This report represents an activity of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) East Timor Land Law Program (LLPII), which requires a comparative study of the organization, jurisdiction, and coordination of government agencies that deal with land. East Timor lacks clear roles for each of its departments and ministries with regard to land issues, and there is a need to distribute and coordinate responsibilities among a number of ministries, including the ministries of agriculture, public works and justice (in which the Land and Property Unit is located).
This report centers on a comparative analysis of four other countries: Albania, Mozambique, Rwanda, and Thailand, which were selected in consultation between ARD technical staff and the LLPII Chief of Party based on relevance to or similarities with East Timor, including traits such as a large subsistence agricultural component and relatively limited indigenous experience of state administration. Based on this analysis, this report includes in Section 5. 0 a set of recommendations concerning the allocation of responsibilities for the implementation and administration of land law in East Timor.