Chapter 2 The challenge of evidence-based strategy development: Linkages between evidence, policy and practice

1 Starting points 1.2 The amended TOR

After an initial intensive focus on the Restitution context, the top management of DLA proposed the extension of SDC's TOR to include the provision of post-settlement support to people accessing land acquired under the Redistribution programme by means of LRAD grants or commonage transferred to municipalities. Despite being increased in scope, the TOR remained focused by the need to ensure that land reform beneficiaries are provided with support that will secure their rights and enhance their livelihood sustainability. The enlarged TOR has required the SDC to examine a wide range of different business processes and engage with a broader spread of institutions. This has required adopting an integrated and holistic approach that locates SIS firmly as part of the business and mandate of land and agrarian reform, and as an integral part of spatial development, IDPs, local economic development (LED) and integrated environmental management processes. While land reform is primarily concerned with securing people's rights in land and enabling equitable access, agrarian reform looks at a broader set of issues. These include how land reform articulates with a larger set of developmental policies and interventions to reduce poverty, manage resources sustainably and create conditions whereby new owners of land are enabled to make use of productive resources and contribute to a national process of changing relations of political and economic power in the countryside.