Sweden Contributes to IGAD Land Policy Governance Project

Oct. 16, 2019 (DJIBOUTI, Djibouti): The Executive Secretary of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), H.E. Amb. (Eng.) Mahboub Maalim, and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to Ethiopia, H.E. Torbjorn Peterson, on Oct. 9 signed a grant agreement to support the Land Policy Governance Project of the regional organisation.

This financial support towards the realising of transnational land governance in the IGAD region through capacity development on innovations in land administration, strengthening gender equality and land monitoring will extend over a period of two years.

Through this project with the Embassy of Sweden in Ethiopia and IGAD, IGAD seeks to improve the performance of the land administration function in the IGAD region; moving these closer to convergence and enabling the implementation of cross border initiatives that have a bearing on land. This project intends to deliver the following four results:

• Enhanced Capacity Development of IGAD Region on gender responsive land administration.
• Strengthened gender mainstreaming in land administration for the IGAD Region.
• Strengthened Capacity of the IGAD Region to implement land monitoring.
• Strengthened IGAD Land Governance project coordination and Implementation.

The project embraces a collaborative approach, leveraging on the expertise in specialised fields of technical institutions such as Lantmateriet, the Regional Centre for Mapping and Resource Development (RCMRD), the Africa Land Policy Centre (ALPC), and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

This proposal is premised on the IGAD Land Governance business plan 2019 – 2023 which provides a road map and a guide to the formulation and implementation of follow up projects and programmes, building on the first phase of the land governance project 2014 -2019 funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC).

It contributes to the capacity enhancement of IGAD to oversee and manage implementation of AU Declaration on Land Policy. The Results from it will inform the implementation of cross border initiatives, particularly piloted in the Karamoja cluster with the support of the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) from 2020 – 2023. This will cover the countries of Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan, with a possibility of scaling up innovations from lessons learned.