Working Together Works

Establishing an Integrated Approach to Rural Development

In many countries, the issue of improving secure access of the poor to land touches on fundamental inequalities in rural communities.  However, as difficult as it may be, there is a growing body of knowledge, international opinion and global agreements that secure access to land is fundamental to reducing rural poverty, stimulating rural economic growth and protecting the natural resource base on which current and future generations depend.

Many key lessons are emerging from the experiences of governments, civil society and intergovernmental organizations that can inform others in developing their land policies and implementation strategies.  There is a need to strengthen the capacity of multi-stakeholder coalitions and systems to continue to collect, analyse and share knowledge on the new and innovative approaches for improving land access in order to overcome the constraints experienced in earlier models. 

The experiences of current land reform programmes as well as empirical research point to the importance of land literacy (educating the poor on land issues and their rights under prevailing laws); involving communities in processes of land demarcation, land valuation and conflict resolution; helping land beneficiaries to collectively access finances, technology and marketing services; establishing land commissions comprising government and representatives of civil society; strengthening the land policy and natural resource administration capacity of government; developing financing methods suited to the poor (such as land banks, land for debt swaps; land for taxes); involving civil society in government processes assessing the effectiveness of land policies; and, reforming macro-economic policies that give competitive advantages to larger farmers. 

In order for real progress to be made on eradicating poverty and eliminating hunger in rural areas, we must work together to enable the rural poor to gain access to the resources necessary for their individual and community empowerment.  Working together requires that individuals, organizations and institutions, like those of us attending ECOSOC, must turn our discussions and agreements into concrete action that can have real impacts on the ground level.  We are all here for a common purpose, to find the means and mechanisms for implementing an integrated approach to rural development.  However in many cases, while civil society, governmental and intergovernmental organizations are pursuing what seem to be parallel paths and objectives, there are differences that are difficult to overcome due to historical events.

WHAT CAN CIVIL SOCIETY DO?

Throughout the world, civil-society organisations are actively and successfully undertaking activities that are helping to increase the rural poor's access to natural resources.  C ivil society's work on land issues spans a broad range of areas, from advocacy and human rights to training on the post-land-reform processes needed so that newly obtained resources become productive. Examples of CSO work include:

• supporting the education, organization and capacity-building of landless and near-landless people on their rights and on ways to achieve related legal provisions;

• involving local communities in the demarcation of lands;

• protecting  traditional forms of land and territorial tenure, including indigenous territories, common property and pastoralist areas;

• ensuring direct roles for beneficiaries in land-valuation processes and in determining terms of repayment;

• strengthening rural, agriculture and peasant organizations and ensuring they include woman-headed households, widows, indigenous peoples, lower castes and other marginalized population groups;

• organizing communities so they can collectively access credit, technology and marketing services;

• protecting the knowledge systems of indigenous and nomadic peoples, while strengthening the access of these peoples to complementary resource management technologies;

• assisting communities so that they can purchase land at fair prices and gain access to land funds;

• serving as channels for the direct delivery of government services to the rural poor;

• educating and enhancing the capacity of communities to defend their interests with respect to commercial and transnational corporations; and,

• joining with governments to design land laws and regulations.

However, information on these civil-society and community-based activities is often not documented. As a result, opportunities for replicating successes are lost and critical information is not put before policy-makers. Civil society's direct experience generates knowledge that can validate or challenge traditional assumptions about land issues. The constraints experienced by communities and the lessons they learn are fundamental in the discovery of practical ways forward and in avoiding unnecessary ideological debates.  Civil-society experiences must demonstrate national value and viability before politicians will invest in the replication and up-scaling of such initiatives.

WHAT CAN GOVERNMENTS DO?

Governments that have risen to the challenges of agrarian reform often need assistance from the international community.  Reluctant governments, on the other hand, need to receive strong encouragement to act on the same subjects.  Among others, these include:

• establishing appropriate legal, regulatory and judicial frameworks that can register and protect people's resource rights;

• implementing land literacy programmes to inform the population of their rights and how they can be exercised;

• ratifying and implementing international conventions on people's rights  to resources;

• establishing independent and accountable Land Commissions with adequate participation by potential beneficiaries;

• ensuring women's rights through land records, communal property systems, inheritance rights of widows and daughters, and representation in local decision-making bodies and land commissions;

• reforming macro-economic policies that  privilege large-scale farmers;

• developing methods to increase financing for land reform and post-land acquisition services including land banks, land for debt swaps and land for taxes;

• improving service delivery by using rural peoples' organisations to deliver government support services; and,

• developing human capital by investing in rural schools, health facilities and extension services.

The International Land Coalition encourages joint actions, pilot initiatives and action research.  It supports the sharing of knowledge on best practices, the strengthening of national networks of rural peoples, and the strengthening of the capacity of government to foster a wider space for dialogue with civil society and external parties.  The Coalition also works internationally to elaborate a common platform on land issues.  Finally, the Coalition supports innovative projects in order to identify practical approaches suited to country-level circumstances and taking into account historic experiences and obstacles.  The Coalition invites you all to support and engage in greater collaboration through partnerships that respect diversity of opinion and promote open dialogue, for example through its L and A lliances for N ational D evelopment (LAND) Partnerships, an outcome of the WSSD, in the interest of the resource needs and rights of the rural poor. 

The International Land Coalition is a global alliance of intergovernmental, governmental and civil-society organizations. The Coalition works together with the rural poor to increase their secure access to natural resources, especially land, and enable them to participate directly in policy and decision-making processes that affect their livelihoods at local, national, regional and international levels.