The Summit of the Americas and Property Registration

1. The Summit of the Americas and Property Registration A Background Brief Prepared for the Special Commission on Inter-American Summits Management Prepared by Jolyne Sanjak, USDA/USAID 2/18/2000

2. The Summit of the Americas • In April of 1998, the Heads of Governments of 34 States of the Americas met and agreed on an Action Plan to strengthen markets and deepen democracy through 2nd generation reforms ... Poverty Alleviation ... Property Registration

3. Why Property Registration? The lack of formalized property rights and limited access to property are barriers for the poor to economic opportunity, governance and sociopolitical participation

4. The Summit Agreement on Property Registration 34 Presidents agreed to: • Streamline and decentralize • adopting transparent, simplified procedures • disseminating information • utilizing, whenever feasible, state-of-the-art technologies • incorporating alternative dispute resolution mechanisms • avoiding overlapping administrative fees

5. The Summit of the Americas • The Governments willrecommend that multilateral and bilateral cooperation institutions, especially the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, strengthen their financial and technical assistance programs • information exchange regarding experiences • simplified property registration procedures • assure access for the poor to those systems.

6. Land Administration Projects: Management and Procurement WorkshopFrederic de Dinechin, World BankLand regularization & land services Unsecured and inefficient land tenure and land services Q u a l i t y c o n t r o l Compilation of existing land info. L I S + M I S Conversion of paper to digital Geodesy/mapping Social communication & assistance Field-level data acquisition Conflict resolution Adjudication/Titling Modern, secure and sustainable land tenure & services I S n t s r t e i n t g u t t h i e o n n i a n l g

7. The Summit of the Americas • The Governments will implement measures…to protect rights accorded to indigenous populations • information programs ... greater awareness

8. Inter-Summit Property Systems Initiative

9. IPSI’s Approach: • Catalyst to a demand-driven approach • Mechanism for coordination • Sponsor of Complementary Activities e.g. Research and Evaluation

11. Functions of the Virtual Office: Bulletin Board Document Database Discussion Fora What’s New Links Calendar Project Database Secured Area Contact us IPSI@OAS.ORG

12. Welcome to IPSI's Bulletin Board • Civil Society Discovery and Dialogue Workshop Series • The World Bank's Land Policy Network prepares very informative newsletters which provide information on events, conferences and electronic materials available through the network's webpage.

13. Document Database • USAID Documents: • Inter-Summit Property Systems Initiative (IPSI) • Event Documentation: • Property Registration Systems Conference, Antigua, Guatemala, October 20-22, 1999 • Documents Available at Other Websites: • World Bank Land Administration Management and Procurement Workshop Final Report • Special Interest Documents:

14. ACTIVITIES RELATED TO IMPROVING PROPERTY INFORMATION SYSTEMS • REGION and COUNTRY • PROJECT TITLE • NATURE OF ACTIVITY • ENTITIES • STATUS • CONTACT NAME

15. Visit Us! Visitenos! www.property-registration.org www.registro-propeidades.org

16. Final Thoughts: • The bases for creating complete and modern property information systems are known. Missing is a synchronization of the demand for appropriate institutional change and a drive to achieve it. • The Santiago Summit of the Americas Action Plan expresses a political will to reform property registration institutions; it sets forth the core characteristics to be incorporated in such reforms; it has given renewed motivation to move forward with implementation of the many ongoing efforts in this area; its implementation requires coordination and consensus among governments, donors and civil society.