Background of the program
The foundation of all human activity is the land. Land cannot be considered like other commodities since it has political, social, cultural, and economic implications in addition to its economic value. In addition, disputes arising from the intense competition for land among various users are occurring more frequently and are growing more complicated. Both urban and rural areas frequently show the largest effect of this competition. In addition, such situations frequently lead to rapid increases in the economic value of land, and land tenure becomes an important social, economic, and political issues.
In Ethiopia, land is the primary means of production, which offers diversified livelihood opportunities and alternatives. Land is also the basic asset which farmers use in order to accumulate wealth and to transfer it to future generations. Besides, it has cultural dimensions in which people have often had an emotional feeling with the land that they claim, and small land disputes leading to hostility and deadly conflicts even between two neighbouring farmers.
Therefore, it is essential to develop programs which support to improve the livelihood of Ethiopian society by increasing the knowledge, competences, gender mainstreaming and skills of experts working in the field of Land Administration and who are able to provide enhanced geo-datasets for land related decision-making. In this regard, land Administration and Surveying Department at Debre Markos University (DMU) has been launched in 2016 under the institute of Land Administration. This is with the support of Austrian development cooperation (ADC) and with the partnership of three institutions (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna / BOKU, Technische Universität Wien / TUW, and Bahir Dar University / BDU). Currently, the department has 394 students in three different programs: regular, summer, and extension.
Overall Goal
The overall goal of this academic program is to improve the livelihood of Ethiopian society by increasing the knowledge, competences, and skills of experts working in the field of Land Administration and to provide enhanced geospatial data-sets for land-related decision-making.
Objectives
The main objective of this program is to produce competent Land Administration professionals who are capable of managing and administering land and associated resources. Specifically, the educational objectives of the program are:
- To get land administrators who are confident to apply their skills in understanding the problem of the society, and make a useful contribution to the solution;
- To apply knowledge, skills and experiences acquired in Land Administration to contemporary issues of population, environment and gender;
- To promote gender mainstreaming on land rights and to increase the number of female academics in Land Administration;
- To organize short and long term trainings, workshops and seminars for Land Administration related institutions found at national and/or regional level;
- Equip students with understanding and skills that they need to take up their responsibilities as community service providers;
- To provide continuous, relevant and positive contributions to the improvement of Land Administration in Ethiopia;
- To understand and exploit contemporary technologies in Land Administration for the benefits of the society;
- To put in place strategies to support Land Administration needs of the society;
- To launch long-term cooperation between all partner institutions and to strengthen the professional networking on national, regional and international level.
