Tailormade land administration in Chad: "Respecting tradition and culture"

“This collaboration is about sharing experiences. The Netherlands is a small country with a dense population. Chad is a large country with a relatively low population density, but considerably more land conflicts. We can learn a lot from each other,” says Mahamat Abdoulaye Malloum (land governance expert, sociologist, historian, home grown Chadian, and PhD student at the University of Maroua in Cameroon). Together with Kadaster, he worked on the LAND-at-scale programme in Chad. How does he look back on this?

Era of transition

Malloum: “Chad is a country in transition: we are critically reflecting on the best way to manage our country. Land conflicts cause many problems in Chad. Every month we mourn a serious number of deaths. The biggest challenge right now is access to land for all. Despite the vast size of the country, land for agriculture, extensive grazing or housing is rare. Land rights for women and young people are poor. As a result, for example, they have no collateral to obtain a loan from a bank to start their own (agricultural) business.”