2008

Description of a Landesa program in China funded by a $198,000 grant from the World Bank to create a Legal Aid and Education Center to provide free and accessible legal education to farmers in rural counties of Guangxi province, and reach out to local area governments and villagers’ committees to increase awareness of farmers’ land rights. Every year more than one million farmers lose their agricultural land due to state expropriations, land readjustments or other forms of compulsory takings in China. Most farmers do not possess basic knowledge about their land rights under the law. The project will be the first of its kind in China, because there are few legal aid services in the countryside, let alone a legal aid center devoted to farmers’ agricultural land rights.