Assessing progress on the implementation of the 2018 Land Rights Act of Liberia; Stakeholders conclude major land conference in Buchanan

Stakeholders in Liberia have been  assessing progress made on the implementation of the 2018 Land Rights Act of Liberia. MAP Liberia Land Platform recently concluded a major National Land Conference in Buchanan, Grand Bassa County from March 1 -3, 2022; as participants call on stakeholders through a GBEHZOHN Declaration to: Prioritize coordination and decentralization of land services, improve facilitation of the formalization processes and to continue providing funding support to the land sector.

From the 1^st – 3^rd of March, 2022, stakeholders in the land and agriculture sectors from across Liberia convened in the City of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County to review progress made thus far in the implementation of Liberia’s Land Rights Act. The National Land Conference, which brought together 344 participants (121 females and 223 males) including international guests from other sister Africa countries, Europe and the United States; was held under the theme: Celebrating three (3) years of Liberia’s Land Rights Act.

It can be recalled that, Liberia embraced the signing into law a new Land Rights Act in October, 2018. Following enactment of the new law, the Liberia Land Authority (LLA), working together with Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), other government authorities, policy makers and international partners has initiated some good steps towards implementation of the law. Among the early achievements are the development of an Implementation Strategy and standardized messages for disseminating the Act, drafting regulations and guidelines, undertaking of pilots of community land formalization schemes and capacity building training programs for some actors in the land sector – mainly from the government and CSOs, as well as developing systems and processes for land administration and management. 

While there are some progress made thus far through collective efforts, it is also important to note that implementation of the LRA has been plagued by a range of challenges. These challenges are linked to the practical, legal, institutional and procedural aspects of the actual implementation of the LRA on one hand, and also based on deeply rooted traditional and customary practices on the other hand. Within the context of widespread food and land tenure insecurity in the existence of our history, the enactment of the LRA and the initial progress are only the first steps of a long and complex process at hand.

Based upon that, the MAP Liberia Land Platform, a land sector coordinating platform in Liberia, co convened by the government and CSOs, had organized this major Land Conference, to take stock of the successes achieved so far in the implementation of the law, analyze and highlight challenges, identify opportunities and generate recommendations and commitments for way forward.

Planning and execution of the conference were done by its National Organizing Committee (NOC) and Technical Organizing Committee (TOC). The NOC comprised the Liberia Land Authority (LLA), the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), the College of Agriculture and Forestry of the University of Liberia and the MAP Liberia Platform secretariat.  

The NOC provided overall policy direction to the National Land Conference and worked jointly with the various structures of the conference.  While the TOC which comprised the 8 thematic groups supported by a Logistic Committee, Media Committee and Organizing Secretariat which guided the content aspect of the conference.

On the first day of the conference, official kick off formalities including welcome remarks and overview of the historic land conference, greetings and solidarity messages from key agencies and personalities, and delivering of the Keynote address by Hon. Vincent Willie of Grand Bassa County, Chairman on the House Committee on Land, Mines, Energy, Natural Resources and Environment.

Before the keynote address, greetings and solidarity messages were delivered by the following personalities/institutions:

1. Excellency Neil Scott, Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in Liberia
2. Mehnaz Ajmal Paracha, FAO Country Representative, a.i.
3. Madame Vera Kellen, Program Manager, Delegation of the European Union to Liberia
4. Excellency Michael A. McCarthy, Ambassador of the United States of America to Liberia
5. Excellency Urban Siosirom, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Sweden to Liberia
6. Excellency Ralph Timmermann, Ambassador of the Republic of Germany to Liberia
7. Kofi Ireland, United Nations Women in Liberia
8. Khwima Nthara, World Bank Country Manager to Liberia
9. Nathaniel B. Walker, Acting Resident Representative of ECOWAS Commission in Liberia (through a proxy: Madam Irene Wallace)
10. Raymond Samndong, Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Reporting Officer, The Tenure Facility

There were also some breakout session and High Level Plenary Session on Customary Land Formalization followed by questions and answers and discussions.

On day two of the conference, a number of presentations were made including:  presentation of an assessment report: a case Study on Rural Women and Land Rights in Liberia – Women in cohabitation and presumptive marriages, presentation of a Policy Brief on Women and Youth Land Rights, Formal Presentation of Certificates for completion of Community Self Identification (CSI) to communities, Formal Launch of the USAID funded Project, Land Management Activity, learning Lessons from regional and international experiences & frameworks to support land reform in Liberia.

And on the third and final day of the conference, an eight count resolution – THE GBEHZOHN DECLARATION was presented by the conference delegates, officially read by Madam Muna Kieh of the Women NGO Secretariat of Liberia – WONGOSOL. She is also a member of the Women and Youth Thematic Working group under the MAP Liberia Land Platform.

GBEHZOHN Declaration as presented:

DECLARATION OF THE NATIONAL LAND CONFERENCE 2022

BUCHANAN CITY, GRAND BASSA COUNTY

REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA

THE GBEHZOHN DECLARATION

WE, THE DELEGATES TO THE NATIONAL LAND CONFERENCE, comprising of representatives of various Government Ministries, Agencies and Commissions, local government, communities from the fifteen (15) counties of Liberia, civil society and community-based organizations, private sector, international institutions and donor agencies, convened in Buchanan City, Grand Bassa County from March 1 – 3, 2022:

HAVING COLLECTIVELY ASSESSED IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAND RIGHTS LAW OF 2018, and noted progress and challenges related to implementation of the Act broadly and Customary Land formalization, specifically;

HAVING ACKNOWLEDGED THAT GAPS IN THE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK pose additional challenges to the effective implementation of the law;

HAVING WELCOMED THE COMMITMENTS of the Government of Liberia, civil society and international organizations and donors to support implementation of the law;

HAVING TAKEN NOTE OF CHALLENGES BEING ENCOUNTERED during the Customary Land formalization, including long-standing boundary disputes, entrenched cultural practices that result in marginalization and exclusion of different segments of the populations at the community level;

HAVING RECOGNIZED THAT LIMITED TECHNICAL CAPACITY is hindering the development of Land Use Plans at the national and community levels;

HAVING SPECIFICALLY HIGHLIGHTED THE THREATS posed by inflow of illegal migrants from other West African Countries are land and national security issues; and

HAVING RECOGNIZED THE OPPORTUNITIES the law presents for local communities to formalize, secure and strengthen their ownership and tenure of their Customary Land and the opportunities the resources thereon provide;

HAVING DELIBERATED ON THE ISSUE OF COORDINATION IN THE LAND SECTOR, and realizing the crucial need for coordination in the sector to avoid duplication, maximize resources and promote transparency in the land sector;

DO HEREBY RESOLVED TO:

8. EXTEND PROFOUND GRATITUDE to the Government of Liberia, especially the Liberia Land Authority, for its commitment to the full and effective implementation of the Land Rights Law 2018;
9. COLLECTIVELY EXPRESS GRATITUDE to international development partners including donors, bilateral and multilateral institutions, international NGOs and foundations supporting the land sector;
10. APPRECIATE CIVIL SOCIETY AND COMMUNITY- BASED ORGANIZATIONS supporting communities to formalize their Customary Land rights;
11. APPRECIATE AND ENCOURAGE DEVELOPMENT AND DONOR PARTNERS to continue their support to the land sector through programming that channels resources to strategic priorities established by the Government of Liberia, especially the Liberia Land Authority and other stakeholders, including:
    1. The finalization and adoption of the Land Rights Law Regulations of 2022 to address the gaps in the regulatory framework;
    2. Establishing a Dedicated Fund to support the conduct of Confirmatory Surveys in communities that have formalize their Customary Land; and
    3. Strengthening the technical capacity of the Liberia Land Authority and other government institutions to fully implement the Land Rights Law and improve overall governance of the land sector;
    4. Strengthening the organizational capacity of Community Land Development and Management Committees (CLDMCs) to enable them to effectively implement their mandate;
    5. Strengthening human and technical capacity within government, civil society, private sector and communities to be able to develop and implement Participatory Land Use Plans at the national, county and community levels;
12. CALL ON THE GOVERNMENT OF LIBERIA to prioritize the following strategic objectives:
    1. That County Land Offices across the country are fully functional, and adequately resourced to effectively support communities as they complete the formalization process;
    2. That the Liberia Land Rights Act Regulations of 2022 be finalized, ensuring that the regulations are fully compliant with the law;
    3. That the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Justice and the Liberia Land Authority develop Standard Operation Procedures to guide the participation and support of traditional and customary authorities to Customary Land formalization and governance of community lands;
    4. That Confirmatory Surveys are conducted for communities that have benefited from Customary Land formalization;
    5. That an integrated land information and management system be established to modernize land information management and improve land administration at the national, county and local levels;
    6. That there be a coordination and collaboration framework/mechanism established between local government administrations and County Land Offices;
    7. That a Ministerial Committee be established to investigate the influx of illegal migrants into Liberia and propose measures to address the situation; and
    8. Mainstream principles of good governance of land as established in various international regional and national frameworks and instruments such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forest in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), the Principles on Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (RAI), Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Violence Against Women (CEDAW); African Union Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa.
13. CALL ON CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS to improve facilitation of the formalization process by:
    1. Strengthening engagement with local government and traditional leaders to secure their participation at all stages of the Customary Land formalization process;
    2. Streamlining the formalization process to shorten its duration and reduce the cost but doing so in compliance with the law;
    3. Facilitating continuous dialogue between the Community Forest Management Bodies (CFMBs), Community Land Development and Management Committees (CLDMCs), and other community governance bodies to ensure collaboration and cooperation for effective land governance at the community level;
    4. Ensuring full compliance with the law during the formalization process, including the participation of women, youth and people living with disabilities, and equal representation on the CLDMCs; and
    5. Taking steps to improve working relations with the Liberia Land Authority and, strengthening coordination, collaboration, and information sharing within civil society.
14. CALL ON ALL STAKEHOLDERS to commit to advancing, securing, and strengthening the land rights of women, youth and other traditionally marginalized groups including:
    1. Directing resources to strengthening the capacity of women to actively and meaningfully participate in land governance at all levels;
    2. Researching and analyzing gender issues and power dynamics within the land sector in order to deepen understanding and, strengthen programming and delivery, to improve the situation of women, youth and other traditionally marginalized groups in the land sector; and
    3. Taking actions to identify and work with champions at all levels of government to engage in advocacy for land rights of women, youth and traditionally marginalized groups.
    4. Building on existing coordination mechanisms including the Donor / international development partners coordination meetings, the Multi Actor Platform on Land Governance in Liberia (MAP Liberia Land Platform), the CSO Working Group on Land Reform, among others, to strengthen both policy and operational level coordination in the sector;
15. CALL ON ALL STAKEHOLDERS, including government, civil society, communities, international organizations and development partners, and the private sector to establish an all-inclusive body to operationalize the Gbehzohn Declaration of 2022.

WE, THE DELEGATES DO HEREBY ADOPT, THE GBEHZOHN  DECLARATION, BY PROCLAMATION on this 3^rd Day of March 2022 in the City of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County, Republic of Liberia.