Tag: adb

World Bank water project may require Government to acquire land and make changes to land laws

International financial institutes, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Union, will be funding a multi-million dollar project to build infrastructure for water and sanitation. The project will be implemented primarily by Solomon Water, the national body responsible for water and sanitation services in the country. The World Bank says the project will align with policy objectives relating to health, safety and economic growth, reduction of public and environmental health risks, building climate change resilience, as well as empowering women. (Source: Solomon Star, 23 May 2019)

The World Bank anticipates that the project will inevitably require some land to be acquired, particularly around Honiara, and has developed a policy to address this issue. If land will need to be acquired, then the proper identification of the landowners, including identification of their claimed land boundaries, will be necessary. The process of identifying landowners and their land boundaries, training of land acquisition officers, and setting up the appropriate systems and processes to deal with the process including any disputes are probably already underway. Changes to the current land laws are also likely so as to align with the project objectives. Government as well as civil society buy-in will be essential to the success of the project and the World Bank and the other international financial institutes, development-aid donors supporting the project, as well as development-aid recipients co-opted in the project will have an interest in the project being viewed in a positive light. The article in the Solomon Star exalting the potential benefits of the project fulfills that role.

#empirestatebuilding

ADB keen to have more women own land

The President of the Asian Development Bank, speaking recently at its annual meeting in Fiji, highlighted several areas that ADB considered essential to economic development, among them being gender equality and women empowerment. A particular focus was on supporting a transformative gender agenda such as promoting women’s land title ownership which is a basis for women economic empowerment. (Source: Solomon Star)

It will be interesting to see how this translates locally, particularly with respect to customary land, which traditionally, has been dominated by men, who tend be the decision-makers and beneficiaries regarding commercial developments on customary land. The discourse around women’s ownership and decision-making in relation to customary land may need to change if ADB’s development goal is to be achieved. Increased advocacy by the usual development-aid partners may be required. Law reform is also a distant possibility.

#developmentaidindustrialcomplex