YLMPA : Strategic and Actions Plans

Strategic plan of the Youth and Land Multi-stakeholder Platform in Africa (YLMPA)

Secretariat of the Host organization

Summary

Governance is a critical factor in achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063, Agenda 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. The aspirations detailed in Agenda 2063 are revolutionary and transformative. The birth of the Africa we want therefore depends on the inclusiveness, engagement, empowerment and deployment of young people in innovative and creative ways as a resource for the economic transformation of the continent.

Access to land constitutes a determining but not sufficient dimension of access to economic and political autonomy for young rural people. The ability to enjoy one’s own work and to create or stabilize a marital union, access to capital and credit, and income levels offered by family farming are all other dimensions of economic empowerment trajectories in country sides. One of the most widespread ideas on this subject in Africa is that which highlights the importance of promoting “entrepreneurship” among young people, implying that the employability of young people could be improved by promoting entrepreneurship. There are indeed many actors in African countries who intervene in the land sector to promote greater inclusion of young people in land governance policies. It is in this perspective that the consortium composed of CSA, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the International Land Coalition (ILC), Landesa, and Young Initiative for Land in Africa (YILAA decided to set up a platform to bring together the various land actors in Africa, to synergize their efforts to promote young people’s access to land, their control, their ownership and their use. This platform aims to provide a forum for actors from government, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), International Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the private sector, academia and community representatives to dialogue on policies and practices aimed at improving integration, representation, participation and empowerment of young people in land governance processes at all levels on the continent Specifically, this platform aims to be a tool that will: Provide a multi-agency coordination mechanism to organize, connect and mobilize youth engagement and representation in land governance processes at all levels in Africa; Strengthen youth leadership and organizational capacities to engage and influence land governance processes in Africa; Bridging the knowledge gap through the development of a data generation and dissemination strategy informed by ILC training sessions on youth-generated data resulting from youth indicators on land governance; Promote and advance gender justice with a particular focus on the land rights of women and indigenous communities.      

In the process of implementing this strategic planning and operationalizing the theory of change, the activities first involved carrying out a comprehensive research, including a literature review and data collection in many countries, was conducted to identify key challenges and needs, guiding the strategy development.

• Some of the major issues include:
• The low level of information / land training of young people;
• Weak synergy between actors involved in youth-focused land governance in Africa;
• An ineffective framework for exchange between the actors involved in land governance;
• Insufficient land opportunities for young people in Africa;
• Generalized land insecurity among young people;
• Insufficient political commitment to youth-centred land governance;
•      The negative effects of climate change on the youth land rights;
• The low participation of young people in land issues;
• Land grabbing at the expense of young people.

Analysis of the information obtained also revealed that the land situation in Africa is characterized by the interweaving of standards and authorities in land regulation.

We also noted a plurality of land actors involved in several sectors of activity, notably agriculture and adaptation to climate change.  These stakeholders include youth, women, indigenous peoples and other vulnerable people. The SWOT analysis of the issues related to this question revealed:

In terms of strengths, we note:

• Existence of a diversity of stakeholders with varied profiles in various countries in Africa
• The texts in force seem to be concerned with everyone being able to use the land, even if they do not own it;
• Consideration of the land governance contexts of different countries in Africa;
• Professional experience of land actors.

In terms of weakness,

• Poor knowledge of legal procedures;
• Difficulty of access to land to carry out activities by young people, especially for the young women     ;
• Inefficiency of forums for exchanges with the main actors involved in land governance;
• Regulations that are out of step with local realities;
• The weight of habits and customs;
• Bad regional representation policy;
•  Land tenure insecurity for youth;
• Youth food insecurity;
• Insufficient political commitment to people-centred land governance;
• Weak synergy between actors involved in land governance in Africa;
• Insufficient land opportunities for young people in Africa;
• Insufficient protection of vulnerable groups including women, youth, Indigenous Peoples;
• weak application of governance tools due to a low level of information of the populations as to their usefulness;
• Poverty.

In terms of opportunities,

• Existence of strategic plans of several land governance actors;
• Dynamism of land governance actors;

• Land reforms underway in some countries;

• The openness of TFPs to support initiatives to promote land governance that is favourable to youth.

In terms of threats,

• Land crime (land grabbing, dispossession…)    
• Insufficient financial resources;
• Poor communication and lack of transparency in land governance;
• Conflicts of interest between members of the platform;
• Insufficient commitment of members of the land platform;
• Lack of member interest in common issues.

The main problem that emerges is the insufficiency of policies and practices favorable to pro-youth land governance. For this reason, the platform has      set itself as the main logic of intervention to promote inclusive governance of land resources centered on young people in Africa. To do this, 3 main strategic axes have been identified as priority axes for the platform:

Axis 1: Improve the expertise and commitment of young people in the defense and protection of land rights.

Axis 2: Strengthen the effective participation of young people in land governance at the village, local, national and regional level.

Axis 3: Produce data to inform the actions of governments to make them more responsible for protecting the land rights of young people.

This platform is open to young African leaders working in the field of land governance, either as representatives of youth organizations working in this field, or as representatives of NGOs and popular organizations working in this field, such as farmers’ organizations, Indigenous Peoples’ organizations, women’s organizations, to name a few.

To operationalize this vision, and in the governance process of the multi-stakeholder youth and land platform, several bodies will be set up and will each provide very specific specifications. These include:

• The Steering Committee (COPIL) which is the body which gives strategic orientations and is responsible for coordinating all actions which involve decision-making;
• From the YLMPA Secretariat: Facilitator of the platform, he reports to the steering committee and to the various partners after consulting the host organization;
• The Host organization: It houses the platform. The platform secretariat is attached to it;
• The Members of the platform: this Group  is made up of all the members of the platform
• Thematic working groups: depending on the composition of the members and the themes covered by the platform, groups will be created to lead discussions on key issues.

The total amount of this budget is 265,100 USD for the first 3 years. These funds will be mobilized through government grants, private sector financing and also leveraging innovative financing.

Strategic and Actions plans DOCs

Author: LA REDACTION