July 22, 2019 (ENTEBBE, Uganda): The Land Policy Governance (LPG) Project of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) this morning inaugurated a training session for the members of the Project’s Steering Committee in Entebbe.
The LPG Project Steering Committee is made up of officials and experts in charge of land management in their respective IGAD countries. They are also in charge of the implementation of the regional project. And it is in these respects that a reform process of the steering body, among other resolves, was recommended during the Fifth Meeting of the Committee held in November 2018 in Khartoum, Sudan.
The PSC reform process is aimed at ensuring that those entrusted with the running of the affairs and performance of the project have assessable and practical guidance in meeting their duties and responsibilities in an ever-changing environment. This two-day training is to enhance the implementation of good governance principles and practices in order to make the Land Governance Project more effective, and enable it contribute to national and regional development.
During a brief opening session, the Land Expert at IGAD Secretariat, Ms Esther Obaikol, recalled that the Project Steering Committee Reform Process was commenced ‘with a view to improving the governance of the project through strengthening the performance of its Project Steering committee’. ‘This reform process will improve the performance of the Project Steering Committee members individually and collectively,’ she added.
‘It will provide an opportunity for further action planning of the Project Steering Committee and enrich understanding of how IGAD works and delivers its mandate to Member States,’ she concluded.
The objectives of this reform process are to:
- Assist the Project Steering Committee formulate detailed codes of best practices that address the IGAD Land Governance Unit’s specific circumstances and support function to Member States;
- Excite debates within the Project Steering Committee that result in further revolution of better practices and procedure in the Land Governance Unit’s role at regional level;
- Enable the Project Steering Committee focus on both their performance and conformance roles in directing the Unit; and
- Provide governance criterion for evaluating the performance of the project as well as its Project Steering Committee.
Within the framework of the reform process of its Steering Committee, IGAD LPG is getting financial support from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). This Training is conducted by Africa Lead, one of USAID and Feed the Future’s food security and resilience capacity building programmes for Africa. It is part of a collaboration between IGAD and Africa Lead under a broader investment by USAID to support the coordination and implementation of the African Union agenda on land governance.
IGAD Land Governance Project Phase 1 was funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) Agency. Phase 2, which is to start soon, will also benefit the financial support by SDC.
