Sharing practical strategies for empowering women on collectively-held lands
 

Women around the world live and work on lands that are collectively held by their community.

Yet, women’s interests are rarely given equal weight with those of men in governance and decision-making on collectively-held land; often their needs are excluded altogether.

As the global community takes steps to integrate indigenous and local communities’ perspectives into decisions around climate change, women are at risk of double-exclusion–as indigenous people and as women.

Because gender dynamics are defined culturally, and are associated with long-held traditions, the question is often raised: What can be done?

This panel aims to answer that question, and help to show what gender justice looks like on collectively held lands.

We’ll explore ground-tested, practical strategies that have been employed to ensure that women and men’s needs on collective lands are treated equally, and hear first hand what can be done to facilitate women’s meaningful engagement in governance and leadership in decisions that impact them.

Through the lens of a variety of different projects focused on improving women’s land tenure security and their role in governance of collectively held lands, moderator Elisa Scalise will guide panelists Celine Salcedo-La Viña, Eileen Wakeshso, and Philippine Sutz as they give concrete, practice-oriented guidance on what works for women on collectively-held lands.

They’ll highlight gender-responsive project design, lessons learned, and recommendations on how these approaches can be scaled and replicated in other regions.

Specific to each of their projects, our expert panelists will share their experiences regarding:

• The process for engaging specifically with women and men in the community and key takeaways
• Adapting project goals to meet women’s needs and realities of daily life Identifying and collaborating with allies in the community
• Working with and addressing both customary and formal laws pertaining to women’s land rights
• Recommendations for the replication and scaling of key project features, processes, learnings, and implementations

Join us as we explore proven strategies for empowering women living and working on collective lands.

Panelist Bios

Elisa Scalise

Co-Founder and Executive Director, Resource Equity

As a gender and land tenure lawyer, Elisa has worked for over 15 years in the research and design of laws, policies, and programs that improve women’s rights to land and natural resources, strengthen women’s involvement in decision-making and governance of land, improve equity in administration of rights and benefits attached to land, and facilitate enforcement of women’s rights in justice systems. She has worked on projects around the globe, including in Cabo Verde, Rwanda, Uganda, Kyrgyz Republic, China, Lesotho, Liberia, and Morocco. Elisa is also core faculty at the Women’s Land Rights Institute, where she regularly leads their 10-week Foundations course.

Reneé Giovarelli

Co-founder, Resource Equity

Renée is a lawyer and co-founder of Resource Equity who began her work in land rights in 1995 in Kyrgyzstan. Over the next 15 years, she advised the Kyrgyz government as they developed equitable solutions for distributing land to the members of former collective or state farms. During this time, Renée also advised other former Soviet and Eastern European countries, including Russia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Bulgaria. In 2000, she began to focus more specifically on women’s land rights and has provided policy advice on gender-inclusive policy reforms to the governments of India, Uganda, China, Ghana, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Lesotho, and Ethiopia. Renée has completed research in Indonesia and Jordan and written extensively on the barriers and opportunities women face in claiming land and resource rights.

Celine Salcedo-La Viña

Senior Associate at The Equity Center’s Land and Resource Rights Initiative and Gender Equity Practice, WRI

Celine works to advance the land and natural resources rights, challenges, and contributions of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs), especially women and other internally marginalized groups, in the international and national policy agendas. She also promotes gender and social equity and integration in climate change policies and programs at global, national, and local scales. Her work includes legal and policy analysis and advocacy, tool development, and technical assistance. Her research has been cited in the UN-REDD Program Newsletter, New America Platform, Thomson Reuters, and Sojourners, among others.

Eileen Wakeshso

Director of Community Land Protection, Namati

Eileen has been working in the development sector for nearly 10 years, focusing specifically on Women’s Land Rights and Land & Natural Resource Governance. Prior to joining Namati, she was the Women’s Land Rights Advisor for Oxfam International, and has worked with Kenya Land Alliance, Development Policy Management Forum, NCCK, and Kenya Institute for Public Policy, Research and Analysis (KIPPRA). Eileen co-authored a peer-reviewed book on informal justice mechanisms and formal courts in Kenya, and holds an MA in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi.

Philippine Sutz

Associate of Law, Economies, and Justice – Natural Resources, International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

A law, gender, and development specialist, Philippine leads research and field-level projects on the socio-legal empowerment of women and accountability mechanisms in the context of natural resource governance. Her work focuses on supporting the development of participatory approaches to amplify marginalized voices. Philippine’s expertise and experience includes analysis and research of domestic, international and transnational legal frameworks; capacity building; advisory work on the role of law and justice in sustainable development with a focus on natural resources investments and land rights. She holds a Master of Laws LLM from Kings College, London.