Contains introduction; global – a new threat to poor people’s land – biofuels, older threats, decentralisation; regional � ten years ago, regional land policy review, 2006-7, donors, governments and civil society, the policy-implementation gap, decentralisation, your research programme – DLRSA; conclusion. Argues that since policy engagement at the national level in the past decade has not brought too many successes, more might be achieved in future at the decentralised local level.

A guide to a report from the World Bank’s Agriculture and Rural Development Department which is likely to prove extremely helpful to practitioners. The structure of the report is first given in detail to illustrate its coverage. This is followed by a section which gathers together some of its contents and conclusions, interspersed with comments.

Reflections based on personal experiences as an academic and as Oxfam’s former Global Land Adviser. Cites a number of institutions on how they conceive of the role of donors in land matters, including the recent DFID policy paper on land, which the author hopes will encourage country level DFID staff to engage. Looks at changing contexts of donor involvement in land issues, including World Bank approaches. Examines contrasting interpretations of the role of NGOs on land issues, stressing that context and history are critical.

Contains summaries of presentations by Birgit Englert and Elizabeth Daley, co-editors of a new book, Women’s Land Rights and Privatization in Eastern Africa, and by Sibongile Ndashe on South Africa’s Communal Land Rights Act, and of the subsequent discussion, comments and questions, and a short video presentation by ActionAid.

Presents two personal testimonies of eviction and dispossession to illustrate the long and complex political history of land in Zimbabwe. The first concerns the eviction of white commercial farmers from one district in December 2002, the second of black peasant farmers in 1948, to make way for the white post-1945 white war veterans.

A guide to the World Bank’s Policy Research Report on land policy, on which an email discussion takes place from 30 December 2002 to 10 January 2003. Details the websites for the Report and the discussion. Asks whether it was worth engaging in the PRR process, examines the Report’s structure and says what it does not contain, offers general and particular comments, and concludes by saying don’t forget the politics.

Highly condensed paper on gendered land rights, written principally for Oxfam staff and partners, and summarising some of the literature on Africa and elsewhere.

The note publicises the existence of the papers which were given at the World Bank’s Africa Workshop, provides the hyperlink references to the pdf files where they can be found, and highlights those which the writer found to be of greatest interest. The Bank would appreciate feedback on its draft Policy Research Paper.

An historical review of the land reform work of the South African Legal Resources Centre, a non-profit public interest law centre which seeks to use law as an instrument of justice by providing legal services for the vulnerable and marginalised.

Focuses on struggles to secure and defend the land rights of the poor in Africa. A very brief introduction sketches the impact of liberalisation on land in Africa, then looks at the deeper context of land reform, and at the current role of donors. Goes on to look at detailed case studies of Uganda, Mozambique and South Africa and examines reasons for successes and failures of pro-poor land struggles in those countries. Concludes by focusing on the issue of redistribution in Southern Africa.

Outlines Oxfam’s land research on the Copperbelt in 1998. Updated version of 1998 paper examining how people whose livelihoods once depended on the copper mines have begun looking for land and the problems they have encountered on forest and ZCCM land, with the 1995 Lands Act, and with party politics. Highlights the lack of coordinated responses to the problem and concludes with the main developments following the sale of the mines in 2000 and the attitudes of the new owners towards squatters.

Originally verbal presentation to World Bank meeting reviewing its Policy Research Report on land. Argues the need for this to be honest, open to admitting past mistakes, and pro-poor in order to influence future Bank policy and practice at national level. Argues that the Bank needs to be aware that many people across the world view it as the enemy because of past historical experience. Need for various Bank policies to be mutually compatible. Cites source suggesting great divergence between policy drivers within the Bank.