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Kenya

Land and political power have always been closely intertwined in Kenya’s historical trajectory. After independence from the British in 1968, the legacy of a dual system of land laws and administration continued. Repeatedly, tenure insecurity, forced evictions, inequality, and grievances related to inequality and corruption in the land sector have contributed to violence, such as during the 2007 election. In 2009, the National Land Policy was approved mandating land restitution for those who have been dispossessed and aiming to strengthen customary land tenure vis-à-vis individual ownership. The implementation of the policy and the constitution of 2010 is ongoing and has resulted in a number of progressive laws that recognize community land for the first time.
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Call for applications: Africa consultancy roster

4 January 2024

Are you passionate about upholding Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IP&LC) rights and supporting the protection of forests and biodiversity and the governance of IPLC land and forests in the African continent?  

Lessons from Africa Climate Summit: We need to listen more to pastoralists and farmers

23 September 2023

Sometimes at high-level international events, like the Africa Climate Summit held in early September 2023, we do not have the opportunity to, or forget to, include the voices of people who are going through the very issues discussed.

Photo James Wakibia

Ogiek case: protection of an indigenous community in Kenya

25 June 2023

In Kenya, the Mau forest is the ancestral home of an indigenous community called the Ogiek people. The Ogiek community comprises 20,000 members, about 15,000 of whom inhabit the greater Mau Forest Complex, a land mass of about 400,000 hectares. 

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For the first time, the Constitution of 2010 recognizes customary land law if it is consistent with other applicable law. The Community Land Act (2016) protects community land rights and is responsible for the development of community land registers as well as the setup of Community Land Management Committees.

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Malawi Small Scale Livestock and Livelihoods Program

Webinar Recap: Traditional Authorities in Africa and Their Role in Land-Based Investment Governance

17 November 2023

In a thought-provoking webinar moderated by Nolundi Luwaya, Director of the Land and Accountability Research Centre at the University of Cape Town, experts from across Africa convened to unravel the complexities of the role of traditional authorities in land-based investment governance. This event…

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State of Land Data & Information in East Africa: Catalyzing East Africa's Land Data Ecosystem

There is no doubt the Global Data Revolution has reached the land sector. Government data portals, open access academic journals, community mapping initiatives and other citizen-generated data - there is a palpable positive drive across the world that allows processes such as data collection to be…