This book provides a unique set of case studies summarising recent developing country experiences of developing and implementing national sustainable development strategies (NSDSs). These are based directly on the work of country teams that facilitated multi-stakeholder dialogues on NSDSs.

Burkina Faso’s economy is based on agriculture, livestock, and forestry. Land is the mainstay of economic activity, particularly in rural areas, and it is a determining factor in the cohesion of rural communities and vital to the country’s development. Assured access to land is the first condition for encouraging increased productivity and investment in rural activities, which is why security of tenure has been one of the main concerns of those involved in development work over the last two decades. Adverse climatic conditions and increased human activity have reduced the cultivable land area, so pressure on land has become increasingly acute in many parts of the country. This paper looks at how to integrate land tenure issues into development policy and strategy by looking at the problems raised by changing approaches to development and examining the land tenure issues which may hinder more sustainable production.

This volume is a compilation of innovations in local governance and decentralization process drawn from the experience of workshops held in each of the three East African region namely; Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.

This publication is set to highlight the broad range of issues that requires consideration with regard to local democracy and decentralization in East and Southern Africa. It aims at providing brief overviews on decentralization processes in the five selected countries in the region. It summarizes the many different aspects of decentralization highlighting key issues that need to be addressed by practitioners.

This paper draws on the findings from case studies conducted between 1997 and 2001 in Mali, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Each case study is summarised in Briefing Papers 1 to 6 in this series, and full reports are available in the Working Papers Series on Rural-Urban Interactions and Livelihood Strategies.

This paper examines the opportunities and constraints for the livelihoods of peri-urban dwellers around the city of Mopti in northern Mali. The study describes changing agricultural production systems and employment patterns (including migration and commuting) and their variations depending on gender and generation. It also explores evolving land tenure systems on the peri-urban interface, and the role of the new decentralised local government in managing land and natural resources.