Grand Bassam, Cote d'Ivoire — African governments should intensify the production of land data and statistics to aid their decision-making processes as the continent seeks to end poverty and inequality, an expert group meeting on Land Policy in Africa recently recommended.
The expert group meeting, held as a side event during the 10th Committee of Director Generals of National Statistical Offices and the 5th Session of the Statistical Commission for Africa (STATCOM-AFRICA) in Cote d'Ivoire, also called on member States to fast-track reporting of land indicators in Agenda 2030, the New Urban Agenda and Africa's 50-year development plan, Agenda 2063.
The side event was held under the title; "Facing the Challenges of Land Monitoring in the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa - Towards Agenda 2030 and SDGs 2063."
The meeting, which was called to raise awareness on data demands in Agendas 2030 and 2063 among national and regional statistics and data communities and partners, encouraged member States to commit resources to conduct regular capacity assessment and implementation of capacity strengthening initiatives in data and statistics at country level for timely, quality and sex disaggregated land data generation, analysis and reporting.
This can be done with the help of the Land Policy Initiative (LPI), the ECA's African Centre for Statistics (ACS), UN Habitat and other partners.
In a speech read on her behalf at the beginning of the meeting, Joan Kagwanja, the Chief of the Land Policy Initiative, said land was central to ending poverty and inequality in Africa but high quality statistical data, which is essential for proper planning and measurement of development outcomes, remained largely elusive.
"Experience to date indicates that monitoring land policy in Africa is relatively new with limited experience at the national level," said Ms. Kagwanja.
"How Africa's natural resources, particularly land, are governed over the coming decade will critically influence attainment of sustainable growth and inclusive development."
The expert group meeting also called on the ECA to establish a Technical Working Group on Land Data and Statistics in Africa to provide guidance on the mechanism to strengthen land data generation, analysis and reporting in line with the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa, Agenda 2030, the New Urban Agenda, Agenda 2063 and Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) and provide annual progress reports to the Statistical Commission for Africa.
The experts reaffirmed the need to ensure coordination of land governance and data communities, facilitation of member States' access to technical support, update of appropriate technologies and tools for land data generation, analysis, reporting and establishment of land data repository, which the ACS, LPI and UN Habitat, through the Global Land Indicators Initiatives (GLII), hosted by the Land and Global Land Tool Network, committed to support.
They affirmed the Statistical Commission's recommendation to member States to allocate 0.15 percent of national budgets for statistical initiatives as a means to strengthen institutional and operational efficiency in data generation, analysis and reporting.
The experts encouraged strategic partnerships involving National Statistical Offices, Regional Statistical Training Centres, ACS, AfDB, The United Nations Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management (UNGGIM), UN Habitat, international NGOs, New Urban Agenda and Agenda 2063 in line with the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa to ensure facilitation and capacity strengthening for data generation, management and dissemination.
This event, which was co-organised by UN-Habitat's Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), was geared to tackle some of the data and measurement related challenges facing Africa in relation to land governance on the continent.
Experts from organisations such as the ECA's African Centre for Statistics, the LPI, UN Habitat, AfDB, UN GGIM and international NGOs attended the meeting.
Note to editors:
Recognizing the critical role of land to Africa's socioeconomic development and the complexities around land, the African Union Commission in collaboration with ECA and AfDB, established the Land Policy Initiative in 2006, making Africa the only continent to define its own land policy agenda.
The LPI is tasked with coordinating and assisting Member States in implementing the AU Declaration on Land, in accordance with the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa, in order to achieve socio-economic development, peace, security and environmental sustainability.
In the first phase (2006-2009) of the LPI Programme, the most prominent achievements of the LPI were the development of a Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa (F&G), adopted by the African Ministers responsible for agriculture and land in April 2009; as well as the commitment of Heads of States in the Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa, adopted during the Thirteenth Ordinary Assembly of the African Union in July 2009. The F&G was developed in close collaboration with the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) and informed by regional assessments in all five AU regions. It highlights key land related issues, outlines key principles and provides direction for addressing key issues on the continent.
The F&G flags the pressing need to develop tracking systems to monitor land policy development and implementation to enable African countries to learn from past successes and setbacks, and make timely adjustments to national land policy processes. It also highlights the functions of the requisite tracking system and articulates principles and criteria for developing the system. In response to the F&G recommendations, the AU Declaration on Issues and Challenges calls on the AU Commission in collaboration with the Regional Economic Communities, UNECA, AfDB and other partners to undertake measures to establish mechanisms for tracking progress and periodic reporting by Member States on progress achieved. Monitoring is intended to enable African countries to implement the agreed objectives and principles on land policy outlined in the F&G document.
