The vision of the Land Portal Foundation is to improve land governance to benefit those with the most insecure land rights and the greatest vulnerability to landlessness through information and knowledge sharing.
Global Land Tool Network (GLTN)
The Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) is an alliance of global regional and national partners contributing to poverty alleviation through land reform, improved land management and security of tenure particularly through the development and dissemination of pro-poor and gender-sensitive land tools.
Secure land tenure and property rights are fundamental to shelter and livelihoods as well as the realisation of human rights, poverty reduction,economic prosperity and sustainable development.
United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)
UN-Habitat is the United Nations programme working towards a better urban future.
The month of March marks both International Women’s Day as well as International Open Data Day. The webinar on "The role of information and digital technologies in women's access to land in the Middle East and North Africa" will begin by covering the main gender related issues that have emerged from the recent Second Arab Land Conference. The webinar will then look more specifically at what the proliferation of digital technologies now being adopted worldwide, means for women and their access to land in the region.
The challenges faced by women in the Arab states in accessing land do not substantially differ from those faced by women in other parts of the world. Barriers include conflict, lack of access to institutions of power, as well as norms and practices at family and community level. In the Middle East and North Africa today, only 5 percent of them have their name on a legal land or housing document. On the other hand, many positive advancements are being made in many Arab countries. This includes land administration practices that take women’s perspective better into account, as well as an increase in women claiming inheritance rights in accordance to the law. Join us to discuss what role digital technologies, open data and access to information can play in women's access to land in the Middle East and North Africa. Please note that simultaneous interpretation will be available from English to Arabic.
Moderator
Laura Meggiolaro
The Land Portal Foundation
Panelists
Joe Feyertag
Overseas
Development
Institute
(ODI)
Foteini Zampati
Global Open Data
for Agriculture
and Nutrition
(GODAN )
Ombretta Tempra
Global Land
Tool Network
(GLTN)
UN-Habitat
Wael Zakout
World Bank
Myriam Ababsa
French
Institute
for the
Near East
The Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt was pleased to announce the Second Arab Land Conference, organized under the patronage of the Egyptian Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities.
Land governance is strongly related to peace , it is linked to livelihood, identity and power. Good land governance, including the key aspects of mediating and resolving land-related disputes and the protection of the housing, land and property rights of all, leaving no-one behind, and are cornerstones for peace. In the Arab region, competition and conflict over land and land-based resources has been dramatically intensifying under the growing pressures of climate change, population growth and movements, increased food insecurity, and changing land use.
Capacity development is defined as ‘‘The process through which individuals, organizations and societies obtain, strengthen and maintain the capabilities to set and achieve their own development objectives over time” OECD (2006). Capacity development is very important in the Arab region to ensure that the management of land and land-based resources matches the challenges of current times. It is also an important aspect for establishing a well-functioning land sector. Despite this, capacity development alone cannot enhance land governance .
The Arab region suffers from many challenges in the land governance and land management sector. Most importantly, tenure insecurity in the Arab region is the highest in the world. In the Worldbank’s Registering Property- Doing Business indicator, the region ranks lower than any other region, with the exception of some Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Tenure insecurity negatively affects many aspects of the economy including urbanization, agricultural development, the private sector and women's empowerment, just to name of a few.