Land Portal 6th Steering Committee Meeting at the University of Groningen

From 8-10 July 2012, the 6th Land Portal Steering Committee Meeting took place at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. Steering Committee members reviewed the implementation of the 2012 working plan, the key lessons and the main challenges of the project. Further to that, the governance of the Portal and work plans were also discussed. An assessment of the website’s performance was carried out with the support of Tactical Tech, an international NGO working to enable the effective use of information for progressive social change. The next steps and a follow up process were agreed upon by the Portal’s members.

The meeting concluded that that the Land Portal has made good progress in working with the users, development organizations and researchers. It is in a good shape, but more work is needed to improve its functionalities and features in order to more closely match the needs of diverse user groups. More coordinated efforts on the management side will be made with technical assistance of other agencies in prioritizing the tasks in the coming months. The Steering Committee consisted of land practitioners and researchers from development organizations, civil society and academics has attained greater support from large international organizations such as the IFAD and FAO, who see the value of the Land Portal in being a potential effective tool to promote the implementation of Voluntary Guidelines by countries. This meeting consolidated the steering committee’s strategy towards the achievement of its major objectives for the coming years.

The meeting was chaired by Prof Leon Verstappen, Director of the Groningen Centre for Law and Governance of the Law Faculty of the University of Groningen, also Representative of the Researcher Page of the Land Portal. The following participants were present at the meeting:

• ILC Secretariat:Laura Meggiolaro
• ILC Secretariat:Annalisa Mauro
• ILC Secretariat:Tin Geber
• AGTER: Mathieu Perdriault
• IFAD:Jean Maurice Durand
• ActionAid:Barbara van Paassen
• Tactical Tech:Marek Tuszynski
• IALTA:Leon Verstappen
• IALTA:Nienke Busscher
• IALTA:Yongjun Zhao

For further information, please contact Prof Leon Verstappen (l.c.a.verstappen rug.nl) and Ms Laura Meggiolaro (laura.meggiolaro landportal.info), Coordinator of the Land Portal.