The Conference on Land Policy in Africa- a joint initiative of the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank is inviting young African creatives to re-imagine land governance in Africa by writing short stories as part of CLPA coming up on November 2-4, 2021.

We are seeking stories written by African writers located on the continent or in the African diaspora. Creative African youth are strongly encouraged to submit their stories.

Click below to view the call in English and in French

Land governance for safeguarding art, culture and heritage towards the Africa We Want

2 NOVEMBER, 2021 TO 4 NOVEMBER, 2021

Hybrid format – Online and in Kigali, Rwanda

The Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA) is organised biennially by the African Land Policy Centre (ALPC), a joint initiative of the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank. The goal is to deepen capacity for land policy in Africa through improved access to knowledge and information on land policymaking and implementation. The CLPA is a platform for presenting research findings and focusing the attention of a comprehensive range of stakeholders on the issues and status of land policy development, implementation and monitoring in Africa. The CLPA also provides a unique opportunity to showcase emerging and promising practices and facilitate networking. Conference participants include researchers, governments (including parliamentarians), traditional authorities, farmers, civil society, private sector, land practitioners and development partners. The CLPA was first held in 2014, focusing on land, Investment and agriculture issues. A second edition of CLPA was held under a theme targeting youth, land and employment in November 2017. The most recent 2019 CLPA focused on winning the fight against corruption in the land sector.

The fourth CLPA is scheduled to take place over 2 – 4 November 2021 combining online and conventional sessions in a hybrid format, in Kigali, Rwanda, under the theme: “Land governance for safeguarding art, culture and heritage towards the Africa We Want”.  The Conference’s theme aligns with the African Union Declaration of 2021 as “Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building Africa We Want,” which is epitomized by Aspiration 5 of Agenda 2063. The Conference will focus on African heritage and cultural dimensions of land and the potential to secure livelihoods, economic growth, and sustainable development through the creative economy in both the rural and urban settings. The Conference will also focus on fostering innovation, and stimulating social and economic value through creativity, talent, intellectual capital, expressions of the arts, and cultural entrepreneurship as envisioned in Agenda 2063. 

This edition of the Biennial Conference will adopt a creative and scientific approach in line with its theme. The Conference is designed to capture a broad range of emerging issues and knowledge and generate interest in current land policy themes from a wide range of African policy actors. The conference format will be a hybrid with online and physical participation in Kigali that covers plenary and parallel sessions, masterclasses, pre-conference events, side events, exhibitions, and social media to reach a broader audience.

The  African Union (AU) Heads of States and Government endorsed the African Union Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa (AU Declaration on Land). The AU Declaration on Land emphasizes the importance of land to attaining sustainable socio-economic growth and development of the African continent. The Declaration further stresses the importance of protecting and securing the tenure rights of all land users, with a particular focus on women and other vulnerable groups.

To further promote good land governance and ensure the implementation of the AU Declaration on Land, the African Union Commission’s Department of Agriculture Rural Development, Blue Economic and Sustainable Environment (DARBE) has been developing the Land Governance Strategy. The Land Governance Strategy (LGS) is being developed to guide how the AUC ensures that issues related to land governance in Africa are well conceptualized, especially in delivering developmental programmes on the continent. Furthermore, the strategy outlines the principles for protecting the rights to land of Africans and ensuring that land is put to good use for sustainable development.

Click on the link below to review the current draft Land Governance Strategy.

LAND GOVERNANCE STRATEGY (nelga.uneca.org)

We invite you to provide input to the document through the link below.

https://forms.gle/yg5HAXhpRXNMwWPf8

The deadline for making inputs into the draft strategy is July 25, 2021

The input provided during this process will lead to the finalization of the strategy. Furthermore, the strategy will be validated at a reasonable time by various stakeholders.

It is essential to ensure that the curricula for the Land Resource Planning and Management  Programme provides a basis for training professionals who can positively influence the land governance policy space in Kenya and indeed Africa– Dr Joan Kagwanja

Online, May 20, 2021: The AU -UNECA- AfDB African Land Policy Center (ALPC) collaborated with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in an inception workshop for the curriculum review and development of the Land Resource Planning and Management Programme (LRPMP). The inception workshop was aimed at building consensus on the methodology and roadmap for reviewing the LRPMP curriculum, applying the African Union (AU) endorsed Guidelines for Curricula Development on Land Governance in Africa.

UNECA’s Director of Private Sector Development and Finance Division, Mr. William Lugemwa, commended the initiative saying, “Governance of land tenure is a fundamental component for achieving inclusive and sustainable development in Africa, and the initiative by ALPC and JKUAT to strengthen human and institutional capacities will greatly enhance the implementation of the AU Land Agenda.” He lauded the stakeholders for coming together to address the gaps in the Land Resource Planning and Management bachelors program using the AU endorsed tools such as the Guidelines for the Development of Curricula on Land Governance in Africa. “As ECA, we are especially encouraged by the great efforts the University has made to make this review a reality despite restrictions brought about by COVID-19.” He further indicated that ECA, AUC and AfDB in the auspices of ALPC, are committed to this partnership and hope to walk with the university towards a successful Land Resource Planning and Management Programme.

In his welcome remarks, JKUAT Deputy Vice-Chancellor, represented by Prof. Okong’o, also noted that the workshop was timely, observing that the review process is well-aligned with the related needs identified by the institution in meeting the land governance industry needs.  “ JKUAT hosts almost 385 programmes which are carefully developed to address developmental challenges. We welcome this review to ensure that programmes remain consistent to address our unique land issues of Africa,” He noted.  “It is essential to develop dynamic programmes which support innovative ways, especially teaching and learning, in bridging land-themed capacity gaps for our students.”

Kenya’s Commission of University Education (CUE) recommends review of degree programs every four years. The review will ensure academic curricula adheres to industry needs, supporting real-time solutions with local, regional, and global land trends like the Africa agenda 2063, emphasizing Sustainable Development Goals. JKUAT Land Resource Planning and Management undergraduate programme faces the stage of its review, which provides an opportunity to align its curricula to the AU land agenda. The AU Agenda on land, which is defined in key AU commitments, including the Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa,  underline the importance of building human and institutional capacity for sustainable land governance in Africa. 

The inception workshop for the curriculum review of the JKUAT Land Resource Planning and Management Programmefamiliarizedparticipants with land governance industry gaps nationally, regionally and globally; regional commitments and tools; CUE guidelines. The workshop further enhanced consensus on the curriculum review roadmap, including the drafting and accreditation of the graduate programmes in Land Resource Planning and Management, and short courses on land governance.

The workshop also provided an opportunity to introduce the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA) welcoming the University to be part of the membership. ALPC and the Government of Germany (through BMZ and GIZ) have partnered to strengthen human and institutional capacities under NELGA to enhance training, research and technical assistance on land governance in Africa.

The half day virtual workshop targeted a diverse group of stakeholders from NELGA, Land Resources Planning and Management Department, Directorate for Academic Quality Assurance (DAQA), School of Natural Resource and Animal Sciences, College of agriculture and natural resources, land governance experts and other representatives of the academic and land governance industry, among others.

NOTE TO EDITORS:

The African Land Policy Centre (ALPC), formerly called the Land Policy Initiative (LPI) Secretariat, coordinates the implementation of the AU Agenda under the tripartite strategic leadership of  the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Its programmes aim at improving land governance to facilitate sustainable economic development as defined by Agenda 2063 and SDG 2030.

Africa requires significant capacity-building efforts to adopt and implement all available good land governance practices, policies and instruments. The capacity building needs encompass staff training within national lands ministries, academic institutions, development agencies and the private sector on land governance in Africa.

The Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), which coordinates the NELGA Southern Africa Hub is putting in place an open-source online course on land governance and corruption in Africa to meet these needs.

According to NELGA Southern Africa Coordinator and the Head of Department for land and Property Sciences at NUST, Prof. Mutjinde Katjiua, “The course is mainly intended to increase access to land governance education and training in Africa. It is expected to raise awareness of the complex causes and effects of corruption, particularly in Africa’s land sector. Doing so will strengthen the integrity, public accountability, and responsibility within the land industry.” He opined that land professionals in various stages of their career will benefit from this course as it equips them with the tools, tactics and networks that help tackle land corruption issues. They would also be provided with an accessible platform to reflect on their personal moral and the development of their collective professional ethics.

Professionals working both in the private and public land sector are expected beneficiaries of the online course. This includes National Anti-Corruption Commission officials, academia in land-related practices and town planning, officials of Ministry of Lands, private land surveyor, valuation surveyors, property developers, urban and rural planners, and non-governmental organisations land sector as well as development agencies working with national governments.

The course is based on a blended learning format consisting of two phases: an online course and a masterclass follow up phase. The online course will consist of videos, reading material and quizzes to fully engage with course participants. It is designed to be taken at any time of the year, and it will be accessible via NUST NELGA Southern Africa hub website (http://nelga.nust.na/). Participants will need to spend 4-6 hours per week on the online course up to a total of 36 hours in 4 weeks.

The masterclass will be delivered in the format of the trainer of trainers, which will provide course participants with thorough knowledge of the principles of good land governance and the adverse effects of corruption in both the private and public sector. This format will allow for deeper interaction with tutors and for the participants to share their experiences in a 3-days seminar set-up.

Further details like registration links and course materials for the online course and application requirements for the masterclass will be shared as the launch date approaches.

The Tanzanian agrarian economy is predominantly dependent on land. In rural Tanzania, the land is an important factor of production for both men and women. Although the country’s legal framework advocates equal rights and opportunities to resources, most women can neither inherit nor own land due to gender-discriminatory customary practices. Studies revealed that some traditional belief systems work against women’s rights to land in Tanzania.

Despite the Land Acts passed in 1999, which began implementation in May 2001, major challenges are still present, as evidenced by the impressive number of reports that have since been produced on the persistent institutional weaknesses of the land rights system and land administration, and several partial reforms that have attempted to improve the situation. The Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF) (2009 and 2015) pointing major institutional challenges and called for a systematic review of the National Land Policy of 1995 to explore the extent to which expected gains had materialized and what could be done to improve the performance of land management.

The most challenge aggressively touched upon was the affirmative action to address gender issues on land governance followed by land surveying, mapping, and registration; redefining institutional mandates; strengthening of decentralization; making land-use planning more participatory; changing expropriation practices; and improving conflict resolution mechanisms through dispute machinery. However, little has been done on awareness creation on dispute machinery towards land laws, land acts, and policies, especially those promoting gender equity. 

To address the challenge on women land rights, the NELGA South African node will embark on an outreach programme from May 3rd to 8th, 2021 to ward chancellors, member of ward tribunals, head of departments and district land conflict committee in three districts, namely Kilwa, Songwe and Lindi of Tanzania. These three districts were purposely chosen as discriminations with harsh consequences prevail when women try to claim their rights to land.

The outreach programme will address land challenges from the gender perspective and their related bundle of rights, and highlight land rights, land acts, and policies in Tanzania as instruments against gender discrimination to land, and develop a system to create common solutions. Such instruments are key to empower women and reduce related land conflicts at the grassroots level before seeking resolution for land disputes through other means.

Studies and evaluations that guide the African Union’s (AU)land intervention and policy have shown that African universities’ training and education in the specific area of land governance are often ‘imported’, thereby producing land professionals who are not equipped to meet Africa’s realities. Curriculums also tend to be too technical and have flaws in the social, cultural, political, economic and environmental aspects essential to the continent’s land governance and administration systems. To address the above, the AU developed the Guidelines for Curricula Development on Land Governance tailored to meet the continent’s realities.

NELGA Francophone West Africa node hosted by the University of Gaston Berger node organized a sensitization workshop on the Guidelines for Curricula Development on Land Governance in Africa from the 14th to 15th of April 2021 for university representatives and land governance academic and research stakeholders located in Francophone West Africa. The workshop which was held virtually provided the opportunity to clarify how the revision of land education programs can be made in line with the AU guidelines while remaining firmly entrenched in the West African context. The sensitization was necessary due to the limited attention given to land education in Francophone West Africa and the gap between education and the labour market and policy-making needs in most countries.

The meeting that UNECA’s Africa Land Policy Center coordinated with support from GIZ focused on creating a collective understanding of the guidelines and how this can be mainstreamed within current education programs or creating standalone academic programs. Land experts, specialists, policymakers, researchers from Senegal, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Togo, Mauritania, Congo, and Madagascar, attended this event. The two days’ workshop enclosed presentations and discussions on topics like Evolution of Land Governance in Africa, The Land Governance Industry, Land Governance in Rural, Urban and Peri-urban Areas, Gender, Women and Land, Environment, Climate Change and Land, Conflicts and Land Governance as well as Research and innovation.

Discussions at the meeting explained that the current education on land Governance in Africa is influenced by the outside world and is not reflective of our reality with influences from the pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial perspectives. The current situations are important reminders of the need to develop realistic land governance curricula which takes the best of the past and the present to bridge capacity gaps that will create the Africa we want in the land governance space. The guidelines are supposed to help shape our curriculum in a way that recognizes our historical context.

African universities play a key role in assisting the Member States in implementing the AU Agenda on Land and forming tailor-made land governance policies in Africa’s context. Participants discussed the African Union’s vision for revising land curricula with reflections from participants on their common understanding of the content of the framework of the guidelines. The meeting ended with an agreement to discuss how this can be applied and tailored to university specifications, and the respective country needs moving forward. They stressed how the workshop was necessary to expand their knowledge and grasp the tools and methodology that assist universities in reviewing land training programs. 

The Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA) and its regional and technical nodes held its semiannual technical planning meeting virtually on Tuesday, 30th of March 2021, under the African Land Policy’s Center (ALPC) coordination. The meeting convenes NELGA coordinating and implementing partners to look at the experience of the past months of working together, identify lessons learned, and tag areas for strategic intervention towards meeting the AU land agenda towards 2063.

The recent planning meeting brought together the NELGA Nodes from the University of Western Cape (Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), Université Gaston Berger (UGB), Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences (IAV), ARDHI University and University of Yaoundé I. Other partners include the  GIZ and German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD),

The meeting reviewed 2021 Work Plans and discussed areas for synergy, amplification, dialogue, and intervention, especially as the continent tackles the Covid19 pandemic. Dr. Joan Kagwanja, Chief of the African Land Policy Centre and chair of the technical meeting, said, “I am grateful for all the achievements we have made so far in such a difficult year. So much work has been done despite all difficulties the pandemic has brought to our table. It is great to see our advisors, coordinators, and other stakeholders making headways and moving the dial on the continent’s land governance landscape. We may be a young network; however, this platform provides areas of synergy and cooperation towards reaching our goals while celebrating our intermediate achievements.”

Participants shared and spoke to the outcome of activities from research, training, and networking while documenting logical next steps towards bridging capacity gaps and strengthening the land governance space with data and empirical research findings for policy recommendations. To engage in the various platforms and enhance linkages with different stakeholders for NELGA to grow as a continental program. “We should continue contributing to the policy development processes in the different regions. And as a network, we can do a lot more. We should keep examining whether the indicators we have put for ourselves are helping us to measure how much we have achieved in terms of the gaps.” Said Dr. Kagwanja as a reminder to continue the hard work. Some areas of work identified include introducing e-learning platforms, policy recommendations in the various national agriculture investment plans, developing road maps, institutionalizing new land governance academic programs, publishing new research findings, insight on DAAD/NELGA scholarships, reviewing land legal frameworks, and impacting women’s rights, youth, and climate change, among others.

Following the presentation made by the secretariat, the stakeholders appreciated how far NELGA came in the knowledge management and dissemination as well as the communications area. They assured to contribute their part into achieving what is planned for the year 2021. Prof. Paul Tchawa, coordinator for the Central Africa Node, in appreciation, said, “We truly see areas of improvement in our journey as NELGA as we share common contribution and attribution in the evolving land governance space. Together, we can ensure we continue to build on our work for our continent, our economy, and our future.” He stated that he believes in working together as it makes it even more possible to achieve the AU Agenda on Land

The African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences (AJLP & GS) publishes research articles in Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences thematic areas. The main intention of encouraging innovation, promoting the exchange of knowledge and scientific outcomes, released its first issue in May 2018. The journal has since released four volumes and 12 issues, including the most recent edition for 2021.

The new issue is the first edition of the year 2021, and it has nine articles published. The articles cover land administration, land governance, land corruption, land conflicts, and technical and digital solutions to land-related problems.

The AJLP & GS encourages researchers, professors, and professionals to publish and promote their research findings at the African, regional and global levels. The research piece in the journal improves the land governance sector, inspire future researchers to dig more and back up policymakers’ decisions with actual evidence.

To access the journal, click on the link below.

https://revues.imist.ma/index.php/AJLP-GS