A pilot project in north central Vietnam has instituted an approach to land titling that gives both women, and men rights to use land. As Vietnam transitions from collectives to smaller family farms, this land titling project has increased opportunities for rural families to use their most productive asset – land - to generate income, and has promoted a gender-responsive, low cost, and decentralized method of land titling.
--In Vietnam, women make the majority of the agricultural work force.
--Without LTCs in their name, women have no legal proof of rights to land.
--As Vietnam is a transitioning economy, this is a critical time for women to take advantage of usufruct rights especially when husbands are away for extended period, women are unable to use land as collateral. |
Joint use land rights. Despite Vietnam's“gender neutral policy”, land use certificates often register land use in the name of the male head of household, leaving women without opportunities to increase land productivity, sell or use land for credit. Between the 1980s and 1990s, Vietnam’s national policy of granting long-term land use rights to households often resulted in male control of plots of land since land tenure certificates (LTCs) registered only one name which often was that of the make head. In October 2001, the Vietnamese government passed Decree No. 70 requiring all documents registering family assets and land use rights to include the names of wives as well as husbands. While the appropriate national policy has been passed, the General Department of Land Administration responsible for rural land titling has lacked the capacity to ensure that all provinces comply. Thus to ensure that remote rural provinces and communes are able to effect these changes, the Bank worked with the Vietnamese government to assist them with a pilot project to re-issue LTCs. In the pilot phase, consultants and local government staff reached about 2,600 household in two communes in Nghe An province to re-issue LTCs and to update government cadastral books. Collaborating with local government agencies, informal dissemination on legal rights among local communities and the updating of government books are the key elements of this project. |
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