Pathways for collaboration on land governance in the Mekong

The Mekong Region Land Governance Project, funded by SDC and implemented by LEI and Gret, is in full swing heading into the last quarter of the Inception Phase (Year 1). During the past 9 months our team across the four countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam) has been working strategically to bring reform actors from civil society, private sector, government and academia into discussions on developing effective pathways for collaboration on land governance. We are currently reviewing learning and advocacy initiatives that have been developed by multi-stakeholder focus groups in support of the promotion of improve tenure security for small holder farmer, fisheries and forestry. The topics where the demand for support has been most readily requested across the 4 countries include: land dispute mechanisms, private sector engagement, customary and communal rights and recognition, and evidence based research for policy dialogue.

For the first year of implementation, we are identifying initiatives for the project to add value in capacity building, providing opportunities for cross border exchange, and building a knowledge base that is essential to supporting the emergence of more favorable enabling environment in land governance. Our workshop series during the inception phase will conclude with our Regional Stakeholder Workshop on 4-6th March in Bangkok. This will be the final contribution towards activity designs to be rolled out during 2015. We expect also to launch the first call for Innovation Fund proposals and share preliminary results from a Political Economy and Research Mapping study land governance in the Mekong Region. We are also supporting field activities in Xiengkhouang (Laos) through one of the project funding windows – Quick Disbursement Fund. This activity supports civil society and government partners to develop and pilot a replicable training module and materials in tenure related laws and policies to support family farmers to protect their land rights and negotiate more favorable outcomes in natural resource development activities.

For further enquiries, please contact Kate Rickersey, Team Leader for MLRG Project. krickersey@landequity.com.au