5th GLTN Partners Meeting – GLTN is now in its second phase of operations 2012-2018 with substantial involvement by FIGThe Hague, The Netherlands, 11-14 November 2013
The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) who is an alliance of global regional and national partners contributing to poverty alleviation through land reform, improved land management and security of tenure particularly through the development and dissemination of pro-poor and gender-sensitive land tools held its 5th GLTN Partners' meeting on 11-13 November 2013 at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague, Netherlands. For several years FIG has been an active partner of the network and has contributed with various activities to help GLTN fulfill their overall goals. Among other things FIG has gathered Surveyor Generals/Director Generals from all over the world for discussions, lately in Abuja Nigeria as part of the FIG Working Week 2013. A train-the-trainer symposium on the STDM model was also held in Abuja for Young Surveyors, and two expert meetings have been held in the Netherlands and in Sweden on Costing and Financing of Land Administration Services (CoFLAS) in Developing Countries. GLTN, FIG and other partners have embarked on an exercise of developing a tool that can assist policy makers and practitioners in developing countries adopt appropriate tools and methodologies that will facilitate and sustain the provision of land services in an efficient, cost effective and inclusive manner. The exercise aims to develop a methodology Costing and Financing of Land Administration Services (CoFLAS) in Developing Countries. GLTN finalised it’s 1st phase in 2012, and now new goals have been set for the second phase (2012-2017) of operations, our objective is to support international partner organisations, UN-Habitat and related land programmes/projects and targeted countries and/or cities/municipalities in improving tenure security of the urban and rural poor through the adoption and implementation of land policies, tools and approaches that are pro-poor, gender appropriate, effective and sustainable. The Partner’s meeting was graced by the participation of hundred and twenty representatives from forty three GLTN Partners and various observer organisations. High-level officials gave insightful speeches on the importance of good land governance and how to work together on its implementation. Dr. Aisa K. Kacyira, Assistant Secretary General, Deputy Executive Director of UN-Habitat and Chair of GLTN Steering Committee and Ambassador K. Paulsen, Chair of the GLTN International Advisory Board, emphasized the need of getting the right messages about land and tenure security to the world leaders. Frits van der Wal from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs drew the attention on the global relevance of the land agenda and remarked how partnership is necessary to make a change in the lives of the people, especially at the country level where positive change is most needed. Ms. Gerda Verburg, Permanent Representative of The Kingdom of The Netherlands to the Rome-based UN Agencies (FAO, WFP and IFAD) and Chair of the Committee on World Food Security, spoke about the more prominent role that private sector and civil society want and need to have to put land governance principles into practice, with the support of governments and international organisations.
All partners worked on paving the way for the implementation of the GLTN
agenda. On the first day of the meeting, information was shared on GLTN's
current work, achievements and future plans. Snapshots of the work on the
continuum of land rights, grassroots engagement, and land indicators were
accompanied by an overview of GLTN's capacity development and partnership
strategies. In the afternoon session, Partners elected their Cluster
representatives and developed a work plan for each of the GLTN clusters. The third and final day of the meeting focused on land tools, including presentation and discussion on tools currently being developed or implemented, and priorities for the way forward. Partners and clusters discussed their interests and comparative advantages in these areas of work and identified possible tool development commitments in a cross-cluster, inter-partner fashion. Group discussions took place on interconnected tools perceived to be the most relevant for the work of the Network: STDM / Gender Evaluation Criteria / Enumeration and Land Readjustment / Land-based Financing / City Wide Slum Upgrading. A lively discussion took place on capacity development. The 5th edition of the GLTN partners' meeting will have three main objectives:
FIG was represented by President CheeHai Teo, incoming Chair of Young Surveyors, Eva Maria Unger and FIG Manager Louise Friis-Hansen. Hereto FIG was represented indirectly through other Partners by several well known FIG representatives, hereunder Chair of Young Surveyors Kate Fairlie, Commission 7 delegate Claire Galpin, Past President Stig Enemark as well as representatives from Dutch Kadaster.
19 December 2013 |
