WELCOME
Hello, and welcome to the new look Resource Equity Quarterly Bulletin.
Why are we sending you this? Because it’s good to talk. And it’s good to listen.
We want to do both: to keep you up to date with what we’re doing at Resource Equity, and to share interesting and useful research we’ve come across over the past few months. As you’ll see, we have a renewed focus, and that focus is based around one key concept: when it comes to secure land tenure, what works for women? You’ll see that phrase over and over again in this bulletin. Because really, the answer to that question is why we’re here.
You’ll be hearing from us four times a year, and we hope you’ll find it useful. If you do, please tell us – and if you don’t, tell us that too. We’d love to hear your ideas for how we can make it more relevant or more interesting, so please share them at info@resourceequity.org. And thank you.
Forthcoming research on ‘What Works’ – Announcing Our 2020 Research Grantees
We’re really excited to announce the recipients of Women’s Land Rights Research Consortium 2020 grant programme. The purpose of the grant is to support new research that assesses whether a specific intervention worked to improve women’s land tenure security (with the ultimate goal being that we have more evidence to support good practice).
The grantees for 2020 are:
Gulzat Namatbekove, in Kyrgyzstan.
Gulzat will focus on the intra-household effects of land rights reforms for women in male-headed households in Southern and Northern Kyrgyzstan.
Joseph Rahall, from Green Scenery, Sierra Leone
Joseph’s work will assess the effectiveness of a project to promote women’s customary land rights in improving women’s land tenure security in Sierra Leone.
CSO Network for Western Kenya Trust (CSO Network)
The CSO Network will investigate to what extent judicial and non-judicial rulings have translated into positive outcomes relating to land tenure for women in Western Kenya.
Phothong Silliphone, SODA, Laos
Phothong and team will study the effects of a resettlement program in Laos on women’s land tenure security.
Gautam Prateek, Xavier University, Odisha, India
Gautam’s research will assess how joint-titling of land rights is affecting women’s wellbeing in the Slum Resettlement Project in Odisha, India.
As you may know, if you’re already familiar with our work, we launched the Research Consortium as a way to bridge the gap between evidence and practise on women’s land rights. In case you missed it, last year’s Research Consortium grant-supported research covered diverse land tenure interventions for women in a community titling in Uganda, a large scale land certification project in Ethiopia, and comparative analysis of forest tenure reforms in Indonesia, Peru and Uganda.These projects are great examples of how complex, technical matters of law, social and gender dynamics, and culture intersect. They represent an important contribution to increasing our understanding of how to achieve lasting, sustainable, positive change for women. All these reports are now available on Landwise, our library of laws and secondary literature on women’s land and resource rights.
Protecting Land Tenure Security of Women in Ethiopia: Evidence from the Land Investment for Transformation Program: Available here
Do Certificates of Customary Ownership as Currently Issued and Delivered Translate into More Secure Land Rights for Women and Men Involved: A Case Study of Nwoya Using Data Collected by the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development (Uganda): Available here
Mobilizing Change for Women Within Collective Tenure Regimes: Available here
‘What Works For Women? What We Know and What We Need to Know’ – by Elisa Scalise and Renee GiovarelliWhen you’re engaged in the day to day work in this field, it can sometimes be hard to get a broader perspective on what the most current research tells us about what’s effective and what isn’t. So we’ve written a paper to do just that, summarizing the state of research as of January 2020. It’s intended as a comprehensive and accessible resource and an encouragement to anyone considering which areas need further study. We hope you find it useful. You can find it here.
‘What Works For Women?’ – A Webinar To build on the momentum around the What Works paper (above), we’re partnering with The Land Portal to host a webinar to facilitate further discussion around the state of research on interventions to improve women’s land rights. We’re convinced that continuing conversations around the projects and their conclusions can help lay the foundation for further research and insights into what’s effective in improving land rights for women. Keep an eye out for details in the next month, spread the word, and join us!
The Resource Equity Land Rights Help Desk
Got a question about land rights? (Hey, who doesn’t…) Send us your query and we’ll do our best to answer it. It could be simple – ‘Why are land rights for women important? – or technical, like this one we received recently:
‘Can you advise me on best practices organizations can use in addressing socio-cultural norms affecting women’s land rights?’ Check out our response here.
If you have a question on women’s land rights that you would like answered, feel free to submit one here.
Landwise updates
Landwise is an incredible resource. We keep it up to date with laws, and secondary materials, all in one place. This year we have added the following content to the Landwise library.
- What Works for Women’s Land and Property Rights? What we know and what we need to know
- Gender and formalization of native communities in the Peruvian Amazon
- Drivers of change in gender norms: An annotated bibliography
- Solomon Islands Islanders’ Divorce Act
- Solomon Islands Islanders’ Marriage Act
- Practice Guide: Women’s Land Rights in Uganda
- Gender-based violence and environment linkages – the violence of inequality
Media and LinksWe’ll be expanding this resource in coming issues to make it as useful and practical as possible, so we welcome any suggestions for inclusions. Just drop us a line using the email address at the bottom of this edition.
In the meantime, here are some items that got our attention over the past few months.
Women working in the time of COVID-9 3D
Program for Girls and Women Read here.
Why Gender Matters in COVID-19 Response
IFPRI- Read here.
COVID-19 Will Almost Double People Ion Acute Hunger by End of 2020
World Food Program Read here.
Gender Dimensions of the COVID-19 Pandemic
World Bank Download PDF here
The COVID-19 Outbreak and Gender
UN Women – Asia and The Pacific Read here
Doing Research in a COVID-19 World
A podcast episode from IFPRI Listen here
Sri Lankan Tamil Women Fighting for Land 10 Years After War Ended
Land Portal Read here
China: Revised Land Administration Law Takes Effect
US Library of Congress Global Legal Monitor (20 Feb 2020): Read here
India’s New Laws Hurt Women Most of All: “New Delhi wants people to prove their citizenship. But Indian women are the demographic least likely to possess paperwork.” Read here
Women Bear the Burden of India’s Water Crisis: “As we, at Hindustan Unilever Foundation, started our work to promote water security and well-being for rural communities across the country, it became evident very quickly that women bear the brunt of this escalating crisis.” Read here.
How traditional leaders undermine women’s land rights: “In theory, South Africa has strong laws to protect the property ownership and inheritance rights of all women. However, a 2018 study conducted by Bongi Owusu for her master’s dissertation in social science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal found that these laws are often not implemented in rural Zulu-speaking communities. She explains how this prejudices widows in particular.” Farmer’s Weekly. Read here.
And Finally…
If you’ve made it this far, thanks for reading this. Please feel free to send us your feedback to this email: info@resourceequity.org