GENERATIONAL CHANGE

I feel honored to have dedicated my professional life to Landesa and to those whom we serve. I started this work when I was still in law school, donning a bullet-proof vest and following founder Roy Prosterman to the field in El Salvador to further land rights reforms.

I did this because I believe we can defy assumptions about economic and social development. We can defy assumptions about government. We can defy assumptions about poverty. I know that building a better future involves more than sending sacks of food aid to the poor. What is required is a different formula. What is required is to allow poor women and men to pull themselves out of poverty by providing them with a powerful tool – secure, legal rights to the land on which they depend.

Because once they have secure rights to land, they can improve their own lives and build a better future for themselves and their children. They can, quite literally, grow themselves out of extreme poverty, if they have the tenure security they need to invest in better quality seeds, fertilizer, and improvements to the land that increase their harvest and their savings.

This year, I saw this generational change in Rwanda where I met women who are strengthening their rights to land through a Landesa partnership with the government. I saw what research has confirmed around the world: strengthen a woman’s land rights and she will use her newfound economic empowerment to better feed her children, better educate her children, and save money for her family’s future needs.

I saw this generational change in India, where I met some of the tens of thousands of women-headed households who received title to land and are finally being acknowledged and served by government programs – women who use their small plot of land to feed their children and their dreams.

Women who tell me, “This land helps me stand tall,” “This land gave me courage,” “This land is my life.” I saw this generational change in China where we advised government officials who are crafting laws to strengthen poor farmers’ land rights and to better protect millions of acres of forestland from development.

It is a rare non-profit that can claim to be profoundly changing the world. As CEO of Landesa over the last decade, I’ve had the enormous satisfaction of being part of such change. I am delighted to entrust my successor, Chris Jochnick, with this pleasure and responsibility. I look forward to many more years of working with Chris, Landesa founder Roy Prosterman, and the rest of our team to fulfill Landesa’s unique and effective mission.

Thank you for believing in us, walking beside us, and helping us achieve generational change.

Sincerely,