Good Practices and Innovations in Public Governance 2003-2011

Good Practices and InnovATIONS in Public Governance
2010 Category 2: Tanzania
The second phase of the MKURABITA programme consisted of reform design. This
phase, which aimed at re-engineering the existing legal and institutional framework,
began in earnest in January 2006 and was largely completed in May 2008. Six Tanzanian
experts carried out the reform design work, with technical support from a team of
consultants from the Institute of Liberty and Democracy based in Lima, Peru.
The methodology used was termed convergence analysis. The property archetypes were
standardized; at the same time, property laws were reviewed and improved to remove
the inbuilt barriers to formalization. Then the two systems were merged to produce a
series of reform proposals that were submitted to stakeholders for consideration.
Five main types of reforms were developed:
• Proposals to formalize rural and urban real estate (see items 1–4 in the table
below).
• Proposals to formalize business (items 9–11).
• Proposals to facilitate economic use of formalized real estate assets (items 5–7).
• Proposals to facilitate business growth and economic use of assets (items 14–17).
• Proposals to address cross-cutting issues such as a system of personal identification,
the need for administrative simplification, and creation of a specialized
institution responsible for formalizing business and real estate assets.
The third phase of MKURABITA entails implementation: institutionalizing the legal
and institutional framework developed during the second phase, as well as rolling out
the processes for formalizing extralegal assets. This phase began in July 2008, and it
is being carried out through short-term plans (one year), medium-term plans (five
years) and long-term plans (ten years) that focus on proactive property and business
formalization campaigns, consensus building, and establishment of feedback mechanisms,
a national database and a record-keeping organisation. Phase 3 involves:
• Amending and or enacting new laws or regulations that will facilitate institutionalization
of fast-track and cost-effective proposals for formalizing properties
and businesses.
• Reviewing selected policies and establishing the local and central government
structures proposed for mainstreaming property and business formalization.
• Strengthening institutions by supporting the establishment of the necessary infrastructure
and personnel training programmes.
Throughout the implementation phase, a capacity-building approach is being used to
empower local authorities. The steps include introducing the formalization process at
the regional and district levels, handing over assets and equipment for formalization
by the District Council, raising awareness at the ward, village and hamlet levels,
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