Hosaena Ghebru (PhD), International Food Policy Research Institute, Inception Workshop to launch the Monitoring and Evaluation of Land in Africa (MELA) project, Accra, Ghana, 20 July, 2017

1. The MELA project:
An Overview
LAND POLICY INITIATIVE
Hosaena Ghebru (PhD)
International Food Policy Research Institute
Inception Workshop to launch the Monitoring and Evaluation of Land in
Africa (MELA) project
Accra, Ghana
20 July, 2017

2. Outline
• The MELA project and its objectives
• Pilot countries and selection criteria
• Guiding principles for MELA
• Methodology: M&E framework
– Key thematic area
• MELA implementation plan

3. MELA: The rationale
• Through the AU declaration, African Heads of State and
Governments commit to:
1) Prioritize land policy development and implementation
2) Develop appropriate institutional framework for land policy
3) Allocate adequate budgetary resources for land policy
4) Ensure equitable access to land for all land users
5) Strengthen women’s land rights
• Importance of M&E of land policy (F&G):
Learn from past successes /failures, share good practices;
Make timely re-adjustments to policy processes and take appropriate
measures to ensure the effectiveness/efficiency of the land policy;
Improve the quality of knowledge and building capacities for land
policy
Secure and consolidate the participation and commitment of
stakeholders and development partners;
Enable governments to manage emerging issues

4. MELA project
• 2 year partnership project between
AUC/UNECA/AfDB LPI and IFPRI
• January 2017 – December 2018
• To be piloted in 10 selected African countries
• Proposed 30 core and 22 custom performance
indicators
• Major outcomes of the project include:
– Enhanced knowledge in land policy development and
implementation processes
– Improved and sustained capacity in tracking policy
development and implementation

5. MELA project: objectives
• Develop a comprehensive baseline database that will
form the basis for future tracking of progress in
implementing the AU Declaration on land in Africa
• Track progress made in policy development and
implementation over the past seven years
• Document and disseminate best practices in policy
development and implementation to inform policy
processes across the continent
• Build and sustain the capacity of member states to
ensure regular tracking and reporting of progress
made in land policy development and
implementation in Africa

6. Pilot country selection criteria
• Strong government/political commitment
• Regional balance
• On-going land policy reforms
• Stages of land policy development
• Data availability
• Portfolio representing range of tenure types
and land uses

7. Selection of Pilot Countries
• 10 countries chosen to pilot the project
oWest Africa: Cote D’Ivoire, Niger, Nigeria
oCentral Africa: DRC
oEast Africa: Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda
oSouthern Africa: Madagascar, Malawi, Zambia
• Using similar selection criteria, the scale-up phase
of the project.
• Already, countries are joining the process, such as:
– Ethiopia, and Kenya

8. Guiding principles in implementing
the MELA
 National ownership
 Simplicity
 Synergies with national/regional/global initiatives
 Learning platform/peer pressure
 Results chain approach: A shift from “what has
been achieved” to “what changes have happened”
 Sustainability and cost effectiveness.
 Decentralization.
 Transparency.

9. MELA Result Framework

10. The AU Declaration on Land
• African Heads of State and Governments commit
to:
1) Prioritize land policy development and
implementation (MELA RA-1)
2) Develop appropriate institutional framework for land
policy (MELA RA-1)
3) Allocate adequate budgetary resources for land policy
(MELA RA2)
4) Ensure equitable access to land for all land users
(MELA RA-3)
5) Strengthen women’s land rights (MELA RA-4)

11. Proposed Framework

12. Proposed Framework

13. Proposed Framework

14. Proposed Framework

15. Land Monitoring Initiatives (1)

16. MELA process – country milestones
Page 16

17. MELA process (cont…)
Page 17

18. Thank You!!
LAND POLICY INITIATIVE