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Call for proposals: agricultural investment, gender and Land in Africa

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, the Institute of Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), the Future Agricultures Consortium, and the Land Policy Initiative (LPI) of the African Union, the African Development Bank and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, are jointly organizing a multi-stakeholder conference to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in March 2014.

The Conference aims to promote open exchange of experiences and evidence-based knowledge on the implications of public and private agricultural investments for rural livelihoods, gender relations, social differentiation. The conference will feature research findings by a range of institutions and networks, that document and analyse diverse land-based investments and the related business models, investment partnerships, community impacts and community responses. The purpose is to critically review existing investment practices as well as relevant policy and institutional set-ups in order to identify good and bad practices, promising strategies, approaches and policy measures that can be promoted and adapted to national contexts to foster inclusive, equitable and socially responsible investment that respect the rights of local communities and promote economic growth within a framework of social and gender equality.

Text of the call for participation:
Individuals and institutions from different sectors, including academia, government, private sector, civil society, rural organizations, and donor and development agencies, are invited to submit proposals to participate in the conference. We especially call for positive experiences and examples of investment in agriculture and African farmers, including public-private partnerships. Abstracts for presentations of papers and convening of discussion panels should be no more than 300 words and should explicitly mention how gender is addressed. Proposals for contributions in a variety of formats – including short papers, movies, poster presentations, toolkits and checklists, book launches, and others – will be welcomed. Please send your proposals to Tersia Warries at PLAAS on tmwarries@plaas.org.za by close of business South African time on Wednesday 8 January.

More information about the objectives, context and themes of the conference can be found through this link.