Appointment of Oumar Sylla as Leader of the Land and Global Land Tool Network Unit

01 Oct 2015

Dear Colleagues

Please join me in welcoming Oumar Sylla who has joined the Urban Legislation, Land and Governance Branch as the new Land and GLTN Unit Leader.

Oumar holds a Master’s degree in Local Government Law from Saint Louis University in Senegal, as well as two other MA’s: in African Legal studies and legal anthropology focused on land and natural resources from Paris 1 Sorbonne and in Territorial Project Management from Paris 13 Creteil. He brings to GLTN a very rich experience, both academic and practical, in land, natural resources, conflict resolution, urban development and planning, urban safety and security, slum upgrading, regional cooperation and partnership. Oumar will continue efforts towards the expansion of the GLTN work and networks at the country level and advocating for a wider incorporation of land governance in the emerging new urban agenda, to bridge the gap between rural and urban, and towards improving tenure security for the vulnerable.

Prior to joining Land and GLTN Unit, Oumar served as a Senior Advisor in UN-Habitat’s Regional Office for Africa. Among other things, he coordinated a regional program to strengthen the capacity of member states in the Great Lakes Region to deal with land and property issues related to displaced persons in support of the ICGLR secretariat and the Peace and Stability Framework for the Great Lakes Region. Prior to joining ROAf, as Chief Technical Advisor in DRC Oumar supported implementation of the GLTN programme and managed the UN-Habitat land programme in a peace building context. He helped build mechanisms and tools to deal with land disputes and improve land governance, supported the government of DRC to develop a participatory road map for a comprehensive land reform and supported the land administration and National Land Reform Commission. He also coordinated capacity development and advocacy, supported coordination of development partners, partnership building and fundraising. Oumar also has experience with the European Union framework, which he gained as a Land Policy Advisor in South Sudan and Burkina Faso and he was a Researcher Fellow within the Laboratory of Legal Anthropology in Paris 1 Sorbonne, mainly working on land and decentralization policies in West Africa.

Oumar was born in 1969 in Thies, Senegal. He is married and a father of two daughters.

Please join us in welcoming Oumar in this important role.

Posted on: 01 Oct 2015