In Africa, the opportunities for land administration reform – that is, securing and providing titles and deeds to millions of property owners who previously did not have the privilege – drive the heart of the technology and bundles of products and services Medici Land Governance (MLG) is developing.
Africa is an especially important continent to us at MLG because we are recognizing the potential of the young people’s desire for entrepreneurial small business opportunities and their rapid capabilities for adopting technology. Many African countries have, on average, millions more of young people in comparison to elsewhere in the world. For example, Rwanda is among the youngest countries, in terms of age demographics.
We see mutually strategic benefits and opportunities for working with governments both on a local and national level to reform their land administrations systems with a blockchain platform that provides streamlined, secure access to titles, deeds, and all pertinent information about properties. More importantly, MLG is incorporating a broad bundle of technological applications, such as drones, to augment the work of enumerators working in the field. The net result will be that people who previously were unable to secure legal titles and deeds for their properties will now be able to secure one for their personal economic and business use.
We are seeing first hand how the land administration reforms that are underway in Africa could engage the youth to use their creative power for influencing the world around them and finding solutions to common problems. Perhaps more than other age groups, youth instinctively understand how adopting technology early on opens up creative outlets in their communities to work together and develop new opportunities for their career dreams and aspirations. One area that has gained traction in youth focus is agri-preneurship (small farms or specialized businesses in agriculture). Certainly, reforms in the land records system and access to titles and deeds so that young entrepreneurs can use their properties for economic resources and development open the door to youth engagement initiatives.
Our field work in Africa – Lusaka, Zambia, Rwanda and soon, Liberia – is a gateway to building networks for tech-savvy young people, some of whom have been locally hired to build awareness in their communities as MLG continues its work and as enumerators for collecting the data that will be incorporated into blockchain records platform.
There are opportunities to build business and technical skills that young people can translate into creating their own innovative incubators and micro-enterprises. And, as MLG’s land titling reform work also is focused on economic empowerment for women as titled property owners, there are opportunities for permaculture initiatives and training for capacity development and value chain opportunities. An integral part of MLG’s technology focus on the individual is acknowledging how this enhances the technological culture in the locations where we are carrying out projects. And, young people are definitely being engaged. And, they are enthusiastic about the technology they see in our work.
At MLG, we consider data to be part of the foundation for wisdom and, in turn, direct our efforts to finding the best practices process to create, use and act on information. It is capitalizing on experience for everyone’s benefit.
The approach MLG takes to working with communities and governments is to maximize the personal impact of adopting its technologies into a holistic program uniting commitment and partnership across the board, including women, youth and others who for the first time can enjoy the benefits of having a secure, legal title to their property.