ILUP11_Pract_Step3_Part1

Upon completion of Step 1 and Step 2, the land use issue and its stakeholders will have been properly documented. Once the Coordinating Unit has fulfilled its tasks, it can transfer responsibility for further coordination and supervision to a multidisciplinary Task Force.

Definitions
A task force is a group of people temporarily assigned to work together to achieve a specific, clearly defined objective.
A multidisciplinary task force brings together individuals with different but complementary skills and expertise, as required to achieve the objectives of the common project.

Progressing to the next stage of plan implementation will typically require—even for relatively simple cases—bringing together people with diverse skills or expertise. To ensure efficiency and effectiveness, this process benefits from coordination and supervision. Think of it as similar to a comprehensive house renovation, requiring a mason, a carpenter, an electrician, a plasterer, and a tile setter—all working under the coordination and supervision of an architect.

As a general principle in land use planning, the Task Force must include representatives of the identified stakeholders and stakeholder groups and be gender responsive. Their participation ensures that stakeholders:
• receive relevant information,
• are represented at higher decision-making levels,
• have a platform for negotiation and conflict resolution,
• participate in decision-making and in shaping the final plan,
• can monitor and evaluate the implementation process.

In addition to stakeholder representatives, the Task Force must include:
• Members with the necessary expertise to provide technical oversight for specialized studies, such as those conducted in Step 4 and Step 5,
• A representative of the Coordinating Unit,
• A representative from the initiators and/or funders of the planning exercise.

If some stakeholders lack the skills to engage meaningfully in this multi-stakeholder platform, capacity development should be considered to help level out potential power asymmetries among participants.

At the national level, land use planning focuses on strategic issues, such as:
• Developing proposals for land use legislation and policy;
• Translating these policies into national land use plans;
• Coordinating among institutions, sectoral agencies, and other stakeholders involved in land use planning.
Key stakeholders at this level include:
• Ministries, government departments, specialized institutions, and universities;
• National and international NGOs and funding agencies, each with distinct mandates, goals, programs, human resources, and funding sources.

Table 1 provides an example of the stakeholder ecosystem involved in national or regional land use planning in Tanzania. This group is sufficiently representative to act as an intersectoral negotiating forum and, by extension, a national-level Task Force.

Table 1. Recognized stakeholders in national land use planning in Tanzania
(adapted from National Land Use Planning Commission, 2017)

The ideal national Task Force is multidisciplinary and includes:
• High-level decision-makers;
• Technical specialists;
• Representatives from sub-national governance levels;
• An extension service, often under the Ministry of Agriculture, which maintains close contact with local land use issues;
• Potentially, private firms supplying inputs (e.g., fertilizers, tractors), who may contribute specialized knowledge—while recognizing their vested interests.

Anchored in stable institutions, the Task Force could function as a semi-permanent National Land Use Committee, with responsibilities such as:
• Coordinating national land use planning and advising on land resource management priorities;
• Facilitating information exchange with lower governance levels and among planning institutions;
• Developing information systems on land resources, usage, and stakeholders;
• Advising on updates to land use policies, legislation, and regulatory frameworks;
• Providing binding arbitration in cases of conflicting sectoral land use objectives.