USAID Lessons Learned

USAID and its partners have discovered a great deal over the last three decades about the relationship between property rights and economic growth, productivity, and, to a lesser extent, NRM and conflict. There are several important lessons learned from the last decade of research and policy work on property rights, with a particular emphasis on land tenure. 

• Secure property rights are a critical component of economic development and social stability . Inappropriate property rights policies and institutional structures that are not synchronized with economic, political, and environmental realities can undermine growth, erode natural resource bases, and spark violent conflict. Insecure and non-negotiable property rights are some of the critical factors that limit economic growth and democratic governance throughout the developing world.

• In development programming, property rights are most frequently dealt with in the context of land reforms and land tenure reform . Programming decisions made in a variety of sectors that take land tenure into consideration can have profound impacts on land use and management, agricultural systems, and associated NRM.

• Too often, land tenure and property rights reforms are measured in terms of outputs rather than impacts. For example, if one were looking only at outputs, one would measure the number of land titles issued rather than focus on increased market performance and investment, reduced conflicts, or improved sustainable NRM practices. Such an emphasis prevents USAID from fully understanding the efficacy and potential crosssectoral benefits of its property rights reforms and programs.

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LTPR Introduction The Many Dimensions of LTPR LTPR Framework: An Analytical and Development Planning Tool The LTPR Matrix (issues and intervetions) USAID LTPR Lessons Learned   Download a pdf file of the USAID LTPR brochure.

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