The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Africa Land Policy Centre (ALPC), in collaboration with the East Africa Community (EAC) Secretariat will hold a series of capacity-development workshops in Uganda on the implementation of the AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in EAC region. From August 16 – 18, the ALPC will provide technical support to establish a Regional Platform and capacity development exercise of the EAC Secretariat on the AU Land Agenda. The Regional Platform aims to share lessons and best practices by the EAC Partner States on land policy development, reviews and implementation.
The first event will focus on building the capacity of the EAC Secretariat on along several thematic areas, including land, ethnicity, conflict, and gender. This session will take the participants from the Secretariat through modules which will expose them to the AU Land Agenda, the ongoing joint project and the scoping report of EAC Secretariat, its findings and recommendations, as well as te EAC regional assessment study report. This training allows EAC Secretariat to foster their efforts in implementing the AU Land Agenda. The second event is a columination of actions and road maps toward establishing the Regional Platform for implementing the AU Declaration on Land in EAC Partner States.
The AU Declaration on Land calls upon African RECs to convene periodic regional platforms to facilitate experience sharing, lessons learnt and the dissemination of best practices in land policy formulation, implementation and monitoring based on Member State experiences. To translate these calls into action, the ALPC has been mandated to provide strategic leadership for the implementation of the AU Declaration across Africa. The ALPC considers RECs to be key strategic partners in the implementation of the Declaration. In this regard, the ALPC is collaborating with the EAC to establish a platform that will enable the EAC Partner States to hold periodic forums to share their experiences and key lessons on land policy formulation, implementation and monitoring. For the EAC to carry out its role, its Secretariat must have a good grasp of the issues and expectations of the AU land agenda for the region.