Investing in land administration in Latin America: a toolkit for practitioners and policymakers

Designing, monitoring, and evaluating programmes aimed at improving land administration in Latin America just got easier. Practitioners, policymakers, and researchers working on securing land tenure and providing better land services now have access to an improved Land Administration Toolkit, jointly developed by the FAO Investment Centre and the World Bank, and recently revamped.

Where land governance is weak, uncertainty constrains private investment, limits access to credit and reduces returns on public spending. Strengthening land administration systems therefore improves tenure security, supports functioning land markets and enhances the economic impact of agrifood and rural development programmes.

Initially launched in 2015, the Land Administration Toolkit for Latin America is relaunched with new features and enhanced user experience. The previous version attracted around 1,000 users each month, from across the globe. Its objective is to provide comprehensive resources to accompany the design, monitoring and evaluation of land administration programs in the region.

The content is organized into four core modules:

• Improving National Land Administration: make institutions more efficient and land information systems interoperable and transparent.
• Decentralizing land administration at subnational level: Enhancing land services and land governance at municipal/district and customary lands.
• Land administration centered in livelihood for smallholders at household level: Monitoring and evaluating impacts on livelihood.
• Economic Impact: Tools for measuring the tangible economic, financial and fiscal results of land interventions.
  

Fabrice Edouard, Agricultural Officer at the FAO Investment Centre, who manages the platform said: “The toolkit serves a broad community of land governance professionals — from public officials and IFI project designers to consultants, civil society actors, indigenous organizations and researchers. The toolkit bridges the gap between complex land information systems and practical implementation in the field,” he said.

Available in English and Spanish, the toolkit is continuously updated with news and resources such as the new guidance note on Economic Analysis of land administration programmes, produced in 2025 by FAO and the World Bank.