Help rural farmers in Africa gain access to land

Thank you for your generous support of Landesa’s Global Giving project! Since this project launched, nearly 60 other donors like you have pitched in to raise $3,785 to support land rights work in Africa. It is thanks to the generosity of our supporters that Landesa is able to be a global champion of secure land rights and engage with partners from all parts of society to develop impactful land reform. Over the past three months, our teams in Africa have been busy and we are pleased to share with you some recent accomplishments:

Liberia passes the Land Rights Act

In Liberia, Landesa’s staff celebrated several successes and milestones over the past three months. Chief among these accomplishments was the passage of the Land Rights Act by both houses of the Liberian legislature and subsequent signing into law by President George Weah in September. This bill codifies the direction set by a 2013 policy which included critical inputs from Landesa on customary tenure and women’s land rights. Since September, our team in Liberia has continued to facilitate community trainings, as well as produce a biweekly radio program centered on land rights, which has allowed information to be more easily disseminated to rural communities.

Women’s Land Rights Network Convenes in Tanzania

In October, alumni of Landesa’s Visiting Professional Program from sub-Saharan Africa and local women’s land rights practitioners from Tanzania met in Dar es Salaam to enhance existing partnerships, share knowledge, and develop joint advocacy initiatives. This was the second convening for the Women’s Land Rights Network, providing a crucial opportunity for in-person collaboration between women’s land tenure experts from across the continent.

New Opportunities in Zimbabwe

Following the first free elections in nearly 40 years, the government of Zimbabwe has pushed land reform to the top of policy agenda, asking Landesa to provide trainings on land dispute resolution and new land reforms. Landesa is very excited to be working with the Zimbabwe Land Commission to develop pro-poor and gender sensitive policies. Since the project launched in August, Landesa has overseen land administration study tours for Zimbabwean government officials in neighboring countries, and helped draft regulations to facilitate land dispute resolution.

Thank you so much for your support for land rights across Africa. For additional updates on all of Landesa’s projects around the world, please visit https://www.landesa.org or follow us on social media.