IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v8y2019i12p189-d295826.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Innovating Along the Continuum of Land Rights Recognition: Meridia’s “Documentation Packages” for Ghana

Author

Listed:
  • Fuseini Waah Salifu

    (Ghana Lands Commission, P.O. Box CT 5008, Cantonment, Accra CT5008, Ghana)

  • Zaid Abubakari

    (Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, P. O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands)

  • Christine Richter

    (Faculty of Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), University of Twente, P. O. Box 217, 7500AE Enschede, The Netherlands)

Abstract

Documentation of land rights can ensure tenure security and facilitate smooth land transactions, but in most countries of the global south this has been difficult to achieve. These difficulties are related to the high transaction cost, long transaction times, and procedural rigidity of land registration processes. In response to these problems, innovative approaches of tenure documentation have been conceived at a global level and are being promoted in many countries of the global south. Little is known yet about how such innovative land tenure documentation approaches unfold in various contexts and to what effect. The implementation of innovative approaches is challenging, due to the legal pluralistic nature of land governance and administrative hybridity in many countries of the global south, including the West African region. This qualitative study explores how Meridia, a small for-profit company, develops innovative approaches to register land rights in the form of “documentation packages” within the existing institutional setting of Ghana. In the paper, we describe both the processes of preparing the documentation packages and respective actors involved, as well as the nature of encounters between innovative interventions and existing institutions. Meridia develops specific products in response to both the regional diversity of land tenure, uses, and market demands, as well as in response to the challenges that the institutional context poses to the process of land tenure registration. As such, the case illustrates how innovation evolves in step-by-step fashion through negotiations with existing land institutions. The various documentation packages developed in this manner differ in terms of cost and complexity of preparation, in terms of recognition by customary and statutory institutions, as well as in the usability of the issued certificates and the extent of exchangeability of associated land parcels. Therefore, Meridia’s product innovation reflects the continuum of land rights, but it also poses questions for future research regarding the political economy of land tenure certification and regarding the actual uses and benefits of issued certificates.

Suggested Citation

  • Fuseini Waah Salifu & Zaid Abubakari & Christine Richter, 2019. "Innovating Along the Continuum of Land Rights Recognition: Meridia’s “Documentation Packages” for Ghana," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:8:y:2019:i:12:p:189-:d:295826
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/12/189/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/8/12/189/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Czarniawska, Barbara, 2004. "On Time, Space, and Action Nets," GRI-rapport 2004:5, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg Research Institute GRI.
    2. Biitir, Samuel B. & Nara, Baslyd B. & Ameyaw, Stephen, 2017. "Integrating decentralised land administration systems with traditional land governance institutions in Ghana: Policy and praxis," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 402-414.
    3. Zaid Abubakari & Christine Richter & Jaap Zevenbergen, 2019. "Plural Inheritance Laws, Practices and Emergent Types of Property—Implications for Updating the Land Register," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-17, November.
    4. Frank F. K. Byamugisha, 2013. "Securing Africa's Land for Shared Prosperity : A Program to Scale Up Reforms and Investments," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 13837.
    5. Breckenridge, Keith & Szreter, Simon (ed.), 2012. "Registration and Recognition: Documenting the Person in World History," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780197265314.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Kwabena Obeng Asiama & Rohan Bennett & Christiaan Lemmen & Winrich Voss, 2021. "Land, Innovation, and Social Good," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-6, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zaid Abubakari & Christine Richter & Jaap Zevenbergen, 2020. "Evaluating Some Major Assumptions in Land Registration: Insights from Ghana’s Context of Land Tenure and Registration," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Ibrahim, Abdul-Salam & Akanbang, Bernard A.A. & Nunbogu, Abraham Marshall & Kuusaana, Elias Danyi & Ahmed, Abubakari, 2020. "Collaborative customary land governance: Motivations and challenges of forming land management committees (LMCs) in the upper west region of Ghana," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    3. Chaoran Chen, 2017. "Untitled Land, Occupational Choice, and Agricultural Productivity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(4), pages 91-121, October.
    4. Gottlieb, Charles & Grobovšek, Jan, 2019. "Communal land and agricultural productivity," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 135-152.
    5. Ehwi, Richmond Juvenile & Mawuli, Divine Asafo, 2021. "‘Landguardism’ in Ghana: Examining public perceptions about the driving factors," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    6. Festus A. Asaaga, 2021. "Building on “Traditional” Land Dispute Resolution Mechanisms in Rural Ghana: Adaptive or Anachronistic?," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-17, February.
    7. Anne Kokkonen & Pauli Alin, 2015. "Practice-based learning in construction projects: a literature review," Construction Management and Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(7), pages 513-530, July.
    8. Kabigi, B. & de Vries, Walter T. & Kelvin, H., 2021. "A neo-institutional analysis of alternative land registration systems in Tanzania: The cases of Babati and Iringa districts," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    9. Johnson, Hannes & Styhre, Linda, 2015. "Increased energy efficiency in short sea shipping through decreased time in port," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 167-178.
    10. Middleton, Stuart & Liesch, Peter W. & Steen, John, 2011. "Organizing time: Internationalization narratives of executive managers," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 136-150, April.
    11. Lai, Yani & Wang, Jiayuan & Lok, Waiming, 2017. "Redefining property rights over collective land in the urban redevelopment of Shenzhen, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 485-493.
    12. Lambert Jerman & Julien Raone, 2014. "Dompter La Verite Dans L'Organisation : La Subjectivation Comme Production De L'Animal Confessant," Post-Print hal-01899765, HAL.
    13. Ghebru, Hosaena & Pitoro, Raul & Woldeyohannes, Sileshi, 2015. "Customary tenure and innovative measures of safeguarding land rights in Africa: The community land initiative (iniciativa de terras comunitárias) in Mozambique:," IFPRI discussion papers 1484, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    14. Worku Nega & Mulugeta Tenaw & Yeneneh Hunie & Sayeh Kassaw Agegnehu & Reinfried Mansberger, 2021. "Evaluating Institutional Dichotomy between Urban and Rural Land Administration in Amhara Region, Ethiopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    15. Brahima Coulibaly & Shixiang Li, 2020. "Impact of Agricultural Land Loss on Rural Livelihoods in Peri-Urban Areas: Empirical Evidence from Sebougou, Mali," Land, MDPI, vol. 9(12), pages 1-20, November.
    16. Cecilia Cassinger & Henrik Merkelsen & Jörgen Eksell & Rasmus Kjærgaard Rasmussen, 2016. "Translating public diplomacy and nation branding in Scandinavia: An institutional approach to the cartoon crises," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(2), pages 172-186, August.
    17. Flávia Naves & Yuna Fontoura, 2022. "Feminist resistance building in the Brazilian agroecology movement: A gender decoloniality study," Gender, Work and Organization, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 408-426, March.
    18. Manby, Bronwen, 2021. "The Sustainable Development Goals and ‘legal identity for all’: ‘First, do no harm’," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    19. Lindberg, Kajsa, 2014. "Performing multiple logics in practice," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 485-497.
    20. De Jong, Terah U. & Sauerwein, Titus, 2021. "State-owned minerals, village-owned land: How a shared property rights framework helped formalize artisanal diamond miners in Côte d’Ivoire between 1986 and 2016," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:8:y:2019:i:12:p:189-:d:295826. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.