Steering Group Meeting One
Welcome and Opening Remarks
“In his capacity as Director, Bruce Moore welcomed the members of the steering group to Rome and to the meeting. He emphasised the mandate that the Assembly of members had given to the coalition to become more regionally based in operations and decision-making, and thus the important role of the Steering Group. He also reminded members that the outcomes of this meeting would be submitted to the next ILC Council (April 2008) as a proposal on the regionalisation process in Africa. As Programme Manager for Africa, Michael Taylor encouraged the Steering Group to take full opportunity at this important time in the development of the coalition to determine its direction in Africa.
The chairperson of the Steering Group, Odenda Lumumba noted that this is an appropriate time to be working together across Africa on land tenure issues, considering the interest of many governments in land policy reform, and the initiative by AUC/AfDB/UNECA on guidelines for land policy in Africa. He reminded the group of the priorities for collaborative action as defined by the Nairobi November 2007 workshop, and noted the urgency of the Steering Group to begin its work, considering the expectations of change before its mandate expires in April 2009. He noted that this was an opportunity for Africa to raise her profile on a global stage regarding land issues.″