KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo , 05 March 2022 / PRN Africa / -- The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has committed to mainstream gender in its draft National Land Policy during the training workshop on securing Women Land Tenure Security. The training workshop was held on the backdrop of the comprehensive review of the country's land policy and legislative framework by the African Land Policy Centre (ALPC).

In his opening remarks, the Secretary-General (SG), Ministry of Land, Mr. Gerard Mugangu noted that the DRC is happy to join African countries in conducting gender sensitive land reforms in accordance with the African Union (AU) Guidelines. He noted that the training comes at opportune time as the country is finalizing the first National Land Policy since DRC's independence, offering an opportunity for women's land rights concerns to be at the center of the policy.

In her opening remarks, Ms. Joan Kagwanja, ALPC Chief, commended the Governments for its efforts to develop a national land policy and commitment to integrate WLTS which is central to the achievement of agenda 2063. She also highlighted the key hurdles to WLTS and called on participants to use the relevant AU endorsed guidelines and tools to strengthen WLTS in DRC.

The training on strengthening women's land tenure security and entrepreneurship aims to enhance capacity and familiarizetrainees with AU commitments, and ALPC generated tools for strengthening WLTS. Trainees included representatives from the Ministries responsible for Gender, Land, Agriculture, and Rural Development, as well as civil society groups, academia and other stakeholders.

SOURCE United Nations Economic Commission for Africa