The Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights (LCWLR) is creating LandWise, a digital library, in order to maintain a collection of resources related to women’s formal and customary property rights to land in the developing world.  LandWise will be a free online resource that connects users to formal laws, information about relevant customary practices, and valuable explanatory materials.

In order for researchers and development practitioners to make informed policy and legal recommendations, they must be able to have an understanding of the current status of the formal laws and customary practices that impact women’s land rights. Currently, no single site contains the laws and regulations that form the legal foundation for women’s land rights around the world.  While land laws are often available on the Internet, family laws, inheritance laws, and information describing customary practices are largely absent.

To address this information gap, LandWise will provide users with free access to:

• Formal laws (e.g. statutes, regulations, cases, etc.);
• Material related to customary practices; and
• Simple explanatory frameworks to assist practitioners working on women’s land rights projects.

This is an ambitious project and gathering relevant information will require a network of dedicated organization and individuals. Ultimately, we hope that LandWise will contribute to the LCWLR’s larger goal of developing a network of qualified professionals around the world who are interested in strengthening women’s land rights.

The LCWLR seeks to work with women’s rights advocates, legal experts, land tenure experts, governmental bodies, libraries, and other information organizations to identify and collect materials for LandWise.  If you are interested in learning more about LandWise or would like to discuss partnership opportunities, please contact Jennifer Chang at jenniferc@landesa.org.