THEME: Intergenerational Solidarity: Creating a World for All Ages

Business
July 15, 2022

TOPIC: The role of youths in responding to land governance, property rights, climate change while building intergenerational solidarity as a contribution to achieving the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Agenda 2030.

Background

The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) is a Regional Economic Community (REC) of the African Union. Member countries include: Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. IGAD’s mission is “to assist and complement the efforts of the member countries through increased cooperation to achieve food security and environmental protection; promotion and

maintenance of peace and security and humanitarian affairs; and economic cooperation and integration”1. IGAD’s activities consist mainly of policy support, information and knowledge sharing, capacity development and research, and promoting the uptake of science and technology.

IGAD is mandated under the AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges to serve its Member States using its convening capacity to facilitate dialogue, providing technical support for policy development and implementation, and building capacity through experience sharing and knowledge exchange and cross-pollination.

IGAD through the Land Governance Programme developed Land Governance Business Plan 2020- 2030 with four 4 strategic objectives: a) Land administration in IGAD region is more efficient, harmonized and gender-inclusive; b) Enable sustainable development through strategic gender- sensitive and conflict-sensitive approach to land use and management; c) Increased Member States capacity to leverage land (rural, peri-urban, and urban) for economic transformation and; d) Reduced barriers and enhanced protection of women and youth’s rights to land in the public and private sphere.

The IGAD Youth and Land Conference 2022, lies at the heart of reducing barriers to youth inclusion in land governance and fostering intergenerational solidarity for improving land governance in the IGAD Region towards sustainable development. Over the years, the IGAD Youth and Land have taken several initiatives to enhance youth participation in the land sector. In furtherance of this quest, IGAD together

with her partners, the International Land coalition – Africa (ILC – Africa), Youth Initiative for Land in Africa (YILAA) and Habitat for Humanity International will commemorate the International Youth Day by holding the IGAD Youth and Land Conference 11-12 August 2022. This conference will be an online event.

OBJECTIVES OF THE CONFERENCE

To Increase the body of available evidence and facilitate the exchange of views through dialogue on intergenerational solidarity for youth inclusion in land governance.
To explore ways in which young people can leverage the land resource for employment, sustainable and equitable sharing of land resources that contribute to the attainment of the AU Agenda 2063 and Agenda 2030.
To highlight innovation and innovative ideas by youth on Land Governance, access to decent housing and building resilient cities and communities while addressing intergenerational gaps.

Thematic area 1: Secure Land Rights for Youth: Key to Attaining Climate Change Adaptation, Resilience, and intergenerational equity in land and property rights.

Today’s youth are the future of tomorrow. Therefore, youth inclusion in land governance and security of tenure are paramount as a pathway to addressing some of the world’s challenges, such as climate change. Collective and individual land tenure insecurity among the youth in the face of the climate crisis

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1 The Inter-Governmental Authority on Drought and Desertification (IGADD) was established in 1986 to address recurrent droughts and other natural disasters in the Horn of Africa. It became IGAD in 1996 when its mandate was extended to other areas of cooperation.

makes them more vulnerable, contributing to increased youth marginalisation, migration, frustrations, and economic disempowerment.

When youth are denied access, ownership and control over land, it is impossible to foresee a lively and dynamic adoption of efforts to combat and adapt to climate change in many regions in Africa. Efforts to reduce intergenerational gaps while bolstering climate adaptability calls for equitable access and control over land for the youth. This means youth must be at the forefront of decision-making processes on matters that affect them.

Inclusive land governance will provide millions of young people with vital, creative, and inventive opportunities in climate action and sustainable land use, allowing them to earn and participate in wealth creation while supporting growth and development across continents. This space aims to go beyond tokenism for the youth; for many decades, youth have engaged in the lower rung where they are used to push the Adults Agenda (The Hart 1992) and have been left behind in participatory decision-making spaces concerning land, climate, and many other resource sectors. The youth Agenda must be for the youth and driven by the youth.

The Conference seeks to provide proactive actions and mechanisms for youth engagement, representation, and participatory democracy in land governance; integration of technology and digitalization; claim youth space and advocate for the security of tenure as preconditions for climate mitigation and adaptation, highlighting the power of partnership for transformative change.

This call is for,

A young person below 35 years.
Expertise in the confluence of tenure security, climate change, and youth access to land andits resources.
Has created and piloted tools, methods or approaches of engagement and addressing climatechange and land governance.

Desired Output,

Make a presentation for the International Youth Day, 11th August 2022.
Write a blog/Vlog sharing or rallying fellow young people on how innovation or explorable opportunities for young people and IGAD YL and all partners to integrate the talent.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

This call for presentations (paper, video, pictorials, case studies, best practices presentation) invites international scholars and presenters, especially those from the African and IGAD region with expertise in the subject matter to present abstracts of their presentations covering the three thematic areas.

Abstracts should be written in English and French and be between 250 to 300 words
Interested authors should send resume of not more than 250 words with their previouspublications and contact details: email address and phone number.
Submissions should indicate the theme their presentation covers among the three themes ofthe conference.
All submissions will be peer reviewed and successful presenters invited to prepare apresentation
For paper presentations they should be not more than 4000 words
video presentations will have a limit of 10 minutes.
Any other form of presentation will also be limited to 10 minutes.
Successful presenters will be given a 15-minute opportunity to present the paper/video/ at theconference on 11th August 2022.
Successful presentations will be published in different platforms for learning purposes.

Source: Intergovernmental Authority on Development