Practical Approaches to Land Acquisition, Resettlement, and Safeguards in MDB-Supported Operations
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Practical Approaches to Land Acquisition, Resettlement, and Safeguards in MDB-Supported Operations
8–12 June 2026
Introduction to the course
In developing and emerging economies, the question of who controls land, and how, profoundly affects diverse populations-farmers, herders, urban dwellers, and small business owners-while shaping government policies. What appears as a simple resource allocation challenge often reveals deeper tensions about identity, tradition, and development paths. Population growth, climate change, and rising demands for resources drive intense competition for land, creating tensions within communities and between communities and investors. When development projects require land, these existing tensions become critical. Good land governance promotes secure access to land and creates an enabling environment for investments that unlock developing countries' productive capacities. However, land acquisition processes can lead to physical or economic displacement affecting people's livelihoods across rural and urban settings. Land acquisition involves multiple stakeholders across institutional levels, from national ministries to local communities, requiring effective coordination among actors with varying mandates and expertise. Land acquisition processes are inherently interconnected with cultural heritage preservation and protection of vulnerable populations, including women, youth, pastoralists, traditional communities, and people living under customary land tenure systems. Strengthened capacity and collaborative partnerships are essential to ensure that land governance processes are transparent, equitable, and support inclusive development while safeguarding cultural assets and traditional livelihoods.
Who attends this course?
-Government officials dealing with land acquisition (lands, finance, sectoral ministries, public works, agriculture, environment, local government) -Project Implementation/Management Units (PIU/PMUs) -Social specialists and environmental safeguards professionals -Development practitioners and consultants -Multilateral Development Banks staff -UN Agencies
Course description
This course equips practitioners with the knowledge and tools to implement robust social safeguards in land acquisition and resettlement processes, ensuring sustainable development outcomes across diverse project environments.
Unmitigated displacement creates severe and cascading risks: dismantled production systems, impoverishment from lost resources, relocation to unsuitable environments, weakened community institutions, exacerbated inequalities, dispersed families, and eroded cultural identity. These impacts extend across social, economic, environmental, and psychological dimensions. For this reason, involuntary resettlement must be avoided where possible. When unavoidable, it must be minimized through carefully planned mitigation measures that protect both displaced persons and host communities.
The course examines how operational safeguards on land acquisition and resettlement apply to sovereign operations across developing and emerging economies with diverse legal and institutional contexts. You will explore land acquisition as a comprehensive process encompassing property transfer, livelihood impact assessment, and protection of cultural heritage and vulnerable populations. This requires understanding varied institutional frameworks—from state-centered systems to pluralistic approaches recognizing customary rights and traditional governance—while managing the intersection between formal and customary legal frameworks.
Land acquisition requires coordination across multiple government institutions (finance, public works, lands, and sector-specific ministries), each bringing different mandates and expertise. The course addresses critical implementation challenges: rushed Resettlement Action Plan (RAP) preparation without adequate community consultation, inadequate compensation cost evaluation, weak monitoring mechanisms, and insufficient funding for comprehensive planning. You will learn how multilateral development banks streamline compensation procedures through loan agreements to ensure timely payment, maintain project timelines, and uphold the principle that no investment can proceed unless land is free from encumbrances, occupation, or conflict, and compensation has been negotiated and secured.
Programme structure
The course covers five thematic modules delivered over one week:
Module 1: Land Systems and Governance Foundations
Understanding diverse land tenure systems, customary rights, and legal frameworks across developing and emerging economies, and the alignment between country systems and international safeguard standards.
Module 2: Resettlement Action Plan Development and Implementation
Preparation, planning, and execution of RAPs, including case studies, field lessons, and practical scenario based group work to develop implementation capacity.
Module 3: Stakeholder Engagement and Consultation
Tools and approaches for meaningful community engagement, early engagement strategies, capacity building for borrowers, and development of context-specific consultation strategies.
Module 4: Compensation, Livelihood Restoration Procedures, and Monitoring
Valuation and consent procedures, compliance with national frameworks, compensation fast-tracking, environmental and quality assessments for relocation sites, livelihood restoration procedures, and RAP completion audit methodologies.
Module 5: Vulnerable Groups, Social Inclusion, and Strengthening Local Institutions
Addressing needs of vulnerable populations, cultural heritage protection, broader social inclusion considerations, stakeholder information disclosure, and development of country-specific support strategies.
Course objectives
This course examines how development projects can address land acquisition challenges across diverse developing and emerging economies, exploring the principles, frameworks, and practical approaches that enable positive outcomes while avoiding harm to affected communities.
Through implementation-focused training, the course assists multilateral development banks in supporting borrowers to implement risk mitigation measures, particularly those related to land acquisition, compensation, and involuntary resettlement.
The course focuses on three integrated areas:
- Integrating safeguard requirements into project preparation processes
- Examining the implementation phase where borrowers execute RAPs and associated instruments
- Aligning national legislation with international best practices
Through case studies and project examples, participants will develop practical skills that help borrowers achieve meaningful protection for affected communities and restore livelihoods.
