How can governments and investors be held to account for land deals in Africa?

Comments on the IDRC workshop on LSLAs and accountability in Africa, Dakar, 24-25 November 2015. The current IDRC programme supports 5 action research projects across 10 countries in West, East and Southern Africa. They investigate how to build accountability over land governance. This requires a multi-level strategy at both policy and community level. The most contentious debate was about valuation, benefit-sharing and compensation because compensation almost always fails to take full account of the real value of natural resources in people’s lives. It is often only family elders who gain compensation. Discusses some action strategies and family land grabbing, citing the work of Judy Adoko’s LEMU in Uganda. Outputs from the projects will be shared on a virtual platform hosted by IDRC where videos and other materials will be available.