Land rights research gets $12m US funding

The United States Agency for International development (USAID) has committed $12 million to fund a study on land related issues in the country.

The five-year project seeks to find solutions to wrangles emanating from land, the single most cause of conflict, especially in rural areas.

The USAID vice president in Rwanda, Brian Frantz, made the announcement during a workshop to discuss land related issues in Kigali on Wednesday.

The three-day workshop brought together officials from the Ministry of Natural Resources, USAID, NGOs, and universities, among others, to consider the priority areas of the study.

“USAID has different issues it supports (in the country) but land issues research will be addressed during this period,” Frantz stated.

He noted that his organisation would support research in selected areas to help the government and other stakeholders to solve land conflicts.

”The land project was designed in five years and Abunzi, community mediators, will be trained to acquire enough knowledge to solve land disputes,” he revealed.

“Abunzi have previously been criticised as having acted as judges rather than playing their role as mediators but they also play a critical role in solving land disputes”.

USAID’s chief of party of the land project, Anna Knox, said; “Through hosting a workshop dedicated to establish the most critical land related policy research priorities, the land project will have the basis to support Rwandan researchers on this through competitive subcontracts.” 

The selected priorities are inheritance and succession law and practice in relation to land rights, land use consolidation about environmental and socio-economic impact, assessment of the determinant factors of land market value and mapping land dispute resolution processes and institution and making comparisons.

Qualified researchers will be helped through the USAID support to find the solutions and measures taken to resolve them.

 The acting Director General in charge of Land and Mapping at the Ministry of Natural Resources, Pothin Muvala, appreciated USAID’s initiative to support the study saying land issues still persist.

“When the research is carried out in these selected areas, it will help implementers to know where they are, their weaknesses and improve their jobs thanks to the research results.”

Article from the Newtimes

Journalists trained on reporting land related issues

The executive secretary of Media High Council (MHC), Emmanuel Mugisha, has said land remains a highly complex and contentious issue, involving economic, social, political, and cultural concerns and that the media has a role to play as a stakeholder in improving and promoting good governance, accountability and transparency in land sector.
Mugisha made the remarks yesterday during the opening of a one-day workshop for media practitioners and chief editors on ‘Transparency in land administration.’ The workshop aims at equipping journalists with skills on reporting land-related issues.
“Land has an impact on everyone either willing or not.  Journalists are the eye of the society and there is no justification for ignoring such an influential issue,” he said. “Transparency is a critical component of a well functioning land administration, in particular in view of the poor dissemination of public information on land rights and policies.”
Mugisha stressed that the risk of corruption is very real in land allocation and management elsewhere. The consequences to the public often take the form of difficult access to land assets, unawareness of land policies and legal frameworks, ignorance about land transactions and prices, misallocation of land rights, and other land issues.
He observed that national land policies have sometimes been misunderstood because the media was ignoring them. “Our audience might get tired of the political issues that we offer abundantly. There are also other fields that we eventually ignore but which have a great impact on the citizens’ daily livelihoods. Reporting on land related issues will help mitigate land related conflicts based on ignorance which mainly take place at the grassroots level.”
James Daale Simon, the program coordinator at Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD) told the journalists that their role should be advocacy, capacity building and policy research.
“You have to advocate for those whom you think will be affected by ‘poor’ land policies. That cannot be possible unless you have done your ‘policy’ research. But first you have to find sometimes to build their capacities through your media with land issues related program or articles. All these have to be pro-poor and to favor mainly the vulnerable groups such as orphans, widows, genocide survivors.”
According to the National Institute of Statistics in Rwanda (NISR)’s report published in 2011, 80 per cent of Rwandans survive due to agriculture in a country of 10.7 million people (2011).
“The complexity with our land is population with a population density of 403 people per square kilometer. Land scarcity if 81.7 per cent in cities and 18.35 in rural areas. With this fast population growth, good land governance becomes a priority. Isn’t that worth reporting?” asked Daale.
The workshop was organized by MHC in partnership with the World Bank, the ministry of local government, the Rwanda Environmental Management Authority (REMA), the Natural Resources Authority, and Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development.

http://focus.rw/wp/2012/09/journalists-trained-on-reporting-land-related-issues/

Civil society seeks media partnership

Members of the Civil Society discussing with journalists during the media breakfast yesterday. The New Times / J. Mbanda.

Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been urged to work hand-in-hand with the media so as to voice concerns that affect the population. 

Speaking at a media breakfast in Kigali, yesterday, Oxfam’s Director of Campaigns and Policy, Kevin Thierry Gatete said: “Our activities comprise of programmes that enable us to directly connect with the local population, meaning that we have more information for the media as a channel through which the government can get to know of the communities”

The event, held under the theme, “Strengthening the relationship between Civil Society and the media to promote pro-poor reporting”, journalists had an interactive session with representatives of various NGOs.

He said the partnership would not only bridge gaps that might be existing between the two parties, but will also enable the media to get information about issues raised by the population.

“The media is not only for the business community to advertise or public institutions to communicate of what is expected from the population, but it should also be used to inform the government about the demands of its citizens,” Gatete pointed out.

He explained that the partnership will also play a crucial role in setting a platform that will enable CSOs and the media to work towards a common goal.

Among others they discussed how and what each NGO was working on, challenges and future plans.

It was organised in partnership with an umbrella of local NGOs known by its French acronym as CCOAIB.

Speaking to The New Times, CCOAIB`s Project Coordinator, Vincent Sinduhunga, said that more efforts will be put in making sure that CSO`s serve the right purpose.

Responding to claims from the media that sometimes CSOs do not do much to advocate for the population, Sinduhunga explained they are independent organisations that have a clearly stipulated work plans and mandate.

“We are purely independent organs but this does not mean that we are against good programmes that the government may initiate; in fact we only have to come in for advocacy when we realise that rights of the population are being violated,” he said.

Meanwhile, Civil Society Organisations members of Rwanda Civil Society Platform (RCSP) have been called on to take active participation and contribution in the on going East Africa Community (EAC) integration process.

Thaddie Karekezi, the Executive Secretary of RCSP made the call on Thursday during the general assembly of the East African Civil Society Organisations’ Forum (EACSOF)-Rwanda Chapter. RCSP is a member of the EACSOF.

He said although it was difficult for the five countries to move at the same pace in implementing requirements to speed up the integration process, there is need for CSO`s in the region to first of all educate the population about the need for integration.

“For the population to benefit from the integration, they need to fully understand why there is need for integration. This will not only enable citizens to develop mechanisms through which they can benefit from it but will also influence the speeding up of the process,” said Karekezi.

http://www.newtimes.co.rw/news/index.php?i=15116&a=58369#.UFS4ZsucN0g.email

PUBLICATION: Selected Taylor & Francis Group Articles from African and African Studies Journals

The Taylor & Francis Group publishes several leading African and African Studies journals and is committed to disseminating and showcasing African research in the global online environment in a variety of subject areas, from
the arts to zoology, economics to the environment, mathematics to music.
To show their support for Africa Day they have collated a selection of top articles which engage with Africa on a number of key themes, shown below, and have made them free to access online from the 25th May – 31st August.

• African Political Elections
• Land Grab in Africa
• Sudan in the Spotlight
• Arts and Film
• Climate Change and Environment
• The Lord’s Resistance Army

See the full selection of available articles here (pdf).Available through August 31, 2012

PUBLICATION: Land Governance in Africa (ILC)

A new publications from the International Land Coalition looks at how historical context has shaped key contemporary issues relating to policy on land.

This study outlines the main contemporary debates on land within Africa, and the frameworks and contexts that influence the framing and reform of land policy. The land question is placed within a historical context, which examines the changing frameworks of land administration across the continent and the influences of past policies on the present. This helps in identifying the economic, political, and social factors that have shaped the land question in different sub-regions. It also shows the evolution of debates and their often circular nature; recurring debates include customary versus statutory tenure, user rights, historical claims on land, individual property rights, and the need to create land markets for productive investments, as well as the relative efficiency of smallholder versus large estate agriculture and the need to protect livelihood interests of poor rural people.
Beginning with customary land tenure systems in the pre-colonial era, the study charts the evolution of land tenure and governance in different countries and regions during colonialism, independence, and the economic liberalism and structural adjustment policies of the late twentieth century. It examines the barriers to land access faced by groups such as women, pastoralists, tenants, and migrants, and questions the role of land titling in improving access to land. It also examines contemporary phenomena such as the upsurge in foreign investment and “land grabbing” for the production of food crops and biofuels, and for investment and speculation.
Recent initiatives in attempting to implement pro-poor land reforms have resulted in an increased awareness of the dynamics of customary land management, their political implications, and the need to create innovative institutions that facilitate dialogue among multiple interest groups. These are major achievements that need to guide future developments of land forums, policy debates, and new policy initiatives.

Available here.