NGOs cooperate to influence government and donor policies and practices so that they consider and address pro-poor land reform.

In 2004, the Land Law Implementation Network (LLIN), which consists of various NGOs working on land issues, was formed and began to work together in assisting poor and vulnerable people affected by land issues in Cambodia. The network builds upon the knowledge, skills, lessons learnt and experience of its members with regard to land problems, seeking to work more effectively through joint advocacy and through coordination with relevant institutions. The network commits itself to work together under a mutually agreed Terms of Reference.

Many NGO Forum members are engaged in work that is directly or indirectly related to land rights. Several problems that existed before the Land Law was passed are still being experienced four years after the enactment of the law and there is uncertainty with regard to why this is the case and what individual NGOs could or should be doing in order to make a difference. In response, a Land Issues Project commenced at NGO Forum in 2004 that will continue to find answers to key questions raised by NGO Forum members:

• What are the main impacts of the implementation of the Land Law?
• What factors impede its full implementation?
• How does the land titling programme affect poor people? Does it reduce poverty or does it lead to poor people losing land?
• Are the new law and the cadastral commissions any more successful than earlier laws and mechanisms or does injustice and anarchy still prevail?
• Will the sub-decree on economic land concessions make the processes for granting economic and agricultural concessions more transparent and fair?
• Can social concessions work?
• What is the relationship between land titling, land dispute resolution and poverty reduction?

This project proposal is based on the assumption that NGOs already engaged in land issues are doing good work, and that the NGO Forum project should aim at strengthening their effectiveness. This is being achieved by providing to NGOs that are already engaged in land work with information and networking services and a means for doing joint advocacy. These services are also enabling the mobilization of a broader range of NGOs and other stakeholders, especially in the provinces.

The project is enhancing and strengthening the work of individual organisations such as:

• Ativities of members of the Land Law Implementation Network such as disseminating the 2001 Land Law, contributing to the drafting of implementation sub-decrees, monitoring and supporting new institutions and mechanisms such as systematic land titling, cadastral commissions and social concessions;
• Activities of human rights NGOs (such as ADHOC, Vigilance and LICADHO), legal aid organizations (such as LAC, CLEC/PILAP and CDP), and development organizations (such as LWF and DPA) in defending the victims of land expropriation cases;
• Policy research and advocacy by organizations such as Oxfam’s Livelihoods Project.

It also aims to complement work such as:

• The constituency building, policy research and advocacy of the NGO Forum Forest Livelihoods Project and its partners;
• The research and advocacy of the Resettlement Action Network which seeks to advocate and protect the rights of people displaced by development projects or by urban development.

The project is also based on the assumption that NGO land work will only be able to become more effective if members are able to contribute increased time and resources to the issue, and to agree to work together.

Other key contributions that will be required in order to enable the success of the project will include:

1. The motivation of NGOs in the Land Law Implementation Network
2. The formation of a Working Group to Support Victims of Land Grabs by NGOs involved in this work, and the upgrading and management of a shared GIS based database
3. The formation of a Working Group in each province to monitor the Land Management and Administration Project, including the commitment of an organization to liaise with the Provincial Land Department and to coordinate this work.
4. The willingness of organizations with policy research and analysis capacity to read policy and project documents relating to poverty reduction and land reform and to contribute to debates on these issues
5. The willingness of development organizations to go outside their immediate target areas in order to participate in key strategic monitoring or research activities.

Land reform in Cambodia is seen as key to attempts to reduce poverty in the Kingdom. The population is predominantly rural and expanding. Neither urban development nor diversification of rural incomes will be sufficient to provide for or respond to the needs of this expanding population. Creating and safeguarding secure livelihoods for the rural poor will therefore depend greatly on how key natural resources – forestry, fisheries and agricultural land – are managed.

NGO contributions to land policy in Cambodia have been highly regarded. NGO research and advocacy have helped to shape a pro-poor Land Law. NGOs have also been involved in the struggle to protect families who are the victims of land grabs by the powerful. Despite strenuous efforts, these struggles have overwhelmingly been dispiriting and unsuccessful.

Government attempts to reduce poverty through land reform are now based on a Land Management and Administration Project (LMAP) supported by the World Bank and the governments of Germany and Finland. Key elements of this project include:

• Systematic land titling – which aims to give title to all land in Cambodia;
• Cadastral Commissions – which will aim to solve land disputes both related to the systematic land titling process and outside it;
• Social Concessions – which will be a mechanism for transferring state land into the private ownership of poor landless people.

These processes are unlikely to be successful unless they are properly monitored, and the problems faced by poor and powerless groups are raised in a systematic way. To achieve this, NGOs working on land issues need to improve their analysis and strengthen their dialogue with the government and donor agencies. At the same time, a critique of current methods of land reform is needed.