As part of efforts to strengthen Africa's weak land governance and insecure land rights issues that remain major development challenges for the continent, technical experts have gathered in a virtual meeting to discuss these concerns and plan ahead for what is needed to deliver the African Union agenda on land.

The meeting was held under the coordination of the African Land Policy Center (ALPC), formerly the Land Policy Initiative (LPI), and brought together experts from the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA ) and its regional and technical nodes.

They reviewed progress made on the 2020 work plans; assessed the NELGA Secretariat work plan for 2020-2021 and encouraged the coordination of efforts to meet the African Union land agenda.

ALPC has been mandated to spearhead the implementation of the African Union Land Program which aims to improve land policy across the continent.

Although a growing number of countries are showing political will to implement these initiatives, their implementation at the national level remains at an early stage. Many countries lack the human and institutional capacities to implement sustainable land policies. One of the main reasons for this lack relates to the insufficient quality of the academic programs of African universities and institutions of higher learning.

The technical planning meeting is part of the continental initiative comprising ALPC, NELGA and GIZ, and includes land governance technical experts, academics and government stakeholders, responsible for providing academic support and oversight, research, data, reports and policy recommendations to influence good land governance and strong land reforms in Africa.

The meeting was opened by the Head of the African Land Policy Centre, Ms. Joan Kagwanja, and co-chaired the meeting with Ms. Anita Hernig, Program Manager, Consultative Capacity Building in Land Governance, GIZ.

In her opening remarks, Ms. Kagwanja said, “The planning meeting will provide additional information that will help the NELGA Secretariat and ALPC develop actions to advance practical steps towards advancing policy changes in the land administration in Africa. In the end, it will have to be achieved. Besides the usual focused discussions on previous achievements in the different areas of work and exchanges on land governance, I look forward to creating more synergies to achieve the set objectives”.

The meeting celebrated the successful establishment of the NELGA Secretariat and the integration of its pioneering staff of diverse nationalities recruited amid the crippling COVID-19 crisis.

“It is expected that with the full recruitment of the Secretariat team, this will improve communication, coordination and collaboration within the network at the continental level,” says Ms. Kagwanja.

The NELGA Secretariat will enhance the coordination, knowledge generation and dissemination of network activities in conjunction with NELGA institutions across the continent through its regional nodes. These activities include training NELGA students, implementing the NELGA scholarship program, promoting and facilitating the delivery of training for scholars and policy makers in the region; and work with RECs and other regional/national stakeholders to generate data. Working through the regional nodes, the secretariat will coordinate regional activities involving NELGA member institutions, linking them to other regional NELGA networks for joint activities, knowledge sharing and partnership building.

The meeting enabled NELGA to showcase the results of the network through collaborative research, fellowship programs and knowledge exchange; reviewed comprehensive and harmonized work plans, introduced new partnerships, opportunities and sustainability strategies to deliver on the AU commitment to improve land policies in Africa for 2020-2021.

Participants applauded the network for introducing innovative methods through digital platforms to foster online learning on land governance in response to COVID-19.

Regional stakeholders from Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Ethiopia, Cameroon, Tanzania, Namibia, South Africa and Germany were among the participants of the virtual meeting.

The African Land Policy Center (ALPC), formerly known as the Land Policy Initiative (LPI), is a joint program of the tripartite consortium consisting of the African Union Commission (AUC), the African Development Bank (AfDB ) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA). Its objective is to enable the use of land to give impetus to the process of African development. The program is governed by a steering committee that meets periodically, while a joint secretariat implements day-to-day activities.

In order to strengthen the human and institutional capacities for the implementation of the AU program on land, ALPC has created the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA). NELGA is a partnership of leading African universities and research institutions with proven leadership in land governance education, training and research. Currently, NELGA has over 50 partner institutions across Africa. And aims to, improve training opportunities and curricula on land governance in Africa, promote demand-driven research on land policy issues, connect scholars and researchers across Africa through university networks, and finally to create data and information for the monitoring and evaluation of land policy reforms.