By Hamad Rashid / The Loyal Media.
The International Youth and Land Governance Conference (CIGOFA4) has been an important platform for debating the solutions to young people’s challenges in owning land in Africa.
In 2024, the fourth International Conference was held in Arusha, Tanzania, from the 21st to the 24th of October coordinated by the non-governmental organization YILAA—Africa in collaboration with other organizations, including LANDESA, ILC, and GIZ, more than 500 young people, participants, elders, and other stakeholders digested the concerning issue from inside and outside Africa, under the theme “Acceleration of Youth Land Rights”
Speaking in his speech on the first day of the Conference, the Founder and Director of YILAA – Africa, Innocent Antoine Houedji said, the conference which is a congregation of young people and various organizations that collaborate, has big goals to create a better tomorrow for Africa.
“We started CIGOFA, to have a platform to speak and decide on the challenges of young people in land governance, we have this opportunity from them where we can get their answers on what should be done, for example in matters of cultural norms that complicate land ownership. We are doing all this because we need responses from the youth, responses from the youth groups of different areas, so we can meet together to find a way, that can allow us to empower our youth in the Continent,” said Innocent
Innocent Antoine Houedji: Founder and Director of YILAA – Africa.
Youth insight’s
The young people were grateful to participate in that important forum as said by Theresia Mashao Raphael who is, ILC Leadership Program fellow from Tanzania, “The importance of an event like this, it brings together people from different parts of the world, to come to discuss issues related to land rights, but also how we are going to solve the challenges we face, we all know that women and young people face challenges in terms of getting it and own the Land”
Theresia added “Through the Project we are implementing here in Tanzania funded by the Leadership Program from the ILC Organization, helps us to ensure that women can make the right decisions to use Land in their areas, there are many challenges they face in acquiring and owning Land, and we use many methods to face those challenges, one of them is to empower or create opportunities for women and girls to learn and understand their rights but also to be able to claim their rights in land use issues”
The conference was attended by delegates from more than 40 countries inside and outside Africa.
Masalu Luhula a Senior Land Tenure Specialist from LANDESA Tanzania, during the Interview with The Loyal Media, expressed that, “if you look at the countries under the Sahara Desert, young people are 70% of the entire society, so it is important to look at this group which is the future of today and tomorrow”.
Masalu Luhula a Senior Land Tenure Specialist from LANDESA
An officer from the African Development Bank (AfDB), Marealle Maria Saguti speaking in the first debate on the first day of the Conference spoke, almost all the projects implemented or financed by the financial institution touch the Land which is the main area of production.
“AfDB has endeavored to support the struggle for land for young people in Africa” added Marealle Maria Saguti participating in the conference via the Internet.
This article leaves a question for the reader, how do you participate in the land rights for youth?
