ILC Africa Steering Committee Meeting with Dr. Madiodio Niasse, Director ILC Secretariat,
to be held in Kigali on 28.-29. March

From 28th to 29th March 2012, the members of the International Land Coalition (ILC) Africa Region Steering Committee will gather together in at RISD offices meeting room, Kigali for their annual steering committee meeting 2012.

The Landnet Rwanda Chapter Coordination Agency and Node for ILC Africa, Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD), will organize the meeting, which will be of great importance for the ILC Africa Region as the Steering Committee will decide about future National Engagement Strategies (NES), next steps for regional initiatives, as for example the Land Conflict Strategy which has been developed by ILC Africa members recently, as well as the next phase for the ILC Scorecard Project, a monitoring tool designed by RISD to measure country progress regarding implementation of the Africa Land Policy Framework and Guidelines (ALPFG).

The ILC Secretariat, which is based in Rome, recognizes the importance of decentralization and has therefore launched an assessment by an international consultant on the decentralization process in Africa, which also will be exclusively discussed during the meeting.

The significance of this years steering committee meeting will be underscored by the participation of the Director of the ILC Secretariat, Dr. Madiodio Niasse, who will be visiting Rwanda for the first time. This also marks the weight of Rwanda for ILC and the relevance of land reform in Rwanda for the whole continent.

Dr. Niasse will participate in the two-day meeting and furthermore use the opportunity to strengthen the relationship with partners in Rwanda, including high-rank government officials and other relevant stakeholders in the Rwandan land sector.
Therefore Dr. Niasse will meet the Prime Minister, Damien Habumuremyi, the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources (MINIRENA), the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority (RNRA), as well as country representatives of the European Union (EU), the Embassy of the Netherlands, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA).