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The Rights and Resources Initiative is a strategic coalition of international, regional and community organizations engaged in development, research and conservation. Together, we are working to encourage greater global commitment and action on pro-poor tenure, policy and market reforms.
The RRI coalition is formed by a group of core Partners who conduct work in specific areas of their regional and thematic expertise. Partners also engage with a wide group of collaborators who participate in and support RRI activities around the world. RRI is a strategic coalition that goes beyond the traditional set of international development actors to involve a wide spectrum of organizations, each of which provides a critical perspective in the larger chain of actors necessary to advance change.
Our Mission
RRI’s Mission is to support local communities’ and indigenous peoples’ struggles against poverty and marginalization by promoting greater global commitment and action towards policy, market and legal reforms that secure their rights to own, control and benefit from natural resources, especially land and forests.
Global Challenge, a Global Opportunity
Forests cover close to 30 percent of the world's land area, and more than a billion people rely on forests to a significant extent for their food, fuel and income.
An estimated 350 million indigenous and tribal peoples are at least partly dependent on forests, including some 60 million who are substantially dependent on forests for their subsistence and livelihoods. Forests are also particularly important to poor women, who shoulder much of the burden for hauling wood and collecting and marketing forest products.
Dominant models of forest industry and conservation have often exacerbated poverty and social conflicts and have precluded pro-poor economic growth. The lack of clear rights to own and use forest land, develop enterprises, and trade in forest products has driven millions of forest dwellers to poverty and encouraged widespread illegal logging and forest loss.
The world will not meet national and global goals to reduce poverty and protect the environment unless poor peoples' rights to land and resources are strengthened. Neither will the world effectively mitigate or adapt to climate change without clarifying local tenure and governance. The next two decades are critical--both for the poor and for the forests.
There are reasons for optimism. Organizations of indigenous peoples and forest-dwelling communities are gaining voice and opportunity, and after decades of limited action many countries are beginning to consider far-reaching legal and policy reforms. There is a major opportunity to advance the rights and livelihoods of forest peoples by establishing the institutional foundations for sustained conservation and forest-based economic development.
Members:
Resources
Displaying 96 - 100 of 109Strengthening livelihoods, civil society and community-based natural resource management of indigenous communi
General
Chepang and Tamang communities living in the hills of central Nepal are among the most marginalized and resource poor groups in Nepal.Their tiny land holdings provide no more than 3 to 6 months of food security and deforestation has contributed to environmental degradation. Due to lack of knowledge of efficient and sustainable agricultural practices and land-tenure rights, the communities are practicing unsustainable agriculture and animal husbandry which aggravate soil erosion that causes regular landslides that destroy agricultural fields and threaten the lives of people and animals. To improve access to remote villages, local government has started infrastructure development projects without proper social and environmental impact assessments. The objective of this project is to uplift the livelihoods and food security of the Chepang and Tamang communities through agro-forestry development and developed market access, strenghten community-based natural resource management, sustainable land use and climate change adaptation and empower women and persons with disabilities.This is achieved by, e.g. developing sound biodiversity management and sustainable livelihood activities in cooperation with community-based organizations and local government. Capacity building of forest user groups will be done to strenghten their operational capacity and local government will be supported in preparation and implementation of the local climate change adaptation plan of action. The continuation project implemented by NAFAN and supported by Swallows supports Finland's development objectives by increasing food security and promoting sustainable use of natural resources, local democracy and participation of women in decision making. The project will strengthen local partner organization's capacity and role in community capacity building and establishing linkages between communities and local government. The project is expected to benefit directly around 3000 right-holders and 150 duty-bearers. In addition, approx. 3500 people are expected to benefit indirectly.
F.a: Enhancement of agroecological food production in Sofala
General
In Mozambique, peasants produce around 70% of food, mostly from seeds saved from their crops. Traditional smallholder farming is under enormous pressure: population growth and urbanisation reshape markets and diets; climate change brings cyclones, droughts, floods, pests and plant diseases; soil is impoverishing; biodiversity is being lost; and industrial agriculture is marginalising smallholders. As a result of these pressures, the ability of smallholder farmers to maintain their farmland and preserve agricultural biodiversity suffers. Crop yields are projected to fall by 11% in the current decade as a result of climate change. 43% of Mozambicans suffer from malnutrition. Women are more likely than men to be poor. They are also over-represented among those affected by Cyclone Idai, which hit the project area in 2019. The immediate expected outcomes of the project are (i) women and their families adopt less environmentally damaging agricultural practices, such as reducing slash and burn, preserving native trees important for soil fertility, cover cropping, green manuring, organic pest control and composting, (ii) participatory improvement of genetic diversity through smallholder farmers' knowledge, experience and practices, (iii) more families in communities produce complementary products for their diets through agroecological methods and reduce the use of chemical products harmful to the environment, (iv) chronic malnutrition and food insecurity is at least halved through increased production and diversification of family diets; (v) families' disposable incomes increase significantly and they are able to cover education and health costs; (vi) the majority of families have secure production tools and models as they have been supported in legalising their land tenure, (vii) a reduction in production costs, (viii) the adoption of individual and collective strategies in the design and marketing of products of both plant and animal origin, and (ix) more systematic production and higher quality products. The direct beneficiaries of the project are 90 women from three local communities in the districts of Buzi and Chibabava, who participate in the project activities. The indirect beneficiaries consist of their family members, a total of 396 people. The total population of the two districts is around 360 000. The project is implemented by the Associação Acção Académica para o Desenvolvimento das Comunidades Rurais (ADECRU); https://adecru.wordpress.com/.
F.a: Challenging social conceptions through network building and implementation of mechanism to ensure LGBTIQ
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Équité Sri Lanka is a registered organization under the land registration office, Sri Lanka as a Non-profit trust since June 2019. Equité Sri Lanka was formed (unofficially but with a social media presence) in May 2017, and operated by a group of enthusiastic human rights activists. Équité comprises of a small team of multi-disciplinary experts, experienced in research and advocacy in a range of development and humani-tarian specialties. Équité?s vision is to secure Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for all individuals in Sri Lanka, especially for those from the LGBTIQ community. Équité?s mission is to impart knowledge, develop skills and change attitudes among LGBTIQ persons in marginalized settings, in order to elevate their status to be equals in society. Équité uses a variety of methods to reach these goals, including training and capacity building of both LGBTIQ community members and non-community members, advocacy, research and reporting to national and international institutions (including UN mechanisms), and awareness raising through social media and other means. The grant aims to eliminate the discrimination towards the LGBTIQ community by challenging the social stigma and misconceptions.
RCN/Abunzi Preparatory Phase
General
The contribution for the preparatory phase support to RCN Justice et Democratie to prepare the implementation of 'Improving the Management of Land by strengthening the Prevention and Resolution of Land Conflicts' (ILPRC)
Oxfam International Brussels SIDA Bridge
General
Oxfam's GROW campaign works for the billions of us who eat food # and for the more than one billion poor men and women who grow it.Through our global campaign, we address inequality in the global food system. Our overall objective is that people living in poverty claim power in the way the world manages land, water, and climate change, so that they can grow or buy enough food to eat # now and in the future. We support local communities to claim back their power, earn a living income, and to grow or buy food by ensuring investments in rural people. By ensuring investments in rural people, we support them in overcoming the dramatic impacts of climate change on agriculture, allowing them to thrive. GROW focusses on change at national levels and on opportunities to achieve international impact. More specifically, by 2019 we aim for more governments, multilateral institutions and companies implementing policies that promote sustainable food production and consumption, while supporting those most vulnerable to adapt to climate change, and helping communities realise their rights to land with a particular focus on women who produce much of the world#s food. To ensure that the Sustainable Development Goals, including zero hunger, become a reality, we need innovative ideas that hold a promise of a better future for many # not just a privileged few. We believe there are key factors that drive hunger and inequality: unfair distribution within value chains, insecure land rights, climate change, gender inequality and ever more young people desperate for opportunities leaving rural areas. Oxfam's GROW campaign tackles the key sources in the broken global food system by working to mobilise impacted communities and active consumers alike. Since the launch of the GROW campaign in 2011 more than 10 million people have been reached through on- and offline campaign activities and a multitude of people has been reached through media coverage. We are proud of the achievements of GROW. We gave small-scale female farmers avoice; through the Behind the Brands campaign significant new commitments have been made by big food and beverage companies to improve social and environmental standards in their vast supply chains; we are proud of our contribution to keep climate finance, especially for adaptation and resilience, on the agenda of the global climate negotiations at COP21 in Paris; and we recently celebrated a land mark victory as the Constitutional Court in Colombia recognized the Land Rights of the indigenous community Cañamomo Lomaprieta and granted protection for ancestral mining activities. An overview of our results can be found on the interactive map. Oxfam is at the beginning of a new phase of the GROW campaign (2017 # 2020). Throughout the years, we have been actively updating our context analysis, testing drivers of change, reflecting on models of campaigning, addressing new key actors, and, exploring new alliances. Nonetheless, now more than ever we feel the need to increase our impact and change systemic drivers of inequality in the food system. In this document, we present three innovative work streams running until at least 2020. 1. A new worldwide campaign addressing inequality in food value chains (expected launch October 2017) 2. The LandRightsNow campaign 3. Effective adaptation finance to support women farmers. These three projects have received seed funding from inter alia SIDA and we are currently looking for opportunities to up-scale them between 2017-2020 to reach our ultimate objectives. Wewantto note that this document does not present the future direction of the entire GROW campaign but presents three selected trajectories (2017 # 2020) where innovation is key.