NELGA Southern Africa Hub to hold Research and Capacity Development Workshop on Land Governance Innovation in Southern Africa

From October 6th – 8th, 2020, the Network of Excellence on Land Governance in Africa Southern Africa hub at the Namibia University of Science and Technology (NUST) will hold a virtual workshop to present its final draft of the Research and Capacity Development Strategy for Land Governance Innovation in Southern Africa. When adopted, the strategy serves as the basis for future research and capacity building in land governance innovation within the Southern African region.

The strategy document stems from the regional hub’s research on land governance in Southern Africa, which covers the description and assessment of Land Governance in the region. The countries covered include Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Eswatini, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.  The eight-country assessment results were presented at the NUST-NELGA Hub for Southern Africa at a 2-day Symposium in 2019. The Symposium identified regional land policy implications and the key land challenges facing Southern African countries. The key challenges and opportunities were published in a Synthesis Report in 2020. The eight country case studies and the synthesis report will form the basis for future research, capacity development, and policy innovation in the region.

Ensuring that recommendations published in the Synthesis Report are carried out systematically, NUST-NELGA Hub developed the “Research and Capacity Development Strategy for Land Governance Innovation in Southern Africa” for the period 2020 to 2025.

The strategic initiatives outlined in the Research and Capacity Development Strategy for Land Governance Innovation in southern Africa are closely aligned with the prominent African and International Initiatives. The strategy supports and draws inspiration from the African Land Policy Initiative and the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa as well as the African Agenda 2063, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs), the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGTs) and the World Bank Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF).

The meeting will have in attendance, civil society actors, policymakers, academics, and researchers from the region and across the continent.

For inquiries, contact nelga@nust.na