Omidyar Network is a philanthropic organization based in the United States. The organization invests in initiatives in a number of sectors including Land and Property Rights with the main goal of improving socio-economic development in ways that directly impact people’s lives. In Ghana, Omidyar is funding three different initiatives through funding partnerships with three organizations namely; COLANDEF, MERIDIA and Micro-Aerial Projects. The three organizations are implementing unique initiatives that are all geared towards contributing to the improvement of land administration in Ghana. 

COLANDEF’S INVOLVEMENT

In helping to address the issues customary land users face with dispossession, loss of livelihood and conflicts arising from undocumented land rights, COLANDEF is implementing the Customary Land Rights Documentation project to improve documentation of customary land rights in Ghana. COLANDEF also aims to build the capacities of customary land authorities to be able to preside over the recording and documentation of customary land rights. A key output under this project is a Handbook that will be developed to guide customary land authorities in documenting customary land rights. Stakeholders such as the National House of Chiefs and the Lands Commission have been involved in the project implementation so far.

 As part of the implementation arrangements, each of the three implementing organizations has had varying levels of engagement with the relevant stakeholder institutions and their leadership to secure buy-ins and partnership towards achieving the desired outcomes. While those engagements by the individual implementing organizations have contributed to the project design and implementation so far, it is important to establish the links between all three initiatives to enrich the collective impacts and build shared ownership of the outputs amongst all stakeholders.  To achieve this, a stakeholder workshop is being organized to inform and connect all the stakeholders on all Omidyar funded initiatives in Ghana and establish a shared ownership of the projects and their expected outputs. The meeting also seeks to establish high level acknowledgement and commitments to institutionalize the initiatives in the land sector.  

We look forward to the participation of all key stakeholders and policy actors including, Honorable Members of Parliament, Honorable Ministers, Heads of Departments and Agencies, among others. By the end of the workshop, we hope to achieve a shared understanding of each of the initiatives and their contribution to land administration in Ghana, encourage commitment to the shared ownership of the outputs from each of the initiatives, and formulate a road map for integrating the initiatives in the land administration system in Ghana.