Context
In many parts of the world, particularly in rural areas, the majority of people rely on access to land and its utilisation for their livelihoods. The importance of having secure and equitable access to land and land use rights is accentuated within the context of growing competition over the use of limited and increasingly scarce land resources (e.g. cultivation of food and agrofuels, designation of areas for industry, tourism, housing and mining). As a consequence, poor sections of the population are often forcibly relocated or driven away. Women, indigenous groups and pastoralists with insecure land rights are particularly affected. The current trend towards large-scale purchasing and leasing of land, land speculation in developing countries, and increasing concentration of land is leading to impoverishment and exacerbating conflicts over land.
Despite various international initiatives (among others, the G7 land transparency initiative, the development of the Responsible Agricultural Investment Principles (RAI), and the adoption of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) by the UN Committee for World Food Security (CFS)) there is still a lack of sufficient capacity in terms of land policy and management around the world. German development cooperation also lacks feasible plans and innovative instruments, particularly regarding poverty-oriented and conflict-sensitive approaches to international and national land policy.
Objective
The module objective of the sector programme on land policy and management is: ‘The German development cooperation increasingly incorporates innovative, poverty-oriented, and conflict and gender sensitive concepts and approaches into international and national land policies.’
Approach
The programme is developing technical and conceptual contributions and advisory services on land policy and management for German and international development cooperation. The programme’s fields of activity include advising the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on land policy issues, and participating in German and international panels and committees on behalf of BMZ, in particular within the context of the BMZ special initiative ‘On World, No Hunger’. Training concepts and curricula are being further developed for land policy and management, as well as created for new topics. As a pilot approach, the programme further advises development cooperation programmes on innovative concepts for land policy issues and on large-scale land purchases and leases in partner countries.
Moreover, the sector programme supports responsible agricultural investments in Ethiopia as part of a newly launched project co-financed by the EU and within the context of a trilateral partnership with the Department for International Development (DFID) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Results
The BMZ is supported in introducing and embedding the concepts and strategies developed by the sector programme into German and international development cooperation. Development cooperation programmes in partner countries and alumni of training programs and qualification measures will act as multipliers for innovative land policy and management concepts. Direct advisory support to the Ethiopian Investment Land Administration Agency on preparing, selecting and monitoring responsible land investments as well as simultaneously strengthening management and technical capacities at the national and regional level will directly contribute to improving land policy in Ethiopia.
Sector programmes are responsible for advising and supporting the BMZ on technical issues. Unlike programmes directly administered in GIZ partner countries, sector programmes often provide indirect rather than direct benefits to the partner countries.