2021 Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA-2021)

The Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA) is organised biennially by the African Land Policy Centre (ALPC), a joint initiative of the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank. The goal is to deepen capacity for land policy in Africa through improved access to knowledge and information on land policymaking and implementation. The CLPA is a platform for presenting research findings and focusing the attention of a comprehensive range of stakeholders on the issues and status of land policy development, implementation and monitoring in Africa. The CLPA also provides a unique opportunity to showcase emerging and promising practices and facilitate networking. Conference participants include researchers, governments (including parliamentarians), traditional authorities, farmers, civil society, private sector, land practitioners and development partners. The CLPA was first held in 2014, focusing on land, Investment and agriculture issues. The second edition of CLPA was held under a theme targeting youth, land and employment in November 2017. The most recent 2019 CLPA focused on winning the fight against corruption in the land sector.

 

The fourth CLPA is scheduled to take place over 1 - 4 November 2021, with a number of pre-event activities set to take place on 29 October 2021. The Conference, hosted by the Government of Rwanda, will be conducted virtually, except for the opening and closing sessions running from Kigali, under the theme: “Land governance for safeguarding art, culture and heritage towards the Africa We Want”.  The Conference's theme aligns with the African Union Declaration of 2021 as "Arts, Culture and Heritage: Levers for Building Africa We Want," which is epitomized by Aspiration 5 of Agenda 2063. The Conference will focus on African heritage and cultural dimensions of land and the potential to secure livelihoods, economic growth, and sustainable development through the creative economy in both the rural and urban settings. The Conference will also focus on fostering innovation and stimulating social and economic value through creativity, talent, intellectual capital, expressions of the arts, and cultural entrepreneurship as envisioned in Agenda 2063.

 

The present edition of the Biennial Conference will adopt a creative and scientific approach in line with its theme. The Conference is designed to capture a broad range of emerging issues and knowledge and generate interest in current land policy themes from a wide range of African policy actors. The conference format will be a hybrid and covers plenary and parallel sessions, masterclasses, pre-conference events, side events, exhibitions, and social media to reach a broader audience.