Land issues have been rising up the agenda of policy makers due to rapid urbanisation and high food prices. Yet, land administration is one of the most corrupt government activities. How should international donors respond? The first priority is to support domestic governments in improving land administration and anti-corruption processes in general. In addition, donors should undertake explicit analysis of the political economy of land, reduce the impact of their own projects on land administration corruption, help increase transparency and exploit international connections.

The webinar on the Gender Imperatives of Land Reforms in Kenya took place on 23 April, 2019.

This webinar featured key experts involved in promoting and working towards the gender imperatives of land reforms in Kenya. It was co-hosted by the European Union, the Government of Kenya, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Land Portal Foundation.

Moderator: Husna A. Mbarak, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 

Women need secure access to and control of land in order to realise their human rights. In order for the women to realise their land and inheritance rights it is important for the policy makers to have in place mechanisms and institutions to guide practice. This report sets out the status of women’s land and inheritance rights in Lesotho. The aim is to provide a consolidated baseline which can inform policy making, implementation and monitoring.

Monitoring reports were prepared in six Asian countries to understand the nature, causes, and impacts of land and resource conflicts, and to highlight the human rights issues intertwined with them. This publication likewise provides an overview of some of the available conflict response and resolution mechanisms in Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Nepal, and the Philippines, and outlines recommended actions for addressing land conflicts.

In October 2016, women farmers from 22 countries across Africa climbed the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro to claim women’s rights for access to and control over land and natural resources. This event coincided with the launch of a campaign of the African Land Policy Centre (ALPC) to reach the target of having 30 percent of all registered land in the name of women by 2025 and to embed women’s land rights into the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This bulletin highlights initiatives to support socially responsible investment. 

Tenure is crucial to the livelihoods of billions of people. For many, their food security is linked to their tenure security. People with weak, insecure tenure rights risk losing their means to support themselves if they lose their access to natural resources. Women often have weaker tenure rights where there is discrimination in laws and customs. Tenure systems define who can use which natural resources, for how long and under what conditions. Many tenure problems are caused by weak governance and attempts to address them are affected by the quality of governance.

We must agree as a nation, that several mistakes have been made in our land deals in recent years. We were stampeding in the wrong direction without adequately consulting beneficiaries i.e. those who are directly affected, those individuals and groups who suffer if anything goes wrong. They are also seen but not heard i.e. the voiceless and marginalized living in the rural areas. 

Guide to determine if monitoring is actually a viable activity that can be undertaken by their organisation. Choosing to undertake monitoring is dependent on considerations such as evaluating the sufficiency of resources, capacity to design a sound monitoring system, and availability of political windows to effect change, amongst others.

The “Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests in the Context of National Food Security” (VGGT), endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in 2012, set out principles and internationally accepted standards for responsible practices and is the first comprehensive intergovernmental global instrument on tenure and its administration.

This training package provides an introduction to the important, complex, and sometimes daunting theme of improving land governance as a means to enhance gender equality and grassroots participation in land matters.

The Tenure Guidelines aim to serve as a reference, providing guidance to improve the governance of land, fisheries and forests so that it can contribute effectively to securing the right to adequate food. The Guidelines thus constitute an internationally agreed upon normative standard that assesses the actions and omissions of states, UN agencies as well as international organisations with respect to the way they regulate land, fisheries and forests in specific situations. See box 1 below.