*2.2. Land Information System in Ethiopia*

In Ethiopia, the land registration information system (LRIS) follows the rural–urban cadastral divide. NRLAIS was developed for rural land and the cadaster and real property registration system (CRPRS) for urban land. The systems are being administered by two different agencies. NRLAIS is operated by the rural land administration agencies under the guidance of MoA, while CRPRS is operated by the Urban Land and Cadaster Chief Executive Officer under the guidance of the Ministry of Urban and Infrastructure Development (MoUID). The focus of this paper is NRLAIS serving rural land administration.

In 2010, MoA developed its information system/information communication technology (IS/ICT) and software development strategy for the first time [28]. The strategy was developed following analysis of the requirements of a harmonized land administration system that is suitable for the adoption and implementation of a unified LIS in Ethiopia. According to MoA [28], this IS/ICT strategy provides a single overarching requisite framework embracing both urban and rural lands for the safe and secure maintenance and updating of land records. However, following legal mandates MoA revised its IS/ICT and software development and implementation strategy twice, i.e., in 2012 and, later, in 2017, with a focus on rural land.

As part of the standardization of the rural land administration system, the development of NRLAIS was well established based on the analysis and business reengineering of the four existing organizational structures (federal, regional, zonal, and woreda) [28]. NRLAIS is a web-based system developed on open-source licensed software and based on the land administration domain model (LADM). The system utilizes a modular technology stack and meets the functional and legal requirements for registering rural landholding rights in all the non-pastoral and highland regional states of Ethiopia. The definition of technical specifications for the development of NRLAIS considered the requirements of the functional and legal framework at both the federal and regional levels, including inheritance, gift, exchange, divorce, rent, and encumbrances.

Between 2015 and 2017, supported by the Finnish government-financed project Responsible and Innovative Land Administration in Ethiopia (REILA), MoA developed and piloted NRLAIS. A production version was delivered with an operational acceptance report (OAR) to the then MoA in March 2018 [44]. Between 2016 and 2017, NRLAIS has undergone due diligence processes through a series of pilot testing and upgrades. Since late 2018, the MoA initiated the rollout of NRLAIS into more regions and woredas. The NRLAIS roll-out was divided into two phases of two years each, starting with a comparative trial of four-to-six months that may reveal necessary improvements and changes, followed by a one-and-a-half year period for full-scale roll-out at national level. Since 2020, the second phase of the rollout has continued at increasing speed, addressing sustainability factors such as capacity building and upgrading of the software with emerging functionality requirements [28,43].

According to MoA [28], up to 400 woredas covering 25 million parcels of land records are targeted to establish a functional and operational NRLAIS by 2024. NRLAIS is operational in over 180 woredas of Amhara, Beneshangul Gumuz, Oromia, Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP), and Tigray regional states as of November 2021 [43]. By mid-2021, about 113 woredas with NRLAIS have been verified by third party or independent verifying agency for the system being made operational. During the same period, the information from approximately 11 million parcels has been migrated into the system, 5 to 13 subsequent land transactions were updated per day per woreda, and over 102,000 transactions per year were updated in total. NRLAIS is the largest distributed LIS in Ethiopia and currently operates in 6 regional states, 37 Zones, and over 180 woredas. However, the wider area network (WAN) that connect woredas to zonal, regional to federal/central servers for an online data replication and information flow is yet to deployed due to underdeveloped network infrastructure in the country.

NRLAIS will provide security, transparency, service quality, and continuous maintenance of land records, with enhanced data management functionality and usability at the woreda level in an effective, spatially integrated, and sustainable manner [28]. NRLAIS is considered the key strategic component within the land administration modernization endeavor and an integral part of standardization in the country. Under this context, NRLAIS forms the framework and defines the role of stakeholders and their relationship among personnel, technology, and standard procedures. It also serves as a legitimate bearer of land information including the socio-spatial aspects of landholdings and users' interests in land and natural resources.
