Networked for Securing Land Rights, Resilience, and Peace

Smart and sustainable land use provides a foundation for building climate resilience in rural places. Many communities around the globe traditionally hold their land in common, but often legal systems do not recognize community land ownership the way they do individual ownership. For Indigenous communities, especially, this profoundly undermines their ability to safeguard their land, livelihoods, and traditions.

In 2016, Kenya rolled out its landmark Community Land Rights Act, formally recognizing community lands for the first time. Not long after, IMPACT Kenya convened the Pastoralists Alliance for Resilience and Adaptation in North Kenya (PARAN), a coalition of Indigenous and pastoralist organizations working to help communities secure their land rights using the act. As of September 2022, IMPACT has helped 16 communities register their lands and receive titles. They also expanded PARAN from five to 48 active organizations, including members in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Uganda.

In 2023, CJRF provided a flexible grant to IMPACT to support their movement building and advocacy work. This support will also help strengthen the PARAN Alliance as it creates its own financial governance and institutional processes, create an Indigenous Youth Hub to support the livelihoods of young men and women, and further the development of the Community Landowners Alliance, a new network and learning space for communities working on land registration and management.