LAND-at-scale Palestinian Territories Improving land governance for Palestinian farmers

Palestinian farmers in the West Bank mainly engage in low intensity agriculture. Despite great agricultural potential, the prospect of losing access to the land impacts negatively on the willingness of farmers to invest in sustainable agricultural intensification. Moreover, prior investments in agriculture could be under pressure when farmers do not have the documents to prove their tenure rights.

Women in particular are often unable to claim rights to the land they are using, importantly caused by discriminatory inheritance practices.

Project objective

The project aims to increase land tenure security for Palestinian farmers, with a strong emphasis on women, by improvement of the land governance system through the provision of technical and legal support. Attention will be given to formal and informal inheritance practices and raising awareness of women’s land rights.

Project strategies

- Embedding of land tenure security activities in earlier and ongoing food security projects, to create strong links between the two objectives.

- Provision of tailor-made technical and legal support to the project beneficiaries.

- Analysing existing inheritance practices, the impact on women’s access to land, and formulating recommendations to empower women.

Increased knowledge and awareness on the importance of land governance and women’s land tenure security.

- Increased resilience of farmers and women in exercising land tenure security.