This panel session reflected on the definition of ‘scaling-up’ with experts from the field bridging experiences from the ground to the theoretical concept of scaling. The focus lied on scaling for increased tenure security – geographically and/or institutionally. Reflections were given on what was scaled, why, how scaling unfolds and what has been learned – in the field of land governance. The session was organized by LAND-at-scale. Scaling is at the heart of both the name as well as the strategy of the LAND-at-scale program (LAS).

In the past decade, the land rights movement, particularly the women's land rights movement, has significantly made progress in strengthening the recognition of land rights in national, regional and international instruments. Despite the progress, translating these recommendations into legislative provisions and practices in countries has been slow or minimal

Land is a finite resource, and access to it is essential for the livelihoods of individuals and communities. To ensure that access to land is secure and equitable for all, the United Nations has set the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 1.4.2, which measures individuals' land tenure security, and SDG 5.a.1, which measures tenure security over agricultural land from a gender perspective.

1. Can you tell us how you became so engaged in the Land Portal? Why were you so committed to the development of Land Portal over the years?

I have worked on land rights for two and a half decades, so to be engaged with the Land Portal was a natural and organic progression, especially given the increasing important role of knowledge and information sharing in defending and ensuring people’s rights to land.

Many rural communities in Tanzania share similar challenges from mining companies and investors. I have seen first-hand how men and women gender and land champions can help.

Under the umbrella of theLand Dialogues series, the first webinar of this year’s series “Taking Data Back: Women’s Sovereignty Over Land Data” took place on March 30th, 2023. The webinar drew in a little over 220 participants and featured panelists from Indigenous women leaders to programme officers.  The series is organized by a consortium of organizations, including the Land Portal Foundation, the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Tenure Facility.  

Celebrating Women's International Day, we take a tour to Sierra Leone and put our lens on specific factors that affect women's perception of being insecured in their lands. This data story is based on fresh data from partner organisations Green Scenery, Resource Equity and the University of Groningen.

The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”.  The day aims to celebrate women and girls who are championing the advancement of transformative technology and digital education.

On 15 December 2022 the LAND-at-scale Knowledge Management team hosted a webinar Land tenure security revisited: Do we know what we need to know? that presented the preliminary findings of a study on tenure security authored by Guus van Westen, and Jaap Zevenbergen. The presentation of the study was followed by breakout sessions on tenure security and its relationship to women's land rights, the role of the state, land conflicts, and economic development facilitated by land experts and panelists who reported back to the plenary on the discussions with their respective reflections on the findings of the study.

Multiple studies indicate that secure rights to land and other property can protect women from experiencing domestic violence by strengthening their position within their families or by providing women with a stronger ability to exit abusive relationships.