Landesa's 2014 Annual Report Released - 2.2 Million Lives Changed

More than 2.2 million lives changed - 50,000 of those in a single week. Learn more about Landesa's impact over the past year, from India and China to Rwanda, in Landesa's new annual report.

View the online annual report >>

New Infographic Illustrates How Women's Land Rights Support Global Development

This infographic is the first to document the wide range of benefits that flow from women's land tenure security. The infographic makes clear that women's secure tenure can help us reach a number of our most critical sustainable development goals - from improved nutrition, education, and resiliency to reduced domestic violence.

Full size view of the infographic >>

Aamir Khan and Maneka Gandhi Spotlight the Girls Project

Landesa's partnership with the West Bengal Government on the Girls Project is being celebrated in a series of high profile events across India. Cabinet Minister for Women & Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, and Bollywood star, Aamir Khan, along with other government and private leaders are hosting screenings of After My Garden Grows, a documentary by Academy Award-winning director Megan Mylan, which focuses on the project.

More than 40,000 girls are currently taking part in the project. Participating girls learn about their rights to land and learn intensive gardening skills they can put to use around their parents' homesteads.

Landesa's Girls Project page >>

The Grow A Girl initiative by director Megan Mylan >>

Ensuring China's Land Registration Protects Women

China is launching what is perhaps the most ambitious land registration system in history, seeking to document and protect property rights for more than one billion plots of land across the countryside. The goal is that by 2018, the land allocated to every single household will be documented - providing farmers across China with increased tenure security at a time of unprecedented land development.

Landesa and its partners are working to make sure that women's names are included in these provincial land registries so that men and women benefit equally. Thus far, 13 provinces and municipalities are requiring that rural land registration programs protect women's equal rights to land. For more information about the importance of this work, please read this Landesa op-ed which was originally published in the South China Morning Post.

Read the editorial by Tim Hanstad >>

New Resources from Focus on Land in Africa (FOLA)

FOLA is an on-line educational resource about land rights and development in Africa. Highlights of new and noteworthy content from FOLA this month include:

A new country section on Namibia
A new case study featuring interviews with local people in the village of Omahalya, Namibia, to understand the impacts of registering communal lands
Testimonials - Land rights and development experts share what FOLA means to their work

November 20, 2014

Landesa in the News

The South China Morning Post published an editorial by Landesa CEO Tim Hanstad about the importance of ensuring women's names are included in China's land registries.

The Wall Street Journal quoted Landesa Africa Director Jen Duncan about a plan to lease more than 200,000 acres of farmland in Congo.

Girls Not Brides posted a blog by Landesa District Project Coordinator Amit Kumar Ghosh about how knowledge is power for girls in rural India.

Devex posted a blog by Jen Duncan on how funders can support African governments' efforts to improve land tenure.

Reuters quoted Landesa Senior Attorney Elisa Scalise in an article about the importance of women's land rights for increasing food security.

Northwest Asian Weekly interviewed Landesa Land Tenure Specialist Melany Grout about her work on the Girls Project, which helps girls learn their land rights and use land on their parents homestead to improve their future.

The Global Post published an editorial by Jen Duncan and Elisa Scalise about how women's land rights can help address climate change.

The Guardian published an editorial about women's land rights in Tanzania. The article was written by Jennifer Duncan and Scholastica Haule, a women and land rights advisor for ActionAid Tanzania.

The International Examiner published a blog by Landesa District Project Coordinator Pronita Sarkar about girls who are learning to avoid child marriage by participating in the Girls Project.

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