An introduction into the work we do to assist disadvantaged communities in Laos and Cambodia.
We have 3 core Programs of development work: Healthy Villages & Local Leadership/ Land & Livelihoods/ Child Protection and Empowerment.
Please visit our website for more information: https://villagefocus.org/index
Focuses on tackling land issues in post-conflict states. Root of problem is that most rural populations are little better than squatters on their own land in the eyes of the law. Remedy is to acknowledge customary land rights as equivalent to private property rights.
The Law and the Constitution of Pakistan under Article 23, allow the citizens of Pakistan equal rights to acquire, hold, own and dispose of property, but reserve the right to intervene in the property rights if the ownership or disposal of property clash with what is perceived to be the broader public interest. The State is also responsible for providing protection to its citizens.
Women’s land ownership and control have important connections with their empowerment in Pakistan’s agricultural context. However, the link between these has largely remained unexplored; and there has been only a few research to determine how many women own or control land in Pakistan. The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) carried out a multiple pronged research in 2007-09 to fill this knowledge gap and to examine the reason behind women’s land ownership and empowerment.
La conceptualización de las personas desplazadas por el deterioro ambiental ha sido –y continúa siendo treinta años después de sus orígenes- tema de debate entre especialistas de diversas disciplinas. En el contexto latinoamericano esta problemática se encuentra estrechamente vinculada con el modelo de inserción internacional implementado por los países de la región. La profundización de un modelo basado en la exportación de productos primarios conlleva una agudización de problemas ambientales preexistentes.
This document presents the contribution of the ILC to the Updating of the High Level Task Force’s (HLTF) Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) and is the result of an intensive work of dialogue and knowledge sharing between the ILC Secretariat and the ILC constituency, especially civil society organisations from Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Recognizing and protecting customary land rights is a critical component of protecting and defending the land rights of the rural poor. This study is founded upon the notion that protecting and enforcing the land claims of rural Africans may be best done by passing laws that elevate existing customary land claims up into nations' formal legal frameworks and make customary land rights equal in weight and validity to documented land claims.
The recent Constitutional Court judgment rendering the Communal Land Rights Act (CLARA) unconstitutional (Tongoane and Others v Minister for Agriculture and Land Affairs and Others) must not be allowed to throw decentralisation policy making into disarray. Decentralisation holds much potential for lively, participatory democratic law making and enforcement, through which rural women can gain greater power and secure more rights.
Strengthening women's inheritance and property rights can be an effective means of decreasing poverty and increasing gender equality, and thereby accelerating progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This paper presents two case studies from Rwanda and Ethiopia to illustrate the potential impact that advocacy, legislative reform and law enforcement in this area can have on the achievement of the MDGs in developing countries.
In 2004, FAO, IFAD, and the International Land Coalition (ILC) jointly published a report on progress towards the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), with respect to the status of rural women. This report provided an historical background to CEDAW and its Optional Protocol (OP 1999) as well as an overview on land issues as reflected in the reports submitted by States Parties.
Land appropriation in developing countries has boosted interest in land policy. Issue 4 of Perspective sheds light on the issue, by analysing the novel policy of decentralized land management adopted in Madagascar.
When we look at access to land and security of tenure, we talk about formal ‘ownership titles’, ‘informal written contracts’ and oral agreements between various parties. The rights and rights holders concerned are not usually specified something that often leads to misunderstandings and even conflict. This paper aims to help fill this gap by proposing a clear, simple method for characterising rights to land and natural resources and holders of land rights that can easily be applied in different cultures and legal systems all over the world.