Skoll Entrepreneur(s): Tim Hanstad
Focus Area(s) Addressed: Smallholder Productivity and Food Security
Award Year: 2012

(Click here to print)

Landesa tackles a neglected barrier to progress: land rights. More than a billion people have little to no legal control over the land on which they depend. When women, in particular, gain such rights, good things happen: farm yields increase, child welfare improves, domestic violence goes down.  Landesa launched the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights to ensure millions more women are able to claim these legal rights to their land. It is now amplifying its message to support land rights internationally.

IMPACT AS OF MAY 2013:

• In the last fiscal year, Landesa brought more than 3.4 million families secure rights to their land. In the last 46 years, Landesa has helped more than 109 million families gain secure land rights and the opportunity for a better life.
• Helped 2.6 million families in China receive documented legal rights to land
• Helped more than 800,000 families in nine Indian states get land ownership rights.
• In West Bengal, India, a pilot program that keeps poor girls in school and safe from early marriage and child trafficking has brought land ownership to 2,291 families. The program gives families micro-plots and teaches girls to farm.
• In India, on March 8, 2011, Landesa opened the Women’s Land Rights Facilitation Center in Odisha India in partnership with government. The center is the first of its kind in India.
• They aim to secure land rights for an additional 14 million rural families by 2015.
• Beyond the numbers, it’s important to understand the transformational change that happens when families gain legal rights to their land. Land is a foundation for both economic development and stability, and often the entry point to becoming a full citizen.