Overview
As part of the Communications, Evidence and Learning (CEL) Project led by Training Resources Group, Inc., Landesa helped to deepen the impact of USAID’s work through synthesis of existing evidence, new research on gender disparities and impacts of formal land rights, and piloting approaches to build awareness of women’s land rights.
Learning Agenda for Land and Resource Governance
With USAID and other experts, Landesa coordinated the development of USAID’s cutting-edge Research Agenda for Land and Resource Governance. The agenda summarizes the current state of the evidence on land and resource governance over more than 150 analyses and identifies priority evidence gaps to close in future programming. These priorities are organized by thematic areas that intersect with land tenure issues, such as women’s empowerment, food security, resilience, sustainable landscapes and biodiversity, conflict, and economic growth.
Land Evidence for Economic Rights and Gender Equality (LEVERAGE)
ELTAP/ELAP
Within LEVERAGE, Landesa led the design and implementation of a mixed-methods impact evaluation of two USAID projects – the Ethiopia Strengthening Land Tenure and Administration Program (2005-2008) and the Ethiopia Land Administration Program (2008-2013) – to understand the long-term effects of land certification and how those effects change over time. The evaluation examined the impacts of having land certificates on women’s and men’s tenure security, agricultural practices, and economic opportunities, and explored links between having a certificate for land and wives’ empowerment and risk of intimate partner violence.
In other work under LEVERAGE, Landesa led strategic, community-centered communications in Liberia and Tanzania, through innovative audio technology, community dialogues, and radio programming.
Amplio Talking Books and town halls
In Liberia, Landesa and partner DEN-L distributed Amplio Talking Books – compact, durable devices with pre-recorded messages – to more than 3,000 people in nine communities in Liberia’s Bong County. The Talking Books contained pre-recorded messages in local languages about new laws in Liberia that strengthen women’s land rights and give customary communities the right to own their land for the first time in the nation’s history, as well as guidance on how to go about customary land formalization and alternate dispute resolution. Communities were also organized into town halls to raise questions and facilitate discussion of land-related topics.
Radio Program: Connecting communities and experts
In Tanzania, Landesa produced the Mwanamke na Ardhi (Women and Land) radio program to better reach rural communities with information about issues relating to women’s land rights and women’s participation in decision-making around land. The twice-weekly program featured expert discussion of an array of topics relating to women’s land rights in Tanzania, as well as audience Q&A sessions and pre-recorded community dialogues on land. Listeners expressed enthusiasm about the program, which was consistently rated as the station’s “most liked” program.