The GLTN’s Urban CSO Cluster, UN-Habitat and Habitat for Humanity’s Solid Ground campaign invite you to a multi-stakeholder regional conference on land governance and management in Pretoria, South Africa from 15 – 17 August 2017, titled Partnership for Action: Improving Land Governance and Management in Africa. The Conference will be convened in partnership with the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST), the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa (NELGA), Habitat International Coalition (HIC), Huairou Commission, and Slum/Shack Dwellers International (SDI).
Bringing together civil society organizations, grassroots leaders, policy-makers, parliamentarians, government officials, practitioners, academics and land sector specialists, the conference will present the opportunity for stakeholders from multiple sectors to come together to explore approaches to land governance towards inclusive and sustainable development in Africa.
Land governance and management approaches are common to both rural and urban contexts. One of the key trends in Africa is the phenomenon of high rates of urbanization and at the same time the declining public provision of serviced land and housing. The extensive urban poverty in Africa demands solutions focused on land and housing, and addressing land governance and security will require partnership across sectors as well as joint action on policy and programming.
The African Union Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa (2010) recognizes the “centrality of land to sustainable socio-economic growth, development and the security of the social, economic and cultural livelihoods of people.” The declaration also calls for the prioritization of land policy development in the region and the inclusion of civil society and the private sector in these processes. The declaration calls on all member countries to establish appropriate frameworks and to provide “activities to facilitate mutual learning” and policy development.
With an overarching goal of developing greater understanding of the importance of tenure security and land, the conference outcome seeks to build broader capacities around policy-making and implementation strategies relevant to Africa, while exploring policy-making approaches with country case studies which will have particular resonance for policy-makers and members of the Pan-African Parliament to ensure best practices, including principles of participation, evidence, and data-driven approaches.
The conference is designed to present opportunities for the sharing of experiences of implementation of land governance methodologies and approaches to surface best practices through open discussion and platforms to explore and discuss land governance approaches. Some of the approaches to be explored include the continuum of land rights, fit for purpose, flexible land tenure policy approaches, in addition to GLTN land tools and strategies, specifically the Social Tenure Domain Model and Gender Evaluation Criteria.
Follow the link to access more information on how to participate, venue and registration: http://solidgroundcampaign.org/partnershipforaction
