Strengthening Academic Foundations in Land Governance: Online Lectures Hosted in Collaboration with Al-Quds and Duhok Universities
As part of its mission to enhance land governance education across the Arab region, the Arab Academic Network for Land Governance (ARA-LG), in close partnership with the Arab Land Initiative, hosted two online capacity development lectures in collaboration with Al-Quds University coordinated by Dr. Samer Raddad, Associate Professor and ARA-LG Network Coordinator and the University of Duhok coordinated by Dr. Layla M. Raswol, Associate Professor and Dean, College of City and Regional Planning. Both lectures were delivered by Kholoud Saad Salama, Land Governance Consultant with the Arab Land Initiative.
Land governance systems in the Arab region face a number of persistent challenges, such as informal tenure arrangements, land degradation, institutional fragmentation and post-conflict reconstruction. Despite these complexities, land governance remains underrepresented in most academic curricula. In response, ARA-LG and the Arab Land Initiative are working to build academic and professional capacity by connecting universities to global knowledge and practical tools.
The online lectures were designed to equip future professionals with a foundational understanding of land administration and encourage their engagement with policy-relevant frameworks. They provided a structured introduction to global land administration models, tailored to the diverse governance landscapes of the Arab region.
Participants were introduced to internationally recognized frameworks such as the FAO Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGTs), the Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration (FFP-LA) model, the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) and the UN-GGIM Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA). These tools offer strategic pathways for countries in the region to modernize land systems in support of equity, food security and resilience. The FFP-LA model in particular emphasizes community participation in mapping and the identification of rights, ensuring that land systems are technically sound as well as socially legitimate and inclusive.
The first lecture, held virtually on 30 April 2025, was delivered to students enrolled in the Master’s Program in Land Administration at Al-Quds University in Palestine. The session explored the building blocks of land administration and how these interact within legal, institutional and technical systems.
The second lecture, hosted online on 20 May 2025, was conducted in collaboration with the College of City and Regional Planning at the University of Duhok in Iraq. The lecture was delivered to undergraduate students, providing them with an early introduction to international land administration concepts and exposure to globally recognized frameworks and practices.
You can download the presentation used for both lectures, here below :