Kigali, 15-16th November, 2016-Rwanda hosts a high level learning exchange on land, natural resources and conflict for RCs and Senior UN officials, in the Great Lakes region. The meeting held at Serena Hotel in Kigali-Rwanda brought together over 80 UN representatives and was officiated by the Minister of Infrastructure, James MUSONI on behalf of the government.

The high level meeting was organized by the Global UN trends on land and conflict led by UN-Habitat and the Global Land Tool Network in collaboration with UNEP, UN-DPA and UNDP.

UN-Habitat/Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) has supported and given technical assistance on land to the Great Lakes Region processes over a number of years. It has also done capacity development with a number of the Great Lakes Region (GLR) countries such as DRC, South Sudan, Burundi, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Under the component of land and conflict, UN-Habitat and the GLTN are in cooperation with other UN Institutions including Department of Political Affairs (DPA), Department of Peace Keeping Operations (DPKO), Food and agricultural Organization (FAO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Economic Commission of Africa (UNECA), as well as the African Union.

Development partners took part to the meeting (DFID, EU, GIZ, WB, Netherlands, USAID)

The main objective of the learning exchange is to further capacitate senior UN officials in the GLR to attain the land and natural resources outcomes to enhance improved understanding of key concepts, approaches and strategies to address land, conflict and natural resources issues to promote peace and stability.

According to James Musoni, the Minister of Infrastructure in Rwanda, the later went through a process of land reform to address land disputes in the context of displacement but most importantly to create an enabling environment for investment to promote inclusive economic growth and transformation and to operationalize an efficient system of land administration and management that secure land ownership and promote investment for socio-economic development and poverty reduction.

Subsequently, Rwanda implemented a well-functioning Land management information system, and a nationwide systematic land registration started in 2009 with the goal to provide legally valid land documents to all rightful owners. This provided confidence to land owners and ensured maximum land utilization for more productivity. “He added”

UN-Habitat/GLTN has a global network of partners from the International Federation of Surveyors to train and provide international research methodologies on global program on land tool development for over 10 years and this has improved on capacity development on land and conflict in many countries especially in Africa. This has impacted on provision of clearer picture of priority challenges and opportunities at country level and improved understanding on how to do root cause analysis and planning on land, natural resources and conflict at both country and regional levels.

The learning exchange geared towards senior UN officials including Resident Coordinators, Special Representatives of the Secretary General, Deputy Special Representatives of the Secretary General, Chiefs of Staff from the GLR countries and Special Envoys from the GLR. Resident Coordinators will be able to nominate UNCT members to join them at the event.

The success of the high level meeting based on conceptual and technical presentations; case studies and interactive learning sessions; scenario and problem-based exercises to inform decision making; interactive, facilitated discussion on GLR and land and natural resources for action planning.