WASHINGTON, DC – The LANDex initiative, to be launched this Thursday on the sidelines of the World Bank Land and Poverty Conference, is the first global dataset of its type to offer people-centered perspectives into the impacts of land governance.
Developed by the members and strategic partners of the International Land Coalition (ILC), the LANDex Global Land Governance Index is the first platform of its nature to offer globally comparable, people-centered data on land according to 33 indicators on issues ranging from women’s land rights to inclusive decision-making on land and legal protections for land and environment defenders. Its focus on ecosystems of data and people-centered land governance set LANDex apart from other data initiatives.
The initiative was developed with a central question in mind: What data would be most useful to these people and communities in their work towards better land policy? Rather than using indicators made available in official data, LANDex indicators were developed in consultation by those working on the ground with those most impacted by land governance. As a result, the indicators respond to the data gaps and data needs of the land community. In 2018, the initiative was implemented in pilot countries Colombia, Nepal and Senegal.
“[LANDex] helps to make heard the voices of those groups of actors who are victims of an unfavourable balance of power in land governance monitoring,” said Ibrahima Ka, a legal expert with IPAR, a Dakar-based think tank. “It can also be a powerful decision support tool for decision-makers."
LANDex promotes the inclusion of diverse data sources, contributing to a data ecosystem that includes – but is not limited to – official data on land. For each of the 10 ILC Commitments on land, the indicators measure progress on three levels: the presence and strength of a legal framework, the implementation of policies and programs, and the outcome, results or impact on those most impacted by land governance. While some of the indicators are satisfied by official data, others require surveys and key informant analysis that sheds light on land issues often underrepresented or missing altogether in government data.
“[LANDex] focuses on creating the land data ecosystem by assessing land related policies, their implementation and the outcome through multi-stakeholder engagement,” said Dharm Raj Joshi, a researcher at the Community Self-Reliance Center in Nepal. “By doing so it depicts the areas of strength, areas of improvement and policy gap need to be addressed.”
In Colombia, for example, 33 percent of LANDex respondents were government representatives, 37 percent were from civil society and 26 percent were from academic institutions. The private sector represented 4 percent. In response to an indicator measuring the implementation of tenure security policies for indigenous peoples, a government representative awarded a score of 88.89 while an NGO working with indigenous communities offered a score of 11.11 to the same set of questions.
Herein lies another promising aspect of the initiative: LANDex facilitates the confrontation of diverse and diverging discourses on crucial issues of land governance.
With data for three pilot countries from 2018, the ILC is set to support LANDex' expansion to 12 countries in 2019 and an additional 18 countries by 2021. While the tool may see its primary uptake among Coalition members, a primary goal of the initiative is to see broad engagement that would allow anyone or institution to contribute their perceptions and experiences of land governance to a globally accessible dataset.
Please see event details below. To RSVP and for more information contact:
Ward Anseeuw, Senior Technical Advisor
International Land Coalition
w.anseeuw@landcoalition.org