Improving policy-research linkages
From 14th to 17th November the African Land Policy Center (ALPC) hosted the second Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This time Africa’s promising and fast growing youth was the focus of the Conference, which was held under the theme: “The Africa We Want: Achieving socioeconomic transformation through inclusive and equitable access to land by the youth”.
The Conference gathered together over 400 participants from the African Union (AU) member states: government representatives, traditional leaders, academia, civil society, private sector, farmers and young researchers and activists. CLPA served as a platform for policy dialogue and learning by covering diverse topics from land policy reform to incorporating high-tech solutions and gender issues in land administration.
The discussions during the Conference proved the importance of inclusive land policies based on strong linkages between land-related research and policy-making processes. The Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA)*, which was featured prominently at CLPA, addressed these issues by connecting leading African researchers in the area of land governance with policy-makers as well as practitioners. As a part of the Conference NELGA partners conducted a round-table discussion on the current status of establishing the Network, recent achievements, challenges and potential for cooperation.
“I am happy to be part of this big network and I believe it will be much more effective to bring practical changes in Africa.”
– NELGA member
NELGA also organized numerous side-events: a master class on effective land administration delivered by the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), which brought together policy-makers, leading academics and civil society activists across Africa; and a meeting of more than 30 NELGA scholarship holders that involved discussion of their current research, training on communication, research publication and networking as well as a field visit to the Ethiopian Information Network Security Agency.
Striving to improve education and training for good land governance across Africa, NELGA connects proactive scholars and researchers to create a platform for networking and improving their expertise. It was noted by many participants that NELGA is building a strong foundation for tackling Africa’s land governance challenges and it was proved by the broad interest of the Conference participants.
*NELGA brings together over 50 leading Africa universities and research institutions across Africa with proven leadership in education, training and research on land governance. The research network was established under the leadership of ALPC in cooperation with GIZ, the World Bank and other partners.
Read more about CLPA here.