Sean G Johnson

landholdings

Land Governance and Administration

CV (PDF 198 kb)

35 years of international experience, with over 20 years in development assistance mostly in Africa and the Caribbean. Over 5 years in senior management or team leader positions.
Specialist in: land administration; land institutions and agency organisation and business process reform; adjudication and systematic regularisation of land rights; cadastral survey; project management; land information systems.
Experienced in: organisation management and strategic planning; land policy; design and preparation of projects; monitoring and evaluation; procurement; proposal writing; financial analysis.
Knowledgeable of: customary land tenure; land law; social and environmental impacts; public outreach.

  • Professional Member (MRICS) of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, since 1985.
  • Master of Science in Geographic Information Systems from University of Salford (UK), 1999-2000.
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Land Surveying from University College, London (UK), 1977-1978.
  • Bachelor of Science (with Honours) in Geography from University of Strathclyde (UK), 1973-1977.
  • 2016/10 to 2019/08, Eswatini, Institutional Advisor and Team Leader for Technical Assistance in Sustainable Land Administration and Management, with COWI A/S for Ministry of Economic Planning & Development / European Union. The project aimed to improve food security by providing tools for land administration (registers and cadastral maps) and capacitating traditional authorities, who are responsible for the governance of customary tenure land, and the Land Management Board and Surveyor General’s Department to support chiefdoms to administer land rights and to manage land allocations and use for the benefit of the rural poor and women. Responsible for project implementation and developing plans for institutional reform (34 months). More >
  • 2016/01 to 2016/04, Malawi, Land Tenure Expert for Communication, Community Participation, Land Tenure and Resettlement Framework for the Shire Valley Irrigation Project (SVIP), with COWI A/S for Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development / World Bank. The project undertook comprehensive studies required for the Bank to appraise the technical feasibility, economic viability, and environmental sustainability of the proposed irrigation scheme. Prepared a land tenure situation analysis report and provided advisory support to the long-term in-country team (1 month).
  • 2015/09 to 2015/10, Azerbaijan, Land Titling Expert for Assessment of Data and Proposal of Methodology for Harmonisation of Cadastre Database and Field Reality, with COWI A/S for State Committee on Property Issues. Led a small team to review proposed methodologies for resolving the inconsistencies between the 1990s land reform records and the present-day ground reality both in technical and legal terms and to propose the most appropriate approach for efficient regularisation of land reform titles that enable effective registration of real estate transactions (1.5 months).
  • 2014/03 to 2014/12, Ethiopia, Land Management Specialist for Urban Local Government Development Project with Sudca Development Consultants (Ethiopia) for Ministry of Urban Development and Construction / World Bank. The project aimed to help 12 cities meet performance criteria that enable them to access technical assistance provided through the ULGDP programme. This included criteria for the management and delivery of land and land services, and Mr Johnson prepared a land use inventory procedures manual and guidelines and provided land management and administration advice (2 months).
  • 2013/11 to 2015/02, Nigeria, Lead Land Titling Adviser for Growth and Employment in States (GEMS3) with Adam Smith International for UK Department for International Development. Mr Johnson provided expert advice, training, and support to the Nigeria Presidential Technical Committee on Land Reform and to eight National States engaged in the programme. Tasks and responsibilities included: develop and implement standards operating procedures for systematic titling; provide advice on appropriate technical solutions in all states; quality assure the implementation of land work stream; guide and support implementation of land titling work in project states; engage with clients and stakeholders in all states on land titling, land administration and institutional reform and land policy development; monitor and evaluate project outputs and outcomes; provide training and technical support to systematic land titling in all states; provide input on the FAO managed SOLA software for both land titling and land registration processes. A major achievement was securing the support of the Surveyor’s Registration Council of Nigeria for the adoption of general boundaries – a fit-for-purpose, low-cost methodology – for identifying and documenting boundaries for land registration (16 months).
  • 2013/06 to 2013/08, Lesotho, Cadastral Survey Expert, for Land Reform Activity of the Private Sector Development Programme for Millennium Challenge Account Lesotho. Designed and developed reforms to improve the cost-efficiency and quality of cadastral survey, working with the Chief Surveyor and the land surveying profession to identify technical and procedural reforms for the examination and approval of surveys, and to prepare technical instructions and legislation to institutionalise the reforms (2 months).
  • 2010/01 to 2013/06, Lesotho, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Lesotho Land Administration Authority, established under the Land Reform Activity of the Private Sector Development Programme for Millennium Challenge Account Lesotho / Millennium Challenge Corporation. Led the establishment and operation of the Land Administration Authority (LAA), a new autonomous government agency responsible for land leasing, land registration, cadastral survey, mapping, and spatial data infrastructure. Duties and responsibilities of this executive level role included: identify and design institutional and process reforms for streamlining and strengthening of land services delivery; develop and implement LAA’s first strategic plan; design and implement recruitment policies and recruit senior management and staff; manage and be responsible for the annual recurrent budget of US$2.4 million and project capital budget of US$1.4 million; establish professional, organisational, operational and technical norms, standards and procedures; help prepare policies, procedures and specification for operational management and procurement; oversee and work with external consultant team comprising eleven international and national specialists providing policy and technical advice to support the creation and operation of LAA, and for systematic regularisation of 55,000 parcels of land in urban areas. Achievements included: reducing time to issue/transfer a new lease from >365/101 days in 2010 to 43/17 days in 2013; revenue increased fourfold between 2010-2013; WB Doing Business ranking for property registration improved from 142 in 2010 to 88 in 2014 (42 months).
  • 2019/09 to 2019/12, Mozambique, Team Leader for Consultancy Services to Improve the Operations of the Property Registries in Mozambique with COWI A/S for National Directorate of Registers and Notaries / African Development Bank. Tasks included working with team members on specification and procurement of a computerised national properties registry system, mapping and assessing existing operations and identifying business process reform and improvements to the registration system (3 months).
  • 2008/01 to 2009/08, Ghana, Team Leader and Land Titling Expert for Consultancy Services for the Development, Design and Installation of a Land Information Systems, part of the WB Land Administration Programme, with COWI A/S for Lands Commission / World Bank. Responsible for assessment of land administration processes including land title registration procedures and workflows; conduct of a user needs assessment of each participating land sector agency (6); assess the systematic land titling project in the context of information needs and uses; prepare recommendations on land titling, registration, and LIS (8 months).
  • 2008/11 to 2009/01, Ghana, Land Information Systems Expert for Study of Valuation Techniques for Mass Appraisal with COWI A/S for Land Valuation Department of the Lands Commission / WB. Working with the international and national valuation experts, map the workflows, data input and output, and use of geographic information systems technologies for property value assessment (2 weeks).
  • 2008/09 to 2008/11, Ethiopia, Land Expert for SIDA-Amhara Rural Development Programme. Responsible for evaluating the land component of the programme, which sought to secure individual land rights for small-scale farmers through systematic titling and registration. The evaluation included results of the pilot projects that tested ‘stage 1’ registration with simple procedure and progress on ‘stage 2’ where land parcels are defined more accurately (1 month).
  • 2007/05 to 2007/06, Turks and Caicos Islands, Land Management Expert on Crown Land Policy Implementation Project with Terra Institute for Government of Turks and Caicos. Prepared and documented rules, procedures, and guidelines to improve the allocation and general management of leasehold and freehold titles over Crown (state) lands (1 month).
  • 2006/11 to 2008/03, Egypt, Cadastral Systems Expert on the USAID Financial Services Project-Task 2, with International Land Systems Inc., for Ministry of Justice and Egyptian Survey Authority. Task was to: (a) developed and prepared training materials for Egypt’s first certificate course in cadastral surveying delivered by the Egyptian Survey Authority; (b) designed and prepared an implementation plan, including new technical guidelines and quality assurance standards, for systematic first registration and property index mapping of new settlements; and (c) contributed to on-going work to re-engineer land administration business processes, build capacity in cadastral survey, and strengthen the deeds registration system (8 months).
  • 2005/10 to 2008/10, Ethiopia, Team Leader and Land Administration Adviser on Capacity Building for WB-funded Decentralized Service Delivery Programme: Integrated Urban Land Information Systems Development Project with DHV A/S for Ministry of Federal Affairs. Led a situation and user need analysis and design of a national urban real property registration and information system. Specific responsibilities were for overall project management and proposals for land administration reform, but the role also involved preparing drafting instructions for legislation, institutional and organizational assessment, sustainability issues, particularly with respect to information systems and data, and estimating the costs for project implementation in five regional capitals and Addis Ababa (14 months).
  • 2004/06 to 2007/07, Trinidad and Tobago, Team Leader for technical assistance to support the implementation of the IADB-funded Agriculture Sector Reform Programme: Land Adjudication and Registration Project for the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Marine Affairs. Led a multi-disciplinary team of consultants engaged in the design and preparation for a national programme of systematic adjudication and land title registration. Reporting to a Cabinet-appointed Steering Committee the work entailed: proving policy advice to government; reviewing and drafting laws and regulations; reviewing institutional arrangements; preparing and refining organisational plans and technical procedures; stakeholder consultation and needs analysis; consensus building; and preparation of a fully costed and time bound implementation plan and project document in conformance with IADB requirements (24 months).
  • 2004/04 to 2004/05, India, Land Surveyor for EU-funded Ravine Stabilisation Project, with Agrisystems Ltd., for Uttar Pradesh Ministry of Agriculture / EU. Together with a local survey team, prepared topographic and land use maps, introduced modern methods and training in the use of electronic field data capture, post-processing, and digital presentation of results (2 months).
  • 2004/03, Albania, Team Leader for Technical Monitoring and Dispute Resolution Services for the EU-funded Systematic, Mass First Registration of Immovable Property with Landell Mills Ltd for Ministry of Justice. Short project inception mission and situation analysis (project subsequently delayed) for technical monitoring and dispute resolution (2 weeks).
  • 2003/05 to 2003/06, Guyana, Land Tenure Expert on IADB’s Social Impact Amelioration Program to assess and scope the feasibility of using land tenure regularization to strengthen local capacity to implement community-led agricultural services projects in drainage and irrigation rehabilitation (2 weeks).
  • 2000/01 to 2003/09, Guyana, Land Survey, and Information Systems Adviser on the Land Administration Reform Programme with HTS Development Ltd. (HTSPE/DAI), for UK Department for International Development DFID/FCDO) and the Lands Commission. To assist with: (a) state land tenure regularization of leasehold tenures across coastal agricultural lands, and (b) implement reforms and strengthen capacity to improve land administration service delivery and sustainability. Extensive use was made of GNSS/GPS, aerial photography, and information systems in a new methodology for tenure regularisation designed to be affordable, fit-for-purpose, and sustainable. A new ‘business plan’ led a strategy for institutional reform and organisational change, stressing lower cost methodologies, particularly in cadastral survey, and improved performance through human resource development (36 months).
  • 1993/01 to 1998/08, Swaziland, Land Survey, and Information Systems Adviser for Technical Support to the Surveyor General’s Department with the UK Department for DFID. The role was principally to build capacity through training and guidance in organisation management and technical support (land survey and information systems training and development) for effective cadastral registration. This required reforming work processes and organisation culture to give greater focus to customer service and information delivery for land administration reform and economic development. Mr Johnson also acted as Surveyor General from time-to-time (68 months).
  • 1994/06, Botswana, Geographic Information Systems Expert for the UK Overseas Development Administration (DFID/FCDO) to evaluate a new project for rangeland management that proposed using remote sensing and GIS technologies (2 weeks).
  • 1990/01 to 1992/12, Bermuda, Land Registration Consultant contracted by the Bermuda Government Ministry of Public Works to undertake a feasibility study and cost-benefit analysis for introducing a new system of land title registration. The task comprised: research and planning, stakeholder consultation and advocacy, review of laws and preparation of legal drafting instructions, preparation of an implementation plan to create a new land registry and for systematic adjudication of existing titles, and field testing of approaches for parcel delineation and surveying (36 months).
  • 1978 to 1989, Land Surveyor engaged on cadastral, topographic, seismic, hydrographic, and engineering surveys in Bermuda, Libya, and the United Kingdom for various employers.
  • Creating a Neo-Customary Land Administration System for Sustainable Land Management. International Federation of Surveyors (FIG), Working Week, Proceedings. Johnson, S, J. Van Bennekom-Minnema, and S. Simelane. 2020.
  • The Lesotho Land Administration Authority: The White Elephant Lives. Proceedings of the World Bank Land and Poverty conference, Washington D.C. USA. Johnson, S. 2013.
  • Reforming Land Administration in Lesotho: Rebuilding the Institution. Proceedings of the Map Africa Conference. Johnson, S., and M. Matela. 2010.
  • Building the Cadastral Framework: Achievements and Challenges in the English-Speaking Caribbean. Proceedings of the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure Conference 10. Johnson, S. 2008.
  • The Third World in the Third Millennium: Development from the Geomatics Perspective. Surveying World, Vol. 7 No. 7. Johnson, S. 1999.
  • The Development of a National Land Policy for the Kingdom of Swaziland and the Issue of Land Tenure Reform. Proceedings of the International Land Tenure Conference, University of Cape Town. Johnson, S., A. Mhlanga, A, and M. McDermott. 1998.
  • The Digital Cadastral Database of Swaziland. Proceedings of the 11th Conference of Southern African Surveyors (iKusasa/Consas). Johnson, S. 1997.
  • GIS for GPS. Proceedings of a Workshop on GIS in Southern Africa, University of Zambia. Johnson, S. 1995.
  • Professional Development: Some Problems and Solutions from the Swaziland Perspective. Proceedings, 2nd Workshop on Surveying Education in Southern Africa, University of Cape Town. Johnson, S. 1994.
  • The Production of a Map of Proprietary Land Records in Bermuda: The Foundation of an Integrated Register of Title and Land Information System. Proceedings, GIS/LIS’91 Conference. Johnson, S. 1991.
  • Cadastral Surveying in Bermuda: Past, Present and Future. Proceedings of the Conference of Common-wealth Surveyors. Johnson, S. 1991.
  • 2022/01 to present – independent consultant – land governance and administration
  • 2015/03 tp 2021/12 – COWI A/S of Denmark – senior land administration specialist
  • 2013/06 to 2015/02 – Independent consultant – land administration (Lesotho Millennium Challenge Account, Adam Smith International)
  • 2010/01 to 2013/05 – Lesotho Millennium Challenge Account – Director General – Land Administration Authority
  • 2008/04 to 2009/12 – COWI A/S of Denmark – land administration specialist
  • 1998/08 to 2008/03 – independent consultant – land administration (Ordnance Survey International, HTSPE Ltd., Landell Mills Ltd., Agrisystems Ltd., Terra Institute Inc., Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Agriculture, Lands and Marine Resources, International Land Systems Inc.)
  • 1993/01 to 1998/06 – UK Department for International Development – professional development and information systems adviser to the Swaziland Surveyor General’s Office)
  • 1990/01 to 1992/12 – independent consultant – land registration consultant (HM Government of Bermuda)
  • 1983/01 to 1989/12 – HM Government of Bermuda – land surveyor
  • 1978/06 to 1982/12 – various – land surveyor