GIS SOLUTIONS AND LAND MANAGEMENT IN URBAN ETHIOPIA. PERSPECTIVES ON CAPACITY, UTILIZATION AND TRANSFORMATIVE POSSIBILITIES

For strategic, operational and financial reasons, GIS solutions are becoming an increasingly important area for realizing effective land management systems for many municipal governments across the globe. Despite the obvious gains, many local authorities in Africa have not yet taken advantage of the new developments within this sector. The paper gives an anatomy of realities and challenges of using GIS solutions for improved land management in a sample of Ethiopian cities. Empirical evidence was gathered from a panel of experts drawn from at least 22 cities and towns through the Delphi method. The analysis was done within the context of the Capacity, Usage and Transformation (CUT) framework. The reality is that the status of GIS for land management in most cities is that of constrained capacity, usage and transformation. The analysis also reveals that access to GIS system software does not automatically translate to the attainment of organizational value. Instead, it enables the formulation and realization of organizational strategy that will direct organizational change and subsequently lead to increased organizational value. This however requires the fixing of challenges relating to finance, technical expertise, institutional arrangements and the implementation process.