Deadline: 30 July 2021
An Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on Housing, Land and Property (HLP) in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt – Gaza Strip and West Bank, including East Jerusalem) is planned to take place on 14 September 2021 in Ramallah, dependent on COVID-19 regulations (virtual attendance possible), within the ambit of the project “Achieving Planning and Land Rights in Area C, West Bank, Palestine” implemented by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), in partnership with the Land and Water Settlement Commission (LWSC) and the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), and funded by the European Union.
The EGM will build on the Second Arab Land Conference held in Cairo in February 2021, the EGM on Fostering Land Governance in the Arab states in Amman of 2016, and the Arab Land Session at the Land and Poverty Conference: Catalysing Innovation of the World Bank of 2019; in all of which Palestine was represented and supported by UN-Habitat. Further, the EGM will build on the Palestinian National Development Plan (2021 – 2023), National Spatial Plan (2050) and the National Urban Policy for Palestine under preparation, the newly developed – and first of its kind – Palestinian Land Sector Strategy 2021 – 2023, as well as the endorsed international frameworks such as the New Urban Agenda (Habitat III) and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs).
The EGM will bring together professionals from different disciplines and backgrounds, such as land professionals and practitioners, civil society, private sector, government representatives, development experts, and academics.
The objective of this grouping of experts is to provide a platform through which they can share their experiences and research, to learn from one another and to debate on issues related to housing, land and property conflicts, strategic development and creative spatial planning, fit-for-purpose land administration, accommodating urban growth, environment and climate change, and responsible large scale land-based investments. These objectives are coupled with promoting preliminary discussion around the issue of women and land rights, and the identification of subjects to address in another upcoming EGM specifically on women’s right to land.
The EGM aims to produce a report on the complex situation of HLP that analyses the potential solutions, addressing potential risks in Palestine, as well as approaches and practices that have proven successful in increasing access to land and housing. The EGM will also yield tangible lessons and recommendations for Palestine to enhance the HLP status, including recommendations on policy changes, land-based tools and capacity development, synergies, knowledge management, coordination, networks, and resource mobilisation that will provide a way forward in implementing Palestinian frameworks and targets related to HLP rights. The produced report from this EGM will be presented to and discussed at the Land Management and Administration Sector Working Group chaired by the Palestinian Land Authority, co-chaired by the World Bank with UN-Habitat as the Technical Advisor.
The EGM on HLP rights will focus and two main themes, namely Human Rights based Approaches in HLP and Modernization of tools and approaches to HLP issues in Palestine. Interested participants are requested to submit an abstract of no more than 500 words for consideration, submissions can be for local, national, regional or international level research. The abstract should summarize the main objectives of the studies, its potential outcomes and the proposed research methodology.
Please submit your Curriculum Vitae, a short bio (100 words) and the abstract using the template provided for download below to the email: unhabitat-palestine@un.org by the deadline of 30 July 2021. UN-Habitat will review the submitted abstracts based on relevant criteria and whether the findings substantially contribute to the EGM. UN-Habitat will only respond to those selected to participate in the EGM by the end of August 2021.
For more information, please download the Expression of Interest template or contact: unhabitat-palestine@un.org
