The Land Policy Initiative (LPI) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Government of Niger, organize a series of events to launch the EU-SDC Programme on Land Governance in Africa. The programme promotes an integrated implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and the Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa (F&G).  

Ten separate in-country projects will be implemented with a goal to mainstream the VGGT and F&G into policy, legal and institutional processes through awareness raising, capacity development, technical facilitation, strengthening of partnerships, and monitoring and evaluation in each country. These countries are: Angola, Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Somalia, South Sudan, and Swaziland.

The programme launch and related events comprise a series of activities to be conducted from 24 to 27 February 2015, in Niamey, Niger, as follows:

- 24 February 2015 - Programme launch, and multi-stakeholder awareness raising workshop on VGGT and F&G;

- 25 and 26 February 2015 - First capitalization meeting; and

- 27 February 2015 - Training on VGGT and F&G. 

The events will bring together about 30 participants representing the European Union (EU), the Swiss Agency for Cooperation and Development (SDC), FAO, LPI, coordinators of implementing organizations, and representatives of government land agencies from the ten countries.