WHAT WE DO
WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS NETWORK BUILDING
WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS NETWORK
GOAL: Facilitate collaboration among women’s land rights practitioners from different countries to strengthen and secure legally and socially recognized land rights for women.
Transformative change requires movement building. This is possible when leaders, activists, and decision makers from around the world share their experiences, learn from each other, and support one another to develop plans for action.
The Women’s Land Rights Network, which grew from Landesa’s Visiting Professionals Program, consists of grassroots and civil society advocates, government officials, academics, and researchers from key land reform geographies in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Network members are committed to strengthening women’s land rights globally through informing public discourse, influencing policy & research, and ultimately ensuring that women have equal opportunity to access, own, and control land.
REGIONAL CONVENINGS OF WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS CHAMPIONS
Landesa is strengthening ties between women's land rights champions by hosting regional convenings of Visiting Professionals Program alumni and local women's land rights practitioners.
These convenings serve as a forum for enhancing partnerships, fostering collaboration and knowledge-sharing, and incubating paths toward more secure land rights for women at local and regional levels. Practitioners from Asia and sub-Saharan Africa gather to discuss pressing issues and investigate best approaches to strengthen women’s land rights. Participants also share comparative expertise and learning, develop and launch advocacy initiatives, and leverage individual and joint efforts of the Network.
WHY WOMEN’S LAND?
Secure land rights provide a foundation for greater social and economic empowerment, improving the lives of women and creating a ripple effect that extends to their families and communities.
And yet millions of women worldwide are denied equal rights to access, use, inherit, control, and own the land they rely on to survive. The barriers are manifold: inadequate or poorly implemented laws governing women’s land and inheritance rights; customary practices that are discriminatory and often patriarchal; lack of awareness or understanding about women’s rights; limited research and data on women’s land rights; and other gender-based social and economic obstacles.
Learn more about how Landesa prioritizes gender-responsive projects, advocacy, and initiatives across our many program areas through the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights.
There are 45 Visiting Professionals Program alumni from 8 countries.- Women’s Land Rights Network members are currently collaborating to collect and share gender-disaggregated data relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Blogs authored by the 2018 Visiting Professionals Program cohort can be found here.
- The most recent convening of Women’s Land Rights Network members in Africa took place in Tanzania in October 2018. You can find some photos here.
WOMEN'S LAND RIGHTS VISITING PROFESSIONALS PROGRAM ALUMNI
- Tanzania
- Liberia
- Kenya
- Uganda
- Ghana
- Southeast Asia
- China
- India
Tanzania
Scholastica Haule
Women and Land Rights Advisor, ActionAid Tanzania
Paine E. Mako
Gender Coordinator, Ujamaa Community Resource Team
Nasieku Kisambu
Lawyer and Program Officer on Land Rights Tanzania Women Lawyers Association
Godfrey Massay
Land Tenure Specialist, Landesa
Anna Meela Kulaya
National Coordinator, Women in Law and Development in AfricaLiberia
Naomie M. Gray
Assistant Legal Counsel in the Office of the Legal Advisor to the President of Liberia
Julie Weah
Executive Director, Foundation for Community Initiatives
Izatta Nagbe
Gender and Land Specialist USAID, Tetra Tech Land Governance Support Activity Program
Gmasonah Togba-Aboah
Customary Land Rights Officer, Liberia Land AuthorityKenya
Jacqueline Osiako Ingutiah
Senior Legal Counsel, Federation of Women Lawyers Kenya
Fibian Lukalo
Director, Research and Advocacy, National Land Commission
Faith Alubbe
Program Advisor, Transitional Justice Program, Kenya Human Rights Commission
Eileen Wakesho Mwagae
Women's Land Rights Advisor, OxfamUganda
Tom Balemesa
Research Consultant
Naome Kabanda
Acting Assistant Commissioner, Land Inspectorate Division, Department of Land Administration
Hilda Akabwai Penlope
Associate Pastoral and Environmental Network in the Horn of Africa
Gilbert Asiimwe
Research Associate, Associates Research Trust Uganda
Dorcas Akello
Project Coordinator – Conflict and Land, Saferworld
Christine (Tinah) Kajumba
Research Manager, Associates Research Trust Uganda
China
Yu Cheng
Research Associate, Research Department for Rural Economy Development, Research Center of the State Council
Hao Ran
Associate Researcher and Vice Dean of the Social Law Office Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Yang Li
Research Center for Rural Economy, Ministry of Agriculture
Xu Xue
Senior Research Fellow; Chief of Research Management Department, Research Center for Rural Economy, Ministry of Agriculture
Xu Hui
Senior Researcher, Professor of Law, and Executive Director of the Public Interest Law Center, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
Xiaopeng Pang
Professor, Associate Dean of School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Renmin University of China, Beijing
Xiaobei Wang
Women's Land Rights Consultant
Wang Xiaoli
Lecturer, Center for Women’s Studies, Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China
Liu Meng
Social Work Professor and Vice President of China Women’s University
Libin Wang
Director of International Program in Development Studies, China Agricultural University
Li Yumei
Lecturer, Department of Law, China Agricultural University
Guo Ye
Deputy Division Chief of Complaints and Appeal All-China Women’s Federation
Li Ying
Executive Vice Dean School of Law, China Women’s UniversityIndia
Satish Patnaik
Team Coordinator, Jashipur team, PRADAN, and Field Faculty for Ambedkar University, Delhi
Sangeeta Shete
Gender Consultant, IDH Sustainable Trade Initiative
Sailabala Panda
Project Lead (FRA and forest-based livelihood)
Sabita Parida
Program Coordinator for Smallholder Agriculture and Climate Change, Oxfam
Ranjana Das
Program Coordinator, Oxfam India
Pranab Choudhury
Vice President - NRMC Center for Land Governance
Kanta Singh
State Project Head, UNDP India
Kalpana Sathish
National Coordinator, ActionAid India
Amit Kumar Singh
Executive (Projects), PRADAN, and Field Faculty for Ambedkar University DelhiRecent Updates
