Communicating for efficient land administration in Ghana

Communication and technology, spiced with knowledge constitute the corporate currency of the world today. The three lie at the heart of every human endeavour, leading the renaissance in redefining cultures and reaching people never considered possible few years ago.

The innovative power of the Internet and, radio for example, is not bound by boundaries, time and space. As Arthur Clarke puts it, ‘Radio waves never respect frontiers, and from an altitude of 3,600 kilometres, national boundaries become singularly inconspicuous and that the ‘world of the future will be an Open World’.

In Ghana, the media, print and electronic has been identified as key source of information on all activities, from governance to commerce, the private sector, sports and entertainment. A research sponsored by the Land Administration Project under the auspices of the   Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in  2010 indicated that 80 per cent of respondents affirmed the reliability of the media as their source of learning and knowing.

At a five-day skill upgrading and training programme for communication and public outreach officers of the Second Ghana Land Administration Project (LAP-2) held in Cape Coast, Mr John Eluerkeh, the Institutional Reform Specialist of the project told participants that the attainment of the development objectives of the project was dependent on how effective the communication team was able to carry along the major interest groups and individuals involved with the ownership and administration of land in the country.

He explained that the success of the project could only come about when the chiefs and traditional authorities who between them own or hold in trust over 80 per cent of land in the country and other sector agencies were adequately engaged, informed and sensitised about the benefits of the reforms and the need for them to buy into it and eventually own the processes.

This, according to Mr Eluerkeh, led to the decision of the initiators of LAP to engage the professional services of communication and public outreach officers for all the 10 regions of the country to lead with the planning and implementation of a scientific communication strategy, involving a comprehensive information, communication and education package for the project.

He cautioned the communication officers not to restrict their job functions to deal with the print and electronic media but most importantly, to reach out to the major players in the sector in their villages and towns through community and town hall engagements, as well as target groupings such as tenant farmers, peasant farmers, land owners, the vulnerable, women and staff of land sector agencies, assembly members, the judiciary and security services among others.

The President of the Royal Centre for Public Speaking, Mr Samuel Jonathan, who facilitated the five-day skills development programme, told the participants that practice and adequate preparation were the key factors for effective communication and that a good communicator must never downplay feedback.

He said it was of utmost importance for the communication officers to build themselves through constant acquisition of knowledge at all times and stressed that ‘ whatever is not developed cannot  grow’ and that in communication every word counts’.

The training programme was a collaboration between the Communication and Public Outreach and the Institutional Reform Directorates of the Project Coordinating Unit of the Land Administration Project. It was attended by communication officers of the project, as well as communication focal persons from the land sector and implementing agencies including the Lands Commission, Town and Country Planning Department, Office of the Administrator of Stool Lands, the Accra Metropolitan Assembly and the Judicial Service.

The Land Administration Project is a Government of Ghana intervention under the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources aimed at streamlining land administration in the country for wealth creation and poverty reduction with financial assistance from the World Bank and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, (D-FATD), formerly CIDA of Canada.

The writer is the Northern Regional Communication and Public Outreach Officer of the Lands Commission