Promoting Food Security and Sustainable Development by Protecting Tenure Rights - GCP/INT/696/EC

Project's full title	Promoting Food Security and Sustainable Development by Protecting Tenure Rights - GCP/INT/696/EC
Introduction	The livelihoods of millions of people, particularly the rural poor, depend on secure and equitable access to and control over land, fisheries, forests and other natural resources. Sustainable actions are needed to protect these people’s tenure rights.
Country	Angola Brazil Burundi Cameroon Colombia Côte d'Ivoire Eswatini Ethiopia European Union Ghana Guinea-Bissau Kenya Malawi Niger Pakistan Somalia South Sudan Sudan Uganda
Start date	16/12/2016
End date	14/06/2022
Status	Closed
Donor	European Union
Recipient / Target Areas	Angola, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Malawi, Niger, Pakistan, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda
Budget	2 805 827 USD
Project Code	GCP/INT/696/EC
Objective / Goal	The project supported six countries to understand and adapt the guidelines at the start-up phase, ensuring that they were fully integrated into each project design. Technical assistance, adapted to countries’ needs, was provided through 11 transversal support missions to seven countries; it included supporting the University of Khartoum in the Sudan to establish an Institute of Land Tenure Governance, supporting the translation of the VGGT into SiSwati in Eswatini, and facilitating the use of FAO’s Open Tenure software to map clam fishery farms and land use in the Volta River estuary in Ghana. More than 300 people implementing country level projects were trained at transversal level, while those projects in turn delivered capacity building, sensitization and awareness raising for a further 106 599 people. An online knowledge management platform was developed and maintained to provide easy access to all project related information and tools, facilitating knowledge sharing. Six capitalization meetings were held to allow project implementation teams to exchange good practices and lessons learned. Additionally, reports, brochures, policy briefs, success stories and other materials were published to highlight results and guide future actions.
Partners	United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, African Land Policy Centre, governments, development organizations, research institutes, and national and international non governmental organizations (NGOs)
Beneficiaries	Groups that will benefit from improved governance of tenure, in particular farmers, small-scale producers, indigenous peoples, traditional authorities, women and the most vulnerable, as well as government officials, national park staff, NGOs and civil society organizations
Activities	Provided start-up support to six out of eight countries to help mainstream the VGGT into project design. Trained 316 members of project implementation teams (30 percent women) on thematic issues related to tenure governance. Conducted 11 transversal support missions to seven countries. Organized six capitalization meetings, held in person and virtually. Documented good practices, lessons learned and success stories, and disseminated them in the form of reports, brochures, policy briefs and videos. Developed and updated content for the European Union Land Governance Programme Knowledge Management Portal, including a VGGT implementation toolkit. Revised the monitoring and evaluation framework developed under Phase I, supported country project teams to review their own frameworks and delivered relevant training. Conducted a hybrid diagnostic assessment of the impact of capacity development delivered through the European Union’s Land Governance Programme, identifying priorities to guide future programming. Drafted a Global Land Governance Report. With the European Union, organized two events at FAO headquarters to mark the fifth anniversary of the endorsement of the VGGT.
Impact	By the end of the project period, 13 countries had integrated at least five principles of responsible land governance into their national policies and programmes , including human dignity, non non-discrimination, equity and justice, gender equality and accountability. With the support of the transversal project, country country-level projects made significant contributions to improving tenure rights. The project in Cameroon contributed to public advocacy that resulted in policy change that secured the rights of farmers in forest areas against large large-scale land investors. In Burundi, an inventory of public lands created certainty over their extent and reduced conflict between citizens and the state. In Colombia, the project improved conflict management, especially in protected areas. In Ghana, two projects secured land rights for small small-scale fishers and protected their landing sites from changes that would have denied them access. In Uganda, the project established a process that led to the first certificates of occupancy on private mailo lands being issued, resolving disputes between tenants and landlords. The results demonstrate that with the appropriate political commitment, the VGGT – and in Africa, the F&G – can be game game-changers in tenure governance.
Contact	Wordsworth Odame Larbi (Lead Technical Officer) - [email protected]
More on this topic	Click here to download the PDF