Cooperation with UN-HABITAT Partners' Meeting of the Global Land Tool Network and Meeting of the International Advisory Board

Nairobi, Kenya, 4 - 6 November 2009

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The flag alley entrance to the UN-HABITAT Headquarters at Gigiri, Nairobi.

FIG President Stig Enemark attended the Global land Tool Network (GLTN) partner´s Meting held 4-5 November 2009 at the UN-HABITAT Headquarters in Nairobi, followed by a meeting at the GLTN International Advisory Board (IAB) held 6 November 2009.

The GLTN Partner´s Meeting was structured around the theme: “Enriching Partnerships and Increasing Activities for Land Reform” and attracted around 60 partner organisations and individuals from grassroots organisations, professional groups, training and research institutions, multilateral and bilateral organisations and civil society groups. The various organizations are organized within clusters such as civil society, professionals, education and training, and bilateral and multilateral organizations.

The meeting was organised with cluster and cross-cluster group discussions to provide an assessment of the experiences and achievements of the Network over the last three years and gather lessons from them, and discuss the ways forward. Discussions were also based on the preliminary findings of the GLTN mid-term assessment report.

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The Opening session. From the left: Inga Björk-Klevby, Deputy Director of UN-HABITAT; Clarissa Augustinus, Chief of UN-HABITAT Land Tenure and Property Administration Section; and Agnes Kalibbala, Ambassador and Chairperson of the IAB

The Opening message was presented by Deputy Executive Director Inga Björk-Klevby of UN-HABITAT. She stressed that many global challenges nowadays are connected to land, and that that development of pro-poor and gendered land tools address these challenges in the right direction. Also Agnes Kalibbala, the Chairperson of the IAB recognised that the Network is expanding and the meeting will further enrich the partnership. A full list of partners is available at http://www.gltn.net/en/suggest-link/gltn-partners-2.html.

At the end of the meeting partners perceive themselves as “owners” of the Network and the meeting created a significant momentum for taking the GLTN agenda forward. The Proceedings of the Partners' Meeting are available at the GLTN website: http://www.gltn.net/ and here as a .pdf file.

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Workshop discussions – standing (left) Rafic Khouri (France), Helge Onsrud (Norway) and Tommy Österberg (Sweden)
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Working group discussions.

Following the Partners' meeting President Enemark also attended and chaired the meeting of the GLTN International Advisory Board (IAB). The IAB is established to provide objective advice on issues related to the GLTN policies, operational strategies and projects. The full advisory board is available at:
www.gltn.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=63.

The key issues of the IAB meeting included a comprehensive evaluation the overall GLTN activities in 2009 as well as discussions on the future strategies based on the preliminary findings of the mid-term assessment report. Furthermore, the structure of IAB was discussed especially in relation to the cluster representation. The overall assessment reveals that GLTN has been very successful in achieving their goals and the GLTN partners are very committed in their support. This will be further strengthened in the new “era” of GLTN where the partners increasingly will take ownership of the Network. Next IAB meeting will be held during the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro 22-26 March 2009.

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The Meeting of the GLTN International Advisory Board. From the left (seated) Danilo Antonio, UN-HABITAT Secretariat; Janice Peterson, Huairou Commission; and standing from the left Helge Onsrud, Statens Kartverk Norway; Clarissa Augustinus, Chief UN-HABITAT Land, Tenure and Property Administration Section; Michael Taylor, International Land Coalition; Stig Enemark, President FIG; Mohamed El-Sioufi, Head UN-HABITAT Shelter Branch; Chris Paresi, director ITC; Siraj Sait, University of East London; and Mercedes Strickler, World Bank (seated). The meeting was attended by videoconference from Stockholm (Mikael Atterhög, SIDA), and Washington (Klaus Deininger, World Bank).

Finally, president Enemark also visited the Institution of Surveyors Kenya (ISK) to discuss with the council and President Mwenda Makathimo about the significant and very successful role of ISK in contributing to the National Land Policy Formulation Process. The dinner meeting also recognized the significant achievement of Wafula Nabutola now being elected as Chair-elect of FIG Commission 8.

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Dinner meeting with the Council of Institute of Surveyors of Kenya with President of ISK, Mwenda Makathimo (third from the right) and Wafula Nabutola, Chair Elect of FIG Commission 8 (right).

15 November 2009