Renee Giovarelli shares answers to questions posed by webinar participants that we weren't able to address during the Q&A session.
Q: [Gendered violence] is very widespread, of course – and your (wonderful) projects cannot address everything. But does this ever come up as a topic discussed explicitly? Or perhaps just hovers as a threat in the background? — Susie
A: GBV and land rights is a research topic, so in that way it is brought up explicitly. As well, when we interview women, the topic is almost always raised, but usually more as a fact of life.
This topic comes up in our 2020 research paper, What Works for Women’s Land and Property Rights? What we know and what we need to know
Q: Do you think there is a space for transnational/trans regional policies or initiatives to improve women’s land security or is this work better done on an individual community level? — Maya
A: There are ongoing initiatives that are transnational/trans regional. The best example is the Africa Land Policy Center (ALPC), which broadly focuses on land rights and also does specific work in the area of women’s land rights.
So, yes, there is a place for broader policy. But for implementation of those policies, the focus is still at the national and community level.
Q: I’m currently examining the dynamics of authority/control over land over collective property in Afro-descendant community councils in Colombia. Preliminary findings show women are allocated less land (size), involvement in decision making structures are low, which in turn affects women’s ability to influence decisions over land. Question: To what extent do we require government to intervene to ensure equity and fairness in how these autonomous or semi-autonomous bodies are run? — Juliana
A: Donors funding specific projects may require quotas for women on these governance structures and may support training for women’s participation, but there is not much happening outside of those projects.
We have worked with governments on legislation, including regulations, of governance bodies as technical advisors, but we cannot require governments to intervene.
Do You Have a Question?
If you weren’t able to submit your question during our panels, or are viewing the recordings later, we would love to hear from you!
Please contact us with any questions you might have and we’ll update this blog with the answers.
Read the Webinar Wrap-Ups
Want to watch the panels or review the related research? Here are the wrap-ups that we posted to our blog:
- Nov 10th Webinar Wrap-Up (Presented in English, with simultaneous interpretation in Portuguese and Spanish)
- Nov 16th Webinar Wrap-Up (Presented in English, with simultaneous interpretation in Arabic, French, and Russian)
Learn More with WLRI
Are you interested in learning more about these specific projects?
Are you working in the context of collective lands and would benefit from a deeper analysis of field-tested strategies for empowering women?
Join us for our upcoming Course 201 | Intensive – Collective Lands.
This intensive will be comprised of four, 120-minute sessions over 2 weeks, and will dive more deeply into each of the projects, lessons learned, and scalability principles.