Innovative approaches are needed to achieve the United Nation’s Agenda 2030, including reducing gender and other social inequalities. Land rights, understood here broadly as bundles of rights to access and make decisions over the use of land, is one area where inequalities are particularly prevalent. In development practice and policies, interventions that aim to support gender equality and land rights have often failed to effectively address the root causes of inequality. Integrating Gender Transformative Approaches (GTAs) into these interventions can improve land rights practices and outcomes.
Tag: customary rights
Country Virtual Learning Exchange Workshop Series: Insights from Ethiopia
The Ethiopian webinar on gender transformative approaches in rural development provided a comprehensive overview of initiatives aimed at empowering rural women and promoting gender equality. Opening remarks by Bernadette Mukonyora, IFAD Country Director for Malawi, underscored the importance of addressing gender inequality and highlighted the role of partnerships in driving meaningful change. The webinar featured insights from experts such as Hai Ha Vu Thi, who discussed the critical value of partnerships in supporting gender transformative change, and presentations on initiatives like the Gender Model Family (GMF) approach by speakers like Yaregal Zelalem and Stibniati Atmadja. Nuredin Asaro shared the process of integrating GMF into the Participatory Small Scale Irrigation Development Program II, emphasizing the importance of partnerships and careful implementation. Overall, the webinar provided valuable insights into gender transformative approaches and highlighted the significance of collaborative efforts in promoting inclusive rural development.
Developing Gender Transformative Approaches to Strengthen Women’s Land Rights in Ethiopia. Foundational Gender Analysis
Innovative approaches are needed to achieve the United Nation’s Agenda 2030, including reducing gender and other social inequalities. Land rights, understood here broadly as bundles of rights to access and make decisions over the use of land, is one area where inequalities are particularly prevalent. In development practice and policies, interventions that aim to support gender equality and land rights have often failed to effectively address the root causes of inequality. Integrating Gender Transformative Approaches (GTAs) into these interventions can improve land rights practices and outcomes.
Country Virtual Learning Exchange Workshop Series: Insights from the Gambia
Despite constitutional provisions ensuring equal treatment and opportunities for women, implementation of these laws, particularly in rural areas governed by customary land tenure systems, often falls short. Customary and religious practices tend to favour men, with limited representation of women in positions of authority. Recognizing the institutional barriers faced by women is crucial for achieving gender equality and securing land rights.
Country Virtual Learning Exchange Workshop Series: Insights from Kyrgyzstan
The webinar commenced with an overview of the project’s background including the gender analysis methodology. Key findings from the gender analysis were presented, shedding light on challenges such as lack of information, gender disparities in land rights, and conservative shifts in communities. Moreover, the webinar provided insights into the pilot design and implementation, including legal counselling, trainings on financial literacy, social media marketing, and family harmony, as well as study tours. Throughout the session, speakers offered recommendations for addressing gender inequalities and promoting women’s empowerment in land ownership, with an emphasis on replicating and scaling up GTAs in other contexts.
REDD+ Social safeguards in Indonesia: Lessons from Jambi
Key messages
- As REDD+ countries move towards results-based payments, there is a need to examine the operationalization of safeguards and their roles in the recognition and respect of the rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPs and LCs).
- This Infobrief presents lessons from research into the perceptions of different REDD+ stakeholders regarding the implementation of safeguards under the BioCarbon Fund Initiative for Sustainable Forest Landscapes in Jambi Province, Indonesia.
- The multilateral financial organization’s involvement in REDD+ results-based agreements may provide a pathway for more rights-responsive safeguards than Indonesia’s interpretation of the Cancun safeguards for REDD+.
- The operationalization of safeguards could be improved through more inclusive implementation of activities; promoting gender justice throughout the process, including strengthening communities’ access to information; and engaging with NGOs and CSOs to facilitate relevant processes with communities.
- Project proponents should also incorporate independent monitoring of rights-related issues to ensure community access to rights and to REDD+ benefits; and strengthen grievance mechanisms, especially those that already exist at the local level.
- Fostering the establishment of a provincial government regulation on recognizing customary (adat) communities is essential for addressing tenure issues in the region, and simplifying subnational processes through which such communities are recognized as ‘legal entities’.
Country Virtual Learning Exchange Workshop Series: Insights from Colombia
Structured into four main sections, the webinar began with an introduction by Peter Cronkleton (CIFOR-ICRAF), followed by a summary of project results in Colombia by Professor Pablo Ramos (Pontificia Universidad Javeriana). The round table discussion delved into reflections on the gender responsive Learning Route method, featuring exchanges among representatives from women led rural associations. The panel discussion explored partnerships to promote GTAs, with perspectives from IFAD, Colombia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and regional promoters. The webinar concluded with a plenary Q&A session. Overall, it showcased the TOP Colombia project’s impact on gender equality and rural development in Colombia.
Country Virtual Learning Exchange Workshop Series: Insights from Bangladesh
Key discussions revolved around the gender analysis within the Char Development and Settlement Project (CDSP), its findings, and the co-creation process for GTAs, leading to the development and piloting of a toolkit to address gender biases in project implementation. Testimonials underscored the toolkit’s utility and the transformative potential of GTAs in project activities. Looking ahead, IFAD reiterated its commitment to supporting ongoing projects and fostering collaborative learning for gender equality and women’s empowerment in rural Bangladesh.
The effects of policy discourse on the governance of deforestation and forest degradation reduction in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
The international initiative to combat deforestation and forest degradation, known as REDD+, was put on the DRC agenda following actors’ policy discourse aimed at convincing policy-makers of its effectiveness. This paper uses discursive institutionalism (DI) as a theoretical and analytical framework to analyse a set of selected policy documents on REDD+ issue and to assess the effects of policy discourse on deforestation reduction governance in DRC. From an empirical standpoint, interviews with key actors involved in the DRC REDD+ processes and field observations show that four main types of discourse accompanied the adoption of REDD+ in the DRC: a discourse promoting REDD+ through its forest conservation component, as a policy instrument that would bring in significant financial resources to the DRC forest-related state bureaucracies, a discourse that considers REDD+ as an efficient mean of reducing poverty while promoting sustainability through “green development”, a discourse presenting REDD+ as a way of reducing marginalisation of local communities and indigenous peoples by recognising their customary rights, and finally, a discourse promoting REDD+ as a tool for territorial planning and governance. In addition, the paper points out strong links between DRC REDD+ policy discourse and three types of governance approaches: organisational and fiduciary governance, territorial governance, local development and benefit sharing governance. Our analysis also shows that political discourse has played a significant role in the adoption of substantial policies aimed at reducing deforestation in DRC.
Developing Gender Transformative Approaches to Strengthen Women’s Land Rights in Colombia. Foundational Gender Analysis
In Colombia, IFAD loans and grants are focused on supporting two main objectives. Firstly, they aim to enhance the productivity and income of small-scale farmers and rural entrepreneurs by improving their assets, strengthening their capacity for collaboration, and providing them with better access to markets and inclusive financial services. The goal is to empower these individuals and help them increase their economic prospects. Secondly, IFAD aims to contribute to the development of a robust institutional and legal framework at the territorial level to facilitate the implementation of the rural development agenda and peace agreements. This involves working towards strengthening the governance structures and policies that support rural development initiatives and peacebuilding efforts in Colombia.