The African Land Policy Centre (ALPC), a collaboration of the African Union Commission, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and the African Development Bank, hosts the Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA) biennially. The objective is to strengthen Africa’s land policy capability by increasing access to knowledge and information about land policy formulation and implementation. The CLPA serves as a forum for disseminating research findings and bringing a diverse variety of stakeholders together to discuss the issues and status of land policy development, implementation, and monitoring in Africa. Additionally, the CLPA gives an unparalleled chance to display and enable networking for developing and innovative methods. Participants in the conference include researchers, government officials (including legislators), traditional leaders, farmers, civil society, the private sector, and land practitioners. The CLPA began in 2014, with an emphasis on land, investment, and agriculture. In November 2017, CLPA held its second edition, this time with a focus on youth, land, and jobs. The most recent CLPA, held in 2019, focused on winning the fight against land corruption.
The fourth CLPA is scheduled for 2–4 November 2021 in Kigali, Rwanda, and will combine online and traditional sessions in a hybrid format. The theme will be “Land governance for safeguarding art, culture, and heritage toward the Africa We Want.” The Conference’s topic, “Arts, Culture, and Heritage: Levers for the Africa We Want,” is consistent with the African Union Declaration of 2021 and is exemplified by Agenda 2063’s Aspiration 5. The Conference will focus on African heritage and the cultural components of land, as well as the potential of the creative economy to ensure livelihoods, economic growth, and sustainable development in rural and urban areas. Additionally, the Conference will promote innovation and stimulate social and economic value creation through creativity, talent, intellectual capital, artistic expressions, and cultural entrepreneurship, as envisioned in Agenda 2063.
The Biennial Conference will take a creative and scientific approach to its theme in this year’s edition. The Conference is intended to capture a broad variety of developing concerns and expertise and to pique interest among a diverse range of African policy actors in contemporary land policy issues. The conference style will be hybrid, incorporating both online and in-person participation in Kigali, and will include plenary and parallel sessions, masterclasses, pre-conference events, side events, exhibitions, and social media to reach a wider audience.