MEASURES TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT OF APPROPRIATE LAND GOVERNANCE CAPACITY IN AFRICA: Empowerment for Africa’s Youth

The Continental Land Policy Initiative, now the African Land Policy Centre, has made tremendous progress in generating knowledge on land governance since inception in 2006. A key milestone was the formulation of a Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa in 2009 upon which the African Union Declaration on Land Issues in Africa was prepared and endorsed in Libya in July 2009. The Declaration urges member states to prioritise and allocate enough financial resources to land policy development and implementation, and to this effect, build enough human, financial and technical capacities. However, it was noticed that to realize the aspirations set out in the Declaration, AU member states need to have the relevant technical competencies. To understand the competencies relevant to Africa’s contemporary needs, a continent-wide study, discussed in this paper, was commissioned. The highlighted results will help Universities and institutions of higher learning to re-align their curricula accordingly.                     

Securing and Managing Community Land: Lessons from Kenya

This paper was presented in the 2021 Conference on Land Policy in Africa held in Kigali, Rwanda, in November 2021. It is based on a three-year study by the Land Development and Governance Institute (LDGI), in partnership with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, to test the efficacy of the application of Kenya's new Community Land Act. The study sites are in Isiolo and Marsabit Counties, both in the Arid and Semi-Arid (ASAL) Northern Kenya.The study results demonstrate the importance of adequate sensitisation of the key actors (government, political and community) at county level and the grass root communities, the use of participatory and inclusive processes to establish the community governance organs and fulfil the statutory requirements provided under this new law. The study also highlights the importance of the use of community champions to ensure the continuous sensitisation of community members, and to to galvanise the communities in the registration and management of their land.Through the study, communities were supported to develop basic tools to guide them in land use planning and investor negotiations. The land use planning guide developed will help the communities to liase with the county government to prepare a land use development plan which is expected to enhance the sustainable use of the community land, while the investor negotiation guide developed will be helpful during negotiations with investors interested in partnering with the communities for investments on their land. The use of the investor guides is expected to inform the preparation of mutually beneficial investor agreements as anticipated under the Community Land Act.It is expected that the lessons from the study, which include: community empowerment, use of participatory inclusive processes, ensuring gender equity in the composition of governance organs and in decision making processes, embracing the youth, use of champions and avoiding the negative impacts of the adjudication of community land will be useful to state and non-state implementers of the new law, and may be used to inform the scaling up implementation countrywide. It is also expected that gaps identified in the new law, such as the management of the inheritance rights of children married outside the community, and those divorced, will inform law review

Large scale land acquisitions for investment in Kenya : is the participation, and benefits of affected local communities meaningful, and equitable? - a case study of the situation in Lamu, Isiolo and Siaya counties

The paper examines the pace of land acquisitions in terms of creating legislative and policy options to safeguard local communities that are directly affected, including compensation for land that is taken, and protecting community interests in the socio-economic and environmental continuum of investment projects, from design to implementation. The absence or weakness of formal landholding and land registration systems was evident in most research sites in Isiolo and Lamu. Putting in place a programme for regularization of tenure rights for those without title is important for enhancing the security of tenure of people affected by compulsory acquisition and land grabbing

MEASURES TOWARDS DEVELOPMENT OF APPROPRIATE LAND GOVERNANCE CAPACITY IN AFRICA

The Continental Land Policy Initiative, now the African Land Policy Centre, has made tremendous progress in generating knowledge on land governance since inception in 2006. A key milestone was the formulation of a Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa in 2009 upon which the African Union Declaration on Land Issues in Africa was prepared and endorsed in Libya in July 2009. The Declaration urges member states to prioritise and allocate enough financial resources to land policy development and implementation, and to this effect, build enough human, financial and technical capacities. However, it was noticed that to realize the aspirations set out in the Declaration, AU member states need to have the relevant technical competencies. To understand the competencies relevant to Africa’s contemporary needs, a continent-wide study, discussed in this paper, was commissioned. The highlighted results will help Universities and institutions of higher learning to re-align their curricula accordingly

NON-TECHNICAL PATHWAYS AS COMPLEMENTS TO REDUCING CORRUPTION IN LAND GOVERNANCE INSTITUTIONS IN AFRICA

This paper underscores that corruption remains of key concern to land governance institutions in Africa, escalates costs of doing business and therefore undermines investments. Where widespread, land related corruption can grossly undermine tenure security, that it can cause deep discontent and foment social and political insecurity. It therefore needs appropriate responses. Many land governance institutions are in the process of establishing initiatives to respond to corruption. Most of these initiatives are however technology-driven and include digitization of records, establishment of modern land information management systems and e-transactions, among others. The paper argues that such well-meant technology-driven approaches to reduce or eliminate corruption, in circumstances where management and technical staff have poor institutional culture, have poor grounding in professional ethics and commitment, are not enough. The paper therefore suggests that complementary non-technical approaches such as the embedding of ethics in the curricula of Universities and other tertiary training institutions, the use of professional associations to promote adherence to codes of professional conduct by their members, are good options. It also highlights the importance of regulatory boards since they have statutory power to register or de-register practising land professionals. The role of investigatory and prosecution agencies in helping to curb the impunity that pertains in land institutions is also discussed. Ultimately, chief executives have the primary role in helping to inculcate a corruption-free culture in their institutions. They could consider the use tools such as induction courses for newly recruited staff, assessments, refresher courses or the retraining of mid-career management and technical staff to ensure continuous commitment to institutional culture, and the use of service charters, with set targets and timelines for the delivery of the various technical processes