Supporting Capacity Development in Land Administration in Namibia: The NUST Experience paper
Menare Royal Mabakeng, Stephnie De Villiers, Celina Awala, Ase Christensen, Uchendu Eugene Chigbu
Land administration (LA) as an academic discipline provides professionals with access to vast
knowledge, skills, and sustainable development tools. It covers essential knowledge for
understanding how information infrastructure can support the implementation and management
of land tenure, land development, land valuation, and land use planning within a legal
framework, to promote efficient land management and effective land markets. This paper
explores how the Department of Land and Property Sciences at the Namibia University of
Science and Technology (NUST) has been supporting the LA sector in Namibia and southern
Africa through capacity development and continuous curriculum enhancement initiatives
following global standards. It presents an overview of the method of (or approach to) LA
teaching at NUST – a technique which has enabled the capacitation of land professionals in the
effort to boost local and national capacities in the implementation of efficient land
administration by the Namibian Government. The vital contributions of the paper to ongoing
debates on capacity development in LA is threefold. First, it presents the capacity development
needs in Namibia. Second, it identifies the core roots of NUST’s capacity development strategy
as an agent of education and capacity development in LA. The NUST strategy could be useful
for other universities or research institutions still at the point of developing their own capacity
development strategy. Third (and finally), it brings to fore the experience of NUST’s learning
and exposure to LA studies and sector developments through The Network of Excellence on
Land Governance in Africa.
Event: FIG e-Working Week 2021
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