AFC presenting at the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference 2017 in Washington

AFC’s Land right expert Jean Aholou participated in March at the World Bank’s 2017 conference on Land and Poverty in Washington. The focus this year was on Responsible Land Governance: Towards an Evidence-Based Approach. Jean Aholou presented a paper based on AFC’s experiences in Benin in the KfW “Investment Fund” project which focusses on securing rural land rights in northern Benin. The project uses modern technology to develop land-use plans in the Atacora-Donga region in order to confirm land rights. Aholou’s paper focusses the AFC’s experiences in promoting land access for landless farmers based on the 2013 Benin Land and property Code. Indeed the Code distinguishes between land ownership and land usage rights. Thus access to agricultural land can be guaranteed for landless farmers through the introduction of contracts confirming farmers’ land usage rights and also their obligations (rent, maintenance etc.). AFC has promoted and piloted the use of such contracts in northern Benin to great success in order to guarantee the access of rights of landless farmers and vulnerable groups (often women) before, during and after the rehabilitation of floodplains and valleys.

For further infromation please contact

Holly.Hufnagel [at] afci.de