This case study has been prepared under the theme: Housing the Poor through Africa Neo –
Customary Land Systems, as part of an overall research in selected Sub-Saharan African
countries. These are, in addition to Namibia: South Africa; Tanzania; Uganda; Kenya; Benin
and Senegal.
The research is based on examining the following core questions, which are further subdivided
into sub-questions:

ƒ How substantial is what we call the neo-customary system of land delivery
ƒ How do neo-customary systems work
ƒ How are neo-customary systems changing and adapting
ƒ Is the neo-customary system of land delivery a viable alternative to formal land
delivery systems
ƒ How do neo-customary actors and democratically constituted governments interact,
particularly at local/municipal level
A two days workshop, in Nairobi, Kenya, allowed some of the countries1
to share their
findings of their initial work. While this was preliminary, it provided an opportunity to begin
identifying commonalities, yet at the same time differences.