Strategic planning and collaboration to achieving greater results: The Land for Life Cross-Country Communications and Planning Workshop in Bishuftu, Ethiopia.
Since the 2022 Cross-Country Workshop in Liberia, members of Land for Life have been diligently working on putting some of the main ideas and learnings from the workshop into reality, so that a stronger Multi-Actor Partnership (MAP) Process is ensured. Following multiple online Person to Person sessions and backstopping assistance from the international team, the in-person training in 2023 was timely.
The excitement of the team convening again in 2023 in Bishuftu, Ethiopia for the communication and Strategy Planning Workshop was overwhelming. The workshop aimed to strengthen capacities, identify gaps and establish a platform for the seamless implementation of Land for Life activities among member countries. MAP Actors from Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ethiopia, and Burkina Faso were allowed to take part in both activities.
Communication and advocacy are recognized as critical pillars in attaining the overall goals of the MAP frameworks across the various implementing countries. A five-day training was given to bring the different communications Officers and MAP facilitators up to speed with new methods of developing content, and how to utilize updated communications tools and resources. To achieve such, four communications officers from Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Liberia, and Ethiopia, as well as three MAP facilitators from Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ethiopia, attended the training, which ran from March 14th to March 18th, 2023. Jonathan, a Ugandan journalist and Civil Society Academy trainer, and Mino, Africa Regional Coordinator, and Land Expert for Huairou Commission in Madagascar, facilitated the training.
By the completion of the Communications and advocacy training course, trainees were able to make video content utilizing mobile devices, learn a better method of conducting interviews, and identify critical communications focus areas that would aid in the promotion of the various MAP structures It was also a great pleasure to welcome twenty MAP participants from Sierra Leone, Liberia, Burkina Faso, and Ethiopia to the Strategic Planning Workshop, which took place from March 20th to March 24th, 2023. The facilitator team, Joachim Schwarz and Retta Menberu from the Civil Society Academy (CSA), and Anna Schreiber, Land for Life International Coordinator welcomed everyone to the workshop and emphasized the need to fully grasp the meeting’s aim, which is to strengthen the various MAPs. The Workshop assisted each country team in delving further into defining its MAP Culture, understanding a sense of urgency inside the MAP framework, and developing collective leadership among team members. Core learnings from the strategic workshop were derived from inspirational stories about effective practices in the fields of para-legalism, MAP decentralization, and the 2022 successes presented by country teams. A visit to a Flower and Strawberry farm, as well as the Community Engagement Meeting at Mojor in Bishoftu, assisted the entire country team in developing a sense of understanding of the contribution of women in the agricultural value chain and the community’s knowledge of Ethiopia’s various Land Proclamations.
The process of creating a strategic matrix by each country team in preparation for a probably third phase of Land for Life helps each country to understand what new initiatives they should begin, and what activities to boost, limit, and stop.