Executive Director, Youth Initiative for Land in Africa (YILAA)
Innocent Antoine HOUEDJI is a seasoned expert in land governance with over a decade of experience across Africa. He is the founder and coordinator of the Youth Initiative for Land in Africa (YILAA), which operates in 25 countries. Before establishing YILAA in 2019, he contributed to the Millennium Challenge Corporation's land access project in Benin. He held key management roles, including Head of Office at Benin’s National Agency for Domain and Land (ANDF), where he worked with 42 of the country's 77 communes.
An expert in management, business planning, financial analysis, software engineering, and decision analysis, Innocent is a member of the regional working group of the West African Regional Rural Land Observatory (ORFAO-UEMOA) and facilitates the Multi-actor Platform on Youth-sensitive Land Governance in Africa, an initiative by the African Union, ILC, IGAD, Landesa, and YILAA. His expertise has led to collaborations with major international institutions, including IFAD, ECOWAS, GIZ, UNEP, IOM, UNCCD, and UNFCCC.