consultant,s, and further commentary on a number of criEical issues as out,lined in the Compte Rendu of the Land Settlement Review Seminar. The purpose of chis Addendum is to provide clarificaEion and further comtrentary as-requested. The Addendum therefore complements, but in no way substitutes for, Ehe discussion in the Executive Sunnary andthe Flnal Report produced during rhe [,and sertlement Review. II. Types of land Sectlement Appropriate for the ffP Countries In rejecting ttspontaneous settlemenEtt and ttgovernraent sponsored seEt,lement," as appropriaEe Eypes for Ehe OCP countries, the LandSettlement Review advocated t'Assisted-Guided Models" and "Government, Sponsored Settlement in CombinaEion with SponEaneous SeEtlement." |: JPCI1/rNF looc.3 Add.l page 3 .. AlLhough iE dooinat,es the literature on rand seEt,rement, t,he t,erm "spontaneous settlemen!" can easily be misunderst,ood. As used in .heLand SettlemenE Review, iE refers to self-moEivaEed set,tlement wherebyindividuals and households (and in some cases extended families,kin.groups, and comnunitj.es) decide to move t,o a new environrnenE onEheir ovn iniEiati.ve (hence Ehe Eertr 'rspontaneous"). such ""iir"r"ntis noc a response Eo government or other agencies (hence is not "sponsored"), but rather is a response Eo unsatisfactory economic, social, and/or political conditions as perceived by thoie who decide cotrove. Because sPontaneous seEtlenent in the tropics and subtropics --vhich is the coBnonest Eype of settlemenE - Eends Eo replicate econonic sysEems of lon producrivity thac are environneniallydestructlve and are associaEed uith fen spread effects, the LandSecclemenc Review does noE reconmend it. on the oLher hand, a prinary enphasis on governmenE-sponsored sett,lemenE uas also rejected by the L^and Settliment Review because ofEhe relaElvely lov success rate associated wich both rainfed andirrigated sponsored settretrenE projects EhroughouE Ehe worrd and inthe OcP count,ries, and because of che very hlgh financial cosEs uheEher calcurated by household seELled oi by-irectare deveroped. Evenbefore t,he increased coopecit,ion for developBent ald that ls relatedto recent, political changes in Eastern Europe and the ussR, donors uere backing anay from financing governnent-sponsored settieoentprojects both because of economic returns, uhich were perceived as toolow, and because of ouher prioriEies. IDA believes thaE Ehe likelihoodfor such aid continues to iecrease. while unassi.sted (by government) sponEaneous settlemenE andgoverntrent-sponsored sectletrent, uere rejected as developEenE strategies during che land Settlenent, Review, IDA concluded that rwo oEher EyPes of settlemenE had considerable potential not just in E,ermsof_the developnent of OcP river basins bur irso in Eerns 6t-ipieaaeffects Eo other rural areas (including Ehe areas from nhich seEtlers originate) and to urban cent,ers. These are governtrent,-assisted seEtrenent EhaE guides ongoing sponEaneous seEElement,.and, in some cases, conbines iE rriEh governoent-sponsored setclement. Ttrere uas soBe misunderstanding aE Ehe Septeober Land Settlement seninar about the naEure of this reconnendation, which sone representatives (vho favored an actj.ve governnent role) sau as too "passive.tt Thts mi.sunderstanding was ,rifortunate since itA';- recoomendations assune an act,ive governtrent role regardless of che specific setElenent sErategy that ls adopced. Iluring the conferenceEhe misunderstanding was paitiarly correired by subsiiruting rhephrase t'governnent-guided sponEaneous set,tlenenttt for "goveinrent-assisted spontaneous set,tletrent.tt But even thaE phrase may suggesE a more restrictive range of governtrent st,rategies for land settlEientthan fDA lnrended. JPC11/rM lOOC.3 Add.1 page 4 . To clarify IDA's meani.ng, t,hree Eypes of seEtlement EhaE emphasize guided spontaneous set,tler"nt-are bri.efly outlined. Thoughthe balance between the types should vary beE,ween countries owing conational circumstances, and should vary ,ittrin countries through t,ime,all involve acrive government, intervention in regard t"-pi."riil anaimplementari6il- The first type involves a "site and service, approach t,o provideservices and infrastruct,ure based on appropriaEe soii and hydrilogical surveys, and socioeconomic surveys gnong the host populaEion. rdeallythis sort of int,ervention would be ttproact,ivefr -- ie, could be used towork wiEh, and ttguide,tt spontaneous Lettlers t,o move into areas ofhigher potential through the deriberat,e placenent of roads, uaEerpoints, and social and economic services. Sinpry because of the numerical predominance of spontaneous sett,lers- in each OCp count,ry, chis type requires prompE governmenE aEtention. The second Eype of sectlement advocates combining from Ehe starEa "core" of sponsor.ed sectlers with a larger populaElon thatincorporat,es hosts., governmenE-guided spontanLous settlers, andPastora1isEs. Such an approach has a number of attractive feauures.For example, in planning for a core of sponsored seEtler households,government has the opportunity t,o creat,e or expand oarkeEs andservice/regional cent,ers than can serve not juit the sponsoreJsettlers but the larger population in the suirounding .r"". Because sponsored sett,lement allows a great,er degree of governnenE control, such a core of sponsored setErars also piovides fhe opportunity Eoint,roduce more sustainabre production systems, which iin subsequentlybe extended Eo the surrounding population. -Though combining governmenE-sponsored with government-guidedset,tlement, is more expensive than ielying entirely on gor"rir"nt-gulded set,t1ement,, rDA suspects EhaE theie is scope foi this approachin each of the ereven Ocp countries not, as "stand alone" projecls tut as a means for increasing Ehe benefits of other goverrunent,i-nterventlons by incorporaEing a land settlement, component,. An obvious ex""tP1e lnvolves dam const,ruction in areas oi relatively lor.rpopulat,ion density, where the core of sponsored settlers is made up oft,hose who must relocate from the reservoir basin. The attached annex outrines how this rype of set,tlemenr might be combined with Ehe construction (currently under way) of the Bagre Dam in Burkina Faso.Other Eypes of projects thaE migirr combine s[onsored seLtlers h,it,h other types of households (including guided spontaneous settlers)include che establishment of foresE reserves and nationar parks, and Ehe integration of irrigation projects involving sponsored set,t.lersinto a wider zone of rainfed agriculture. The Ehird Cype of settlement j.nvolves integraEing hosLs, sPontaneous seEtlers, and pastoralists int.o existlng government- sponsored settlemenE areas. The field Erip on t,he second day of the t- a JPcll/rlur /ooc.3 Add.1 page 5 ( seminar to Rapadama and Linoghin was int,ended to show seminar parEicipant,s a situat,ion where the L'Autoritd pour 1'Amdnagement des Va116es des Volta (AW) had the flexibiliEy Eo shift from an iniEial emphasis on high-cost, sponsored seLElement t,o a strategy thaE facilitated the incegration of sponsored seEElers, hosts, sPonEaneous sett1ers, and pascoralisEs inEo a single system based on connunity land management commitEees and land-use zoning. The [,and SettlemenE Review supporEs findings from elsewhere in the tropics and subtropics that shov that Ehese Ehree cypes of settlement can, in Ehe correcE poticy envi-ronnent, have significant developmenE potenEial. This potenEial can be measured in Cerms of increased crop and Iivestock production; Ehe development of environmentally sustai.nable crop, livesEock, and forestry production systems; and wider spread effeccs t,o oEher rural areas (including the areas from which settlers originate), and Eo urban cent,ers. III. The Selection of Settlement Areas In the fifch recommendation in the Execut,ive Sumnary, IDA emphasized that "Governnent strat,egies ... should eophasize Ehe less- isolated areas that seEt,lers prefer aS opposed to remoEe areas wit,h poor access to markets and services -- Ehe exception being where isolated areas conEain resources (such as waEer and forests) that require proEection or are Ehe focal point for ocher development programs (such as dam consEruct,ion).rr This recomnendaEion was based on a number of considerations. First, spontaneous seEtlers (who consEitute by far the largest nunber of setclers) show a definite preference for less-isolaEed areas. Second, Ehe most successful seEtlements, as illustrated by case sEudies in Burkina Faso, MaIi, and Togo (as well as elsewhere in Ehe tropics and subtropics), are chose closest to such capiEals as 0uagadougou and Bamako or to major regional touns. Third, financial costs rise significanely as the degree of isolation of an area increases. As the excepEion in che recommendaLion indicates, IDA was not suggesEing EhaE only the less isolaEed areas be developed. 0n the other hand, more emphasis should have been placed in the Land Sectleoent Review on circumstances under which more-iso1aEed areas might be selected. For exanple, the pace of spontaneous settlemenE in some countries is such that the less-isolated areas are rapidlyfilling up so thaE Ehere is a need for governnents to select (on the basis of appropriat,e surveys) and develop aPPropriate follow-on areas. Moreover, the increasing pressure on past,oral peoples warrants careful considerat,ion of setting aside and developing appropriate areas of low population densiEy for their use - areas Ehat are apt to be quiEe isolaCed. Because of Che financial costs involved, however, and the difficult,y of finding donors willing Eo commit, funds for the ext,ended time periods that are generally necessary for development, t,o occur, such areas musE be carefully selected and JPCl1/rNT lOOC.3 Add.1 page 6 over t,he t,erm is noE much beuter than severely limited in number. rv. The Role of rrrigaEion in Land settrement strategies _larious particiPanEs aE Ehe seminar believed that IDA had placedinsufficient aEtention on che rore of irrigation wiEhin land settlement, sErat,egies. While this criticism applied especially to small-scale irrigat,ion, the success of sma1l -scale irriga Ehac of medi tion projects um- andlarge- projecEs. During the 1970s and the first half of rhe -1980s, for example, small-scare village irrigated perimeters along Eheleft bank of the senegal River were widely aiclaimed as major successes because of higher yields per hectare wiEh lower capital development and recurrent costs than larger government schemes. Recent analysis, however, raises serious doubts about the sustainability of such small-scale village irrigation projects. As Niasse points out in the Spring 1990 issue of IDA's DevelopmenE, Anthropology Network, many such projecEs in Senegal are no longer operational; indeed, in general such schemes have been labeled 'rshifting irrigarion" owi.ng t,o Ehe propensity of villagers t,o favor new projects afEer several years' use of old ones. The general experience throughout Africa is for snarr-scale farmers at the community and household level to incorporaEeirrigation as a component into their production system wherever feasible -- a component,, however, that Eends to be de-enphasized infavor of rainfed agriculture in areas of higher rainfall or in seoiarid zones during years of higher rainfall. Though Ehere should be excepEions, and experimentation should conlinue, rDA recomnendsthis approach rather than an approach that attempts Eo resEricE household activiEies t,o a single irrigated plot. Accordingly, rhe emphasis_should be on lon-cost irrigation, including vegetable gardens(especially important, for individual women and womei's [roups), bas-fond irrigation, suanp irrigacion, and flood-recession irrigacion. V. Land Tenure Granted state ownership of land in most Ocp countries (Ghana being the oajor excepEion), and the limitaEions of cusEomary systems of tenure (in terms of lack of security for immlgiallgs and susceptibility of land custodians Eo influence by proninenEindividuals), sotre concern was expressed in the Review Seminar about, che IDA recommendaLion (nunber 10) that "CusEomary Eenure systens shourd be the starting point for providing security of tenure t,o hosts, set,tlers, and pastoralisEs in OCP areas.t' This recommendaLion arose out of the discussion of land Tenure in Chapter VI of the Final Report. Given the need for settlers and pastoralists Eo live wiEhhost populations who claim cusLomary tenure over the local resource base, including land, and the abuses that have followed from state ownership of land, IDA believes Ehere is no opt,ion but to use I JPcll/rNT/ooc.3 Add.I page 7 customary E,enure systems as t't.he starting poinE." The importantphrase here is "al".starting poinE,.,, Rs"with other instlEutions inAfrica' systems of rand t"nir! are undergoing changes whoseimplications are noc werl undersEood. Ninerf,eress, iE ishard to imacine. how su65 systems of land c"nri" can be ignored.Tlus c'sromiry r,enure "vsrems should t;-.-;;;;Elng polnr, burideally contror over Eenure should ue nanaeJ-or". evenEuarly Eolegally mandated comnuniEy land manag*"ni-.ommitrees of rhe sor. EhaEhave shown inirial prornise tn Bui[in; F;;;.--" vI ' The rmpact of DiversificaElon of the Household producr,ion Systemon Agricultural productiviEy A major IDA recomnendacion (nunber g in the Executive surnmary)concerned Ehe need Eo diversify production-sysEems at the householdand comnunity levels. . some participants were-concerned that suchdlverslflcation might have an adverse erreci-on agricurturalproducrion. Their concern is r"giiii"l;-;;; ioinrs up Ehe need forfurt,her research. 0n the other hand, ,rhat euidence is avairablesuggests Ehat "an.increasing diversiiy of iicome sources, includlngoff-farm opportuniEies, conlribut"" to tr,"-Jer"ropmenE of sust,ainablecropping sysr,ems" (page 66 of rhe Land s"iri"r"nr, Review FinalReporr ) . VII. IncorporaEion of pastoralisrs ParticipanEs aE the Review Semi.nar differed ln their approach toche incorporation of pastorallsts within seEtlemenE areas. citingconflicrs' sotre wtshed ro_teep-5t", ""1i ,"p"r"a"a from villages;oEhers -- noting Ehe benefits that .ouia [J'"-*p".aed to ari.se from asymbioric relarionship berween herder" "na-uiii"g"r" -_ wished ro:::^-E!9T incorporated through such_mecr,anisrs as ttre esrablishmenr ofagropasEoral and pasrorar z6nes. rDA ilri;;;" char rapidly changingcircunstances Ermong pasEorarists favor tte ""Iond approach.tr:=l1v signlfi."nr i" rhe-Jesire of pasrorarisrs ro berncorporated withln seEtlement, areas and the destre of the rnoresuccessful farmers for such incorporaElon. EquaIIy significant is che :1919-"rong an increasing proporEion of pasroralisr,s r,oward a moresedentary form of .gropaltor"iis, -- in iart " response ro significant,conEraction of forner zones of transhuranc" both within nations andacross national boundaries. such trenas reouie the differenEi.at,ionbetneen farners and pastorarisis; in fact during a visit to Bagreafrer the Revien Seminar, ""i"-Lr rhe mosr-iir"n"ire cul.iva.ors wesav were Peul. Formerly transhuraant, in recent years Ehey had notonly sertled down in rtt! g"ii"""r"a, bur, rtr"i traa also begun EoculEivar,e fodder crops for fheir livestock u6ttr- indivldually andcommunally.tt ! a JPCll/rNT {OOC.3 Add.1 page 8 VII. How to Achieve Local Institutional Structures for Land Management and Development, Purposes That Are Sustainable through Time Although they supported national initiatives touarddecentralization of decision making and management,, many participanEs wondered about the potenEial for cieating loial instirutiirnal st,ruct,ures Ehat are sustainable Ehrough t,ime, especially where QPPropriate comnunity institutions do noE exist or are insufficienElydeveloped Eo support new functions. IDA shares this concern. whileAfrica contains many cases where promising local institutions have been developed, or are in the process of being deveroped, it is t,oo early in the history of practically all of rhem to assess Eheir sustainability. whether community populations are relatively homogeneous and egalitarian, sEratified, or ethnically het,erogeneous,the probrem of insEiEutional sustainability is a maSoi one. indeed,far Eoo litEre attent,ion has been paid in development circles Eo E,hequestion of the sustainability of rocal institutions (or t,o what, seminar particlpanEs referred to as ttsocial resource management") as opposed to the environnental and economic sustainability of producEion systems. what is known is that it takes Eime to form viable localinstitut,ions, time measured in years rather than months. Hencein Zambia's I'tiddle zar,bezj- vaIIey, it, has taken a number of years for a highly motlvat,ed nongovernmental organization to facilitate the emergence of local econooic and social service instiEutlons, which may or may not be susEainable over Ehe longer term, among egalitarian village comnunit,j.es. As for what is probably t,he most successfulgrazing associ.ation in Lesotho, it cook Ehe locaI community over ayear to agree on it,s constitution. while some Review seninar participant,s were hopeful that ablueprint as t,o how to proceed mlght be available, no such blueprinu exist,s. Until more research has been carried out on existing effortsto create sustainable local inst,it,ut,ions, it would be unwise toproceed beyond the steps for creating Conmunicy Land Management Associatlons outlined on pages 115-116 of che Final Reporr. As for research, high priority should be given to examining the more promising efforts current,ly under way Eo create sustainable insEituEions at Ehe local level. Exampres include rhe village AssociaEions in Mali,.l,and Management ComrniEEees in Burkina Faso, Grazing AssociaEions in Lesotho, wildlife management at the district, subdistrict, and village levels in Zimbabwe, and credit organizations and varied types of village (as opposed t,o government) cooferatives throughouL Africa. ;l JJPclr/rm/noc.3 Add.l page 9 ANNEX SPONSORED SETTLRIENT IN CONJUNCTION WIfi{ NATIONAL PROJECTS AS A MECHANISM FOR PROVIDING' SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTION SYSTEX'IS, EXTENSION, .{ND OTHER SERVICES, AND MARKETS AND REGIONAL/SERVICE CENTERS, TO A LARGER NIJMBER OF HOSTS, SPONTANEOUS SETTLERS, AND PASTORALISTS: BURKINA'S BAGRE DAM While the construction of dams and ot,her naEional projects provides a major opportuniEy to combine a core of sponsored settler households and communi.ties with regional planning for a larger populaEion Ehat includes hosts, sponEaneous set,tlers, andpastoralists, we are aware of no examples tn the OCP counEries where this opportunity has been exploited. Part of the reason may be that such projecEs Eend co be planned and implemented for a single major purpose such as t,he generation of hydropori,er or the establishment of a national park or a classified forest. Anot,her reason may reraEe to Ehe national characEer of such projects, which are planned and implemented by central ministries and/or parast,atals wiEh tittle involvement of regional and district offictals, and even less involvement of local populations. Though not an ideal case, since dam consErucEion has already begun, Burkina's Bagre Dam illustrat,es Ehe potential thaE suchprojects present for developing a previously isolat,ed area through sysEemaEic set,tlement planning that combines government-sponsored with government-guided spont,aneous settlement. It is used as an example because an IDA team visited the area following the September Land SettlemenE Review Seminar. As wiEh ot,her dan projects, Bagre will require the rerocaEion of hundreds of households, including host villagers and recenEly sedentarized Peul pasEoralists. Their resettlement, provides the opportuniEy to use a core population of sponsored sectlers as a mechanism for providing services to a much rarger popuration in apreviously isolated area. This opportunity is enhanced by thefact that Ehe Bagre reservoir will arso be used for irrigation PurPoses. Reservoir relocation and the irrigation project will provide Ewo sources of government-sponsored sectler households. They could also provide an opport,unity to provide services and more sustainable production systems Eo the dan-acceleraEed movement of sponEaneous set,Elers into the area, to the host population, and to recently sedentarized Peul agropasEoralists as well as to an unknown number of t,ranshumant, pastoralists. Services might include using che const,rucE,ion trtownshiprt as Ehe nucleus for a markeE cenEer that could also provide extension services and inputs to Ehe surroundingpopulation. ImplementaEion of more intensive, and economically and environmentally sustainable, production syst-ems among t,he more t.. \ , JPC11/rM lOOC.3 Add. 1 page 10 Annex manageable sponsored settlers offers an opportunity Eo exE,end such systems t,o the surrounding population. Broadening the planning process also present,s an opporcuniEy Eo develop community land management associaEions, and to zone the Bagre area for different types of land and wat,er use including utilizing Ehe poEential of Ehe reservoir basin for fisheries, flood-recesston agriculture, and grazing during che dry-season drav-dorvn period. The necessary planning to realize such opporcuniEies has yet, Eo comtrence aE Bagre, nor have local offictals and local resident,s been invorved in what planning has occurred to dace. rn the absence of such planntng, not only will major developmenE opporEuniEies be lost but also the rikerihood of conflicE will increase because of theinflux of spontaneous setElers coupled with a signiftcant, reducE,ion, when t,he reservoir fi11s, of riverine fierds for the host popuraEion, of homesteads and fields for Ehe agropastoral Peul, and of grazing areas for Eranshumant pasEorallsEs. A Bagre sett,lement project would be an effective way of reducing the risk of conflicE and of realizing che potential that dam construct,ion projeccs presenE ( but seldom realize) t,o Ehe OCP countries. ,t '1 t - t t,. C ,t I ll{ I