Deadline: 8 January 2014
Proposals from Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia are being accepted for participation on a multi-stakeholder conference ‘Agricultural Investment, Gender and Land in Africa’ on the theme ‘Women’s Land Rights’. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), the Future Agricultures Consortium, and the Land Policy Initiative (LPI) of the African Union, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa are jointly organizing the conference. The major aim of the conference is to promote an open exchange of experiences and evidence-based knowledge on the implications of public and private agricultural investments for rural livelihoods, gender relations, and social differentiation.
The conference will feature research findings by a range of institutions and networks, that document and analyze diverse land-based investments and the related business models, investment partnerships, community impacts and community responses. The purpose is to critically review existing investment practices as well as relevant policy and institutional set-ups in order to identify good and bad practices, promising strategies, approaches and policy measures that can be promoted and adapted to national contexts to foster inclusive, equitable and socially responsible investment that respect the rights of local communities and promote economic growth within a framework of social and gender equality.
Individuals and institutions from different sectors, including academia, government, private sector, civil society, rural organizations, and donor and development agencies, can submit proposals to participate in the conference. Positive experiences and examples of investment in agriculture and African farmers, including public-private partnerships are expected. Abstracts for presentations of papers and convening of discussion panels should be upto 300 words and should explicitly mention how gender is addressed. These proposals can be short papers, movies, poster presentations, toolkits and checklists, book launch and others.
Eligibility Criteria –
- National government representatives (central and local level).
- Regional organizations like the African Union, AFDB, SADC, EAC, CEMAC, ECOWAS.
- Bilateral and multilateral agencies and donors.
- UN agencies and other development bodies.
- Civil society groups, farmers’ associations, producer cooperatives.
- Private investors and private sector interest groups.
- Researchers and academics.
For more information, please visit the Call for Participation.
