AFRICAN UNION LAND POLICY INITIATIVE FROM COMITMENT TO ATION: Implementing the Declaration of African Heads of State on Land issues and challenges in Africa By: Hubert M. G. Ouedraogo Secretariat of the land policy initiative (LPI) 7 th Session of the Committee on Food Security and sustainable Development Addis Ababa, October 2011

What is the LPI? A programme on land policy – Land crucial to African development – Limited success in reforming the land sector – Mismanagement of land resources; Land conflicts; corruption… Initiated jointly by AUC- ECA- AfDB (LPI Consortium) – AUC: Overall political leadership – ECA: Technical assistance – AfDB: operationalisation/ resource mobilisation An African owned initiative – African Task force on land – Stakeholder engagement Objectives of Phase I ( ) – Build consensus on key issues, lessons learnt and best practices – Make available a Framework to guide land policy processes in the continent: Formulation, Implementation, Progress tracking

Joint Secretariat AUCECAAfDB Steering Committee Directors Consortium  DREA, AUC  FSSD, ECA  OSAN, AfDB RECs  CEN-SAD  COMESA  ECCAS  ECOWAS  EAC  IGAD  UMA Observers  FAO  IFAD  AGRA  UN-HABIT  EU African Task Force on Land Policy Prominent Land Policy Experts  Central Africa  East Africa  North Africa  South Africa  West Africa Director, DREA, AUC LPI Secretariat Lead Land Expert Program Officer Director, FSSDD ECA Focal Persons Communication Expert Joint Trust Fund (ECA) Chief PATCO Land Policy Initiative GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE STRUCTURE Coordinator Other PAP PAFFO Chief LPI

Key achievements of Phase I: F&G and Declaration on land

The AU Declaration on Land: a call for action Heads of state and government committed to – Ensure equitable access to land for all land users – Strengthen women’s land rights AU Commission requested to establish: – an institutional framework to support national land policy processes in member states – a fund to support land policy development & implementation in Africa – Mechanisms for progress tracking of land policy

The AU Declaration on Land: a call for action Regional Economic communities invited to: – Appropriately capture land related issues within their respective common agricultural policy – Convene periodic forums for experience sharing on land policy development, implementation and monitoring among member states AU member states urged to: – Develop comprehensive land policy responding to their peculiar needs – Build adequate human, financial and technical capacity to support land policy development and implementation – Make use of the key messages of the F&G to inform their national land policy process NB: CSOs are important players, through effective participation in land policy development, implementation and monitoring

Implementing the AU Declaration on Land Elements of Strategy – Improve governance – Implement through the RECs Building on experience with ECOWAS – Maintain/ enlarge continuous engagement of stakeholders – Enhance Partnership and build synergy of action Objectives of Phase 2 – Overall: To make land play its proper role in African development – Specific To improve land information systems To enhance the Capacity of African stakeholders in land policy development, implementation and monitoring To promote land policy dialogue at all levels

Improving land information systems Information dissemination – Making available F&G- Declaration (Publication)/ Other documents – Dissemination of documents Development of the VALPAF – LPI Website: Visibility of LPI; Dissemination of documents; Feedback on activities; disseminating information – Developing databases Land related information (starting with Land policies) African land experts and centers of excellences – Establishing a CoP CoP: a space for Networking and knowledge sharing (Inception workshop, Tunis) Knowledge sharing; E. discussions; face to face meetings (Annual)  publications Experience : African Task force on land; Assistance to African group of negotiators on FAO- led VG; Google group of Participants to francophone training of trainers… Working for the establishing a professional knowledge sharing platform (by December 2011)

Building the capacity of stakeholders Training sessions – Training of trainers – Regional training sessions (starting from 2012) Background document on M&E of land policy – EGM November 2011 – Publication December 2011 Piloting (starting from 2012) – country focused and participatory indicators development of land policy development and implementation – M&E of land policy Experience sharing/Peer learning – Between member states Initiative with Government of Rwanda – Between RECs Facilitation ECOWAS- ECCAS Documenting disseminating best practices (starting from 2012)

Promoting land policy dialogue LPI to become a key land policy convener in the Continent Building strategic partnerships with African institutions – PAFFO; CoDA; PAP; CAADP Taking the leadership in addressing critical, emerging and burning land issues in the continent – FDI in land in Africa – Securing customary-based land rights – Women’s land rights…

Key challenges Enhancing the capacity of LPI secretariat & leadership of the RECs Political context in the continent – Elections; political instability; conflicts… Specific challenges of a tripartite programme – Governance & administrative structure issues Communication/ Partnership

Way forward Building ownership of the implementation process – Key African continental institutions – RECs/ Member states – African CSOs Become a key land policy convener in the continent – Building an African perspective on the burning issue of FDI in land – Taking the leadership on other key issues identified by F&G (customary based land rights; women’s land rights; innovative land administration systems…) – Influencing the debate at international level Providing assistance to the development of national land policy processes and regional land initiatives, informed by the lessons made available in the F&G (trained trainers; database of land experts) Reporting periodically to Heads of State on implementation of the Declaration on Land