Jolyne Sanjak Sr. Director of Global Programs
WHY I AM PASSIONATE ABOUT LANDESA’S MISSION:
Because I have long believed in the power of improving land governance and achieving secure land rights for all to amplify the impacts of activities across almost all spheres of international development. Simply put, Landesa’s mission is foundation to many other things we care about.
ABOUT JOLYNE:
Jolyne Sanjak, Ph.D., is an agricultural economist who engages with partners to strengthen land governance, secure tenure for all, enhance livelihood opportunities, and champion gender equality and social inclusion. She has 35+ years of global experience. Jolyne has contributed to organizational development, portfolio growth and management, project design and implementation and monitoring, evaluation and learning. Her expertise and experiences include a consistent emphasis on land governance and land rights as well as significant work in thematic areas such as sustainable agriculture and rural development, access to finance, gender and social inclusion, among others. She has engaged in international development from academia, public sector, non-profit sector and private sector consulting practice and taken leadership in shaping global policy on land governance. Her passion is to see a world with secure land rights for all people.
EDUCATION:
- University of Wisconsin- Madison, PhD Agricultural Economics (1987)
- The Pennsylvania State University, State College PA, MS Agriculture and Resource Economics (May 1982) and BS Agriculture Economics and Rural Sociology (March 1981)
AREAS OF EXPERTISE:
- Rural and urban land tenure / land rights
- Women’s land rights
- Land governance and policy
- Land administration systems, land rights documentation, land sector technology applications
- Land markets
- Conflict sensitive land programming
- Monitoring, evaluation and learning in land sector
- Linkages of land sector to environmental sustainability, rural and urban development, conflict dynamics, and food security
- Gender and Social Inclusion
- Private sector engagement
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
- Reflections on the limited impact of the VGGT in sub saharan Africa and opportunities for its future with lessons from Nigeria and Sierra Leone – ScienceDirect
- People-Land Relationships on the Path to Sustainable Food Security | SpringerLink
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE:
- Benin
- Bolivia
- Burkina Faso
- China
- Columbia
- El Salvador
- Ghana
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- Honduras
- India
- Lesotho
- Madagascar
- Mali
- Mexico
- Mongolia
- Mozambique
- Namibia
- Nicaragua
- Senegal
LANGUAGES:
- English (native)
- Spanish (fluent)