MR. Wordsworth Odame Larbi (PhD, MSc, BSc, LLB, FGhIS)
is currently the National Chairman of the Lands Commission.
Dr Larbi is a seasoned Land Economist with 38 years’ experience in land policy, land administration, land governance and land tenure issues, combining practice with research and occasional teaching. An expert on land policy issues in the West African Sub region and in Africa as a whole.
Dr Larbi worked as an independent consultant, and a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Land Sector Multi-Stakeholder Platform (LSMSP) providing support to the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources. He also provided support to the Government of the Gambia to develop a national land policy and to the Government of Sierra Leone in the implementation of its Land Administration Project, both through the World Bank.
He coordinated the formulation of the Ghana National Land Policy which was launched in June 1999. He is currently leading a review and reformulation of the national land policy.
Between 2014 -2022 he worked as a Land Tenure Officer with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) sub-regional office for Eastern Africa based in Addis Ababa where he coordinated an EU Land Governance Programme which involved 18 countries in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
He was the Executive Secretary of the Lands Commission between 2009 and 2012 and 1999 to 2002.
Between 2005 and 2011 he was the Project Director of the Ghana Land Administration Project, a multi-donor funded project led by the World Bank. Other development partners included DFID, GIZ, KfW, NDF and CIDA.
He has published widely in his field of expertise and presented several papers at many conferences.
He holds a PhD in Land Management and Development from the University of Reading in the UK,
MSc (Distinction) in Urban Land Appraisal from the same University,
BSc (Land Economy) from KNUST, and
LLB from the University of London.
He is a Fellow of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors.
He is currently the Chairman of the Lands Commission.