Empowerment is the “expansion of people’s ability to make strategic life choices”. According to the UN, women’s empowerment has five components: women’s sense of self-worth; their right to have and to determine choices; their right to have access to opportunities and resources; their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home; and their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally.

This report seeks to investigate and propose mechanisms that can be used to improve the flow of benefits to mining-affected communities. The report sets out what requirements should be met for a community trust (or similar legal vehicle) to offer protection of trust assets. It sets out recommendations on the manner in which the legal document should be crafted to protect communities, and proposes that the time is ripe for regulation and clarity. Although it is focused on South Africa, it will be relevant for countries facing similar challenges in the mining and other commercial sectors.

This one-pager provides details on the LAND-at-scale project in Mozambique. This project is implemented by Centro Terra Viva and Terra Firma, and financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs via the Netherlands Enterprise & Development Agency. 

Profesionales de diferentes disciplinas explican el paso a paso y los conceptos de la “Hoja de Ruta para la formalización y titulación de predios de Entidades de Derecho Público (EDP)”.  Escucha testimonios y vivencias de lideresas y líderes comunitarios, así como de servidores públicos de territorios donde la Hoja de Ruta ya dinamizó la seguridad jurídica de predios de EDP. 

The recognition of customary tenure systems and responsible land-based investments that safeguard legitimate tenure rights and right holders are the interconnected main themes for mainstreaming the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) in Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Myanmar and Viet Nam.

Outlines how state and civil society-led legal empowerment initiatives can help secure land and resource rights;strengthen governance;improve access to legal systems and increase citizen participation in decision making.

This course, designed for policy makers, government staff and civil society, provides guidance on driving reforms that strengthen policy, legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks for responsible agricultural investment (RAI). It provides support to design the reform strategy, establish multi-stakeholder consultation processes for decision-making and enhance the role of regulatory processes in creating an enabling environment for responsible agricultural investment.

Land lies at the very foundation of our society and social life; it plays a central role in the livelihoods and cultural identities of communities across the globe, and contains the resources that underpin our now globalised world. However, partly because of this, it is often at the heart of social and political conflicts. Increasing demand for food, energy and other primary products is driving agribusinesses, mining companies and speculative investors in a quest for new land to acquire and exploit.

Ce rapport présente et analyse les dispositions internationales et nationales encadrant les droits de propriété foncière des communautés locales et populations autochtones en République du Congo.

Il s'agit d'un document à but éducatif visant à améliorer l'accès et la compréhension des lois congolaises.

Communities around the world are reeling from the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and measures taken to contain it. Now more than ever, the ability to know, use, and shape the law is critical. Access to health care and various forms of relief hinge on the ability to know one’s rights and navigate complex systems. As emergency actions escalate, citizens must ensure that governments do not use the pandemic as an excuse to entrench unjust or discriminatory policies.

Namati has created a list of COVID-19 resources that address topics relevant to grassroots justice groups (available as a Google Doc 52 or PDF 74). Inside, you’ll find reflections and advice on:

This paper explores the political processes that activists engaged in contesting land grabbing have triggered to connect claims across borders and to international institutions, regimes and processes. Through a review of cases of land-grab resistance that have led to project cancelation or suspension, I argue that contextual elements of the land grab and shifting geopolitics highlight the need for adaptation and refinement of models of transnational advocacy, historically structured in North–South patterns.