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SUPPORT TO AND CAPITALIZATION ON THE EU LAND

GOVERNANCE PROGRAMME IN AFRICA

(GCP/GLO/539/EC)

Minutes of Second Capitalization Meeting

Held on 18 and 19 November 2015

At the

United Nations Conference Centre

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

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List of Acronyms

APD Academy of Peace and Development (Somaliland)

AU African Union

CLEEH Candlelight for Environment, Education and Health (Somaliland)

CLMB County Land Management Board (Kenya)

CLPA Conference on Land Policy in Africa

DW Development Workshop of Angola

F&G Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa

FAO Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

GLTN Global Land Tool Network

IFAL Instituto de Formaçäo da Administraçäo Local (Angola)

IGETI Improving Gender Equality in Territorial Issues (FAO tool)

IGCA Instituto Geográfico e Cadastral de Angola

KM Knowledge Management

LC Lands Commission

LIS Land Information System

LPI Land Policy Initiative

LPRC Land Policy Review Committee (Somaliland)

LULSM Lower Usuthu Sustainable Land Management Project, Swaziland

MCA Members of County Assembly (Kenya)

MEEATU Ministère de l’Eau, de l’Environnement, de l’Aménagement du

Territoire et de l’Urbanisme (Burundi)

MLHPP Ministry of Lands, Housing and Physical Planning (South Sudan)

MLHUD Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (Malawi)

MoA Ministry of Agriculture (Somaliland)

MoERD Ministry of Environment and Rural Development (Somaliland)

Formatted: Spanish (Argentina)

Formatted: Spanish (Argentina)

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MoL Ministry of Livestock (Somaliland)

NGO Non-governmental Organization

NLC National Lands Commission of Kenya

PAGGF Projet d’Amélioration de la Gestion et la Gouvernance Foncière au

Burundi

PENHA Pastoral Environmental Network for Horn of Africa (Somaliland)

PNTD Participatory and Negotiated Territorial Development (FAO tool)

PS Permanent Secretary

PSSFP/RGF Projet de Sécurisation des Systèmes Fonciers Pastoraux au Niger par le

Renforcement de la Gouvernance Foncière (Niger)

RITD Regional Integration and Trade Division, UNECA

RVI Rift Valley Institute (Somalia)

SDF Somaliland Development Fund

SNL Swazi Nation Land

STDM Social Tenure Domain Model

VGGT Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of

Land, Fisheries and Forest in the Context of National Food Security

WVI World Vision International

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MINUTES OF THE FIRST DAY’S MEETING HELD ON 18 NOVEMBER 2015

Present

No Name Country Project/Organization Responsibility

1. Mr Marco Orani Angola Strengthened capacity for

improved governance of

land tenure and natural

resources by local

government in partnership

with Non-State Actors in

the Central Highlands of

Angola

Project

Coordinator -

WVI

2. Mr Moisés C. Piedade

Festo

Angola Strengthened capacity for

improved governance of

land tenure and natural

resources by local

government in partnership

with Non-State Actors in

the Central Highlands of

Angola

Project

coordinator - DW

3. Dr Oliver Schoenweger Ethiopia Support to responsible

agricultural investment in

Ethiopia

Project Manager,

GIZ

4. Mr Francisco Carranza Kenya Support for responsible

land and natural resource

governance in Communal

Lands of Kenya

Technical

Advisor, FAO

5. Mr Elijah Letangule Kenya National Lands

Commission, Kenya

Deputy Director,

National Lands

Commission, Govt

rep.

6. Mr Davie Chilonga Malawi Ministry of Lands,

Housing and Urban

Development (MLHUD),

Malawi

Principal Estate

Management

Officer, MLHUD,

Govt rep

7. Mr Francis Mukhupa Malawi Ministry of Lands

Housing and Urban

Development, Malawi

Economist,

MLHUD, Govt

rep

8. Ms Barbara Chibambo Malawi Ministry of Finance and

Economic Planning,

National Authorizing

Office, Malawi

Agriculture and

Food Security

Sector Manager,

National

Authorizing

Office support

Unit, Govt rep

9. Ms Caroline Towera

Kayira

Malawi Oxfam Malawi Programme

Manager –

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Livelihoods,

Oxfam in Malawi

10. Mr Amadou Maman Sani Niger Projet de Sécurisation des

Systemes Foncier

Pasteraux

Asst Technique,

Code Rural du

Niger

11. Mr Michael Oyat Somalia Rebuilding confidence on

land issues in Somalia

Land Tenure

Officer, FAO

12. Mr Ashebir Solomon Somalia Rebuilding confidence on

land issues in Somalia

Territorial Devt

Consultant, FAO

13. Ms Anne Sillanpää South

Sudan

Support to Land

Governance in South

Sudan in the scope of the

VGGT

Project Manager,

Niras International

14. Ms Lynn Kota Swaziland Enhanced capacity for

sustainable land

administration and

management at national,

regional and chiefdom

level

Project Manager

(LULSM),

Ministry of

Agriculture

(Swaziland Water

and Agriculture

Devt Ent).

15. Mr Lwazi Mkhabela Swaziland Ministry of Economic

Planning and

Development, Aid

coordination and

management, Swaziland

Economist/

Planning Officer,

Ministry of

Economic

Planning and Devt

Aid Coordination

and Management,

Govt Rep.

16. Dr Hubert Ouedraogo Ethiopia LPI Lead Land Expert,

Land Policy

Initiative

17. Dr Judy Wambui Kariuki Ethiopia LPI Regional Land

Expert, LPI

18. Mr Belay Demissie Ethiopia LPI Regional Land

Expert, LPI

19. Mr Dieudonne Mouafo Ethiopia LPI M&E Expert, LPI

20. Ms Keymisrak Berhanu Ethiopia LPI Research Asst,

LPI

21. Dr W. Odame Larbi Ethiopia Support to and

Capitalization on the EU

Land Governance

Programme in Africa

Transversal

Coordinator,

FAO/LPI

Recorder

22. Ms Aurélie Bres Italy FAO, HQ, Rome Governance of

Tenure specialist,

FAO

23. Mr Eulogio Montijano Ethiopia EU Delegation to AU Programme

Manager, EU

Delegation to the

AU

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24. Mr Brossard Stephane Côte

d’Ivoire

EU Delegation to Côte

d’Ivoire

Program Manager,

EU Delegation to

Ivory Coast

25. Mr Alex Carrasco Ethiopia EU Delegation to Ethiopia Attaché

Agricultural

Growth, EU

Delegation to

Ethiopia

26. Mr Tseggai

Gebremedhin

Ethiopia LPI KM Consultant,

FAO

27. Mr Rudolf Fombad Ethiopia LPI Consultant, LPI

28. Mr Beyene Gizaw Ethiopia M&E Consultant,

FAO, Observer

Apologies

1. Alhou Abey Bazou Bereaved, PS Code Rural du Niger

2. Florent Lasry Projet d’Amélioration de la Gestion et de la

Gouvernance Foncière (PAGGF), Burundi Project.;

Inability to travel due to political situation

3. Damien Macumi PAGGF. Inability to travel due to lack of financial

support

4. Delbe Constant Dirignon Projet de Partenariat Public Prive pour l’Acceleration de

l’Application de la Loi Relative au Domain Foncier

Rural, Cote d’Ivoire. Inability to travel due to lack of

financial support

The transversal coordinator informed the meeting that Mr Eugene Rurangwa, the Pan African

Coordinator, has resigned from his position.

1. Opening and welcome remarks

The meeting started at 9.10 am with a brief opening session chaired by Dr Joan Kagwanja,

Chief of LPI. She welcomed members to the meeting after which there was self-introduction

of the members present. She then introduced Mr Daniel Tanoe who deputized for the Director

of the RITD to open the meeting.

1.1 Opening statement by Mr Daniel Tanoe

In his speech Mr Tanoe welcomed all participants to the meeting and drew attention to the

central role of land in the development of Africa, yet land governance is beset with so many

challenges including inefficient land administration systems, poor land governance regimes,

inefficient dispute resolution mechanisms and land use conflicts. The need to improve land

governance on the continent cannot therefore be over emphasized. The aim of the VGGT and

the F&G is to promote food security and sustainable development by improving secure access

to land, fisheries and forests and protecting the legitimate tenure rights of millions of people,

many of whom are poor and food insecure. The livelihoods of many, particularly the rural

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poor, are dependent on secure and equitable access to these resources. They are the source of

food and shelter; the basis for social, cultural and religious practices; and a central factor in

economic growth. Inadequate and insecure tenure rights to natural resources often result in

extreme poverty and hunger. These issues must be resolved for the benefit of the poor. He

acknowledged the contribution of the EU to support the ten countries in the implementation of

the VGGT and F&G as part of the strategy for implementing the AU Declaration on land.

In a statement by Mr Eulogio Montijano, the Programme Manager of the EU Delegation to

the African Union he indicated that the EU is preparing a new proposal to support projects in

five more African countries in the implementation of the VGGT and F&G – Guinea Bissau,

Ghana, Cameroon, Uganda and Sudan. He emphasized that the projects should make an

impact at the national level and coordinate well with the continental level.

1.2 Objectives of the Meeting and Adoption of Agenda

Dr Larbi presented the objectives and expected outcomes of the meeting as follows:

Objectives:

• Provide a platform for meeting implementing organizations at country level and

government representatives to share experiences on project implementation.

• Understand the country level, transversal and pan-Africa level projects and the

synergies among them.

• Review progress of implementation at country level particularly as they relate to

implementation of the VGGT and F&G, Transversal and Pan African Projects.

• Agree on elements of KM for the projects and the transversal level.

• Build capacity in using the VGGT and F&G for land policy development.

The expected outcomes were:

• Good exchanges among the implementers in sharing experiences and lessons in

implementation of in-country projects

• Greater buy-in into the Transversal and Pan African projects

• Participants knowledge increased in the use of VGGT and F&G for land policy

development

• Elements of the Knowledge Management Platform agreed.

He then presented the agenda for the two day meeting. They were adopted.

1.3 Action taken on previous decisions

Dr Larbi presented the action taken on previous decisions as follows:

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No Key Decision Action By Progress/Update

1. It is a requirement that all project

implementers participate in capitalization

meetings

All project

implementers

On-going – 8 out

of 10 countries

present at the

meeting

2. Government agencies dealing with land

issues in the ten countries should

participate in capitalization meetings so as

to create a platform for improving land

governance, influence policy and sustain

the impact of the project

Government agencies

in the ten countries

dealing with land

issues

On-going – 3 out

of 10 countries

present

3. Project implementers should make

budgetary provision for participation in

capitalization meetings.

Project implementers

On-going. All

participants

sponsored by

either the Project

or country

governments.

4. Minutes of capitalization meetings should

be approved through electronic means

Transversal

coordinator

Done

5. Approved reporting templates should be

used for reporting and feedback provided

Project implementers/

Transversal

Coordinator

Partially done

6. Transversal Project should provide support

in:

• Awareness raising workshops

• Planning the content of national

workshops

• Provide appropriate and adequate

materials

• Participation in in-country

activities

Transversal

Coordinator

Ongoing – Done

in Angola, being

planned for

Somalia

7. Refine and share draft M&E indicators

with participants

LPI M&E Officer Not done

8. Compile areas for potential transversal

support and circulate to members

Transversal

Coordinator

Done

9. Invitations to governments to participate in

capitalization meetings should be sent

early

Transversal

Coordinator

Done

10. Governments should be encouraged to

fund their participation in meetings.

Government

representatives/ Project

implementers/

Transversal

Coordinator

Ongoing –

Governments of

Malawi and

Swaziland

funded their

participation

11. Governments should be active in

establishing in-country land governance

platforms

Government

representatives/ Project

implementers

Ongoing –

platforms already

exist in South

Sudan and

Ethiopia

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12. Copies of Country Level project reports

should be sent to Transversal Coordinator

Project implementers On-going – 7 out

of 10 received

(CI, South Sudan

and Ethiopia

outstanding)

13. LPI should provide support to countries to

enable them establish land governance

platforms

LPI On-going eg. In

Niger.

14. Next Capitalization meeting to be held in

Addis Ababa in October

Transversal

Coordinator

Done. Meeting

held in

November

Participants sought clarification on how LPI can help in establishing the country level land

governance platforms. It was explained that the LPI support will mainly be in the area of

facilitating dialogue with governments. For example in Niger the LPI facilitated the meeting

of the National Committee on the Rural Code to meet again after it had not met for more than

ten years.

Participants also wanted to know whether it was mandatory to hold national workshops on the

VGGT and F&G during project implementation. It was explained that at least one awareness

raising workshop should be held particularly during project launch.

2. In-country Projects progress and update

2.1 Angola: Strengthened capacity for improved governance of land tenure and natural

resources by local government in partnership with Non-State Actors in the Central

Highlands of Angola

The presentation was made by Mr Marco Orani of World Vision Angola and Mr Moises Festo

of Development Workshop Angola. The presentation concentrated on lessons learnt in Using

Technical Strengthening as entry point for engaging government for impact and

sustainability. The project specific objective is to empower national, provincial, and

municipality level governments, local non-state actors (NSA), and communities to facilitate

the recognition of tenure rights. The project is using the Social Tenure Domain Model

(STDM) developed by the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) as the GIS tool. It is a

participatory and affordable GIS tool that broadens the scope of land administration and

provides a link between different institutions involved in land administration at provincial

level. The project developed technical capacity to implement this tool, and used it as a basis to

approach the Provincial Government to discuss the gaps in the existing land law and

regulations. The discussion led the Bié Provincial Government to issue a By-Law in October

2015, which fills the gaps in the law, reaffirms the responsibility of the Instituto Geográfico

e Cadastral de Angola (IGCA) to administer the cadaster, and formalizes roles and

responsibilities of government agencies involved in the processes for issuing collective rural

land rights (Dominio Util Consuetudinario) for rural communities. The process was

simplified and time bound, leading to savings in time and resources.

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Key lessons learnt:

1. Technical capacity can be used as entry point for improvement in legal and

administrative frameworks.

2. It is a good practice to work from local level, showing how things can be done

before scaling up.

3. Technical, financial and legal sustainability can help in mitigating the effects of

high staff turnover at local government institutions.

4. Participatory approaches to territorial delimitation and buy-in of communities in

the process can push governments to improve the management of land.

5. Improving land administration must be approached in a holistic way – both rural

and urban. Local governments expect this kind of support.

The activities undertaken in term of the transversal five pillars are:

Awareness raising: Awareness raising workshop on VGGT and F&G and on advantages of

cadaster and new By-Laws at community and provincial levels for local communities, civil

society and national level institutions.

Capacity development: Training of technicians and civil servants on participatory rural

diagnostics, Land Information System, and cadaster management.

Support to country level implementation: Agreement with Instituto de Formaçäo da

Administraçäo Local (IFAL).

Partnership: MOU signed with Municipal administrations and IGCA and collaboration with

FAO.

M&E: Monthly activity reports.

Discussions

It was noted that the formalization of the process for the legal recognition of rural community

lands through the project was a great achievement, unprecedented in the country. The

clarification of roles and responsibilities of government agencies, a bottom-up approach,

simplifying processes and procedures, participatory approaches to the delimitation of

community boundaries, and the setting of timelines within which services are to be delivered

are in accordance with the VGGT principles. There is no land policy document in Angola and

therefore the By-Laws filled big gaps in the existing law. Communities are capacitated to

protect their lands both legally and physically – another VGGT principle.

Who are the beneficiaries of the project? Who is paying for the cadaster and how is it being

maintained? Is the project using a server or cloud server? It was explained that the

communities, local and provincial government are the main beneficiaries of the project. The

project is not using servers but tablets and data is updated and transferred through external

devices such as external hard drives.

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One of the biggest concerns is how to secure the rights of women and encourage women to

participate in rural land governance.

How does the project situate the cadaster within customary practices? It was explained that

Angolan law respects customary practices and the cadaster is designed to achieve that.

The absence of a server for the data being generated raised concerns. What happens to the

data when the persons with the tablet leaves or changes data without any trail? It was

explained that the IGCA, as the institution responsible for the cadaster’s administration, will

store all the information at Provincial level. A computer will be used as a server. This server

could not, at the moment, be online, due to the poor internet connection in the project area.

Data are always properly stored, trackable, and safe.

2.2 Burundi: Projet d’Amélioration de la Gestion et de la Gouvernance Foncière au

Burundi (PAGGF)

The presentation was made by Mr Dieudonne Mouafo as Mr Florent Lasry could not

participate in the meeting due to political instability in Burundi.

The project objective is to ‘Contribute to the development of an appropriate land

management system that mitigates the risk of interpersonal land related conflicts, facilitate

access to land for vulnerable people, improve agricultural production and equitable

economic development in Burundi’.

The specific objectives are:

1. Improve management of public lands by systematic identification of state lands to

enable the Government of Burundi to know how much land is available to it in order

to deal with land scarcity due to population growth and massive return of refugees.

2. Provide legal support for the registration of state land and some aspects of the

implementation of land reform in Burundi.

3. Propose a roadmap based on the pilots for a systematic and decentralized land

management of private lands.

The project was launched in October 2014. It has four year duration, ending in 2018.

Achievements

Result area 1: Identification of state lands

Public lands in 78 percent of communes have been pre-determined, remaining 19

municipalities. 11,316 land parcels have been identified on plan by 15 November 2015. GPS

equipment has been provided for 16 field teams and database for the land information system

(LIS) has been developed. In addition, 28 percent of documents have been ranked and

scanned at the provincial level while 2,959 files have been scanned and archived by 15

November 2015. The architecture of the LIS for public lands has been prepared and the open

source software to be used has been selected. They are PostgresSQL, Post GIS, GGIS and

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Python. The methodology for measurement has been adopted and the technical specifications

for the equipment have been set.

Result area 2: Support to mediation and conflict resolution and promulgation of new laws

A new land code has been drafted. A Public Lands Ordinance for the inventory of public

lands has been promulgated and validated at a national workshop held in March 2015. A Land

Registration Decree has been promulgated and validated in a national workshop in April

2015.

Result area 3: Roadmap for systematic national approach for securing land

A needs assessment has been conducted in three communal land offices, and a grant

document is being prepared following the EU PRAG procedure.

Progress towards achievement of the 5 pillars

a. Awareness raising

Two national awareness workshops were held in October 2014 and December 2014. Around

100 participants participated in each workshop, with approx. 80 men and 20 women per

workshop. A technical awareness workshop was held in March 2015. Four regional

workshops were planned but could not be organized due to political instability in the country.

Analysis and integration of gender: Gender mainstreaming activities were prepared in

September 2015. Three indicators for monitoring gender in the project logical framework

were selected. Training on gender and draft legislation on land co-ownership between spouses

have been planned. A documentary on gender is to be produced and a study on difficulties of

access to ownership of land by widows and other vulnerable women has been commissioned.

b. Capacity development

A capacity development plan and strategy has been prepared and validated in February 2015.

It comprises a total of more than 600 participants to be trained on five thematic issues in

thirteen sessions. From March till September 2015, 60 technicians (48 Men and 12 Women)

from the Cadaster and Title Registration Directorates have been trained in five training

modules developed.

c. Transversal support to countries

Training of decision makers on VGGT and F&G was planned for May 2015 but had to be

cancelled due to political instability in the country. There are regular e-mail exchanges

between the Project and the Transversal project.

d. Partnerships

The collaboration agreement between GIZ Burundi and the Ministry in charge of land

(MEEATU), defining the roles and responsibilities of the Directorate of Land Use Planning,

the Directorate of National Cadaster and the National Lands Commission (CFN) has been

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signed on 3rd April 2015. The collaboration agreement with the Ministry of Justice (Deeds)

was to be signed in May 2015 but it could not be done due to political instability.

e. Monitoring and Evaluation

The project logical framework (LF) was revised in April 2015 with 43 indicators. New

indicators on land dispute, access to land for women (related to VGGT and F&G) have been

added to the revised LF.

Conclusion

The project started well with tenders and procurement completed. A lot of preparatory work

has been done for field exercises. However political instability has hindered the

commencement of the field work. It is expected to start in January 2016.

The following points were raised which were forwarded to the Project coordinator for

responses:

• Good land governance depends on good political governance.

• Why the focus on public lands in the project? Because it is mandatory in the new land

law: inventory of public land has to be achieved before registering any private land.

• What is the experience in using technical capacity as entry point for improving the

legal and administrative frameworks? Are there similar successes as in Angola? Most

of the efforts on Result 2 have been put on developing the legal framework using a

participatory approach among technicians and policy makers.

• How will the LIS being developed be compatible with other LIS systems in Burundi?

Most of the Government offices and communal land offices currently use QGIS, hence

the interoperability choice.

• How are the tools used in Burundi comparable to those used in Angola? It was noted

that the tools used in Burundi are open source software and therefore free. Its financial

sustainability is therefore not an issue as it will not involve annual licensing fees. The

advantages of the open source software over commercial/enterprise software were

enumerated to include flexibility (new modules can always be added), financially

sustainable, and technically sustainable. It was pointed out that the open source

software requires in-house well-trained ICT personnel to succeed. In the case of

Burundi a particular effort is ongoing in training responsible IT and GIS technicians in

the use and maintenance of open source tools used for the LIS.

• How supportive is the legal framework of Burundi to the project activities? Burundi

has a land policy and a framework law for which the project is filling the necessary

gaps.

• What is the involvement of the Government of Burundi in the project? Registering

public land being a priority in the national land law, the government is very supportive

of the project. Despite the current political crisis, activities are still going on at the

technical level.

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Participants noted that there is hunger for technical strengthening in all the project

countries which present opportunities to use technical capacity development as entry

point to improve the legal and policy frameworks.

2.3 Kenya: Support for Responsible Land and Natural Resource Governance in Communal

Lands of Kenya

The presentation was made by Mr Francisco Carranza supported by Mr Elijah Letangule. The

presentation centred on progress made since the first capitalization meeting, emphasing

achievements in community engagements, mapping, and developing guidelines and

safeguards for large scale land investments.

The Project Objective is to secure and improve equitable access to land and natural

resources for food security and socio-economic development of agro-pastoral communities in

the Arid and Semi-arid lands (ASALs) of Kenya. It has a two year duration ending in 2016.

The expected outcomes are:

1. Land tenure and natural resource (NR) use mapped and recommendations developed

for land use planning in target counties.

2. Institutional capacities at national and county level to support sustainable governance

of communal lands and NR established/enhanced.

3. Policy, institutional and legal framework for sustainable governance of land and NR

supported and harmonized.

4. Knowledge management on communal land and NR tenure administration and

management enhanced.

The project areas are the Turkana and Tana River Counties.

Achievements

Output 1: Land tenure and NR use mapped and recommendations developed for land use

planning

Topographic maps to use for mapping of community natural resources and boundaries have

been procured. The project is using the Social Tenure Domain Model (STDM) as the mapping

tool. Actual mapping however is at early stages. Community land rights sensitisations,

stakeholder analysis and territorial diagnosis of natural resources have been done.

Consultations for land use planning have begun and a situational analysis of gender and

youth and land access has been completed. Final draft report has been submitted.

Output 2: Institutional capacities at National and County levels to support sustainable

governance of communal lands established/enhanced

Capacity gaps and capacity development strategies at all levels in the two counties have been

completed. Workshops on VGGT have been conducted at national level and in the two

counties. It had a total of 21 men and 14 women for both counties. Establishment of

Community Land Management Boards (CLMB) in the two counties has been supported with

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office space acquisition, equipment, familiarization tours, etc. Multi-stakeholder meetings on

community land governance have been promoted. There were 2 meetings, one for the national

stakeholders in Nairobi where 42 people participated and one at the county level with 20

participants. Participatory land delimitation has begun in the two counties even though it is in

early stages. Training has been conducted on land governance and legal framework for the

Members of County Assembly (MCA).

Output 3: Policy, institutional & legal framework for sustainable governance of community

lands supported and harmonised

Policy gap analysis on land and natural resources has been completed. Inter-county workshop

has been organized on legal framework and consultative meetings have been held on by-laws

in support of governance of community lands. A presentation meeting took place in

Machakos County with representations from several counties and national government (12

men, 5 women).

Output 4: Knowledge management on community land and natural resource tenure

administration enhanced

Support has been provided for the establishment of Land Information Management Systems

(NLIMS) at the county level. A study tour to Uganda was organized for the land registries in

the two counties. Training was undertaken on information systems for public institutions and

personnel. Guidelines and standards for national land information management systems

(NLIMS) have been prepared.

The key challenges encountered in the implementation of the project include:

• Delay in passing law on communal lands

• No records provided by the Ministry of Lands to the Lands Commission due to

sensitive nature of the information.

• Conflicting livelihoods and clash over water

• Low capacity for land administration at the County Land Management Board level

In dealing with these challenges FAO has been using its leverage and good relationship with

the government.

Progress towards implementation of the Five Pillars

a. Awareness raising

Sensitization and awareness raising workshops have been organized on:

• VGGT at national and county levels (18 participants in national level and 28

participants at county level).

• Natural resource mapping and delimitation (30-40 participants, with 5 of them

being women)

• Land use planning in respect of natural resources (24 participants, only 2 women).

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b. Capacity development

• Capacity gap analysis conducted in the two counties.

• Training programmes on land governance and legal framework organized for

MCA (18 participants).

• Study tour for lesson learning organized for CLMB to Uganda. Six people from

the NLC participated and only one of them was a woman.

c. Transversal support to countries

• Regular interaction with Transversal coordinator on project and issues

• Inputs on VGGT and F&G provided for national and county workshops through

presentations and materials

• Project progress report shared with transversal coordinator

• Transversal coordinator represented the LPI at workshop on social and

environmental safeguards and guidelines for large scale land investments

organized in December 2015. It had over 100 people attend of which roughly 20%

were women.

d. Partnerships

• Partnerships have been developed for participatory approaches for land

delimitation and on the preparation of by-laws and guidelines for the NLIMS.

• Partnerships have been developed with the National Lands Commission and the

County Land Management Boards

• More lately, a closer partnership with the Ministry of Lands has also been

developed which will become instrumental for the up-scaling of the programme.

e. Monitoring and Evaluation

The project did not establish a baseline in the beginning as it was not foreseen and has not

been able to track progress in a quantifiable way.

Discussions

The following issues were raised during discussions.

• How does the global issue of insecurity affect the project?

• Is there any process in place to reduce the tension between the National Lands

Commission and the Ministry? Who does the Ministry and the NLC report to? What

are the implications if the Ministry succeeds in watering down the powers of the NLC

especially with respect to community land rights?

• How does the STDM apply to pastoralist communities?

In answering the issues the presenters noted that the history of land administration in the

country provides an understanding of the context of the land problems and the associated

institutional challenges. There is a need to manage the transition associated with the

institutional reforms well.

Key lesson: Laws alone do not reform. There must be a process to deal with the

transition associated with institutional reforms as well.

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2.4 Somalia: Rebuilding Confidence in Land Issues in Somalia

The presentation was made by Mr Michael Oyat and Mr Ashebir Solomon. The presentation

focused on lessons learnt in rebuilding confidence in land issues in Somalia. The project goal

is to improve secure and sustainable access to land and other natural resources in order to

facilitate productive investments as well as social and economic development. It has two years

duration, ending in 2016. The main outcomes are:

1. Territorial rights, natural resource (NR) inventory and conflict dynamics are studied

and shared: NR inventory and territorial diagnosis conducted and results shared with

stakeholders; Negotiation tables established at community and municipality level.

2. Legal and policy framework related to territorial aspects analysed and shared to

facilitate a more secure access to land for all: Somaliland land related laws analyzed;

Land policies revised.

3. Institutional and community capacities enhanced to enable engagement in land

governance (access, use and management) and related strategic dialogue: country level

capacity on land governance and application of VGGT and F&G strengthened;

Participatory and Negotiated Territorial Development (PNTD) and Improving Gender

Equality in Territorial Issues (IGETI) trainings at community levels and for other

stakeholders conducted; Government institution for participatory land delimitation

established and strengthened.

Progress in implementation

Component 1: Study of natural resources management and conflict dynamics

• Preliminary land cover map for 2 pilot districts produced and analysed using high

resolution satellite imagery.

• Land resources field survey has started with training of land resource surveyors– six

personnel trained, one female and five males, data collection (on land cover, land use,

livelihood system, land degradation and soil samples) from 150 sites in 2 pilot

districts, field data analysis including laboratory analysis of soil samples, and

development of land database on-going.

• Land conflicts study (dynamics, trends, actors) is on-going in Lower Shabelle region

in south-central Somalia

• Three negotiation tables (NTs) established out of 12. Each NT covers two villages

with 40 members comprised of 10 – 12 females and 28 – 30 males. A seven person

team elected from among the members act as committee organizing meetings and

identifying issues for discussion. The members of the NTs have been trained to handle

disputes in land resource use.

Component 2: Policy and Legal framework review / development

18

• Analysis of stakeholders (state and non-state) in land and natural resource

management in Somaliland has been conducted.

• Legal analysis of Somaliland land related laws and regulations has been undertaken

and a draft report produced.

• Land coordination forum, which meets monthly, led by NGOs and Development

Partners has been established in Somaliland.

• Inter-Ministerial Land Policy Review Committee has been formed by the Government

of Somaliland to oversee the reforms. The LPRC is comprised of 20 members

represented by sector ministries. Only one woman (5% of women) who double up as

the co-chair of the committee.

Component 3: Building institutional and community capacity in policy dialogues

• Community capacity assessment through resource mapping, livelihood resources,

assessing ecosystem condition is on-going in 19 out of 43 villages in three districts.

• Dialogues and negotiation on issues of access to, use and management of land and

natural resources for livelihoods is also on-going.

• Institutional capacity needs assessment for key government institutions is on-going.

Progress towards implementation of the five pillars

Awareness raising

• Awareness raising on VGGT in relation to land policy review / development for

Somaliland state institutions (Ministry of National Planning and Development,

Ministry of Environment and Rural Development, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of

Livestock, Ministry of Public Works) through one-on-one meetings is on-going.

Target is policy makers and implements. No. of participants reached: 13 comprising

10 men and 3 women.

• Awareness raising of non-state actors on VGGT principles in policy development

through monthly land coordination forum meetings. Target: land and natural resource

practitioners in NGOs, CSOs and UN. No. of persons reached: 10 (7 men and 3

women)

Capacity Development

• Community level capacity building on territorial planning/dialogue and negotiation on

land and natural resources management issues with respect to access, use and

conservation of livelihood resources in 19 villages in three districts. Target: traditional

leaders, women and youth representatives, opinion leaders and other actors

(professions – teachers, health workers) resident in the territory. Participants in the

natural resources mapping exercise included 942 persons of whom 687 were males

(73%) and 255 females (27%).

19

Transversal support to countries

• FAO HQ has provided the project with the PNTD and IGETI tools and also

undertaken the legal analysis in Somaliland.

• The Transversal project has supported mainstreaming VGGT in project

implementation.

• The Transversal project has supported the planning of an awareness raising workshop

on VGGT and F&G in Somaliland

• There is regular communication between the transversal coordinator and the project.

Partnerships

• Local and International NGOs: Pastoral Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa

(PENHA), Candlelight for Environment, Education and Health (CLEEH), Rift Valley

Institute (RVI), Academy of Peace and Development (APD) and Somaliland

Development Fund (SDF)

• UN agencies: UN Habitat

• Somaliland Government: Ministry of Environment and Rural Development (MoERD),

Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), Ministry of Livestock (MoL) and Land Policy Review

Committee (LPRC)

Monitoring and Evaluation

The Logical Framework for the project remains unchanged. Key indicators have been

sharpened to take into account the VGGT and F&G.

Baseline information

• Indicators and preliminary benchmark information on land have been defined from

analysis of project documents and secondary data (for baseline and midline surveys on

resilience programme). The preliminary indicators on land and natural resources are

disaggregated by gender, land use and livelihood system. This is led by the M&E unit

at the FAO country office.

• The preliminary results is feeding into design of baseline study on access to, use and

management of land and resource conflicts and benchmark on perception on policy

development and implementation process. The summary is provided below.

Table 1: Indicators for Somali project

Level Indicator

Household characteristics Household head gender

Livelihood

Village

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No. of household members by gender

Farming activity Land tenure (owned, rented, communal)

Soil type

Soil quality

Soil erosion

Crops farmed

Number of plots

Estimated land size for all plots

Estimated land value for all plots

Livestock keeping Livestock kept

Number of livestock kept

Tropical Livestock Unit (TLU)

Land conflict Loss of land

Displacement

Challenges

• Institutional arrangements for policy and legislation development remain undefined.

• Lack of comprehensive and integrated institutional framework and capacity (local &

national).

• Overlapping mandates and power politics among government agencies.

• Gaps and contradictions in existing regulatory and policy framework.

• Pro-poor land policy development requires medium to long term engagement to

ensure participation and inclusion of all stakeholders and representation of their voices

in policy actions.

Discussions

The key issues during the discussions were:

• How to bring up issues from the land coordination forum to the government when

government is not involved in the meetings?

• What help can the LPI provide the projects on M&E?

• What is the set up for organizing the national workshop in VGGT and F&G?

• Is it possible to do a quick institutional mapping to clarify roles and responsibilities?

• It was clarified that the desire is for government to be part of the forum, chair and lead

the process. The forum engages with the government through separate meetings. The

country is dealing with post-conflict situation where many institutions are being

rebuilt.

Lessons learnt

• Good land governance is critical for sustaining peace and development

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• A legally constituted multi-sectorial body with well-defined mandate is a pre-

requisite for policy discourse and development

• Evidence based information, socially and scientifically valid, is required to

inform policy development.

• Community capacity is best built on existing systems and institutions. For

example, the institution of elders is functional, their actions grounded in

traditional rules and practices or Xeer.

2.5 Niger: Projet de Sécurisation des Systèmes Fonciers Pastoraux au Niger par le

Renforcement de la Gouvernance Foncière (PSSFP/RGF)

The presentation was made by Mr Amadou Maman Sani. The overall objective of the project

is to contribute to securing pastoral land systems in Niger. The specific objectives are:

• Improve the recognition of the land rights of farmers.

• Secure spaces and resources reserved for farming

• Prevent conflicts related to the use of pastoral resources

• Strengthen the capacity of the structures of the Rural Code in pastoral lands

• Support the permanent regional secretariats of the rural regions of Dosso and Zinder in

land development and the functioning of the cofos Code.

The project has four years duration and started in November 2014.

Progress of implementation

Awareness raising

• Awareness raising on the project has been carried out for administrative authorities in

the project regions – Zinder and Dosso, technical and financial partners as well as the

structures of the Rural Code. There were thirty participants including one woman.

• Project launch workshop was organized to promote better understanding and

ownership of the project; ensure political commitment of the Nigerien Authorities;

initiate research on synergy and complementarity with the PFS. There were 90

participants comprising 80 men and 10 women.

• Mobilization of customary authorities and producer organizations and briefing them

on the process of implementation. Eighteen people participated – 16 men and two

women.

Capacity development

• Support the process of preparing a scheme for targeted training on VGGT and F&G in

Zinder and Dosso.

• Undertake a diagnosis of the institutional structures of the Rural Code.

Partnerships

22

Defining a synergy and framework of working with Swiss Cooperation and Luxembourg

Cooperation in Dosso and with other partners in the intervention areas of Zinder and Dosso.

Key elements of the partnership include the quality of the roadmap for partnership, ownership

of the process by local stakeholders, inclusiveness of the process, leadership of the process by

regional council and funding mechanisms for the various projects.

Monitoring and Evaluation

An M&E system for the project will be developed with the following features:

Clear objectives and mission of the M&E system; institutional arrangements for M&E with

clear roles and responsibilities of each actor; specific indicators for measuring performance at

all levels of the project; tools for monitoring and evaluation of all activities of M&E. The

system will be developed in collaboration with the M&E manual for the Permanent

Secretariat of the Rural Code developed with the support of the LPI-SDC project.

Lessons learnt

• The project needs to be integrated with other national and regional initiatives.

• In mobilizing customary authorities a good understanding of the role of pastoral

communities in household production and preservation of the environment is

needed. Respect for traditional vocations, fairness and justice and responsibility

in decision making are challenges that should be handled well.

• Producer organizations may be strong at national level but weak and ill-equipped

at the local level.

• Capacity development should be comprehensive and target all key stakeholders.

Thus specific modules should be developed for technical and elected local

representatives.

• Development partners look for visibility and specific outcomes of their funding.

The challenge is how to reconcile synergy and visibility of the contribution of

each partner in the project.

• M&E manual should be national and take into account processes developed in

other projects.

Discussions

The following issues were raised during discussions.

• How will gender and tenure insecurities for communities be addressed by the project?

• How are local representatives chosen?

• How are the pastoral lands physically demarcated on the ground? Can cattle move

freely in the demarcated areas?

• Is there only a one-off training in the project?

In clarifying the issues the following points were made:

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• The principles of Orientation of the Niger Rural Code protect the rights of women and

minorities. Women are also represented in all the structures of the Rural Code. The

Rural Code provides for the participation and membership of women in Land

Commissions at different levels (village, town, Department).

• The local representatives within Land Commissions are chosen through general

meetings of their organizations (organizations of farmers, pastoralists, fishermen,

young people, women, wood operators, users of water, etc). A report signed by all

parties endorses the choice of these representatives.

• To secure pastoral land, the Land Commission proceeds first with identification of the

various actors concerned with the resources (administrative authorities and customary

users of the resource, neighbouring owners, technical services of the State, etc). After

identifying a property, advertisement is organized for one month through local radio

stations, the criers, markets and public places in order to inform the entire population

of the process of securing the property. At the end of 30 days, if there is no dispute,

the Land Commission proceeds with demarcation, marking with paint and mapping of

the pastoral land. Then, the prefect makes an order on the securing of the resource and

its inclusion in the Rural file. Finally the Land Commission conducts materialization

of the pastoral space with tags if the financial means permit or with a biological

reality.

• Animals move freely in designated passage corridors and tracks of transhumance

reserved for this purpose. But it happens that corridors and tracks are blocked by

farmers, which is source of conflict between farmers and ranchers.

• Several training courses are planned under the project implementation. They are

mainly designed to improve operational structures of the Rural Code in the regions of

Dosso and Zinder to enable them to secure spaces and resources and thus prevent

conflicts between rural populations.

Closing

The meeting of the first day closed at 18.15.

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MINUTES OF SECOND DAY’S MEETING HELD ON 19 NOVEMBER 2015

Opening

The meeting which was chaired by Ms Aurelie Bres started at 8.55 am. Presentation of

country level projects continued.

2.6 South Sudan: Support to Land Governance in South Sudan in the Scope of the

Voluntary Guidelines

The presentation was made by Ms Anne Sillanpää. The project objective is to improve land

governance system in South Sudan in line with the VGGT and the F&G by building capacity

of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Physical Planning (MLHPP) and of other key land-

related stakeholders. The project has three components:

1. Land policy and legal framework development.

2. Developing working procedures and testing surveying methods for land registration.

3. Developing working procedures for agricultural land use planning.

The project which started in January 2015 has a duration of 24 months and is worth 1.9

million Euros. It is implemented by Niras International Consulting. Implementation of the

project has been adversely affected by conflict that emerged in the country since

December 2013. In consequence the EU has since July 2015 suspended the majority of the

project activities especially in relation to undertaking of planned pilot land registration

activities. On-going activities are:

1. Development of policy and legal framework on land registration, cadastre system and

agricultural land use planning;

2. Development of regulatory framework on land registration, cadastre system and

agricultural land use planning;

3. Assessment of gaps in land governance in South Sudan; and

4. Development of guidelines and tools for land registration and cadastre system

An inception report focusing on activities that do not involve piloting at community level

has been prepared.

Lessons learnt

1. It is not easy to plan and implement policy, legal and institutional interventions in

uncertain contexts defined by conflict.

2. Good understanding of context within which projects are to be implemented is

important and should complement the availability of subject expertise.

3. In post-conflict situations governments are often not keen on policy and

institutional development compared to receiving material assistance, equipment,

etc.

25

4. Timeframes are critical in policy, legal and institutional development

interventions, as these processes take long in the best of circumstances.

5. The political nature of land governance is such that the challenges of the sector

cannot be addressed in isolation from the overall political governance

framework.

During discussions the following issues were raised:

• How the institutional reform was coping with the ongoing political instability.

• Who owns land in South Sudan?

• How can the registration system be developed when the legal framework has not been

sorted out?

• Is it accepted in the country that land is one of the root causes of the conflict?

• Concern was raised about the design of the project and its duration for only two years,

considered to be too short.

In clarifying these issues it was noted that:

• The institutional reform is aimed at avoiding power struggle as in practice the Lands

Commission has been pushed aside.

• There is a contradiction as to who owns land. Whereas under the Land Act land is

owned by communities in the National Land Policy land is owned by government or

the State.

• The registration system can be developed based on the existing Land Act.

The meeting recommended possible negotiation with the EU for extension of the project.

2.7 Malawi: Promoting Responsible Land Governance for Sustainable Agriculture in

Malawi

The presentation was made by Mr Davie Chilonga of the Ministry of Lands, Housing and

Urban Development (MLHUD) in Malawi and Ms Caroline Towera Kayira of Oxfam

Malawi. The project has two components:

Component 1: Strengthening land governance institutional capacity in the Ministry of Lands,

Housing and Urban Development, to be implemented through Technical Assistance (TA).

Tender is on-going and will be completed in early 2016.

Component 2: Strengthening Land Governance System for Smallholder Farmers in Malawi.

This component is being implemented by Oxfam Malawi. The overall objective is Rural

women and men in Malawi practice sustainable agricultural production and secure

livelihoods. The specific objective is to pilot, test and recommend for scale-up, improved

gender sensitive land governance systems for customary estates. The expected results are:

‘institutional framework for establishing customary estates developed and tested’; and ‘Rural

land governance systems that conform to international guidelines proven feasible and

recommended for scale-up’. The component started on 01 September 2015 and is running for

26

three years at a total budget of 1.6 million Euros. Preparatory activities for this component

have just started.

Discussions

The main issues raised for discussion were:

• The conceptual relationship between strengthening the MLHUD and devolution of

land administration services to the local government level;

• The challenge of a multi-stakeholder approach to project implementation.

It was clarified that the TA will assist in the transition. There is a Development Partners’

Platform on land in Malawi that meets monthly. There are clearly defined roles between

government and CSOs.

2.8 Swaziland: Enhanced Capacity for Sustainable Land Administration and Management

at National, Regional and Chiefdom Levels

The presentation was made by Ms Lynn Kota of the Ministry of Agriculture, Swaziland. The

overall objective of the project is to improve the security of tenure and access to land for the

rural poor, thereby improving food security, economic development and enhanced

sustainability. The specific objective of the project is to provide tools and capacities for

sustainable land administration and management at national, regional and chiefdoms level.

The expected results are:

1. Tools are developed and used for more efficient Land Administration of Swazi Nation

Land (SNL) at the National and Constituency level.

2. The related structures (Traditional Authorities (TAs), Regional Administrators (RAs),

Swazi National Council (SNC) Constituencies, Land Management Boards (LMB)),

are capacitated to use the cadastre and manage SNL more efficiently and sustainably.

3. Institutional arrangements for SNL are endorsed by all stakeholders.

Procurement of Technical Assistance for the implementation of the project is on-going. The

project is likely to start in May 2016 and will run for three years.

Discussions

The issue raised and clarified was the difference between Swazi Nation Land and Customary

land and the role of chiefs in land management. The roles are being further clarified in a new

Land Bill that is under preparation. There is no single ministry responsible for land issues in

Swaziland. There are laws and regulations for securing tenure but the Land Policy and Land

Bill seek to clarify the scattered laws and propose a Ministry of Lands as the lead agency. The

LMB is a legal body similar to the Land Commissions in other countries.

2.9 Côte d’Ivoire: Projet de Parteneriat Public Prive pour l’Acceleration de l’Application de

la Loi Relative au Domaine Foncier Rural

27

Mr Stephane Brossard gave a very brief report on the Cote d’Ivoire project. It is a 4.6 million

Euros project for four years with two components:

Component 1 is a public-private partnership between the Ministry of Agriculture and the

private sector for testing methodology and certification. Tender is on-going.

Component 2 is a high level institution (land observatory) for governance of land to be

situated in the office of the Prime Minister.

3. Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E)

The presentation was made by Mr Dieudonne Mouafo, LPI M&E Officer. It focused on key

M&E activities, what should be tracked, linkage to the LPI M&E framework, monitoring

tools, potential LPI support and proposed processes to follow.

Discussions

The following issues were raised for clarification:

• Will the in-country projects get free support from LPI?

• Is LPI supporting projects or governments such that specific projects can request for

support directly from LPI?

• How would baselines be established for say land administration?

• Are there other indicators? Are there indicators for gender issues?

• What is the effect of absence of baselines on the project?

• The five pillars for monitoring of VGGT and F&G implementation could be restrictive

and will not bring out country specificities.

• How do we take into account the VGGT and F&G principles in different countries

with different projects and different environment?

In clarifying the above issues it was noted that training will be part of the piloting of the M&E

system. LPI has no resources for project level support. All the projects should have budgeted

for M&E. The M&E system will be designed with 80% convergence and 20% country

specific indicators. This will make up for the country specificities.

4. Elements of Knowledge Management Platform (KM)

The presentation was made by Mr Tseggai Gebremedhin, the KM consultant to the project. It

focused on types of knowledge, what is knowledge management, rationale underlying

knowledge management, the envisaged KM for the project, proposed methodology and time

frame for undertaking the exercise.

Discussions

The following issues were raised for clarification:

• How far will the system go in documentation and capacity development?

• To what extent will the system capture historical records and information?

28

• What will happen to projects that close?

The clarification provided was that the system will have metadata that will provide all the

information about the data.

5. Update on Pan-Africa and Transversal Projects

The Transversal Coordinator made the presentation. Activities of the Pan-African component

have centred on participation in high level continental events. The summary is provided in

Table 2 below.

Table 2: Awareness raising workshops at Pan African and Transversal Levels

Activity Total Participants Men Women

Conference on Land Policy in Africa

(CLPA) side event

74 48 28

South Africa Land Summit 2500

Awareness raising workshop in South

Africa

55 32 23

Gabon National Workshop 73 49 24

Niger national workshop and

capitalization meeting

46 38 8

Angola sensitization workshop 88 64 24

Malawi EU workshop 45 37 8

Technical materials disseminated

(VGGT, F&G, Technical guides)

More than 2000

distributed

Progress made in the transversal component is summarized in Table 3 below:

Table 3: Progress in implementation of transversal project

Output Progress

Support to capacity VGGT Technical Guides and e-learning materials

29

development on governance prepared by FAO HQ used

Two capitalization meetings and a pre-capitalization

meeting organized as part of lesson learnt exchanges

Review of progress report of two in-country projects for

lesson learning – Kenya and Somalia

Ad hoc support for start-up of

10 in-country projects

Regular follow ups and support provided for countries

not yet started – Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Malawi and

Swaziland

Review of two country level progress reports and

feedback provided – Kenya and Somalia

Review of VGGT and F&G in in-country project

logframes and in line with the overall Project Logframe

(DCI-FOOD/2013/024-828)

Support to 10 in-country

projects, strengthening

partnerships and exchanges

Standardized reporting formats finalized and circulated

after first capitalization meeting. In-country project

implementers expected to use them for reporting.

Review of two in-country project progress reports and

feedback provided

Consultant recruitment in progress for the design of the

M&E system (First procurement was unsuccessful)

Consultant recruited for the design of the KM Platform

Coordination provided through capitalization meetings

and regular contacts with project implementers

Tools provided to in-country projects on demand

Support to Transversal & Pan-

African levels and Overall

Action communication

Draft of available products at LPI compiled

Consultant to be recruited for the rest of the activity.

Draft TOR prepared

Consultant to be recruited for this activity. TOR prepared

The synthesis of transversal support needed by the in-country projects was presented as in

Table 4 below:

Table 4: Synthesis of transversal support needed

Thematic area Examples of Request

Awareness raising and

advocacy

Awareness raising on land related issues and challenges

Awareness raising on VGGT and F&G

Capacity development Training in capacity assessment

Access to resources for VGGT and F&G

Handling gender issues

Lesson learnt sharing on VGGT and F&G implementation

Partnership Guidelines for coordinating partners dealing with land issues

and with government institutions

Platforms for dealing with multiple institutions, partners and

other stakeholders

Communication Communication on VGGT and F&G implementation

Visibility of all the projects and programmes

30

Advocacy and communication strategy

Transversal support Linking VGGT and F&G to Logical Framework of the

projects

Transversal coordinator to provide support:

• Awareness raising

• Planning the content of national workshops

• Providing materials

• Participating in workshops

Integration of VGGT and F&G in project activities

Discussions

It was agreed that the transversal support should be integrated into the capacity development

programmes of the transversal project.

It was also suggested that basic definitions of key terminologies should be provided. This will

help to situate various terminologies within specific country perspectives.

Suggested improvements for Capitalization Meetings

It was suggested that translations should be provided at subsequent capitalization meetings.

It was also noted that the two day meeting is too crowded. It was therefore agreed that the

meeting revert to the original three days as was done previously. The third day should be used

for capacity development activities.

It was difficult to grasp the details of country level projects. The capitalization meeting should

therefore concentrate on thematic issues at transversal level. A template for presentations

should be prepared for use at capitalization meetings. Some presentations were too long.

Time should be managed well during the capitalization meetings.

6. Report on Training

Training of participants was organized as part of the capitalization meeting. Twenty six (26)

persons made up of 19 men and 7 women participated. The objectives of the training were:

1. To develop the capacity of project implementers to use the VGGT and F&G

provisions in policy formulation processes during project implementation.

2. Ensure that VGGT and F&G processes are followed in policy development to improve

the ownership and outcome of the policy processes.

3. Contribute to the critical mass of practitioners using the VGGT and F&G in land

governance.

The expected outcome was that project implementers and government representatives would

be capacitated and knowledgeable to use the VGGT and F&G provisions for policy

development in order to improve participation in policy formulation and enhance the outcome

and content of the policies in accordance with VGGT and F&G principles. The modules

delivered for the training were:

31

a. The policy development cycle as provided by the F&G by Dr Hubert Ouedraogo of

the LPI

b. The policy development cycle as provided in the VGGT by Dr Wordsworth Odame

Larbi of FAO/LPI

c. Land policy processes in selected countries – Madagascar, Senegal and Sierra Leone

by Ms Aurelie Bres of FAO HQ.

During plenary discussions the following issues were raised:

The policy development cycle is good but how many countries are able to follow as policies

are usually developed in urgent situations. The representatives from Malawi however

confirmed that they went through the process. It was also noted that the country experiences

concentrated on the use of the VGGT and not the F&G. Are there any examples of putting the

VGGT into action beyond policy development? How was the tension surrounding the Senegal

consultation process resolved? Are there any cases where FAO has been able to convince

governments to reform land policies? What are the accountability principles to ensure that

governments uphold the guidelines since they are voluntary in nature? How does the VGGT

link up with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and country level Poverty Reduction

Strategy Papers (PRSP)?

In clarifying some of the above issues it was stressed that ensuring accountability with the

VGGT and F&G principles is the responsibility of all the countries that have endorsed them

to ensure they are complied with.

7. Group Work

Two groups were formed to deliberate on the following issues:

What are the strategic issues driving land policy in your country?

How does your project feed into the land policy process in your country in terms of

VGGT and F&G?

A summary of the group reports are presented below.

Group 1

Strategic issues driving land policy:

Cote d’Ivoire: Challenge of implementing new law, influx of migrants.

Swaziland: No land policy yet. Mobilising all stakeholders to be on board.

Kenya: The Land Policy was prepared in 2009, the new Constitution in 2010. The challenge

is the political will to implement.

South Sudan: Traditional culture is still strong and a challenge to VGGT and F&G

implementation.

32

The group agreed that the way forward to ensure VGGT and F&G implementation is through

sustained awareness raising, participation and consultations with local communities and

government in all countries. This will ensure mainstreaming of the VGGT and F&G.

Group 2

Strategic issues driving land policy:

Somalia: Contradicting systems including sharia, customary law and statutory laws.

Malawi: Understanding the cultural aspect (patrilineal and matrilineal) of land governance

and the context within which the VGGT and F&G can be implemented. The challenge is how

to progressively reduce traditional resistance to women land rights.

Ethiopia: Understanding the cultural constraint.

Angola: How to deal with large scale land based investments where farmlands are not used.

Due to falling oil prices agriculture is receiving attention.

The group agreed that identified constraints can be turned into drivers of change. Bottom-up

development orientation which is all-inclusive (including illiterates) is a good approach.

Further training in how to handle traditional resistance will be beneficial.

8. Second Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA)

It was announced to the meeting that the LPI will organize the second conference on Land

Policy in Africa (CLPA) in Namibia in November 2016. Projects and countries are

encouraged to participate.

9. Next Capitalization Meeting

The next capitalization meeting will be held in May 2016 in Addis Ababa.

Closing

Closing statements were made by Ms Aurelie Bres of FAO HQ, Mr Eulogio Montijano of the

EU Delegation to the AU, and Dr Hubert Ouedraogo of the LPI Secretariat.

Ms Bres assured the meeting of FAO continued support with materials needed for the

successful implementation of the projects at the country, transversal and pan-African levels.

Mr Montijano said his participation has been a learning experience for him. The information

shared has been very useful in understanding the country processes and the continental

processes as well, and very useful in considering future support. The transversal model is an

excellent model that can be replicated in other projects. The root cause of many problems at

country level is land and the potential of the projects to deal with them effectively is high.

Land will continue to be on the development agenda and the projects can be good entry points

for further support.

33

Dr Ouedraogo emphasised the importance of the partnership between LPI and FAO in the

implementation of the project to ensure that the implementation of the AU Declaration on

land happens on the ground. This is the first of such arrangements and he was confident that it

would be successful. It is through partnering with country level projects that we can make

impact. He thanked the EU for their support.

The meeting ended at 18.30.