Landesa

CHINA
Since 1987, Landesa has worked in close partnership with China’s Central Government as an advisor on one of the most extensive land rights initiatives in history. As a direct result of land reforms over the last 25 years, the number of Chinese living in poverty fell by 400 million people - over 70% of the poverty reduction in the entire world. We also founded the first Legal Aid and Education Center for farmers in China, and continue to conduct comprehensive, nationwide surveys of China’s rural communities to understand how land laws affect rural families.

INDIA
Since the mid-1990’s, Landesa has helped develop micro-plots in India to provide the poorest of the poor with land as small as 1/10th an acre. These micro-plots allow families to build a home, cultivate a home garden which can supplement the family’s diet and income, and still have room for a micro-enterprise or livestock. Our micro-plot program’s success has led it to be replicated in several states, and is now being considered by neighboring Pakistan. The potential of this program is profound, as India remains one of the poorest countries in the world with one of the highest rates of landlessness.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Landesa is helping war-torn countries develop strong legal and policy frameworks to resolve land disputes and reduce poverty. Landesa has worked in Rwanda, Uganda, Angola, Burundi, Kenya, and Burkina Faso on issues such as land tenure reform, strengthening women’s land rights, environmental conservation, conflict mitigation and post-conflict resettlement.

LANDESA CENTER FOR WOMEN'S LAND RIGHTS

Launched in 2009 to deepen Landesa’s investment in women and catalyze the global community around the issue of women’s property rights, the Center for Women’s Land Rights develops innovative solutions to give women and girls around the world access to legal and secure land rights. Current initiatives at the center include an effort to help girls in India reduce their risk to early marriage and trafficking by ensuring that they can claim a share of their family’s land, providing them with a safety net and allowing them to enter marriage in a position of strength, as future landowners.
Previous efforts at Landesa included a focus on the Former Soviet Union, where Landesa helped break-up collective farms and bring private land ownership to 30 million families in Russia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and Moldova. Legal aid in Ukraine alone has now assisted more than 100,000 former collective farm members in acquiring, using and defending their rights to land.