Global Land Facility Programme

Project Narrative

Effective land governance systems are key to economic growth, rural livelihoods, climate change resilience, and women’s rights. Land is a key root cause of conflict, with increasing competition over land from growing pressures of climate change, increased food insecurity and migration; sustainable land governance is therefore also a critical foundation for stability, conflict resilience, and protecting human rights.

Yet land governance in many developing countries is weak. Large amounts of unregistered land and disputed ownership rights result in little protection for the homes and livelihoods of the poorest and most vulnerable.

• Only 30% of the global population has legally registered rights to their land and homes
• Women constitute less than 20% of the world’s landholders
• Indigenous Peoples and local communities hold 65% of the world’s total land area, but their legal rights extend to only 10% of that land
• 1 billion people around the world live in fear of losing their home or land.

Poor land governance is a critical constraint to policy, programming and development priorities. Technical assistance and programme support can help to tackle land reform issues at the national level.

Land Facility Objectives

The Land Facility aims to do just that: advance effective and sustainable national land governance reforms and administration systems. It can provide rural, forestry and urban land governance expertise and assistance to support partner governments’ efforts to expand their capacity to plan, manage and implement national land administration policy, legislation and system reforms. Land Facility focuses on reform of national land administration policy, systems and practice. Its objective is to support Overseas Development Aid eligible governments implement sustained land reforms by building basic capacity and delivery systems in government agencies, and mobilising political support for reform.

Key Services Provided

Land Equity International has partnered with Tetra Tech, the main delivery partner, to work in tandem with downstream expertise including the Global Land Alliance, Landesa, The Policy Practice, TMP, Terra Firma, Mokoro and Planet Partnerships.

As a part of FCDO’s Global Land Governance Programme, The Land Facility will be delivered collaboratively with governments and other key stakeholders to design and execute demand-driven initiatives based on political economy analysis. These initiatives will target urban, rural, or forest land in selected regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America.

Country programming will be designed and delivered via Country Support Projects (CSPs), which can be ‘Deep’ or ‘Light’. The delivery partner can also propose Strategic Support Projects which are regional or global public goods initiatives, that may support CSP delivery and where interest has been identified from partner Governments

• Deep CSP: Longer-term programming and technical assistance, including country-based delivery teams providing TA, capacity expansions support, political economic analysis, political engagement and coordination over 2-3 years+.
• Light CSP: Shorter-term technical assistance and support. Discrete activities (roughly 6-12 months) with limited focus. Potential scope for follow-up via a subsequent light or deep CSP, depending on resources and political constraints.

The Land Facility started a 9-month Inception Phase in April, concluding in December 2024, and implementation will run until December 2030. Currently, scoping for selection of initial focus countries is underway.