| dc.description.abstract | Across the African continent the land and resource rights
of the rural poor are threatened by inappropriate policies
and institutions (including global treaties); unequal social,
political and economic relations; the actions of powerful
vested interests (wealthy national or local elites, international
aid organisations, multinational corporations);
and the weakness of grassroots organisations. It is against
this background that the Pan-African Programme on
Land and Resource Rights (PAPLRR) Network’s initiative
to analyse, understand and engage with these
issues was conceptualised by four African centres of excellence
that subsequently developed the programme in
2001.
The unique contributions Africa can make are seldom
taken seriously in international natural resource policymaking
debates. One reason could be that the African
voice on land and resource rights is perhaps not as strong
in international forums as it should be. By coming
together in forums such as PAPLRR, Africans are able to
share their concerns and develop capacity to articulate
their opinions and influence outcomes in the international
arena.
Defining an agenda for advocacy and strategic
engagement with governments, and building links across
divides between scholars, practitioners and advocacy
groups, is an emphasis of PAPLRR into the future. A key
focus of the programme is the role of land and resource
rights in the struggle against poverty, exploitation and
oppression as well as their contribution in solving real
world problems of African people, not as academic
objects to be studied, but as key components of the
struggle. | en_US |
