Case: Ecuador
TENURE TYPE: use rights
INTERVENTION: repairs, rebuilding, land titles
TENURE DURATION: LONG TERM
A high proportion of the population in Ecuador’s rural and urban areas do not have access to formally recognized titles. After the 2016 earthquake, the government’s reconstruction plan only included landowners with registered titles, thus excluding many rural communities and informal settlements. The Protection and Shelter clusters collaborated to identify the key HLP-related needs, barriers and stakeholders to engage to ensure rebuilding could occur with legal certainty and vulnerable communities would receive government assistance.
Key actions
Early identification of need for increased HLP capacity:
The need to proactively address HLP issues was recognized early on, leading to the establishment of a national-level HLP working group to increase the capacity for conducting HLP due diligence and HLP awareness at local, municipal and national levels.
HLP Assessment:
The HLP working group focused on understanding local HLP issues, potential risks and impacts from response efforts and national legal frameworks that could support advocacy efforts.
Triangulating information with local actors:
Local actors were engaged to help triangulate and validate information to support claims to land and property.
Targeted engagement of decision-makers and advocacy:
Continued advocacy and collaboration with local authorities resulted in government adoption to recognize “right of use” documents for long-time occupiers who could prove their link to the land and supported the government’s capacity to issue such documents.