FLAGSHIP 5 – GOVERNANCE OF NATURAL RESOURCES: APRIL – JUNE 2018 UPDATES

• Watch new video with Flagship 5 co-leader Ruth Meinzen-Dick to learn more about Governance of Natural Resources research in PIM.
• On March 19, Ruth Meinzen-Dick and Frank Place gave a presentation at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Addressing Gender and Tenure: Why and How. Women’s land rights and tenure security are increasingly seen as important, for reasons of gender equity, as a means to promote economic growth and development, and to reduce poverty. They are gaining prominence on the international agenda since two of the SDG indicators (5.A.1 and 1.4.2) focus on women’s land rights. This presentation reviewed emerging evidence from the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM) Flagship 5 on Governance of Natural Resources, which seeks to identify actions that can strengthen tenure rights of poor and marginalized people, particularly women, and communities. A recent systematic review of the evidence of how women’s land rights contribute to poverty reduction provides the rationale for addressing strengthening women’s rights at the household and community level. Findings from Ghana, Nigeria and Mozambique identify different sources of tenure risks for married women compared to female heads of households or men. Formalization of tenure at the household or community level does not always improve women’s tenure security. A comparative study of forest tenure reforms in Peru, Uganda and Indonesia shows that low participation of women in rule making could also affect the ability of women and other vulnerable groups to benefit from rights granted to the collective. State interventions in reform implementation such as convening processes that address household heads only, or mapping exercises that do not involve different groups may risk formalizing or perpetuating existing internal forms of social differentiation. For both individual and collective tenure, increasing women’s awareness of rights can play an important role in improving their tenure security.
• The new CIFOR publication (in Spanish) highlights the gender challenges in the process of formalizing indigenous community land rights in Peru. It is based on the results of a workshop and training event on this topic, which brought together government, NGOs, indigenous leaders and academics to exchange experiences on gender in land formalization processes. The flyer also highlights “interculturality”, which is a concept enshrined in Peruvian law, and which emphasizes mutual respect and understanding among different cultures. This reminds us that in this case being female and being indigenous cannot be separated. The flyer outlines the challenges, defines critical moments for women’s inclusion and provides a series of practical recommendations for including women in recognition and titling of Peru’s native communities.

Publications

Li, Tania M. 2018. Evidence-based options for advancing social equity in Indonesian palm oil: Implications for research, policy and advocacy. CIFOR Infobrief 208. Bogor, Indonesia: Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). https://dx.doi.org/10.17528/cifor/006842

Shelton, R.E., M.A. Janssen and R. Meinzen-Dick.  2018. Measuring learning from interventions through participatory processes. CBIE Working Paper #CBIE-2018-004. Tempe, AZ: Center for Behavior, Institutions and the Environment, Arizona State University.  https://cbie.asu.edu/measuring-learning-interventions-through-participatory-processes 

Theis, Sophie; Lefore, Nicole; Meinzen-Dick, Ruth Suseela; and Bryan, Elizabeth. What happens after technology adoption? Gendered aspects of small-scale irrigation technologies in Ethiopia, Ghana, and Tanzania. Agriculture and Human Values. Article in press. First published online on April 25, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-018-9862-8