ECA to Organize a Consultative Workshop on Land Policy in Central Africa
ECA Press Release No. 12/2008
Addis Ababa, 5 August 2008-ECA - The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) in collabortion with the African Union Commission and the African Development Bank will hold a Regional Consultative Workshop on Land Policy in Central Africa from 6-8 August, in Yaounde, Cameroon. This is the fourth such event in a series of regional consultations being held in all five African regions, as part of the activities of the AU-ECA-AfDB Land Policy Initiative, which aims to develop a framework and guidelines on land policy in Africa with benchmarks and indicators for tracking progress on land policy formulation and implementaiton. It is envisaged that these guidelines will be adopted by the AU Summit in January 2009.
The Central African Workshop, which is being organised in collabrotion with the government of the Republic of Cameroon, the Economic Commission for Central African States (ECCAS), the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), will bring together officials from Central African governments, traditional authorities, civil society, private sector as well as centres of excellence and development partner representatives, to gain consensus on:
• The regional specificities, initiatives and lessons that should be included in the continental framework and guidelines;
• The knowledge, institutional and resource gaps as well as lessons from on-going land policy development processes and initiatives in Central Africa , critical to identifying capacity needs and developing strategies for implementation;
• The main inputs that should be considered in finalising the Report of the Regional Assessment on Land Policy in Central Africa , a draft of which will form the basis of discussions at the workshop.
Background
Many African governments have embarked on land policy and institutional reforms to address key land related challenges that hamper socio-economic development, environmental management and the achievement of peace and security. However, the success of these reforms is minimal and, often, undocumented. It is against this backdrop that the African Union, The Economic Commission for Africa and the African Development Bank, in close collaboration with the Regional Economic Communities have put in place the Land Policy Initiative with a view to supporting national, regional and international efforts to address various factors constraining the formulation and implementation of sound land policies. In this regard, the three institutions are facilitating the flow of information, lesson sharing, the adoption of innovative resource mobilisation strategies and enhancing political will.
Multi-stakeholder consultations, such as this one being held in Central Africa , are one of key features of the Land Policy Initiative.
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Issued by the ECA Information and Communication Service PO Box 3001
Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: +251 11 551 58 26 Fax: +251 11 551 0365 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.uneca.org
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