From Africa to the Asia-Pacific: LEI and MRLG representatives showcase projects in Washington D.C.

The World Bank annual conference on Land and Poverty (20-24 March) was bigger than ever in 2017, drawing a record 1,300 participants from around the world. This year’s theme was Responsible Land Governance—Towards an Evidence-Based Approach.

Ethiopia is one of the most rapidly urbanising countries in the world and is in a unique position to capitalise on the economic opportunities of this transformation.

Our Managing Director, Tony Burns, spent two weeks in Palestine during July/August together with two local consultants, Hiba Husseini and Mohammad Awwad, to assist the Prime Minister’s Office to prepare a comprehensive road map for the Palestinian Land Sector. The Road Map will outline legal and institutional reforms necessary to improve tenure security and stimulate economic growth, and will be a key enabler of the National Policy Agenda 2017-2022.

From the first quarter of 2016, LEI will provide technical support to DAI on this project. The project is part of the FTF initiative which sits under a five-year umbrella contract referred to as: Strengthening Tenure and Resource Rights (STARR).

The Mekong Region Land Governance (MRLG) project recently held its second round of stakeholder and consultation workshops with regional partners from Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam.

In November 2015 the Global Donor Platform for Rural Development – Working Group on Land, issued the following policy brief in support of the Land Indicators that have been included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which replace the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). There are an important set of indicators that we all need to strive towards meeting in our commitments, actions and collaborative efforts.

On 13 March 2015, Vanuatu was hit by severe Cyclone Pam. The Category 5 storm caused considerable damage to infrastructure and livelihoods across the island group – particularly the southern islands. Despite the wide-spread destruction and some delays during the initial clean-up (to clear roads and reinstate services, such as power and telecommunications), the Vanuatu Land Program was able to continue on with its planned activities of:

On 13 March 2015, the Governments of Switzerland (through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)) and Lao PDR signed a Memorandum of Understanding agreement to launch the Mekong Regional Land Governance (MRLG) Project in Lao PDR. This SDC initiative with German co-funding (starting in April 2015 through GIZ), is implemented by Land Equity International and professionals for Fair Development (Gret). The Project will support land tenure security for family farmers, especially women and ethnic groups by progressively improving land and natural resource governance in policy and practice in the Mekong Region.

The collection of land rent represents an important source of revenue for the Government of Vanuatu (GoV). The Vanuatu Land program is assisting the GoV with this task through the creation of valuation rolls for properties in the country’s two urban centres, Port Vila and Luganville.

Following its validation at an Expert Group Meeting in Bangkok in October, the Global Land Tool Network Costing and Financing of Land Administration Services (CoFLAS) Tool for Developing Countries was presented at the 2014 Inaugural Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA). Held from 11th – 14th November in Addis Ababa, the CLPA provided an opportunity to promote CoFLAS more widely and to commence discussions on the two proposed CoFLAS pilots in Lesotho and Tanzania.