Dr. Emmanuel Nkurunziza Director General, Rwanda Natural Resources Authority & Chief Registrar of Land Titles Rwanda’s experience in evidence-based policy making

Rwanda land policy formulation process  Post-1994 emergency phase, policy vacuum but urgent intervention issues  Need to formulate policy; extensive consultations and need for deeper understanding of issues that needed attention;  National Land Policy formulated in 2004; clearly articulating firm principles and aspirations of Rwandan people on how land should be harnessed for national development and cease to be a source of conflict;  Operationalisation of the policy principles needed to be developed into programme - studies

Legal and institutional set up Different options presented themselves in terms of legal disposition as well as institutional set up. Studies and consultancies were commissioned to generate evidence to inform key policy decisions. 

Land Tenure Regularisation (LTR)  With regard to land tenure regularisation, it was opted to have trials (pilots) within which all tools and approaches were tested. Extensive consultation carried out as well specific studies undertaken;  Outcomes informed the Strategic Road map for land tenure reform that guided the LTR process;  Actual implementation had inbuilt learning drawing on field experience;

LTR  Readiness to commission study of opportunities that presented themselves as potential improvers of adopted methodology as well as unexpected field issues that seemed significant;

Post-registration interventions & sustainability  In view of need for long-term impact evaluation of the programme, an opportunity to set up control and treatment areas was used in collaboration with the World Bank.  Evidence based policy interventions have become even more important past first registration because the issues involved are more complex and require research to aid appropriate intervention  Continued impact evaluation studies by the World Bank with policy briefs that are taken on board for policy review

Conclusions  Land issues are very complex and very context specific;  Absolute need to invest in improving understanding these issues and avoid assumptions;  Rwanda’s land reform agenda took note of the above and consistently uses research to question and inform all key interventions;  Worthwhile to invest in generating scientific to give one every chance of success as well as ensure accountability.