Box 29
Muden 3251
Kwazulu Natal
South AfricaTel: 033 4961717
Fax: 033 4961774
Box 2044
Contact: Mrs Donnah Hornby (LEAP)

Background: Tenure in communal property institutions in South Africa and other developing countries is important to the lives of millions of people. LEAP is a tenure security and land administration project in rural and urban South Africa. It promotes a learning approach to increasing the secjurity of tenure of poor and vulnerable people, in order to enhance their livelihoods and access to services and local economic development.

LEAP started in 1999 in KwaZulu-Natal in response to widespread concerns about the functioing of legal bodies that took transfer to land on behalf of groups of people under land reform programmes. The initial objective ofthe project was to better understand the nature of the problems that communal property institutions were facing, and what factors affected their ability to function. Subsequently, the project concentrated on developing a conceptual framework for examining cases in the field, and analysing underlying causes of problems and possible solutions.

Leap now focuses on the theory and practice of tenure security in communal property situation - what tenure security is, however we can asses it, the role of law, government and local structures in tenure security, and the kinds of land reform interventions that make a tenure security situation better or worse. Leap has worked closely with a wide range of people inside and outside government, talking to people at the household level, across sectors, interests and provincial and national broders. The project has developed a framework that provides tools that can assist in specific problem, solving with CPI's as well as help to assess tenure legitiation and policy.

Community Empowerment Facility

Tenure security and land administration in rural and urban South Africa

Landless or dispossessed persons

Tenure security and land administration