By: Claudia Immanuel

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations will conduct a two-day training session for the members of parliament.

The workshop which is set to take place from 9 to 10 September at the Swakopmund Plaza Hotel will focus on the voluntary guidleines on responsilbe governance of tenture of land, fisherires and forest in context of national food security (VGGT).

The training will be facilitated by land governance and tenure experts from FAO under the theme ‘Responsible governance of land and natural resources for food security and nutrition.’

FAO’s communications officer Phillipus Tobias said the training will provide an introduction to the (VGGT).

“This is with the aim to create awareness among lawmakers on key VGGT principles to be considered when land tenure governance laws, policies and institutional frameworks are developed or reviewed during the implementation phase of the resolution of the second national land conference held in 2018,” he said.

He said the National Assembly requested for the workshop through the speaker Peter Katjavivi after the passing of 40 resolutions during the second national land conference in 2018.

“The requst came from the speaker of parliament. The deputy speaker thought its best for the lawmakers get trained to the issues related to land as the lawmakers have five years to serve, so the new ones need to be trained on issues related to land,” said Tobias.

He added that the VGGT is one of the keys that have to guide countries in terms of land administration, especially in the context of national food securities.

Tobias said that at the end of the workshop they hope that the MPs will be aware of the important of land tenure in term of food securities, land, fisheries and forest.

“They play a very criticcal role in allowing the country to be able self-sustaining in terms of food security. So our hope is that once the training is over the MPs will work towards creating laws that really speak to address issues related to land, fisheries and forest to enable ordinary Namibians to benefit from the resources and eliminate poverty in Namibia.”