This Guide addresses the ability/capacity of land administration systems at the societal and institutional level as well as the individual level in terms of professional competence and human resource development. The guidelines are developed to serve as a logical framework for addressing each step in the process of building adequate land administration systems – from land policy, policy instruments, and legal framework; over mandates, business objectives, and work processes; to needed human resources and training programs. For each step the capacity of the system can be assessed and possible or needed improvements can be identified.

This FIG Guide attempts to provide some practical guidance in addressing the capacity needs. The first part of the Guide provides a general understanding of the capacity building concept. It is emphasised that even if the key focus may be on education and training, to meet the short and medium term needs, capacity building measures should be addressed in a wider context of developing institutional infrastructures for implementing land polices in a sustainable way.

The second part of the Guide presents a methodology for an in-country self-assessment of capacity needs and some suggestions for addressing these needs. The methodology is based on a three stage approach by addressing firstly the national land policy framework (the societal level), secondly the institutional infrastructure (the organizational level), and finally the human resources and competences (the individual level). The guidelines are presented in the form of boxes with relevant questions to be analysed for assessing and addressing the capacity needs.

It is of course recognised that individual countries are facing specific problems that may not have been addressed in these guidelines at all. Hence, the guidelines are meant as a tool for undertaking a structured and logical analysis of the capacity needs.

In short, the guidelines are designed to pose the right questions in a structured way rather than giving all the right answers.