An Update from LEI

The webinar discussed ideas of shaping land administration design with a better-informed political economy approach. The webinar pre-meetings with each of the panellists leading up to the event along with the research on this topic are incredibly thought provoking. LEI are keen to continue contribute in this space, not only from insights of Tony Burns’ PhD candidacy, but also through reflections on LEI projects. As a start, and given the nature of the project, we have revisited the Mekong Region Land Governance project in a paper by LEI and our MRLG Team Leader, Micah Ingall’s, that was recently accepted at the FIG Congress, Warsaw. Tony and Kate Rickersey will be presenting this in a session on the 13^th of September to be broadcast virtually. We are interested in your feedback if you’d like to take a read of the paper “ Thinking and Working Politically in the Land Sector in Mekong Region”.

Along with an eventful month, for John Meadows it marked the end of his employment journey with LEI, and the start of his Associate journey. John, a quintessential land administration expert with more than 40 years’ experience in the land sector, is respected for his diligence, balanced judgement, sincerity, warmth, and sense of humour. John’s extraordinary international experience has been of great value to LEI, integral to the company’s continuous growth as a leading provider in a highly competitive, complex and constantly changing international market. It is not just John’s technical expertise that our clients and colleagues, and all of us in LEI respect, he has also made long lasting relationships with people from all over the world and this is a testament to the kind of person he is. We wish John all the very best, but also look forward to continuing our personal and professional relationship.

As one door closes, another door opens: with Renée Chartres stepping in. Renee was eager to join LEI after relocating to Australia earlier this year from the UK to be closer to family. She has over 13 years international experience in the development space, working specifically on land, law and justice, governance and gender issues and prior to this practised law. Renée is quickly becoming familiar with our portfolio of projects, particularly where cross cutting issues of safeguards and tenure are concerned. She is also keen to get to know the Asia-Pacific region, having focused more recently on sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa.

Above: Renee Chartres working with the BRACED team in Senegal on decentralised climate funding, January 2019