Secure Land, Resilient Future: Charting the Next Chapter for Land Governance in Africa

21/08/2025

The foundation of a nation’s prosperity and stability is inextricably linked to how it governs its land. Secure land rights are the bedrock of sustainable development, underpinning everything from private sector investment and urban planning to social equity and climate resilience. Without clear, enforceable tenure, economic growth remains fragile and development inequitable.

This foundational principle was the central theme at the GIZ’s Strengthening Advisory Capacity for Land Governance in Africa (SLGA) Closing workshop in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 5-6 August 2025. Titled “A Decade to Celebrate: Advancing land governance for Africa’s future,” the event convened 130 experts to celebrate the achievements of the SLGA programme. More importantly, it served as a moment to collectively chart a new course for the future, reaffirming that progress for the continent depends on robust and fair land governance.

Why Secure Land Rights Matter for Development

For citizens, businesses and governments, secure land tenure is a catalyst for broad-based progress. A keynote presentation by the Thea Hillhorst from the World Bank detailed how documenting and formalising land rights unleashes profound benefits:

  • Spurring Investment and Economic Growth: Secure land is required for investments. When rights are clear, individuals and businesses can focus on productive activities instead of spending resources to protect their property. This security fosters entrepreneurship allows land to be used as collateral to access credit , and attracts the skills and capital needed for economic diversification.
  • Building Sustainable Cities: With urban areas in Africa growing rapidly, tenure insecurity produces unplanned urban sprawl and slows down infrastructure development. Documented rights are critical for sustainable urban development, financing housing, and creating the informational basis for property taxes that fund local services.
  • Enhancing Climate Resilience and Reducing Conflict: As climate change increases pressure on resources, clear rights to land—including common lands and migration routes—are essential for resilience. Clearly defined rights can help prevent and mitigate the land-related violent conflicts that are rising in many parts of the continent.
  • Empowering Women and Marginalized Groups: Documented rights are a powerful tool for social empowerment, allowing for the legal enforcement of women’s rights to land.

The Challenge: A Continent of Insecure Tenure

Despite the clear benefits, Africa lags in formalising land rights and digitising its land institutions. The outreach of formal institutions is often limited, with title coverage in many rural areas being negligible. Land administration services are often inefficient, with high registration costs creating a bias towards the wealthy and a persistent gender bias where men hold the vast majority of exclusive land ownership titles.

While traditional and customary institutions continue to fill this gap, legislation recognizing their role is often not fully operationalized. This lack of clarity creates uncertainty that undermines investment and can exacerbate conflict.

A New Chapter: Leveraging a Decade of Progress

The SLGA programme and its flagship initiative, the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA), were created to address these very challenges. Over the past decade, NELGA has built a powerful ecosystem for change, establishing a network of over 70 universities and research institutions , developing 30 curricula , and training 3,500 African land experts.

The SLGA Closing Workshop marked the beginning of a new chapter. With the conclusion of core funding from GIZ, the focus has shifted towards long-term sustainability driven by African institutions. The path forward is centered on key strategies:

  • Reducing Donor Dependency: The network is actively exploring new funding mechanisms, including membership contributions, government partnerships, and establishing a consultancy consortium to ensure its long-term financial health.
  • Strengthening the Network: A key lesson learned is that collaboration and networking allow for the sharing of experience and resources at a lower cost. The future strategy involves strengthening the autonomy of NELGA’s regional nodes to better tackle local specificities and anchoring the network’s secretariat within the African Union system to enhance ownership and sustainability.
  • Empowering the Next Generation: A highlight of the event was the launch of the NELGA Alumni Network. This initiative is a strategic step to create a dynamic, pan-African community of professionals to encourage knowledge exchange and drive collaborative, data-driven solutions for the continent’s land challenges.

Ultimately, the workshop affirmed that land governance is not a niche technical issue, but a prerequisite for the continent’s stability and prosperity. As NELGA enters its next phase—driven by its members, partners, and alumni—the collective commitment to building transparent, equitable, and efficient land institutions holds the key to unlocking a resilient and prosperous future for Africa.