Inheritance Rights for Girls | Single Women Count

Protecting Inheritance Rights for Women and Girls in West Bengal, India

Last month, Landesa's Girls Project conducted workshops with local government officials in West Bengal with the goal of strengthening inheritance rights for daughters. Following the workshops, local officials in 35 districts adopted new land documents that reinforce land and inheritance rights for women.

Stronger land rights can help alleviate poverty and hunger and improve the health and well-being of women and their families. Through the Girls Project, Landesa has already reached more than 40,000 girls in more than 1,000 villages in West Bengal, empowering them with the tools and knowledge -- particularly about their rights to land -- necessary to grow their destiny as women. At the same time, they can reduce vulnerabilities like child marriage. In partnership with the government, the program is now expanding to six districts, and will reach as many as 1.25 million girls in the next three years.

Learn more about Landesa's Girls Project >>

Ensuring Women Count in Odisha Survey of Landless Households

Landesa's partner, the state government of Odisha, India, has launched a historic survey to identify and count every landless

Photo by Deborah Espinosa

family, including women-headed households, in the state. It will follow up this survey by allotting each landless family a small plot of land. Landesa conducted multiple trainings and consultations with the government in advance of the survey, with an emphasis on including single women in the count. Landless single women -- whether unmarried, divorced, or widowed -- often go uncounted by the government. Recognizing these women is a critical step in connecting them to the resources needed to secure stronger land rights.

According to census data, there are more than 1 million women-headed households in Odisha and approximately 4.6 million landless families in Odisha. Landesa began its partnership with the government of Odisha in 2009.

Learn more about Landesa's programs in Odisha >>

New Corporate Policy in China Protects Rights of Farmers in Land Acquisitions

One of the world's largest pulp and paper companies has adopted a conservation policy that includes a commitment to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of indigenous people and local communities. The Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP) is a major player in China's forest land rights market, leasing large tracts of collectively owned land for tree plantations to supply its paper and wood products. Fieldwork conducted by Landesa in Guangxi and Yunnan provinces previously found that APP was using land taken from farmers without the their informed consent and without providing all farmers with proper compensation.

The new policy helps ensure local communities and farming families will be fully engaged by APP in the land acquisition process, and receive fair compensation when land is acquired. Such efforts can reduce land-related conflicts and alleviate poverty for the millions of people who rely on land for their livelihood.

Learn more about Landesa's work in China >>

August 2015

Landesa in the News

The Huffington Post highlighted Landesa as one of 15 organizations promoting land rights to improve food security globally.

Women Deliver posted about the Clinton Global Initiative Week of Action, which included remarks by Landesa CEO Tim Hanstad.

The Odisha Sun Times reported on a land rights consultation facilitated by Landesa to ensure single women are included in the government's survey of Odisha's landless households.

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