As the Global Lead on Housing, Land and Property Rights within UNHCR, my principal role entailed mainstreaming tenure security in the promotion of long-term development outcomes for forcibly displaced persons and their host communities.

 

One of the key initiatives covered during my tenure was UNHCR’s flagship local integration project implemented in the Girei Local Government Area of Adamawa State, North-East Nigeria. 

 

Through a one-month in-country technical mission, and eighteen months of remote support, my role was to provide a clear and compelling case and narrative for the transitional land tenure arrangement recommended by UNHCR Nigeria in collaboration with the Girei Local Government Authority and the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency (representing the Governor of Adamawa State). 

 

This flagship initiative was seen as UNHCR’s model of an area-based approach to addressing internal displacement at scale, with secure housing, land and property rights serving as the model’s principal selling-point in the context of the UN Secretary General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement.

 

Having provided the requisite guidance and narrative formulation on this key element of the project, UNHCR Nigeria was ultimately lauded by the UN Special Adviser on Internal Displacement for highlighting the importance of tenure security and furthermore making this the centerpiece of an otherwise impressive project.

 

Thanks to the strong messaging on facilitating secure tenure arrangements in contexts with no tradition of individual exclusive rights in land, the project has been recognised within the UN System as one of the most robust models for achieving long-term development outcomes (durable solutions) for internally displaced persons.