Next week is the annual World Bank Land and Poverty Conference. This is one of the most important events of the year in the land rights sector. It’s a chance for a wide range of practitioners, researchers, and funders to connect and to learn more about each others’ work.

I recently traveled to the highlands of Peru. Every woman I met there seemed to be doing something with wool: spinning it, or knitting or crocheting skirts, sweaters, and scarves. I was fascinated by the activity, as a sometimes knitter myself, but when I asked to take pictures of them they reacted with confusion at my interest. In their minds, they were not doing anything remarkable or picture worthy, just the daily work they needed to get done.

By Deborah Espinosa and Patrick Gallagher, USAID’s Land Technology Solutions Program

Persistent and pervasive gender inequality is a global development challenge that constrains economic growth, educational opportunities, and health outcomes. It jeopardizes food security and undermines poverty reduction strategies. The world over, some formal and many informal laws and customs operate to hinder women’s empowerment and thus their full potential as agents of economic and social change.

The data ecosystem is an extremely vast and cluttered space. What data exist? What data is up to date? What data is reliable? Who owns the data? Can I use the data without inflicting harm? Who are the data subjects? Many people across numerous sectors struggle with such questions and more on a daily basis. The land governance sector in India is no different. But somehow, it seems the land data ecosystem in India is more complex and controversial.

Author: Ahmadou Aly Mbaye

Editor's Note: 

Cambodia​ aims​ to​ fasten​ its​ economic​ growth​ while​ fully​ committing​ to​ sustainable​ development.​ To​ avoid​ adverse​ impacts​ from​ the​ development​ and​ promote​ long​ term​ benefits​ to​ economic,​ social​ and​ environmental​ change,​ the​ practice​ of​ Environmental​ Impact​ Assessment​ (EIA)​ shall​ be​ enforced.​ And​ since​ EIA​ has​ become​ an​ essential​ feature​ of​ sustainable​ development​ for​ improving​ well-being​ and​ equity​ from​ the​ development,​ the​ public​ must​ fully​ participate​ in​ policy​ debates​ and​ seek​ legal​ redress​ and​ claim​ what​ they​ dese

Conservation, said Aldo Leopold, is harmony between (wo)men and land. Land should justifiably figure not only into the conservation, but also in development debates, policy and discourses. Missing land rights and land tenure security can be costly for states, communities as well as local and global development.

A data story from women in a semiarid region of Brazil

*This story was written by the following women: Ducicleide Maria da Silva, Gigliola Silva Araújo, Ianka Sayonara da Silva, Josefa Ferreira da Silva, Maria do Carmo da Conceição Carvalho, Maria Karoline Policarpo Silva, Manuella Donato, Mariana de Albuquerque Vilarim and Thalya Carla Vieira de Lima and Patricia Maria Chaves .  It was translated by Sonia Jay Wright.*  

The recent 11^thsession of the Working Party on Land Administration took place in Geneva late last month.  We spoke with Paul van Asperen of the University of Twente regarding the event.  

Improving how we work for – and with – indigenous and local women in their communities

As a human rights organisation, gender justice is a fundamental principle of our work, and we have long been conscious of, and sought to address, the barriers to effective participation in decision-making by women, as well as the other human rights violations they may face on account of their gender.

The plight of women has largely been ignored, not only by local officials and lawmakers, but also by the way in which data about land rights is understood and processed

When Rajkumari Devi’s husband died 12 years ago, the world that centred on the mud hut they shared in a village in north India fell apart. Reeling from the loss of her husband, she was unable to secure title to her home and the scrap of farmland nearby that they had worked together.

Last week, the Eleventh Session of the Working Party on Land Administration (WPLA) provided an international platform for a high-level exchange on issues related to land administration and management. Amie Figueiredo, of the Housing and Land Management Unit at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) helped us t0 answer a few questions on the event.