Kinshasa, D.r. Congo — The Land Policy Initiative (LPI) was recently in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo where it launched the pilot project to mainstream land governance concerns in the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Program (CAADP).
The launch took place during an inception workshop organized by the LPI in partnership with the DRC government.
The pilot project will help the country mainstream land governance in agricultural strategies and plans, and ensure land reform programs secure land rights, provide equal access to land, and promote responsible agriculture investments to advance agriculture and rural transformation.
It will generate evidence, raise awareness and build the DRC's capacity to better address concerns such as unequal access to land by women, insecurity of land tenure, especially in communal lands, inadequate mapping and land use planning to guide land-related investments.
In his official remarks to the workshop, Léon Ntondo Lumuka, Secretary General of the Land Ministry, lauded the LPI for choosing the DRC to be part of the six countries in which the pilot project is being launched.
"The project will give us an opportunity to integrate land governance indicators in our results and monitoring frameworks for tracking agriculture sector programs at the national level," he said.
He reiterated his government's commitment to harness and sustain the partnership that has already been created between the Ministries of Land and Agriculture, and other stakeholders to facilitate the successful implementation of the project.
To ensure the success of the project, participants resolved to establish a formal task force to develop the country business plan for mainstreaming land governance in the country's National Agriculture Investment Programme (NAIP).
Participants agreed that the task force should comprise high ranking experts from the ministries of land, agriculture, land use planning and four experts from non-state actors representing non-governmental organisations, traditional authorities, private sector and the farmers' organizations to ensure effective participation and ownership of the project.
They also agreed to integrate the project into the work plan of the National Commission for Land Reform.
The pilot project, which is being implemented by the LPI to facilitate the implementation of the African Union agenda on land, is also in Cote d'Ivoire, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania.
The project is supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the European Union (EU).
