Tag: Land policy
Navigating the Mailo Impasse: An In-Depth Analysis of Uganda’s National Land Policy and its Four Options for Resolution
In 2013, Uganda embraced the National Land Policy (NLP), outlining a crucial mission in paragraph 44: to disentangle the complex web of interests and rights surrounding Mailo Land Tenure and Native Freehold Tenure. The roots of this initiative were deeply embedded in the persistent land question, a legacy of colonialism that led to overlapping and conflicting tenure rights.
The NLP’s commitment stemmed from various challenges:
a) Colonial Legacy: Uganda’s land question, a result of colonial influences, triggered conflicting tenure rights that demanded resolution.
b) Contestation of Rights: Ongoing disputes over the definition of rights granted to bonafide occupants in the Land Act (Cap 227) fueled the need for a comprehensive solution.
c) Statutory Protection: The Land Amendment Act (2010) attempted to protect bonafide occupants from arbitrary evictions, but the prescribed nominal ground rent was often overlooked by registered landowners.
d) Escalating Conflicts: Evictions, land disputes, and conflicts reached a deadlock as the prescribed tenant-landlord relationship failed to regulate the relationship between tenants and registered landowners effectively.
To address these issues, four options were proposed: Land sharing, buyout, leasehold, and certificate of occupancy. Despite having regulatory processes, a decade later, the implementation of these options remains a challenge.
This study delves into the status and issues surrounding the proposed options, examining the experiences of Ugandan citizens settled on Mailo land. As a result, evidence-based recommendations are put forth to enhance the policy’s proposed solutions, aiming to break the Mailo impasse and provide a clearer path for sustainable land use in Uganda.
For the full report, click here.
For the full Policy Brief, click here.
Unleashing the Power of Knowledge: NELGA North Africa Network to Host International Forum in Rabat
The NELGA North Africa Node is set to host its first International Forum of Knowledge (IKF2023), titled “Sharing knowledge and expertise in the domain of land policy and geospatial sciences,” from June 20–22, 2023. The forum will take place at the Hassan II Agronomic and Veterinary Institute in Rabat, Morocco.
The objectives of the forum are to reflect on the development and implementation of responsible land policies, build the skills and capacities of participants, promote the exchange and sharing of experiences, brainstorm on new approaches concerning the land domain, disseminate knowledge and results pertaining to research in this field, establish and strengthen new links, and encourage the formation of new partnerships.
The forum will feature scientific papers that will be peer-reviewed and published in the forum proceedings. Articles with scientific, professional, and institutional value will then be published in the September and November 2023 issues of the African Journal on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences (ISSN 2657-2664).
The IKF2023 is a must-attend event for policymakers, researchers, academics, professionals, and stakeholders in the land governance and geospatial sciences sectors.
Registration for the virtual event will open in mid-June 2023. Stay tuned for more information.
Call for Papers: NELGA North Africa International Forum on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences I June 6-8, 2023
Papers are currently being accepted for the International Forum on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences to be held in Rabat, Morocco, on 6-8 June 2023.
Papers can be submitted through the Abstract Template.
The forum allows all stakeholders in geospatial sciences, land governance, land policy, and sustainable development paradigms to share their expertise, knowledge, and experiences. All participants interested in the Forum’s themes are encouraged to register by clicking this link. Registration
If a participant has submitted a contribution in French or Arabic, an abstract in English is required. Contributions will be assigned to the axes’ topics as described below. Abstracts must be uploaded through the Submission link no later than April 1st, 2023.
Find more details on the subject areas of focus in the attached documents below. If you have a question about attending the conference, submitting abstract or other queries, kindly email nelga@iav.ac.ma / nelga.research@gmail.com.
Find the Call for Abstracts here in English and French for more details, especially thematic areas.
IWD2023 Q&A: Laws must protect Women’s Land Rights regardless of Status – Dr Edeme
- Dr Janet Edeme is the Head of the Rural Development Division in the Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, Blue Economy and Sustainable Environment of the African Union Commission in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
- Her Division is responsible for coordinating the implementation of the African Union Agenda on Land and its challenges, Post-Harvest Loss Management, and Empowerment of Women and Youth in Agriculture.
Special Focus on Leading Voices on Women’s Land Rights in Africa
What is the importance of International Women’s Day (IWD), and what does it represent to you?
International Women’s Day reminds us of the critical role women play in our societies and their valuable contribution to Africa. If you consider the African landscape, our women contribute to the sustenance of our agriculture and food systems and achieving food and nutrition security. Women, therefore, need land as well as other productive resources for them to contribute towards the development of Africa sustainably.
When women can enjoy their land rights, they will be able to contribute to the achievement of Agenda 2063 sufficiently; more specifically, Aspiration 6 envisions an Africa whose development are people driven, relying on the potential offered by African People, especially its Women and Youth, and caring for Children. Through Aspiration 6 of Agenda 2063, we hope to achieve full Gender Equality in all spheres of life, including accessing and owning productive land.
You’ve worked in this space for a long time. What about 2022 to 2023 has surprised you the most on women’s land rights?
During the period 2022 and the early months of 2023, the world was recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic disrupted the status quo and prompted renewed thinking on managing global food supply chains.
The Russia-Ukraine Conflict, however, slowed down the post-Covid 19 pandemic recovery process, and what we have seen is an increase in agriculture production costs, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is heavily reliant on fertiliser, agro chemicals and raw crop inputs from the two countries that have been in conflict for close to two years now.
We, therefore, need to rethink and strategize how women can position themselves and apply sustainable agriculture practices that can enhance their productivity and leverage opportunities that the reduced importation of foods from Europe would create. We have sufficient land in Africa, but we must ensure that our women are resilient to the many external shocks, including wars, epidemics and climate change.
How can we build back a society that supports women’s land rights?
To have a society that supports women’s land rights, we need to ensure that our Member States put policies and legal frameworks in place that protect women’s land rights despite their status and whatever tenure arrangements they have land on.
There is also a need to adapt to low-cost Information Communication Technologies (ICT) and associated applications and use them for enhanced information sharing among women and other vulnerable groups. This will help increase awareness of the available opportunities women can leverage and benefit from their land rights. ICTs can further facilitate women’s increased access to registering land rights, agriculture extension, finance and technical assistance.
We also urge AU Member States to deliberately increase the quota for women’s participation in various Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) platforms both at the regional and national levels. This is key in facilitating women’s participation in planning, and decision-making and increasing their access to information to land.
What can men do to help to achieve equality for women’s land rights?
Men are involved in decision-making over land. They are also involved in land administration worldwide and can promote women’s rights to land in their daily roles as administrators of this vital resource. This includes creating a gender-inclusive business environment that limits the barriers to entry of women and women-led businesses in various sectors of the economy.
What advice would you offer to young women interested in pursuing a career in the land/ land governance sector?
Opportunities in the land sector are diverse, and you can always find a place to influence change as a surveyor, administrator, lawyer defending other women’s rights, policy maker, and planner. The opportunities are endless in the land sector!
With the increasing digitalisation of processes, we expect tech-savvy young women to innovatively develop technologies and platforms that would address the challenges that disproportionately affect women’s access to land. Working in the land sector allows you to contribute to development, specially and uniquely.
NELGA Presents: International Women’s Month Q&A Series
Welcome to the International Women’s Month Q&A series on the NELGA website. This March, we are shining a spotlight on the critical contributions that women are making in the field of land governance and land rights. As part of this series, we’re interviewing well-known women in the field affiliated with the network. They’ll talk about their experiences, insights, and points of view on various issues related to land governance, policy, and rights.
The goal of these Q&As is to honour the accomplishments of women in this field while also bringing attention to the problems they’ve had to deal with and the chances for progress and change. We hope this series will encourage more people to get involved in land governance and work for more social justice and gender equity.
We are excited to share the stories and insights of these women, whose actions influence NELGA’s impact in Africa. We hope you will join us in celebrating International Women’s Month and women’s contributions to the land governance field.
#EMBRACEEQUITY
Find the stories here:
Publication: Understanding Urban Land Leasing System as a Strategic Value Capture Instrument to Enhance Urban Revenue in Ethiopia: A Case Study of Bahir Dar City
Since 1993, the Ethiopian government has been using the urban land leasing system to monetize the increase in land value created due to factors other than private investment. Thus, this paper by Seid Hussen Yimam, Hans Lind and Belachew Yirsaw Alemu aims to explore and understand whether Bahir Dar city is leveraging the urban land lease system as a strategic value capture instrument to enhance its local revenue or not.
This study has used the qualitative research method and in-depth analysis. The information needed to reach the goal of this study has been gathered through a desk review of documents and key informant interviews with experts and brokers. The study has found that most urban land is held under a permit system, with landholders paying a small amount of land rent per annum. The study also found that most of the city’s land was given away through administrative allotment at low and out-of-date benchmark prices, which hurt the city’s lease income.
Also, it has been found that there isn’t enough enforcement of lease payment collection, which hurts the city’s ability to make money from urban areas. So, the city isn’t using the public land leasing system as a strategic way to get more value out of the land. Based on these results, this paper suggests that the government set up a modern property tax system to capture the increase in value of land with a permit. Also, the study plans to do empirical research to find the factors that significantly impact benchmark prices and to update the benchmark price based on those factors regularly. Moreover, the study has suggested proper enforcement of the lease payment collection in the city.
EAC Secretariat Capacity Enhanced to Address Land Governance Challenges
The African Land Policy Centre (ALPC) has enhanced the capacity of senior staff of the East African Community (EAC) Secretariat to facilitate the integration of land governance issues in programmes, especially those of the productive sector. The capacity-building workshop on implementing the AU Declaration on Land was held on 16 -17 August 2022, in Kampala, Uganda, under the auspices of a joint ALPC-EAC project which was endorsed by the EAC Council of Ministers of Environment and Natural Resources Management.
Emphasising the cross-cutting nature of land, ALPC Coordinator, Ms Joan Kagwanja, applauded the EAC secretariat’s participation at the senior level in the workshop, noting that capacities gained to integrate land governance issues in programmes will significantly advance EAC interventions in support of achieving objectives related to agriculture and food security; environment and natural resources; tourism and wildlife management; energy, infrastructural and industrial development; gender and women empowerment, among others. She further commended recent efforts and commitment to engage with the Partner States and establish a steering committee that will oversee the implementation of a road map, the first activity of which is the operationalisation of a platform for the exchange of knowledge and best practices among partner states. This is what is envisaged in the AU Declaration on Land.
This workshop draws on a recently validated capacity assessment study report conducted with the technical support of ALPC, which identified the need to enhance the capacity of the EAC Secretariat to better address land issues within EAC programmes. The assessment also noted a gap in knowledge platforms that would facilitate the exchange of best practices among Partner States, and identify emerging issues in order to design frameworks/mechanisms to address land issues, especially those that are transboundary in nature. The assessment also emphasised the role of the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa in bridging these gaps. Capacity building modules touched on how to address land governance issues such as securing land rights for all land users, promoting responsible land based investments, preventing and addressing land and ethnic-based conflicts, improving women’s access to land/securing their land rights, and the central role of land use planning, effective land administration and information systems, the role of communication, among others.
NELGA Holds Bi-Annual Planning Meeting with Stakeholders
The Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA) and its regional and technical nodes are meeting virtually on Tuesday, 30th of March 2021, under the African Land Policy Center (ALPC). The planning meeting is a bi-annual event where land governance stakeholders review the next steps towards meeting the AU agenda on land in research, policy reform, and capacity building. The technical planning meeting is part of the continental program comprised by ALPC, NELGA, and GIZ, including land governance technical experts, academics, and key stakeholders, tasked with providing program oversight and recommendations that influence land governance reforms in Africa. The upcoming meeting is expected to bring together diverse stakeholder representatives from PLAAS, DAAD, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Namibia University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Université Gaston Berger (UGB), Hassan II Institute of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences (IAV), ARDHI University and the University of Yaoundé I.
Pour une amélioration des curricula sur la gouvernance foncière en Afrique Centrale: NELGA Afrique centrale organise un atelier de sensibilisation sur la révision des programmes d’enseignement en matière de gouvernance foncière
Du 10 au 13 novembre 2020, des experts en gouvernance foncière et des universitaires issus des principales universités et institutions académiques du Cameroun se réuniront dans la ville universitaire de Dschang pour examiner la nécessité de disposer des curricula actualisés sur la gouvernance foncière qui tienne compte du contexte africain et qui soit en étroite ligne avec les recommandations de l’Union Africaine en matière de gouvernance foncière.
La réunion est organisée par le Réseau d’excellence sur la gouvernance foncière en Afrique (NELGA), qui est coordonné par le Centre africain de politique foncière (ALPC) avec le soutien du ministère fédéral allemand de la coopération économique et du développement (BMZ) auprès de l’Union africaine, sur le thème “Lignes directrices pour l’élaboration des curricula sur la gouvernance foncière en Afrique”.
La réunion est la résultante de la volonté de universités partenaires à NELGA Afrique centrale d’obtenir un soutien et des conseils dans la révision et la conception des programmes d’études sur les questions de gouvernance foncière. Il est alors nécessaire de sensibiliser ces universités sur les directives conçues par l’Union Africaine en matière de révision des curricula afin d’aligner les programmes d’enseignement sur les politiques stratégiques de l’Union africaine.
L’Université de Yaoundé I via le réseau NELGA en étroite collaboration avec ses universités partenaires ont envisagé le présent atelier de sensibilisation/formation afin de doter les responsables universitaires d’Afrique centrale des outils et connaissances nécessaires à la révision de leurs programmes d’études sur le foncier tout en s’assurant de la conformité de ces programmes avec les lignes directrices de l’Union africaine.
La gouvernance foncière est associée à la gestion de plusieurs autres ressources connexes qui pourraient propulser la croissance économique, la prospérité et le développement durable à grande échelle, d’une part, et les activités culturelles, d’autre part. La terre joue également un rôle prédominant dans la cohésion sociale, la paix et la sécurité.
Compte tenu du déficit observé dans le secteur du foncier en Afrique, notamment en matière de compétences et d’expertise, les États membres de l’Union Africaine ont été invités à “développer des capacités humaines, financières et techniques adéquates pour soutenir l’élaboration et la mise en Å“uvre de la politique foncière en Afrique”. Il a alors été recommandé aux universités et établissements d’enseignement supérieur d’examiner les programmes d’études, de recherche et de formation existants afin de déterminer s’ils sont adéquats pour répondre aux besoins de l’industrie. Des lacunes importantes ont été identifiées dans le contenu et la nature des programmes de formation et de recherche proposés par les universités et autres établissements d’enseignement supérieur africains.
Face à ce constat, le Centre Africain sur les Politiques foncières (ALPC – African Land Policy Centre) a élaboré en partenariat avec un groupe d’experts et d’académiciens africains les « lignes directrices pour le développement de programmes d’études sur la gouvernance foncière en Afrique ». Ce document a pour objectif de servir de cadre pour le développement et/ou la revue des curricula académiques des universités Africaines. Ces lignes directrices ont été présentées à l’organe politique compétent de l’UA pour approbation et sont ensuite devenu l’un des outils clefs de la mise en Å“uvre de l’agenda de l’UA sur le foncier.
À la fin de l’atelier, les universités de Dschang, Douala, Yaoundé, Cameroun, Université de Bangui en RCA, l’Université de N’Djamena au Tchad et Omar Bongo au Gabon commenceront à réviser le contenu des cours sur le foncier.
Youth Engagement for Global Action on Land Rights
Did you know that empowering young people through knowledge and information on land rights can reduce poverty rates and support the development of the African continent?
As the world celebrates the 2020 International Youth Day Edition, we must harness the untapped potentials in our youth as the continent has the largest concentration of young people in the world. It is essential to engage the African youth in knowledge building and encouraging creativity to rapidly transform the continent’s land situations as key for a
The global theme for #IYD2020 calls for Youth Engagement for Global Action; this is the time for African youth to improve their knowledge, advertise for youth-focused research and develop lasting solutions to land governance challenges on the continent. With good land governance and secure land rights, young people can help to stabilize their societies and create more opportuniti