In 1982 the governments of Honduras and the United States signed a contract that established the Proyecto de Titulación de Tierras, or land titling project. This project was initiated primarily to provide titles to small coffee farmers on State-owned land. Among the expected consequences of the project were increased access to resources, especially credit, for small farmers and increased on-farm investment due to this access to credit and increased security. It was hoped that a greater use of credit and investment would increase farm production and therefore the income and well-being of the farmers involved. In this dissertation, the land titling project is placed within the context of the history of agrarian reform in Honduras. The titling project called for a baseline study and final evaluation. These were carried out in 1983 and 1988, respectively. The author was able to obtain these data and re-interview the same farmers in 1993. These farmers are from two regions, one of which was titled and another which was not. The interviews gathered data on production, credit, use of inputs, investments, income and general socio-economic indicators. These data are used to determine the extent to which the goals of the tiding project have been met. A stochastic frontier production function is used to estimate farm-level technical efficiency. Following this, these technical efficiency scores are regressed on various factors such as education, credit and technical assistance to estimate their possible effects on technical efficiency. Finally, simultaneous equations are used to estimate the relationships among these variables. In general, ten years after the start of the project, the original goals have not been achieved. This analysis found that titling does not affect technical efficiency, access to credit, or the use of inputs. Education and technical assistance are the two factors that are consistently the most significant in meeting the project's stated goals. This analysis suggests that basic education and technical assistance, rather than expensive land titling projects, should be promoted to enhance access to credit, the use of inputs and increased technical efficiency.

Thesis (LL.M.) -- University of Adelaide, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 155-159).

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1985. / Also available in print.

No description available.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

The delivery of land administration (LA) systems particularly in urban areas underpins housing, industry and infrastructure development as well as the smooth operation of land and credit markets. However, fragmentation of LA activities across several autonomous organizations generally impairs end to end business processes flow and delivery. To facilitate improved service of LA systems we suggest the end to end measurement and monitoring of their business processes across organizational boundaries. This study proposes a performance measurement system that can facilitate end to end measurement and comparison of cross organizational business processes (CBPs) in LA. The research, which is structured in 2 parts, is based on a multi site study of LA CBPs in 6 urban municipalities across Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. First, a measurement instrument (scorecard) built on six key CBP performance measurement areas of quality and technological innovation (enablers of results), cost and time (measures of results) and customer satisfaction and society (measures of external success (or impact), is presented. To facilitate measurement across organizational boundaries, the proposed dimensions were embedded onto a multi level structural model that link process activities to sub processes and CBPs. For 5 of the 6 municipalities, a conventional case of subdivision of privately owned land within an established township was used to develop CBP descriptions and process models for each municipality. A comparison of CBP and sub process similarities between municipalities was then done using the similarity scenario degree. Our results showed similarities of over 60% for most CBPs while mixed values were obtained for sub processes. The similarity results were further used as a base for the construction of a business process reference model. The second part of the research tested the applicability of quality and time dimensions. Using the survey examination and approval and deeds examination and approval sub processes, the quality of submitted work was measured using performance indicators of process yield and rejection rates at 2 survey examination and 3 deeds registration sites. Our results showed that 80% and 60% of survey records submitted at both survey examination sites were rejected and returned backwards for corrections due to quality deficits. Based on our results, we conducted a root cause analysis at one of the survey examination sites to identify major contributors to lower process yield. In addition, we suggested numerous technological innovations to improve quality. Using the same sites, we then went on to measure and compare cycle times for cadastral survey examination and approval considering quality. Our results showed that 70% and 52% of survey records with good quality had approval times of 20 days or less for the first and second sites, respectively while only 32% and 18% of records with poor quality (for same sites) were approved within 60 days. Furthermore, shorter cycle times appeared to indicate lower process costs. After the separate analysis of the quality and time measurements, a global performance index that aggregates individual measures into a composite value was presented. Overall, the study has shown the potential of end to end CBP performance measurement in improving delivery and service of land administration in a holistic manner. The results are important for initiatives directed at integration and improvement of land administration operations. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

This study proposes a system-based approach to land registration ana lysis using the case of the KwaZulu-Natal Deeds Registry in Pietermaritzburg. The study seeks to; (i) investigate and analyze the land registration system (as a whol e) in terms of its key processes, data stores and data flows (ii) assess, based on the na ture of the data stores, data flows and processes, the turn around time of the as is (manual) and the to be (computerised) systems, and (iii) recommend improvements based on ident ified gaps and bottlenecks. The study identified two key role players in land regis tration; the Conveyancers (responsible for deed drafting) and Deed Registry (deed examination and approval). The interaction between the two, which has its own challenges , ensures the proper application of complex legislation related to the registration of land. To gain deeper insight into the activities of the land registrati on system, key informant interviews were held and several documents were reviewed to understa nd the data sources and their formats, processes performed, storage and acc essibility of such data as well as the internal and external data flows across Conveyancers , Deeds Registry and other stakeholders. In this regard, the land registration system wa s decomposed into a number of data flow diagrams (DFDs); namely context (system as a whole), top level (system as composed of main subsystems) and lower level (deta iled sub systems) to identify the core data stores, data flows and processes. Based on these diagrams, manual and electronic data stores, proces ses and data flows were identified and turnaround time of the as is (manual) and the to be (computerized) systems was derived and compared. A conventional case of a deed of transfer - from deed of sale to registration of the deed of transfer was used. The res ults showed that significant gains in turn around time, from 70 to 9 days can be realized through comput erisation of certain key data stores, processes and data flows. Recommendat ions for improvement were then generated based on the system diagrams and turn around times. The study thus demonstrates the potential of a holistic approach to la nd registration analysis and improvement. / Thesis (M.Env.Dev.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

O Pontal do Paranapanema é um território em disputa. Assim foi desde sua ocupação baseada na expropriação indígena, na grilagem de terras e no desmatamento. Na atualidade a disputa está na luta entre as classes sociais envolvidas na região. Por um lado têm-se as terras historicamente tomadas indevidamente e ilegalmente, que estão sob o domínio dos fazendeiros; por outro as terras que foram retomadas por um processo de luta e que estão sob o domínio dos camponeses, territorializadas através dos assentamentos rurais. Há ainda uma grande parcela de terras em disputa judicial, movida principalmente pela pressão dos movimentos camponeses para que o Estado cumpra as determinações que a lei lhe compete, ou seja, discriminar e retomar as terras que são de patrimônio público. Somente com as ações dos movimentos sociais através das ocupações de terras, principalmente em meados da década de 90 do século XX, que o Estado procurou redefinir a destinação das terras públicas. Os acordos realizados entre Estado e fazendeiros, permitiu tanto a (re)produção do campesinato, na forma de assentamentos rurais, como dos fazendeiros ao indenizar benfeitorias que se converteram em valores próximos ao preço de mercado, possibilitando assim a compra de terras para outras regiões brasileiras. Na tese, revelamos o lento processo discriminatório e os entraves jurídicos na obtenção e julgamento dessas áreas griladas por fazendeiros e hoje questionadas pelos inúmeros movimentos camponeses existentes no Pontal do Paranapanema. / The Pontal do Paranapanema is a disputed territory. It has been this way through processes of indigenous expropriation, the falsification of land titles and aggressive deforestation. At present, the dispute is centered on struggle between social classes involved in the region. On the one hand, there is the historically traceable and unquestionably illegal process of falsifying titles to take land, lands which are clearly under the control of the landlord class. On the other, there are lands that have been retaken through a process of struggle, lands now under peasant control, territorialized as agrarian reform settlements. In the meantime, large numbers of tracts remain mired in judicial proceedings, disputed for by peasant movements, pressuring the State to honor the law it is charge to fulfill by retaking lands that are part of the public patrimony. It has only been through the direct action of social movements, principally the occupation of lands during the middle period of the 1990s that the State sought to redefine the final use of public lands. Accords reached between the State and landlords contributed to (re)producing both the peasantry, through the establishment of agrarian reform settlements, and landlords, through near-market indemnity payments made for improvements on falsely titled public lands, enabling them to buy land in other regions of Brazil. This dissertation examines the slow land title discrimination process and the legal barriers encountered in the struggle to adjudicate and obtain areas falsely claimed by landlords and today questioned by the innumerous peasant movements active in the Pontal do Paranapanema.