Land Professionals in Africa To Publish Land Governance Experts Profile Reference Guide
At an extraordinary experts group meeting (EGM) held from February 14 to 17, 2022, in Rabat, Morocco, land governance experts in Africa agreed to publish a book that describes and defines the profile of the Land Governance Expert in Africa. The guide helps identify experts and their needs and strengthens their capacity to meet land governance challenges on the continent.
The meeting was convened by the Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan II (IAV II) Morocco with support from AU -UNECA- AfDB African Land Policy Center (ALPC), under the Network of Excellence in Land Governance in Africa (NELGA) programme for North Africa. The EGM, under the theme, Professional Land Actors and Their Contributions To Economic And Social Development, brought together land professionals who highlighted their contributions and other needs towards creating resilient land governance for emerging economies. The EGM grounded their discussion using several Africa Union (AU ) endorsed guidelines. The experts called for the introduction and use of an African Land Tenure Career Reference System (ALTRS) to feature land experts profiles and roles in land governance in Africa.
ALPC Coordinator, Dr Joan Kagwanja, commended IAV for convening this large body of experts as a convergence point to reflect on the profile of land experts in Africa and to build capacity gaps of these land experts in providing technical assistance and support to their respective AU Member States. ALPC has developed several AU endorsed guidelines on what the land industry needs towards economic development. Land experts need to support introducing and using these guidelines through policies and frameworks to ensure responsible land governance in their regions.
Prof. Abdelaziz El Hraiki, Director IAV Hassan II, lauded the meeting theme and explained that the current land tenure systems in the region do not guarantee sustainable land governance. He called on national governments to bring in qualified experts, introduce academic structures to support governance processes and come up with solutions based on the needs of the region and constraints of the multiplicity of the land tenure system.
The meeting allowed various professionals such as surveyors, urbanistic and architects, notaries and land lawyers, chartered experts, sociologists and anthropologists, etc., to share their views about priorities in their land sectors, country and sectorial orientations, and recommendations of the land governance. A diagnosis of land governance expertise was discussed in order to establish the land expert profile guide. The expertise reference guide will be shared in future for validation and endorsement.
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Reports from the Expert Meeting on February 14 and February 17, 2022