A training package on the Rural Code in Niger. (Ed. # 9)

The establishment of the Rural Code in Niger is an original experience of governance of land and natural resources in West Africa, which had been presented to AGTER members by Mr. Abdul Karim Mamalo at the General Meeting of 2009 (see this presentation). The Rural Code is a tool that is both legal and institutional, which aims at securing land rights, facilitating a concerted regulation of conflicts in rural areas and promoting sustainable management of natural resources. It was developed through a participatory and iterative process, that seemed relevant to study deeply.

A thorough literature research, added to a field mission, has allowed us to build a training package on the Rural Code in Niger. This package, including a film documentary directed by Loïc Colin and Vincent Petit and a set of fact sheets, describes and analyses the tools for land and natural resources governance developed by the Rural Code in Niger but also, more broadly, to consider the major challenges of rural and agricultural development in West Africa. It has indeed been released in Niger, Senegal and Burkina Faso in November and December 2010 by our partners: AREN, GRAF and Landnet Senegal.

We are especially proud of this first substantive work on West Africa as it came from dynamic exchanges among AGTER’s network! Thanks to Vincent Petit and Loic Colin, the first formal collaboration with E-Sud development has been possible. We also thank Abdul Karim Mamalo without whom this work would never have happened and Land Net West Africa and Inter Réseaux Développement Rural, two organizations whose links with AGTER have been strengthened through this work.

The training package is available at the headquarters of the association, and the fact sheets are already visible on our website (see below).

Clara Jamart. AGTER

In memory of Professor Dao The Tuan

It is with a great sadness that we announce the passing of our friend and honorary member, Professor Dao The Tuan. Many of us have benefited from his intelligence, his humanity, his love of Vietnam and its farmers. He worked with us, especially in the field of land reform in the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, January 2001, then in Cuba, September of the same year at the World Forum on Food Sovereignty.

World Social Forum of Dakar - 6 to 11 February 2011.

AGTER will attend and participate to workshops on 8 and 10 February about the issue of land grabbing in the world. These workshops, organized jointly by the organizations Peuples Solidaires and CCFD, will suggest to review the land situation in the world and the current phenomenon, to study the national strategies of resistance and to develop proposals for action to address the phenomenon at different levels : local, national and international.

More information on the WSF : www.dakar2011.org/

The French, Spanish, and English articles and videos that we present here differ.

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