1. Background

In many jurisdictions, land is key to economic growth, food security and livelihoods. This is particularly so for Africa where the economies of most countries are driven by agricultural and livestock production. Therefore, the transformation of Africa’s economy within the 21^st century will be largely dependent on good land governance and the sustainable exploitation of land and land-based natural resources. Recognising this, the African Union, through its Declaration on “Land Issues and Challenges in Africa”[1] which is informed by the “Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa”[2] (F & G), calls upon States to ensure that land laws provide for equitable access to land and related resources by all users.

The AU Declaration and the F & G came at an opportune time for Africa as countries sought solutions to fundamental land questions after years of operating land administration systems bequeathed them by earlier colonial regimes. The continental framework on land policy puts into good context the broad land question in Africa and recognizes the centrality of land in Africa’s development process. While pointing out the need for appropriate land reforms in African Union member countries, the framework highlights an emerging challenge where the continent faces a new scramble, quite different from the 19^th century scramble for colonial territories. This time round, countries are keen to ensure that they are food and energy secure. Subsequently, some of them have focused on Africa, with seemingly much ‘idle’ land, to buy or lease large swathes of it for food or biofuel production. The framework sensitizes African countries to interrogate whether these foreign demands for land can be met within the limits of sustainability and without marginalizing the land rights of African communities.

1.1 Investments on land in Africa and related concerns

While many African countries badly need investments, the emerging large scale investments on land must be well managed to ensure that such investments mustn’t threaten Africa’s food security and dispossess communities. The exploitation of land and land-based resources must not result in land degradation or pollute the environment. The investment deals must be well negotiated to ensure win-win situations for the host and investor nations. The FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance on Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests[3] provides that “responsible investments should do no harm, safeguard against dispossession of legitimate tenure right holders and environmental damage, and should respect human rights”.

A recent report by Oxfam[4] however warns that investments on land are forcing poor people from their homes, jobs and food and calls for the protection of poor people’s land rights. Clearly, the subject of investments on land in Africa is large and will be with us for long. It will therefore be prudent of African Governments to focus on this matter and ensure that they have the necessary local capacity to negotiate, contract and monitor the implementation of such investments within their jurisdictions. This need was echoed by African leaders during a high level panel discussion held on land related Foreign Direct Investments in Africa during the launch of the implementation phase of the continental land policy process which was held during the African Union Conference of African Ministers in charge of Agriculture in Lilongwe, Malawi in October 2010. It was noted that African Governments have not put in place proper frameworks to govern agreements and negotiations relating to FDI on land in Africa. Moreover, a big proportion of land in Africa has not been recognized in the existing legal regimes, making it difficult for governments to effectively convey land for such investments.

Discussing this from the context of Southern Africa, Matondi and Rukuni[5] note that other than for the little that comes through the media, there has been muted and very little response by African based institutions and intellectuals. They attribute this to weak capacity within Africa and the lack of platforms and opportunities to refine issues on the matter as they immerge, hence compromising the quality of interventions that would ensure that land deals benefit Africa.

Participants to the High Level Forum on Foreign Direct Investments in land in Africa held in Nairobi, Kenya on 4-5 October 2011 under the AU-ECA-AfDB Land policy Initiative (LPI) Consortium undertook to promote capacity to support governments, traditional leaders, civil society organizations and communities to facilitate fair and transparent negotiations that lead to equitable land related investments. The Nairobi Action Plan was subsequently integrated into the LPI’s 2012-2016 strategic plan and road map aimed at implementing the African Union Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in Africa. The discussion below should inform the work in progress to identify and fill the capacity gaps in regard to investments on land in Africa to ensure that the continents vision to achieve socio-economic development, environmental sustainability, peace and security remains on course.

2. Capacity Building in Africa : Target Groups

Broadly, building capacity for land policy development and implementation, monitoring and evaluation remains key objectives in the implementation of the AU Declaration. In doing so, specific focus must be directed to capacity building to ensure the effective negotiation, implementation and monitoring of investments on land within the context of emerging realities.

This capacity must be directed to the key players involved in these processes. In identifying such groups, one must take into account Africa’s land tenure systems that domicile authority of land distribution and management in traditional systems and state institutions. In most jurisdictions, land governance by the state is coordinated at national level. In some countries, this has been devolved to lower levels such as regional, district or county. Local authorities too have some land management roles, particularly in approving and regulating development applications within their jurisdictions. Traditional systems are coordinated by the authority in whom the authority to allocate and manage land resides such as chiefs, elders or panels of elders.

Elected political leaders in Parliaments and in local authorities influence policies and legislation that impact on investments on land. Community groups also derive livelihoods and shelter on land and have a big stake on any land to be allocated for investments. Practising professionals, the media and civil society in Africa play varying roles which influence access to, allocation and management of land. Therefore these constituencies require appropriate capacity to engage in land related investments. Capacity building efforts within Africa must therefore be tailored to address the needs of each of these groups, besides the investors themselves, some of whom find themselves in precarious situations once communities and stakeholders misunderstand their focus and resist investments. The below check list reflects some of the groups that should be targeted for capacity building:-

· Governments

· Local Authorities

· Traditional leaders

· Political leaders

· Communities

· Private land owners

· Professionals

· Civil Society Organizations

· Media experts

· Investors

· Others

2.1 Information gaps

The above groups either play a key role or influence the process of investments at different levels hence require targeted information relevant to their needs. It is the questions that elicit answers to their specific needs that should inform the kind of information or training desirable. Some of these questions are discussed below.

2.1.1 What would national and devolved Governments wish to know?

The national and devolved governments, along with local authorities, would wish to obtain answers to issues that affect national and regional planning, amount of land required, compensation, taxation, proportionate benefits sharing, repatriation of profits, displacement of persons, employment, mitigation of environmental issues, provision of infrastructure, and import/export issues among others. The questions and actor(s) necessary are captured in the matrix below:-

2.1.2 What would communities, individuals, traditional chiefs and elders wish to know?

Communities, individuals and political leadership would wish to know things like how much land would be affected, whether it would be compensated, rates of compensation, whether they would return, how to access social services and the opportunities the new investment brings them, among others. Some of the key questions include the ones captured in the matrix below:-

3. Professional skills required

Investments on land call upon a range of professionals skills. Legal experts, surveyors, valuers, land economists and planners are a fundamental and “must-have” cluster of experts on investments on land. They help to navigate a wide range of issues covering negotiations, delineation and surveying of the land required, planning, valuation and the leasing/purchase of the land of interest. Experts on social dimensions and environmental impacts will be required for most investments. Other professionals qualified in the various line issues of investments such as agricultural production, livestock or mining require to be sourced to align with each specific investment.

Training is required to prepare experts in various African countries to respond to the wide range of questions above. Moreover, the current ratio of the “must-have” cluster of experts like lawyers, surveyors, valuers, land economists, planners and environmental experts is low for most African countries. The Land Policy Initiative and Africa’s development partners would therefore do well to encourage and support African countries to invest in the training of this cadre of experts. The empowerment of governments, political leadership, communities, traditional leaders, civil society and the media can be done through focused group training and creating networks for expedient information flow on existing and new investments in every country. This calls for proactive training programs tailored to meet such needs.

4. Training programs

1. Capacity needs assessment

The preparation of training programs must be preceded by good capacity needs assessments to map available skills against tasks necessary.

2. Preparation of Training Modules and Strategies

Once the needs are documented, strategies may be devised on how to seal the gaps. These could include:-

· Formulating new or enhancing existing local training modules for the fundamental “must-have” professionals

· Exchange programs between African countries and institutions

· Training outside the continent where special needs so require

· Training a seed local team (trainers) dedicated to land related Foreign Direct Investments to escalate local training

· Professional associations to be supported to integrate FDI issues in CPD programs

· Devising empowerment programs focused on political leaders, communities, traditional leaders, civil society and the media

· Establish networks for collaboration with suitable centers of excellence within and outside the continent (i.e. IISD)

· Prepare a module to inform foreign investors about local conditions, requirements and expectations.

3. Preparation of capacity development plan/framework

Once the above strategies are agreed on, a plan of action to train, establish networks, support professional associations, conduct focused empowerment (political and policy leaders, communities, traditional leaders, civil society, media) and collaborate will need to be prepared. A suitable budget to guide the mobilization of required resources should also be prepared to support the plan.

4. Implement Capacity Development Plan