Category: Research call
Africa Land Insights: Data, Policy, Tools and Best Practices List (April 2023 Edition)
Land Insights: Data, Policy, Tools, and Best Practice series identifies available strategies and tools for comprehending, addressing and resolving land-related challenges in Africa. The series compiles information on available and upcoming tools to effectively manage and regulate land resources, manage data to inform policy decisions and share best practices to improve land outcomes.
Research
The Assessment of Land Use Efficiencies of Ghanaian Cities: Case Study of Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, study shows that land in Ghana cities that was either agricultural land or grassland has been converted to built-up land use/land cover, which is indeed a challenge for urban agriculture. M.S Aduah and Mantey develop guidelines to inform urban development in Ghana.
Policy Perspectives
Climate Resilience – What can we learn from Pastoral Systems in Africa’s Drylands policy brief by Saverio Krätli, Christine Lottje, Friederike Mikulcak, Wiebke Förch, and Tobias Feldt identifies lessons learned from pastoralism which smallholder farmers in drylands can learn from to address the challenge of sustainably producing food in an increasingly unpredictable climate.
Felicity Addo, Amanda Palazzo, Petr Havlík, and Ansa Heyl policy brief on Securing Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems for The Gambia recommends the co-development of resilient food and land-use systems to help bridge the gap between demand for sustainable, healthy food and attainable food supply in The Gambia.
Food Security: Strengthening Africa’s Food Systems makes its way into Foresight Africa’s top priorities for the continent in 2023
Manuals and Frameworks
The Land Degradation Surveillance Framework Field Manual is a comprehensive method for assessing soil and land health, from the field to using new and advanced data analytics by Tor-G. Vågen and Leigh Ann Winowiecki
The Compendium of best practices for housing in Africa was produced by the Build Solid Ground project to document positive stories of change in the areas of adequate and affordable housing, including basic services, land tenure and slum upgrading.
An Introductory Guide : To Responsible Land-Based Investment for Communities, Government And Investors, Achieving Responsible Land-Based Investments: A manual for communities, Incorporating Responsible Land-Based Investment Principles into Investor Policies, and Promoting and Facilitating and Regulating Responsible Land-Based Investment are diverse tools in support of land and its investments in Africa.
IFAD and FAO Technical guide on combining geospatial technology and participatory methods for securing tenure rights provides project designers and implementers orientation on combining participatory methods and geomatics technology to strengthen legitimate tenure rights in land-based investments.
Making way: developing national legal and policy frameworks for pastoral mobility handbook calls for the legal recognition and securing of pastoral mobility to safeguard and facilitate a continuous stream of economic and social benefits for pastoralists, countries, and the environment.
NELGA Open Calls for Application to its Research Fellowship and Staff Exchange Program
The Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa has recently announced a fantastic opportunity for researchers and practitioners in the field of land governance in Africa (NELGA). NELGA has announced the launch of a call for research funding and an exchange programme to support the study of land governance in Africa.
Researchers, practitioners, and professionals engaged in enhancing land governance in Africa are encouraged to respond. The program aims to fund studies that will eventually lead to evidence-based policies and interventions that encourage equitable access to land resources and environmentally responsible land use.
The initiative will provide funding to qualified researchers to continue their work on land governance research projects in Africa. Proposals can be submitted in English, French, or Portuguese. Scientists from any African nation are encouraged to join the programme.
Conversely, the goal of the staff exchange programme is to facilitate communication and skill-building amongst land governance practitioners and professionals in Africa. Some participants in this programme can spend time at an affiliated institution, where they can take advantage of the host organization’s expertise and gain insight into its methods.
NELGA’s regional hubs and African partner institutions will implement these two initiatives through the German Academic Exchange (DAAD). This request is part of NELGA’s larger initiative to fund the study and improvement of African land administration.
Visit the NELGA website and follow the application instructions provided there to be considered for the research funding and staff exchange programme.
Find the link to the Staff Exchange Program.
Find the link to the research fellowship in English and French.
Call for Papers: NELGA North Africa International Forum on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences I June 6-8, 2023
Papers are currently being accepted for the International Forum on Land Policy and Geospatial Sciences to be held in Rabat, Morocco, on 6-8 June 2023.
Papers can be submitted through the Abstract Template.
The forum allows all stakeholders in geospatial sciences, land governance, land policy, and sustainable development paradigms to share their expertise, knowledge, and experiences. All participants interested in the Forum’s themes are encouraged to register by clicking this link. Registration
If a participant has submitted a contribution in French or Arabic, an abstract in English is required. Contributions will be assigned to the axes’ topics as described below. Abstracts must be uploaded through the Submission link no later than April 1st, 2023.
Find more details on the subject areas of focus in the attached documents below. If you have a question about attending the conference, submitting abstract or other queries, kindly email nelga@iav.ac.ma / nelga.research@gmail.com.
Find the Call for Abstracts here in English and French for more details, especially thematic areas.
Publication: Understanding Urban Land Leasing System as a Strategic Value Capture Instrument to Enhance Urban Revenue in Ethiopia: A Case Study of Bahir Dar City
Since 1993, the Ethiopian government has been using the urban land leasing system to monetize the increase in land value created due to factors other than private investment. Thus, this paper by Seid Hussen Yimam, Hans Lind and Belachew Yirsaw Alemu aims to explore and understand whether Bahir Dar city is leveraging the urban land lease system as a strategic value capture instrument to enhance its local revenue or not.
This study has used the qualitative research method and in-depth analysis. The information needed to reach the goal of this study has been gathered through a desk review of documents and key informant interviews with experts and brokers. The study has found that most urban land is held under a permit system, with landholders paying a small amount of land rent per annum. The study also found that most of the city’s land was given away through administrative allotment at low and out-of-date benchmark prices, which hurt the city’s lease income.
Also, it has been found that there isn’t enough enforcement of lease payment collection, which hurts the city’s ability to make money from urban areas. So, the city isn’t using the public land leasing system as a strategic way to get more value out of the land. Based on these results, this paper suggests that the government set up a modern property tax system to capture the increase in value of land with a permit. Also, the study plans to do empirical research to find the factors that significantly impact benchmark prices and to update the benchmark price based on those factors regularly. Moreover, the study has suggested proper enforcement of the lease payment collection in the city.
New Study: Women’s Access to Land Ownership and Agricultural Development in Baïgom, West Cameroon
Women represent close to 51% of the Cameroonian population, and they are more than 70% active in food and market gardening activities (INS, 2010). Like those elsewhere, the rural women of Baigom are fighting with all the means at their disposal to gain access to land and participate in the agricultural development of this village. To this end, they need land and capital to carry out their actions to make agriculture profitable and ensure food security for their families.
This contribution makes it possible to analyze the socio-economic and cultural context, which is unfavourable primarily to women’s access to land in Baigom. Women active in agricultural production activities are limited by the unavailability of land resources, which constitute a no less negligible factor of production. This State of virtual exclusion of these leading actors in family farming is detrimental to the development of the agricultural economy.
To conduct this study, the methodology adopted focused on primary and secondary sources and field observations. As for the primary sources, socio[1]economic surveys were carried out with a target population of women producers in the village of Baïgom. The socio-economic surveys reached 5% of women over the age of 15; in the end, 150 questionnaires were collected in the five central districts of the village (Nkoupetgom, Nkou gahri, Chaanké, Mbayé, Njissen). Young girls are more like family labourers in peasant agriculture.
The secondary data are the fruit of the literature review and the consultation of the archives. These archives are present in the decentralized services of the State of the specialized institutions which generate official statistics, such as the National Institute of Statistics (INS). The webography was not, moreover, a source of acquisition of specific knowledge in terms of the gender approach to land issues in tropical Africa as a whole. The main results indicate that women’s access to land ownership is low, with only about 8% holding a land title. Furthermore, the juxtaposition of modern and customary rights complicates the marginalization of women’s access to land, negatively impacting agricultural production activities. Despite these obstacles, solutions are envisaged by all the actors to involve women more in the management of rural land.
New Research Explores Relationship between Landownership Inequality and Education Attainment in Kenya
We are pleased to announce the publication of a new research paper by John Kamau Gathiaka, which examines the relationship between landownership inequality and educational attainment in Kenya. The study, published in the Tanzanian Economic Review, used data from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey and the Kenya Population and Housing Census to investigate the Gini of landownership’s influence on the Gini of education attainment across counties and the determinants of educational attainment in Kenya.
While previous research has documented an inverse relationship between unequal land ownership and educational attainment in other countries, the evidence generated in this study does not support this strong relationship in Kenya. The study found that government financing of free education, coupled with bursaries, reduced the impact of landownership inequality.
To reduce inequality in education across countries, the research paper suggests that the government should invest more in education and make policies that promote equality in household income, urbanization, and public employment participation.
We encourage you to read the entire research paper (DOI: 10.56279/ter.v12i2.119) and learn more about the findings and their implications.
Please click here to view the research on our website.
Uncovering Land Governance Challenges in 9 African Countries: NELGA’s Overview of Pastoralism and Small-Scale Farming
NELGA has put out nine country profiles about South Sudan, South Africa, Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Tunisia, Egypt, and Mauritania. These profiles give information about pastoralism and small-scale agriculture in these countries. Through research on the current state of land governance in each of these nations, the individual reports have identified policy gaps that could be amended to better support pastoralism and small-scale agriculture.
The profiles also emphasised the significance of regional and international cooperation throughout Africa to enhance land governance structures tailored to local communities’ needs. The profiles included an assessment of existing research on the topics; the effects of climate change; public policy in place to support pastoralism and small-scale farming; the role of women and young people in this space; and regional and international cooperation available to support respective countries. The individual country profiles make recommendations for improving land governance in each country.
NELGA hopes that these reports will help the government improve the way it manages resources while making sure that rights over resources are kept, and international standards are always followed. NELGA keeps working with its African partners to improve how land is managed in all countries involved.
Call for Funding Applications: NELGA Digital Accompanying Measures
The German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) is funded by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) as commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to organize accompanying measures for the “Network of Excellence for Land Governance in Africa (NELGA)”.
NELGA is a partnership of leading African universities and research institutions with proven leadership in education, training, and research on land governance. Currently, NELGA has more than 50 partner institutions across Africa.
The objectives of NELGA are:
• Enhancing training opportunities and curricula on land governance in Africa;
• Promoting demand-driven research on land policy issues;
• Connecting scholars and researchers across Africa through academic
networks;
• Creating data and information for monitoring and evaluation of land policy reforms.
We invite NELGA partners to apply for funding for small measures to mitigate the effect of the covid19 crisis in the functioning of NELGA through digital means. Such measures are meant to ensure a certain operational continuity, both in term of regional collaboration between NELGA partner institution, but as well as the internal functioning within the institution (e.g. continuity of teaching). This funding is part of the general open call for NELGA accompanying measures as attached.
Measures eligible for funding:
• Conducting needs assessments for e-learning solutions
• Development of digital teaching and learning materials (e.g. new online
modules)
• Implementation of virtual events.
For the implementation of digitalization activities, expenditure on personnel for the support of digital formats, as well as software, licenses and fees and services for external e-learning experts and developers are possible.
The budget of the measure should not exceed 15,000.00 EUR.
The application is to be submitted in writing electronically and must include:
• A detailed description of the project including concrete measurable objectives;
• A schedule of all planned measures as well as a detailed budget (template on request);
• Evidence of existing/initiated contacts with partners, where applicable.
Selection of applications:
A DAAD commission will assess the funding applications. The criteria for the selection of funding applications are as follows:
• A complete application;
• Inclusion of specific, measurable objectives which are directly related to the program objectives;
• Convincing description of plans for networking and network expansion;
• Description of sustainability and consolidation of measures.
• Economic and efficient use of financial resources.
The following aspects are relevant for the selection of proposals for curriculum development and review:
• Sustainability of the measures after the covid19 crisis;
• Capacity building that will enhance the digital literacy of NELGA partners;
• Promotion of e-learning in a sustainable manner;
• Cooperation with other NELGA partner universities.
Applications for the NELGA-DAAD accompanying measures may be submitted throughout the year. For this specialized call for funding for the covid19 mitigation measure, we invite you to apply before the 15th of October 2020.
Applications can be sent to the following contact persons:
Ms Jana Bömer, boemer@daad.de
For more information and to understand our financial framework for funding, click the download buttons below.
Invitation to apply for research fellowships under the “Network of Excellence for Land Governance in Africa (NELGA)” in Northern Africa
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We invite staff members or students of NELGA partner institutions in Northern Africa with a background in land governance or a related field to apply for funding for NELGA research fellowships.
Invitation to apply for research fellowships under the “Network of Excellence for Land Governance in Africa (NELGA)†in Northern Africa
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We invite staff members or students of NELGA partner institutions in Northern Africa with a background in land governance or a related field to apply for funding for NELGA research fellowships.