The next decade of land policy in Africa: ensuring agricultural development and inclusive growth

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The Pan-African Council will be attending the inaugural Conference on Land Policy in Africa, co-hosted by the Land Policy Initiative (LPI) and the Forum on Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA), which will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the African Union Conference Center from 11 to 14 November 2014, on the theme “The next decade of land policy in Africa: ensuring agricultural development and inclusive growth.” This theme was selected in support of the declaration of 2014 by the African Union as the “Year of Agriculture and Food Security in Africa”.

Despite land being considered a topical issue for the African development agenda, no major land event was previously organized on the continent. The Conference on Land Policy in Africa, held biennially, will respond to the need to have a continental land policy platform. The Conference is intended to have a catalytic effect in creating a forum for presenting research activities, and focusing the attention of a comprehensive range of stakeholders on the issues and status of land policy in Africa.

The Conference will also provide an opportunity for showcasing emerging and promising practices, and facilitating networking among land experts and land professionals in Africa. The conference will meet the existing need of African stakeholders, and complement existing initiatives. The format of the Conference will include plenary and parallel sessions, side events, panel discussions, and exhibitions.

Overall Objective
The Conference on Land Policy in Africa will be a policy and learning event. Its overall objective will be to deepen capacity for land policy in Africa through improved access to knowledge and information, in support of evidence-based land policymaking and implementation. The Conference will adopt a scientific approach. It will capture a broad range of emerging knowledge, and generate interest in current land policy themes from a wide range of African policy actors – within academia and beyond.

The inaugural Conference on Land Policy in Africa will focus on the following sub-themes:

• Inclusive agricultural growth (agricultural investment, productivity experiences securing land rights in the context of large scale investments)
• Land governance frameworks – experiences in implementing frameworks and coherence at country level (specific land governance frameworks, implications for land management and land rights)
• Women’s land rights – impact of land reforms and addressing persisting policy bottlenecks
• Securing land rights under different tenure regimes
• Experiences and emerging best practices in developing and implementing land policies (rural and urban)
• Land administration

It is expected that the Conference will attract some 400 participants, representing African Union Member States, Regional Economic Communities (RECs), farmers’ and civil society organizations, research institutions and academia, the private sector, land practitioners (surveyors, mapping companies, administrators), and donors.