Angola

Conference on Joint Civil Society Organizations Strategy for Land Issues in Angola

Sumbe, 20 June 2009 - The Capital City of Kwanza Sul Province - Sumbe, hosted the Conference on Joint Civil Society Organizations Strategy for Land Issues in Angola, from June 18 to 19, 2009, a Land Network (Luanda) - Land Consortium (Huíla) – and Land Forum (Kwanza Sul) joint initiative, funded by the Oxfam Novib.The conference gathered participants from the provinces of Luanda, Kwanza Sul, Huambo, Huíla and Lundas (North and South), including representatives of Civil Society Organizations and local communities.

Their role has been particularly notable in the protection of the rights to ownership and use of land by unprotected populations without resources to claim their land rights.

Mr. Amílcar Salumbo (Sustainable Land Management Project Coordinator), who was part of the group from Huambo, said that the event was an important opportunity of advocacy for the project, as it served to inform its purpose to an important group of the Angolan Civil Society.

“The Sustainable use of land is a matter that has not deserved a wide approach and one of the most important results sought by the project is to integrate this matter in the main sectors of the country, in a way to guarantee a better coordination of actions. Given that in its implementation strategy, the project intends to act in partnership with the different actors involved in Land issues”, he said.

The conference allowed to identify the interest of some organizations, especially in terms of integrating Sustainable Land Management in their respective areas of intervention, located in different parts of the country.