The Land Policy Initiative Centre (LPIC) will organise second conference on Africa’s land policy in Ethiopia from 14-17 November 2017, seeking to provide better access to knowledge and information on Africa’s land policy development and implementation
The conference will be held under the theme ‘The Africa We Want: Achieving socioeconomic transformation through inclusive and equitable access to land by the youth.’
Joan Kagwanja, coordinator of LPIC, said that the theme aims to support the declaration by the African Union of 2017 as the year of the youth under the broader theme of ‘Harnessing Africa’s Demographic Dividend through Investment in youth.’
Commenting on the need of effective land policy for Africa, Kagwanja further added, “As we always say, land is central to Africa’s development and if well- governed and managed, we will surely reduce poverty and inequalities.”
The conference is important as participants will be looking at the potential to use land in Africa to maximum returns for everyone, he explained.
The representatives from member States, farmers, parliamentarians, private sector, academia and civil society are expected to attend the four-day conference. They will highlight the latest innovations in land, including research and papers on the land sector in Africa, aiming to strengthen land governance and administrative institutions at local and national levels.
“We expect the conference to have a catalytic effect on evidence-based land policy development and implementation by creating space for presenting research and other evidence by Africans and other interested stakeholders,” said Kagwanja.
According to him, the conference will also focus on the empowerment of youth through strengthening their land rights, women’s land access rights and gender equality, inclusive, transparent and sustainable land based investments and economic justice and environmental management or monitoring.
In addition, the conference will also discuss planning, monitoring and evaluation experiences as well as new practices in developing and implementing land policies on the continent.
