The research project assessing the social and economic impacts of land titling programmes in the urban and peri-urban areas of developing countries, is now complete. Presentations on the desk review of literature and the outputs of the two case studies, in Senegal and South Africa, were presented at two conferences in Norway between 09-12 April, 2008.

Both events were organised and financed by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Mapping and Cadastre Authority, one of the funders of the project (with SIDA and the Global Land Tool Network at UN-Habitat). Following an introductory presentation by Geoffrey Payne, Professor Carole Rakodi made a presentation on methodological issues and Alain Durand-Lasserve presented key issues on cultural aspects of undertaking comparative research. Colin Marx and Margot Rubin then presented the findings and policy implications of the South African case study and Alain Durand-Lasserve then presented the findings and policy implications of the Senegal case study on behalf of Selle Ndiaye. There was a good discussion of the project findings and implications for the general international debate on land tenure issues and policy options.

Following the Oslo workshop, Geoff Payne, Alain Durand-Lasserve, Margot Rubin and Tania Payne, proceeded to Bergen for the conference organised by the Commission for the Legal Empowerment of the Poor held between 10-11 April. A presentation was made by Geoff Payne on behalf of the project team and Alain Durand-Lasserve also contributed some key points.

Copies of selected PowerPoint presentations from both the Oslo and Bergen meetings are available on request.