JIA-RI's Research Results on Land and Property Problems in Conflict-Affected Countries Presented at the World Bank

From March 24 to March 27, the 15th Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty was held at the World Bank Headquarters in Washington, D.C. The former JICA-RI Visiting Fellow Shinichi Takeuchi and former JICA-RI Senior Research Fellow Mari Katayanagi attended the conference to give presentations on the outcomes of the JICA-RI research project “Land and Property Problems in Post-Conflict State-Building and Economic Development.”

The conference was a collaborative forum between research and practice, with an aim to “foster dialogue and to share best practices on the diversity of reforms, approaches and experience implemented in the land sector around the world.” It comprised seven groups of sessions where the following topics were discussed: (1) investment, (2) gender, (3) spatial and research, (4) partnerships, (5) natural resources, (6) monitoring, and (7) urban.

In the session on “Monitoring: Local conflict resolution” on the first day, Dr. Takeuchi gave a presentation titled “Land conflicts and the state in Rwanda and Burundi.” On the second day, Dr. Katayanagi gave a presentation titled “Property restitution and rule of law in peacebuilding: Examining applicability of Bosnian model” in the session on “Monitoring: Land tenure in post conflict situation.”

In each session, discussions among participants followed the presentations. Questions and comments from the floor included the importance of local initiatives in post-conflict property restitution, which the international community tends to lead, and the sustainability of policies on land and property issues.