General

Abstract: In the context of rising global demand for land and natural resources, there is an urgent need to strengthen community land tenure security. In Kenya, a new window of opportunity emerged to protect community land rights in 2016 when the government passed the Community Land Act. However, to date the provisions of that Act remain largely untested. Against that backdrop, this action research project will test approaches to scale-up community land protection efforts. Namati’s Community Land Protection Program deploys paralegals to support communities to use national land laws to protect their land and resources. This approach combines the legal and technical efforts to map and document lands, with community-level governance efforts to resolve land conflicts, ensure equity with the community, and promote accountable and participatory management. The project includes a specific focus on protections for women and minority populations, and will test approaches to enhancing their participation in decision-making over communal land and during negotiations with investors. A mix of research methods will investigate the following questions: (i) What are the institutional and policy barriers to securing community land tenure? (ii) How can land registration processes and community-level rules protect women and minorities against exclusion and disenfranchisement? Findings are expected to strengthen community land rights and governance. The research team will draw on evidence from its grassroots work to strengthen efforts to implement the Community Land Act at the county and national levels. A similar project is currently underway in Sierra Leone that will allow the team to generate comparative learning on these research questions. This project is part of a cohort of IDRC-supported projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, entitled Using Action Research to Improve Land Rights & Governance for Communities, Women & Vulnerable Groups. In parallel to this project, the Land Development Governance Institute will be leading complementary research on the Community Land Act, in an effort to build a larger body of evidence and advocacy to ensure the Act’s successful implementation.

General

During the last two decades, large-scale acquisition of agricultural and forest land, especially in rapidly developing and emerging economies, has become a key development challenge. While land is a key resource for development projects, there is a growing concern that people’s connection to their lands and livelihoods is being undermined and they are not being fairly compensated. In several regions, women are resisting displacement and making claims to land through collective and individual protests. They are building public opinion against the arrangements in land tenure that differ between women and men, and questioning the institutions, social norms, and legal rules that shut most rural women out of land control, ownership, and any framework for compensation when lands are acquired. Moreover, violent resistance against displacement in several regions is often met with state repression, leading to more violence, stalled projects, and protracted cycles of unresolved conflicts. In addition, in several regions, disputes over the division of resources are emerging between federal and provincial authorities. The lack of norms on distribution of gains and what constitutes a “fair” compensation for displacement only makes matters more contentious. This project aims to provide context-specific, evidence-based understanding of the complex issue of land governance and compensation in land acquisition projects. It will examine the complex web of gender-differentiated costs to the communities and to the projects, aiming to strengthen policies for better acquisition and build capacities of women and men for negotiating more equitable and fair solutions. Through a field-based study in Cambodia, India, and Indonesia, this project will engage with local communities and local governments to define entitlements for compensation and fair compensation models and to strengthen governance to develop models of just and fair compensation for women and men. At the same time, through an in-depth study of best practices in different countries, the project will also develop workable models for resource sharing between the central and provincial governments. The project will be implemented by the Department of Geography at the University of Cambridge, UK, in collaboration with the Community Legal Education Center, Cambodia; Ekta Parishad, India; and HuMa Community and Ecological Based Society for Law Reform, Indonesia. The research will build on mixed methods, relying on desk research and field experiences to arrive at policy-oriented understanding on just and fair compensation for large-scale land acquisition.

General

Over the past few years, large-scale acquisitions (purchases, leases, or other arrangements) of farmland in developing countries by individuals, corporations, and foreign governments have presented both economic opportunities and threats to traditional livelihoods. This trend has reduced access to key resources, like water and grazing land, upon which small-scale farmers in developing countries depend. Complicating the picture is the patchwork of customary laws, legal frameworks, institutions, and various authorities regulating land ownership and use. The livelihoods of people are complex, multi-layered, and interconnected, so focusing accountability action on only one field or issue, which is the traditional approach of marginalized rural groups, limits any accountability strategy. This shortcoming is especially pertinent when the intricacies of customary, gender, and generational dynamics are also taken into consideration. Under the leadership of FIAN-International (Foodfirst Information and Action Network), with the participation of researchers and civil society groups from Mali and Nigeria, this project seeks to establish new accountability strategies that will can address these overlapping legal and institutional contexts. It will also examine the difficulties surrounding women and youth in achieving land and associated resource tenure rights in rural communities that are governed by social and cultural norms that prevent women from exercising their rights. The researchers will use a participatory action research methodology with a feminist approach. Expected results include development of inclusive accountability strategies and tools that account for women and youth’s perspectives. At the regional level, the project intends to influence the land guidelines that are currently being negotiated to advance customary land rights. It also aims to strengthen strategic alliances through the West African Convergence of Land and Water Struggles to secure community land rights, particularly women’s land rights, in West Africa. This project is part of a group of IDRC-supported projects in sub-Saharan Africa entitled “Using Action Research to Improve Land Rights and Governance for Communities, Women and Vulnerable Groups”.

General

Despite their critical role in promoting food security on the African continent, women continue to be marginalized in the distribution and allocation of land. The implications for both family survival and national food security are far-reaching. This project will support research to examine the conditions needed to allow women to become empowered to participate in large-scale land acquisition (LSLAs) processes. The objective is to help ensure that sub-Saharan Africa puts the legal and policy frameworks in place to foster better accountability and legitimacy on issues of land governance. African women must continue to engage in food crop farming to ensure food security for their families and for the continent at large. This is only possible if their right to land is protected, respected, and fulfilled. Previous studies have shown that African women's right to land is seriously under threat. Traditionally, African women have not had equal access to land and weak land laws and governance processes related to LSLAs are further eroding their access. We are now learning more about the impact of LSLAs on livelihoods in affected communities but little evidence exists on gender differences. Little is also known about how African women have developed strategies to foster more equitable land governance policies and practices to ensure greater accountability and transparency around LSLAs. This research seeks to fill these knowledge gaps. The ultimate goal of the project is to promote land governance policies that treat both genders more equally and that contribute to greater accountability and transparency around LSLAs. The research will be implemented in six communities in three African countries: Ghana, Cameroon, and Uganda. All three have experienced LSLAs. The research team will explore the following: -land acquisition processes; -winners and losers in these transactions; -ways in which the losers (specifically, rural African women) respond to their situation; and, -extent to which these responses are successful. The project will create gender-sensitive evidence-based knowledge that can be used by women, local communities, non-state actors, and public authorities to enhance accountability and legitimacy in LSLAs processes. It will also propose gender inclusive strategies for formal and informal institutions that will respect, promote, and protect women's rights in LSLAs processes.

General

The objective of the project is to improve profitability and financial and social sustainability of CFEs in ejidos and other forest communities while mitigating climate change through decreased CO2 emissions from land use change. The results will be that Community Forest Enterprises increase their productivity while leveraging or preserving the natural capital of forest lands. The Program¿s success will demonstrate to other CFEs and to the financial sector that investing in sustainable forest management can be profitable.