With the Voluntary Guidelines for Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGTs), the AU Declaration on Land Tenure Issues and Challenges in Africa, and other global/continental frameworks, land tenure in Africa has received much attention in the last decade. Despite a strong will, the land agenda of some countries and the impetus for reform tend to run against institutional and human capacity gaps. GIZ, through its programmes "Strengthening Advisory Capacity on Land Governance in Africa" (SLGA) and "Responsible Land Policy", is addressing these capacity issues by exploring - among other things - research as a response to land tenure security. Therefore, the Knowledge Exchange Workshop (KEW) is an opportunity to further reflect on strengthening policy-research linkages.

Objective

One of the objectives of these series of sessions is to demonstrate the usefulness of research as a tool to support formulation and implementation of land policies in various contexts and at different levels (national and continental). The purpose is also to further the reflection on the approaches for setting up platforms for political-scientific dialogues and better understand how the continental frameworks (and institutions) surrounding the land question influence research and political movements at national levels. And finally, another objective is to identify (and document) good practices for strengthening policy-research linkages.

Session Overview

Session 1: Research at the service of the implementation of land policies

This discussion will highlight the relevance of research as a tool to support implementation of land policies and reflect on approaches to establishing policy-science dialogue platforms at national levels. The session will feature case studies from Benin and Burkina Faso, elaborating an implementation model of the government policy on the sedentarisation of agro-pastoralist communities.

Session 2: Cooperation between research and parliamentarian bodies

This session will focus on cooperation between research and parliamentarian bodies and explore linkages in formulating land related-laws. The session will highlight landscapes in Senegal and Cameroon.

Session 3: Knowledge-to-policy uptake – From the continental to the  national level

The 3rd session examines knowledge-to-policy-uptake, from the continental to the national level. It outlines how such uptakes on land governance issues can be improved on a continental level and how this level interacts with the national level. In this session, the African Union Commission inputs highlight how research findings make their way into the formulations of continental frameworks and guidelines and windows of opportunities this presents.

Session 4: Roundetable Discussion

This roundtable discussion brings together lessons learned, challenges identified, and proposed new ways of working as recommended from the previous three sessions towards bridging gaps for informed policy-making.

It is expected that at the end of the series, participants would:

• Appreciate the relevance of research as a tool to support the formulation and implementation of land policies is understood.

• Understand the importance of a research transition: research "traditionally" confined to the academic sector must respond to data demand and consider the land sector's practical implications.

• Identify and support good practices in the establishment of dialogue between the political and academic spheres.

• Explore the examples of mechanisms to strengthen research-legislative linkages in land law and policy-making processes.

• Share their approaches to institutionalise science-policy dialogues.