By Polycarp Auta 

As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, African women in land professions have called for policies that would boost women’s access to land and remove gender disparity.

They also called for the involvement of more women in land management across the African continent.

The women’s demands are part of the resolutions of the First African Women Land Professionals Associations (AWLPA) Conference held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Conference was convened by the International Federation of Surveyors-African Regional Network (FIG-ARN).

The communique made available to NAN, was signed by Ambassador Mohammed Kabir, the Chairperson of FIG-ARN, and Mr Izuegbu Uju, Conference Secretary.

The conference called for more land rights programmes to promote public awareness, eliminate gender disparity, and increase the number and visibility of women in land management in Africa.

It encouraged all stakeholders to sustain the push for policy, legal and institutional reforms to increase women leadership positions in land governance.

It also advocated the adoption of a whole-of-the community approach in addressing the challenges faced by women in African societies.

The conference, which witnessed a series of presentations, deliberations, panel and brainstorming sessions, advocated the development of a Strategic Capacity Development Framework (SCDF) for African women land professionals.

“The framework shall focus on e-learning, training, coaching, mentoring, digital skill acquisition and support programmes to empower women in land professions in Africa,” the communique said.

It urged FIG-ARN to collaborate with relevant stakeholders such as UN Women and the African Union Land Governance Strategy, on advocacy and implementation of frameworks for gender equality in land governance.

It suggested the introduction of gender quota to address disparities in land allocation in African communities.

The conference emphasised that the FIG-ARN should seek support of the African Union(AU), and other relevant stakeholders to develop an African cross-border knowledge transfer platform and other programmes for the empowerment of women land professionals.

It also emphasised the need for the promotion and integration of women education and industry in Africa.

The conference participants urged Universities and institutions of higher learning in Africa to improve their curricula and provide practical support toward promoting and integrating the womenfolk.

They urged FIG-ARN to develop and support actionable strategies within the framework of the African Union Land Governance Strategy, with focus on women land rights clinic days.

FIG-ARN was also urged to champion community-level awareness campaigns for guaranteeing equal rights to land, protecting women’s land tenure security, and respecting women’s independent decisions on land matters in Africa.

The conference pressed for coordinated international and regional support to African countries to adopt and implement a fit-for-purpose approach to land administration.

Such approach, it said, should ensure affordable land recordation and facilitate registration of continuum of land rights, particularly on issues that are of critical concern to women.

It urged donor agencies to increase funding in support of women’s land rights programmes for promoting public awareness and eliminating gender disparity while increasing the number and visibility of women in land management.

It encouraged stakeholders to sustain the push for institutional reforms to have more women in the making of government decisions that affect land governance.

It also advocated a more positive approach to the challenges faced by women in African societies.

The conference called on African women land professional associations to foster closer collaboration with international, regional, and community women’s rights groups.

It identified the groups to include UN Women, Landesa, Stand for Her Land Campaign, and International Land Coalition.

“The partnership should focus on benchmarking, capacity building, and implementation of gender-specific projects,” the communique added.

It noted the resolve of the Tanzanian government toward implementing positive policies for gender balance and equal representation in both elective and appointive offices, and particularly appreciated the attempts at extending those policies into the land governance sector.

NAN reports that the conference formed the Network of African Women Land Professional Associations (NAWLPA), under the auspices of the FIG-ARN, to manage and coordinate the implementation of the resolutions.

The election of its leadership is to be held at the AU Headquarters, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia during the 2nd AWLPA Conference slated to hold from 10 to14 November, 2025.

Among delegates at the Conference were the President of FIG, Dr. D. A. Dumashie, and the representative of AU Commission, Dr Janet Edeme.

Also at the Conference was Mr Hans Ni, Secretary-General of the Working Committee on International Exchange and Cooperation of China Association for Geospatial Industry and Sciences. (NAN)

Edited by Abiemwense Moru