The Land Facility

Effective land governance systems are key to economic growth, protecting nature, rural livelihoods, conflict prevention, and women’s rights.

Yet land governance in many developing countries is weak, with large amounts of unregistered land and disputed ownership rights, resulting in little protection for the homes and livelihoods of the poorest and most vulnerable:

• Only 30% of the global population has legally registered rights to their land and homes;
• Women constitute less than 20% of the world’s landholders;
• Indigenous Peoples and local communities hold 65% of the world’s total land area, but their legal rights extend to only 10% of that land.

The Land Facility is a new FCDO global programme to advance effective and sustainable national land governance reforms and administration systems.

The Land Facility will provide technical support to partner governments, tackling complex land governance problems and furthering wider developmental objectives. Core priorities for the programme are:

• Commitment: building political support for land governance reforms
• Capacity: increase government capacity to plan and implement the reforms required to develop robust land policies, legislation and administration systems
• Coordination: strengthening coordination within government, and between government and wider development partners in focus countries

Through these interventions, the Land Facility aims to support governments develop robust and transparent land governance systems and increase formal recognition and protection of rural, urban and forest tenure rights, including in tropical forest countries.

Tetra Tech and Land Equity International lead delivery of the Land Facility, in partnership with Global Land Alliance, Landesa, Mokoro, The Policy Practice, Terra Firma, TMP, and Planet Partnerships.

The Land Facility will be delivered through partnerships with governments and wider stakeholders to design and implement demand-driven projects informed by political economy analysis. These projects will cover urban, rural or forest land in focus regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, South-East Asia and Latin America. The Land Facility is part of FCDO’s Global Land Governance Programme and the UK Government’s Centre of Expertise for Green and Inclusive Growth.

The Land Facility is supported by an independent Decision Support Unit (DSU), delivered by an Abt Global-led consortium. The main purpose of the DSU is to enhance the impact and cost-effectiveness of the Land Facility by providing advice and offering evidence-informed insights.

The programme is currently in inception phase, with scoping for selection of initial focus countries underway.

If you would like to learn more about the programme, contact Jolyne Sanjak, Team Leader, or Becca Smith, Senior Facility Manager.

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