Land-use change and food production in Africa: the role of governance, institutions, and public administration

From a review of the role of governance, institutions, and public administration we conclude that African systems of public administrations (bureaucracies) in particular have a large role to play in the governance of land-use change and food production development. The diversity in administrative styles in Africa (the way bureaucracies work and how they are positioned in African societies) underlines earlier PBL findings that signal a wide variety in trends in food production and land use change across African countries. Our findings point to a need for international donor communities to focus on, diagnose, and cooperate with, African public administration if the donors’ objective is to promote more sustainable land use and food production.

Better diagnostics before cooperation

If African public administration systems were better diagnosed, donor interventions could be designed to align with the existing institutional context, and would facilitate bilateral cooperation between donor and recipient governments. We propose five indicators that are relevant for diagnosing African public administration in the management of land use and food production:

1. The degree of centralization of African public administration
2. The type of state–society relations in African countries
3. The degree of politicization of African public administration
4. The type of knowledge organization in African public administration
5. The role of the market in governing African land use and food production

Combinations of these indicators yield seven archetypical African states defined by their systems of public administration. Each archetype points to specific development approaches that should be prioritized in development cooperation to improve land-use management and food production in that particular type of public administration system.

Getting one’s hands dirty

It should not be forgotten however, that an instrumental focus on governance - governance to get things done - almost always has different consequences for different actors. Hence, we conclude that working with African public administration can be very effective but always involves getting one’s hands dirty.