Leap’s Conceptual framework
Rights and rights holders
In thinking about rights and rights holders we answer the questions:
- who holds rights to the land and its resources?
- what rights do they hold?
- where are these rights?
Who holds these rights? There can be many rights holders sometimes to the same piece of land. It is important to look not only at the group as a rights holder, but also at people inside and outside the group. Rights holders can be individuals, households, groups, and the community, providers of services like water and electricity, and government departments responsible for infrastructure such as roads, clinics, and schools.
What rights do they hold? Rights holders can hold different types of rights, such as ownership, lease, use, servitude or access, sometimes to the same piece of land. For instance, a community can own land through a legal entity, households can use pieces of the land exclusively to live on and farm, cattle owners can use pieces of this land set aside for grazing and the Roads Department can have a servitude over the land for building a road.
There are also other types of rights, which we call procedural. These refer to things such as the right to attend and vote at meetings, or the right to see the minutes of meetings.
Where are these rights? It is easy to lose sight of the importance of where rights are. This is the key to the formal tenure system, with its emphasis on accurate survey, and recording this in the Deeds Office. Zoning and land use planning regulations may limit the use of rights. In local systems, neighbor witness of demarcation is a common and important practice.
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