THE Youth Initiative for Land in Africa (YILAA) is setting out to conduct an extensive research on land issues related to young people on the continent.

Innocent Houedji, its executive director, said at the fourth international youth and land governance conference in Africa (CIGOFA4) here yesterday that the pilot study to that effect will be pioneered in Benin, DR Congo, Senegal and Tanzania, costing $0.4m, where $0.1m is used for each country

The project is supported by the International Land Coalition, the Global Land Alliance, the African Union (AU), the German Agency for International Development (GIZ) as well as the FIG Young Surveyors Network, linked with the Council of European Geodetic Surveyors.

The director said that without research NGOs may not have the right to speak on the issues, “therefore we are embarking on proper research on the issue of youth related land problems and status on the continent.”

The forum which has attracted over 500 participants is meant to empower young people by providing a dynamic platform for dialogue, knowledge-sharing and collaboration on vital issues related to land rights, climate justice and sustainable development, he stated.

The research project will be set to find out how much the youth understand their rights to land ownership and how much they realize the importance of owning land, as well as the role that land plays in the economy.

The research will find out how much the youth know where to get and secure their own land, even as stakeholders battle for the rights of youths to possess their own pieces of land.

Augustine Nyakatoma, the YILAA resident director, said that there are some challenges on the side of young people themselves as many youths in villages, after realizing that they have no access to land “they just give up and move to towns thus fuelling cases of rural urban migration.”

While others lack access to land, there are those who can acquire such properties, from inheritance or other sources but are unaware of its importance, “thus again ending up selling the land and before moving into urban areas, dreaming of better lives there,” he stated.

Bernard Baha, the national coordinator for the Tanzania Land Alliance and facilitator for the Land Governance Platform said that Tanzania is among African countries facing a series of land related conflicts.

Theresia Charles, a resident of Kiteto District, Manyara Region, said that the move to empower the youth to start owning land still leaves out women.

“In Tanzania there are policies safeguarding women land ownership but it does not take into consideration young ladies, only older once and mostly from inheritance,” she asserted.

The mission for youth should apply to young males as well as females, she said, while Wilson Luge, the deputy land commissioner who graced the occasion, said the country is in the process of surveying land to come up with proper land-use plans.

The population is shooting up while farming areas are not expanding, he said, noting that with 59m people needing land, this implies 1.5 hectares on average.

Topics discussed at the meeting include existing opportunities provided by the legal and policy framework, strategies implemented by the government for women and youth to access land, plus achievements and remaining challenges.

Other objectives of the conference include examining empowering the youth, the critical role of youths in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union's Agenda 2063.

The Youth Development Report of the African Union indicates that the continent has the youngest population in the world, with more than 400m young people aged between 15 and 35 years.

“But 55 percent of the young people in Africa live in rural areas facing serious cases of unemployment with the majority being steeped in poverty though they could be empowered economically through the available land,” the report intoned.