Institute for Liberty and Democracy

The Institute for Liberty and Democracy (or ILD) is a Lima-based think tank devoted to the promotion of property rights in developing countries. It was established in 1979 by Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. The ILD works with developing countries to implement property and business rights reforms that provide the legal tools and institutions required for citizens to participate in the formal economy.

The ILD's initiative began in 1979 when de Soto was running a group of small Peruvian mining companies headquartered in Lima and believed he was spending too much of his time grappling with red tape and climbing over regulatory barriers. He found this to be a nationwide problem, resulting from excessive government regulation. This meant that the lion's share of the Peruvian economy was an informal one. The ILD's research received much publicity and de Soto was contacted by President Fernando Belaúnde Terry who asked him for a plan to reform executive branch legislation. However, the project was abandoned due to pressure from Belaúnde's cabinet.

ILD has worked directly in more than 25 emerging market countries and has been consulted by 35 heads of state, leading a range of high-impact projects such as managing property formalization in Peru, implementing land titling in El Salvador, and helping streamline the legal frameworks governing property and business rights in Tanzania and Egypt.

When the Shining Path began to gain power during the 80s, the ILD started a campaign to raise awareness about "the informal sector." In 1986, de Soto published his first book, The Other Path, calling for legal reforms.

In 1984 the ILD sought to establish an ombudsman in Peru to represent public interests. In July 1984 and December 1985, the ILD signed two agreements with the Office of the Attorney General to design the legal mechanisms for Peru's first "Office of the Ombudsman" --El Defensor del Pueblo. In February 1986, the ILD launched the ombudsman project: A special team from the institute set up several offices in Lima to receive and process grievances. During the first month, more than 153 grievances representing 300,000 individuals were received, either in person or by mail. More than half of the complaints were about the difficulties of gaining legal access to housing.

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