Addis Ababa — The AUC-ECA-AfDB Land Policy Initiative (LPI) has launched a pilot project to track progress in the implementation of the AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa. In collaboration with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the project will assess progress made in implementing the key decisions and commitments of the AU Declaration on Land at continental, regional and national level, beginning with ten (10) pilot countries.
In his welcoming remarks at the project planning meeting held on 1-2 March 2017 at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the Director for the Capacity Development Division (ECA) and Officer in Charge of the Regional Integration and Trade Division (RITD) of ECA, Mr. Stephen Karingi, welcomed the LPI-IFPRI partnership on M&E. "We are pleased to partner with IFPRI, a well renowned think tank that has been generating knowledge and providing policy options to policymakers in the realm of land, agriculture and natural resource management for many years"he noted.
"IFPRI is about research for policy impact and is therefore very pleased to join the LPI in this challenging yet exciting project," agreed Ms. Ruth Meizen-Dick in her opening remarks. Ms. Meizen-Dick, Flagship leader, Natural Resource Property Regimes, Policies Institutions and Markets (PIM), and Senior Fellow, Environment & production Technology Division, IFPRI noted that the LPI has demonstrated that political can be generated to tackle difficult land governance challenges and the M&E initiative will offer countries and many others a great opportunity to learn how to do things differently in order to improve land governance and management.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Janet Edeme, Head of Rural Economy, Department of Rural Economy and Agriculture (DREA) at the African Union Commission (AUC) lauded the efforts of LPI and IFPRI, expressing hope that this partnership will finally advance efforts on M&E, one of the most important parts of the LPI programme. "We are to a large extent in unchartered waters given many of our Member States have not monitored land governance processes in the past. Even at the global and regional levels, monitoring land governance is still a developing area." She therefore called on the LPI and IFPRI to provide a platform for engagement with a wide range of experts and stakeholders in the course of implementing the pilot project.
The pilot project on M&E will develop a comprehensive baseline that will form the basis for tracking progress in implementation of the key decisions of the AU Declaration on Land; track progress made at the continental, regional and national levels since the launch of the implementation of the Declaration; document and disseminate best practices; and build capacity to sustain efforts of member states in regular tracking and reporting on land governance.
