Abstract
At independence, the leaders of the member states, in the search for ways of development of their young nations, have encountered the thorny problem of land management which was under the control of the customary regimes. West African land legislation is not sufficiently clarified and suffers from a legal dualism that hinders development and can lead to widespread conflicts. The increasingly visible development of a single regional market and the desire to create conditions for lasting social peace in the region make it imperative to secure the means of subsistence and to harmonize their governance. This work is an attempt to develop a benchmark study approach applicable to West African land. It represents a support for land reforms taking into account present and future land issues in the region. It is a methodology that develops both a set of indicators to evaluate and compare the performance of land practices as an approach to analyzing the results and proposing reforms.
TopEstablishment Of The Benchmark Study Approach
The benchmark is a methodology of constantly seeking best practices in order to adopt or adapt their positive aspects and to implement them in order to progress. The objective of the benchmark is to change a current situation, which can be improved to a more competitive situation, with the originality of comparing companies, administrations, services or offices operating in other fields of activity (Loroy, 2005). It is a technique that must be applied to the land field domain with great caution especially in the ECOWAS area. Trying to turn the study towards legislation could not be of great relevance because it is common to find countries with well-elaborated legislation and disappointing results. The land benchmark will rather focus on the impact of land practices. Indeed, an impact-practice analysis will allow us to more effectively grasp the best practices and to facilitate the achievement of the final objective of developing best practices. Land management is a complex field that directly or indirectly influences many sectors, especially the social and economic ones. A benchmark model of land tenure must therefore take into account this complexity of matter and the domains that depend on it. The approach of a land-based benchmark should therefore be oriented towards the search for practices that ensure good governance of land tenure and land administration in ECOWAS region.
Key Terms in this Chapter
ECOWAS: It stands for the Economic Community of West African States. Established on May 28 th , 1975 via the treaty of Lagos, ECOWAS is a 15-member regional group with a mandate of promoting economic integration in all fields of activity of the constituting countries. Member countries making up ECOWAS are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo. Considered one of the pillars of the African Economic Community, ECOWAS was set up to foster the ideal of collective self-sufficiency for its member states.