Partner Resources

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) works to promote responsible governance of land tenure as a key element in achieving food security, reducing poverty and fostering sustainable development. FAO is the custodian and supports the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT), helping countries develop policies, legal frameworks and institutional capacities to ensure secure and equitable access to land and other natural resources. This includes providing technical assistance, facilitating stakeholder dialogues and supporting land administration systems to protect the rights of vulnerable populations, including smallholder farmers, women and Indigenous peoples.

Governance of Tenure Resources: https://www.fao.org/tenure/resources/
Global Land Observatory: https://www.fao.org/tenure/glo/

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)

The Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) recognises that reliable access to land is essential for protecting people’s economic, social and cultural livelihoods. GIZ provides technical advice on legislation, cadastral systems and spatial planning and supports countries in the formalisation of land rights - including customary and traditional land  and empowers citizens, especially women and Indigenous communities, to effectively participate in policymaking through digital tools and geo-information systems, transparency and accountability are improved in land administration. These efforts aim to reduce poverty, enhance food security, resolve conflicts and foster equitable investment frameworks that sustainably manage land resources.

Land Governance Toolkit: https://landportal.org/news/2025/12/land-governance-toolkit

Global Environment Facility (GEF)

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) supports efforts to improve land tenure as part of its broader mission to address global environmental challenges and promote sustainable land management. By funding projects that strengthen land rights, especially for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, the GEF helps ensure more equitable and effective stewardship of natural resources. Secure land tenure is recognised as a foundation for achieving environmental goals, such as combating land degradation, preserving biodiversity and enhancing climate resilience. Through partnerships with countries, civil society and other international organisations, the GEF promotes integrated approaches that link land governance with sustainable development and environmental sustainability.

International Federation of Surveyors (FIG)

The International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) plays a vital role in advancing sustainable land management and secure land tenure through the promotion of professional surveying practices worldwide. FIG supports the development of effective land administration systems by fostering innovation, capacity building and knowledge exchange among surveyors and related professionals. Through its commissions and working groups, FIG contributes to global initiatives such as the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). FIG advocates for fit-for-purpose land administration approaches that are inclusive, affordable and adaptable, particularly in developing countries where secure land rights are crucial for social and economic development.

International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) places land tenure security at the heart of its mission to eradicate rural poverty and bolster food security. IFAD-supported initiatives assist rural families - especially women, youth, Indigenous Peoples, and marginalised groups - in legally recording and registering land and natural resource rights, including communal, group and individual tenure. By integrating decentralised land administration, participatory land use planning, conflict resolution and inclusive investment frameworks, IFAD empowers communities to invest in sustainable agriculture, access credit and enhance resilience to social, economic and climate shocks. It also promotes the use of geospatial and participatory tools - through its GeoTech4Tenure programme - to map and secure tenure rights effectively. As a founding member of the International Land Coalition and a key actor in global policy forums, IFAD has contributed to the VGGTs and the inclusion of land tenure indicators in the SDGs.

Securing Women’s Tenure Rights: https://www.ifad.org/en/w/publications/how-to-do-note-securing-women-s-tenure-rights
Designing Gender Transformative Approaches: https://www.ifad.org/en/w/publications/how-to-do-note-designing-gender-transformative-approaches-in-the-context-of-women-s-land-and-resource-rights

International Land Coalition (ILC)

The International Land Coalition (ILC) is a global alliance of more than 300 civil society organisations, farmers’ groups, Indigenous peoples’ movements, NGOs and UN agencies working in over 80 countries to advance secure and equitable land tenure for marginalised rural communities. Through capacity building, advocacy, knowledge-sharing and multi-stakeholder dialogue, ILC strengthens the ability of smallholders, pastoralists, women, youth and Indigenous Peoples to assert their land rights and influence land governance policies. It has driven innovative, people-centred initiatives such as the Global Land Governance Index (LANDex), offering robust, standardised tools to monitor progress on tenure rights, equity and transparency in line with SDGs and the VGGT. Specialised programmes like the Rangelands Initiative help secure pastoral land rights through supportive legislation, spatial planning and community inclusion in policy implementation. Additionally, ILC equips practitioners with practical resources - such as toolkits for recognising diverse tenure systems, community land mapping and legal counselling - to strengthen grassroots land tenure across varying contexts.

Resources: https://learn.landcoalition.org/en/resources/
Toolkit: Strengthening Women’s Rights to Common Lands: https://learn.landcoalition.org/en/resources/toolkit-strengthening-womens-rights-to-common-lands/
Toolkit: Diverse Tenure Systems: https://learn.landcoalition.org/en/resources/ilc-toolkit-3-diverse-tenure-systems/

Landesa

Landesa works globally to secure land tenure for millions of impoverished rural families through advocacy, policy reform and grassroots engagement. Since its founding in 1981, it has helped more than 180 million households in around 50 countries gain legal land rights. Landesa collaborates closely with governments and civil society to draft and implement pro-poor, gender-sensitive land laws, often tailoring solutions to local needs - such as pilot “micro land ownership” programs and bridging customary and statutory tenure systems. It places a particular emphasis on women’s land rights, operating through its Center for Women’s Land Rights to build legal capacity, raise awareness and shape gender-equitable policy frameworks. In sub Saharan Africa, Landesa helps clarify communal land rights, strengthen institutions for justice and conflict resolution and integrate land tenure into regional development agendas like Agenda 2063. Additionally, it supports research, monitoring and tools - such as the LandAssess due diligence instrument - to inform responsible land governance and investments.

Resources: https://www.landesa.org/resources/
Center for Women’s Land Rights: https://www.landesa.org/what-we-do/womens-land-rights/
Improving Land Tenure Security for Women: https://www.landesa.org/wp-content/uploads/landesa-toolkit-a-women-first-approach.pdf

The Land Portal

The Land Portal is an open-data, knowledge-sharing platform dedicated to securing land rights and improving land governance worldwide. It aggregates and curates over 700 indicators and 73,000+ resources - from governments, NGOs, academia and communities - to provide comprehensive, transparent information on land tenure, forests, gender and indigenous rights. By offering tools like country portfolios, thematic dashboards (e.g. forest tenure, land and gender, indigenous land rights), the SDG Land Tracker and integrated geospatial data, Land Portal empowers practitioners, policymakers, researchers and civil society to monitor progress, identify gaps and scale best practices. Its platform also facilitates global dialogue through blogs, debates, webinars and partnerships.

Resources: https://landportal.org/library

Landscape Alliance

Through the Landscape Alliance, CIFOR and ICRAF are working with policymakers, communities and practitioners in various countries to support tenure reform and enhance their understanding of drivers, challenges and future consequences of different policy options. They also conduct applied research to develop solutions for increasing inequity, unequal power relations and other governance challenges related to land, trees and forests.

A Rapid Land Tenure Assessment Manual for Identifying the Nature of Land Tenure Conflicts: https://www.landscapealliance.org/publications/sea/Publications/files/book/BK0143-10.pdf
Toolbox: Understanding and addressing tenure In forest landscape restoration in Africa’s community lands: https://www.landscapealliance.org/publications/pdf/toolkits/FLR-Toolbox-Main-colour.pdf
Gender Toolkit: Forest tenure pathways to gender equality: https://www.landscapealliance.org/knowledge/publication/8395/

TMG Think Tank for Sustainability (TMG)

The TMG Think Tank for Sustainability (TMG) - through its research unit, TMG Research - advances secure and equitable land tenure as a cornerstone for both climate justice and sustainable development. Anchored in the principles of the VGGT, TMG co-designs community-driven and rights-based tools - such as the Human Rights & Land Navigator and tenure mapping approaches - that strengthen tenure security for women, Indigenous Peoples and rural communities in countries like Kenya, Benin, Malawi and Burkina Faso. Its work integrates land tenure into climate and land restoration agendas, ensuring environmental programs like carbon offset schemes and land degradation neutrality efforts uphold community land rights through safeguards and participatory governance. Through its Land Tenure and Climate publication series, TMG highlights how secure land rights are critical to climate adaptation, mitigation and just transitions - and it develops digital reporting tools (e.g., Haki Ardhi) to help communities monitor violations and hold policymakers accountable. Together with the Robert Bosch Foundation, TMG facilitates the Women’s Land Rights Initiative to enhance coordination to safeguard women’s land rights across the Conventions.

Land Governance: https://tmg-thinktank.com/programmes/land-governance
Land Tenure and Climate: https://tmg-thinktank.com/publication-feature/land-tenure-and-climate
Women’s Land Rights Initiative: https://tmg-thinktank.com/initiatives/the-womens-land-rights-initiative
Human Rights 4 Land Monitoring Tool: https://rights4land.org/human-rights-4-land-monitoring-tool

UN-Habitat

UN-Habitat addresses land tenure insecurity through its Global Land Tool Network (GLTN), a collaborative initiative aimed at enhancing access to land and property rights, particularly for marginalised groups such as women, youth and the urban poor. The GLTN develops and implements pro-poor, gender-responsive land tools that support land reform, inclusive land administration and sustainable land management. These tools facilitate the recognition of diverse tenure systems, including informal and customary rights, within the "continuum of land rights" framework. By promoting such inclusive approaches, UN-Habitat contributes to poverty reduction, economic prosperity and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals, the New Urban Agenda and other regional and national policy initiatives.

Tenure-Responsive Land Use Planning: https://unhabitat.org/tenure-responsive-land-use-planning-a-practical-guide-for-country-level-intervention
Fit-for-Purpose Land Administration: https://unhabitat.org/fit-for-purpose-land-administration-guiding-principles-for-country-implementation
Guidelines for Impact Evaluation of Land Tenure and Governance Interventions: https://unhabitat.org/guidelines-for-impact-evaluation-of-land-tenure-and-governance-interventions
GLTN Land Tools: https://unhabitat.org/topic/land-tenure-security

The World Bank

The World Bank acknowledges the importance of land tenure security for sustainable development, economic growth and food security, and the recognition of land rights to encourage investment in sustainable management. They are actively working on improved land tenure security, funding various partnerships and initiatives to improve land access, effective land markets and digital land administration systems.

Land Data Map: https://landdatamap.worldbank.org/#/themes
Land Governance Assessment Framework: https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/land-governance-assessment-framework#2
Protecting and Strengthening the Land Tenure of Vulnerable Groups: https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/907481533140738062/pdf/129136-WP-Protecting-and-Strengthening-the-Land-Tenure-of-Vulnerable-Groups.pdf

WOCAT (World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies)

WOCAT (World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies) integrates land tenure considerations into sustainable land management (SLM) through its "Land Tenure for SLM Module". Developed in collaboration with FAO, this module addresses the gap in the Global SLM Database by assessing how tenure governance systems influence land degradation and SLM practices. It evaluates the tenure needs of communities and the impacts of SLM interventions on these needs, guiding stakeholders to align their actions with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT). This approach ensures that land tenure is effectively considered in SLM initiatives, promoting more inclusive and sustainable land management practices.

Database: https://wocat.net/en/database/
Resources: https://wocat.net/en/wocat-media-library/