This report on lessons learnt, best practices, challenges, and emerging issues on improving responsible governance tenure using the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT) and the African Union’s Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa (F&G), related to the European Union Land Governance Programme is based on in-country project progress reports and minutes of transversal capitalization meetings carried out throughout the project phases.

There are eight years left to reach the SDGs. Agrifood systems transformation is urgently needed if we are to achieve sustainability, resilience and food security and nutrition in a post-COVID world. This desired transformation can only be achieved by strengthening and capitalizing on the knowledge, experience, skills, and capabilities for collective action of a broad range of public and private actors each of whom bring distinctive interests, needs, resources, influence and capacities. “Governance” is the name for this multidimensional capability for effective and inclusive collective action at all levels. In many country contexts, it is the governance bottlenecks that lead to a gap between policy expectations and their outcomes on the ground. For example, a given policy intervention can make a lot of economic sense but if it is perceived as threatening a powerful interest group or not sufficiently considering that group’s interests, it will most probably fail. Understanding the governance – both institutions and political economy – behind existing agrifood systems can thus make or break the success of any policy or technical support work. Bringing together insights from FAO’s rich experience and knowledge and global literature, this paper introduces an operational four-phased framework for analysis and integration of governance analysis and action into formulation and implementation of interventions at country, regional and global levels. It also provides a review of recent trends in expert thinking about governance for sustainable development and highlights FAO’s conceptual contributions to governance in the areas of FAO’s mandate. The increased use of governance analysis in FAO’s work will stimulate iterative collective learning processes and honest evaluation of potential for change thus supplementing technical solutions with approaches based on a solid understanding of practical and political realities on the ground. With its emphasis on continual learning and adaptation, governance analysis will enable FAO to significantly improve the effectiveness of its policy and technical support to Members to achieve sustainable development that leaves no one behind.

Increased global demand for land posits the need for well-designed country-level land policies to protect long-held rights, facilitate land access and address any constraints that land policy may pose for broader growth. While the implementation of land reforms can be a lengthy process, the need to swiftly identify key land policy challenges and devise responses that allow the monitoring of progress, in a way that minimizes conflicts and supports broader development goals, is clear. The Land Governance Assessment Framework (LGAF) makes a substantive contribution to the land sector by providing a quick and innovative tool to monitor land governance at the country level. The LGAF offers a comprehensive diagnostic tool that covers five main areas for policy intervention: Legal and institutional framework; Land use planning, management and taxation; Management of public land; Public provision of land information; and Dispute resolution and conflict management. The LGAF assesses these areas through a set of detailed indicators that are rated on a scale of pre-coded statements (from lack of good governance to good practice). While land governance can be highly technical in nature and tends to be addressed in a partial and sporadic manner, the LGAF posits a tool for a comprehensive assessment, taking into account the broad range of issues that land governance encompasses, while enabling those unfamiliar with land to grasp its full complexity. The LGAF will make it possible for policymakers to make sense of the technical levels of the land sector, benchmark governance, identify areas that require further attention and monitor progress. It is intended to assist countries in prioritizing reforms in the land sector by providing a holistic diagnostic review that can inform policy dialogue in a clear and targeted manner. In addition to presenting the LGAF tool, this book includes detailed case studies on its implementation in five selected countries: Peru, the Kyrgyz Republic, Ethiopia, Indonesia and Tanzania.

"This book offers conceptual and empirical studies of land governance, focusing on land management approaches, land policy issues, advances in pro-poor land tenure, and land-based gender concerns. Topics include "Creating new understandings," "Exploring alternative approaches for land management and land tenure," "Viewing vistas of tenure experiences across the globe," and "Stretching the gender perspectives""--

In recent years, FAO has carried out extensive assessments of the forest tenure situation in the four regions of Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Central Asia, including its impact on sustainable forest management and poverty reduction. The experiences and lessons learned from these assessments, complemented by numerous studies carried out by other organizations, provide a rich information base on different tenure systems and on the successes and challenges of tenure reform processes.

Every state in the world has undertaken human rights obligations on the basis of UN treaties. Today's challenge is to enhance the effectiveness of procedures and institutions established to promote the accountability of governments. The six treaty bodies that monitor and evaluate state policies and practices play a vital role, but the whole system has been stretched almost to breaking point. It is under-funded, many governments fail to report or do so very late or superficially, there is a growing backlog of individual complaints, broad reservations have been lodged by many states, and the expertise of committee members has been questioned. This volume contains detailed analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of the system, written by leading participants in the work of the treaty bodies. Their recommendations provide a blueprint for far-reaching reform of a system of major importance for the future of international efforts to protect human rights.