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LEI works extensively with development partners and governments to design, implement, assess and monitor a host of land-related projects – including land records and transaction systems projects. For this latter type of projects, there are often two somewhat conflicting questions in our minds: One, how to best design a land records and transaction system reform project? And two, what level of technology is the right level of technology for this project?

LEI staff, together with partners UNSW and ENRAC, recently presented to the Bangladesh State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources the work conducted under the World Bank project, Systematic Identification and Access to Land for Renewable Energy in Bangladesh.

Recently at LEI we’ve been having some discussions on this very topic. Some of us thought the evidence was clear cut – of course joint titling is an essential step to achieving gender equality! Others thought that examples on the ground would show a more nuanced – and perhaps negative – perspective. We put intern Madison Durham to the task, drawing on the experiences from LEI’s Mekong Region Land Governance project.

I completed the last week of my internship with LEI last week, and it feels as though the three months with them have flown by. Over the course of my internship I have been pushed to gain exposure to many of the different facets of the land tenure and administration process and have come to realise just how inextricable the link between land administration and international development is.

Join LEI and ESRI as we co-host along with the MCC for the Webinar: New Tools for Land Records and Transaction System Assessment and Design being held on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 from 8:00 am to 9:30 am EDT (10:00pm to 11:30pm AEST).

It has now been just under two months since I commenced my internship with LEI and I am pleased to say that I am starting to understand the wonderful world of land tenure a lot more. Not only do I understand a handful of acronyms that were once completely foreign to me, but I have been given some fantastic opportunities to work on projects across more of LEI’s portfolio, meaning I am always gaining new exposure to land administration issues and processes.

LEI welcomes Madison Durham as our latest Wollongong intern! Madison is in her final year of a Law/Arts degree and was eager to be a part of the work that Land Equity does, having specialised in international law in her degree. Read on as Madison gives us an update on her experience with LEI so far.

This is a good day to remember that women’s land rights are human rights. Women’s land rights are not about women ‘taking land’ from men.

As we close out 2022, we reflect on the huge milestones met across our business and through the very successful implementation of our major projects in the Mekong and Indonesia in particular.

At COP26, the Government of Bangladesh announced that it seeks to achieve 40% of total energy supply from renewables by 2041. The country produced an ambitious revised National Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement to decarbonise and reduce the country’s emissions. These announcements led to the country’s Mujib Climate Prosperity Plan 2022 which indicated a plan to achieve 30% renewable energy by 2030 and 40% by 2041.

After nearly 3.5 years, the Papua Spatial Planning program is coming to end! We’re so proud of our team’s efforts and successes in providing support to Indonesian national, provincial and district governments to develop ‘green and inclusive’ spatial plans.

The Australian Government is preparing a new policy to guide international development cooperation, to be released ahead of the 2023-23 Federal Budget (May 2023). Written public submissions to inform the policy were invited, with key guiding questions addressing key trends and challenges, risk and opportunities, lessons from Australia’s past development efforts, and key needs from Australia in the region.