The Land and Property Science Department of the Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST) has recently published the Proceedings of a workshop on “Mainstreaming the GLTN “Teaching Essentials for Responsible Land Administration”. The workshop, hosted by NUST and GLTN, with support from GIZ, was held on 8 and 9 November 2022. It was attended by members of the Southern African node of NELGA (Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa), as well as a number of GLTN partners including UN-Habitat, University of East London, University of Twente, EALAN / Ardhi University and Aalborg University.
Although there is considerable knowledge available on land related issues and innovative land tools and practices, most of this information is partly unknown and/or fragmented among university teachers, or it is hidden within broader land related curricula. To redress this, partners within GLTN’s International Research and Training Institutions Cluster have prepared a “Teaching Essentials” Structured Knowledge Base to support design and teaching of Responsible Land Administration curricula at universities and training institutions. This six-module learning and teaching resource is freely available via GLTN e-Learning Platform.
The objectives of the workshop included:
- Directly introducing the GLTN “teaching essentials for responsible and administration” to NELGA partners in Southern Africa.
- Engaging and enhancing professional networking among members of the land profession from NELGA Southern Africa and representatives of the GLTN research and training cluster community.
- Sharing information on current experiences and perspectives of land governance challenges in Southern Africa.
- Deliberating on how to mainstream the teaching essentials beyond NELGA southern Africa.
- Building consensus on steps for improving land governance challenges in Southern Africa.
Some key takeaways:
“The tools of the teaching essentials on land administration are innovative and suitable for both academic, policy-making structures and industries. It will surely contribute (and is already contributing) to build a new generation of land practitioners and researchers strongly armed to face continental land challenges through this well-structured and inclusive knowledge-based instrument” – Desire Tchigankong – GIZ Ethiopia
“A very nice feeling to be present at this workshop, where I was involved as one of the co-authors of these Teaching Essentials in 2019. This was an excellent stage to exchange experiences, knowledge and models of practical implementation of the Teaching Essential for RLA with colleagues from more than 10 countries from the region of South Africa, East Africa and Europe. Congratulations to the excellent organization of the event.” – Dimo Todorovski, University of Twente – ITC
“This workshop was not only the occasion to sensitize universities about the “teaching essentials on responsible land administration”: it was also the opportunity to bring NELGA and the GLTN closer together. It was very encouraging to see that several universities in Southern Africa have already integrated elements of the “teaching essentials” in their academic curricula and that other are now planning to adopt them as part of the development of new academic programs.” – Jean-Eudes Fournial, GIZ, Ethiopia
Siraj Sait, University of East London (UEL), and Co-chair of the GLTN Academic and Training Cluster, outlined the successes of the teaching essentials on land since its inception in 2016 at UEL, with RMIT University. “The project has created new thinking with diverse experts on land issues from around the world and generated working papers and discussions at the World Bank, FIG and other conferences. This GLTN initiative has also contributed to various knowledge and capacity building programs in various parts of Africa, Arab region and globally. In phase 3, the focus has been to update the curriculum and roll-out of the structured knowledge base.”
“Was great to follow the deliberations, even though only remote, at the GLTN/NELGA workshop on Mainstreaming the Teaching Essentials with a focus on Southern Africa. Combining the efforts of GLTN and NELGA through the NUST lead activities is very promising and encouraging for the region and as driver for a wider global reach. The experiences shown from various universities in the region clearly demonstrate the potential of the Teaching Essentials for a wide range of education, research, and capacity development activities.” – Stig Enemark, Aalborg University
“The workshop was a direct forum for the NELGA Southern African region and the GLTN to engage each other for the first time. It allowed the NELGA institutions to begin a process of co-promoting the teaching essentials for responsible land administration by finding multiple informed ways to use them in their institutions. The NELGA institutions also committed to supporting new ways of making the resource available to audiences beyond academia.” – Uchendu Eugene Chigbu, Namibian University of Science and Technology (NUST), and Co-chair of the GLTN Academic and Training Cluster
“This workshop was a valuable opportunity for popularizing and promoting the ‘Teaching Essentials for Responsible Land Administration’ to NELGA institutions in Southern Africa. It was evident from the workshop that this knowledge-based teaching essentials is considered an important tool for NELGA in its endeavor to strengthen human capacity in land governance in Africa. As such I would recommend that similar workshops be organized for each NELGA Node.” – Agnes Mwasumbi, Ardhi University
