This September, the Land Portal hosted an online dialogue on ‘Open Land Data in the Fight Against Corruption’. This responded to a dual recognition that corruption remains a major issue in land governance, and that open data has been identified as a powerful tool in the fight against corruption. At the same time, gaps remain between the promise and the reality of open data in the land sector. Poor data availability, underdeveloped theories of change, and a lack of implementation support have all contributed to slowerthan-desired progress in data publication and use over the last decade.

The curriculum “​Open in Practice: Using Open Data, Knowledge Sharing and Information Management Systems in the Fight Against Land Corruption”​ is being developed to increase land professionals understanding of concepts relating to Corruption and Open Data, and identify how open land data can contribute to addressing the lack of transparency, poor accountability, and increase the participation of civil society actors in land administration, land-based investments & land policy related information.

From 9th to 29th September 2019, Land Portal, Cadasta and GIZ co-hosted an online discussion focussing on the role of open land data in the fight against corruption. Drawing on over 100 contributions from 48 contributors covering six continents, the dialogue explored the opportunities and challenges for the use of open data as a tool to address land-related corruption. 

From July 17 to August 7, 2019, the Land Portal Foundation, the African Land Policy Center, GIZ and Transparency International Chapters in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda co-facilitated the dialogue Land Corruption in Africa addressing the role of traditional leaders in customary land administration, forced evictions as a form of land corruption and its Impact on women’s land rights and an analysis of alternative dispute resolution systems in addressing land corruption.

This brochure presents the approach and core activities of GIZ Global Program on Responsible Land Policy (GPRLP). The GPRLP is active in Benin, Ethiopia, Laos, Madagascar, Paraguay, Peru and Uganda. In each country, a context specific approach in line with the global GPRLP concept aims at improving the access to land as a core condition for combating poverty and hunger in rural areas for specific population groups, particularly women and socially marginalised groups.

This brochure presents recent digital innovations that enable a more effective, efficient and transparentin land management. It refers to examples in Peru, Ethiopia and Laos.

We’re pleased to share the Land Portal Foundation's 2018 Annual Report. The report demonstrates how we are working to create a vibrant information ecosystem on land that contributes to better informed decisions and policy making on land throughout the world. This report showcases our efforts improve documentation, mapping and monitoring of land governance issues, to promote, inform and enrich global debate on key land issues and to raise awareness on open data principles to strengthen the flow of land governance information at all levels.

A community’s choice to give, or withhold, their free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) to a project or activity planned to take place on their land is a recognized right of Indigenous peoples under international law. It is also a best practice principle that applies to all communities affected by projects or activities on the land, water and forests that they rely on.

lack of transparency in the land and property sector prevents individuals, communities and governments from unlocking the value of the property as an asset, and undermines policies and legal frameworks that aim to provide land tenure security, potentially leading to a misallocation of rights. In fact, land governance is ranked among the sectors in which people are most likely to pay bribes for access to services, according to Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer.

How do authoritarian populist regimes emerge within the European Union in the twenty-first century? In Hungary, land grabbing by oligarchs have been one of the pillars maintaining Prime Minister Orbán’s regime. The phenomenon remains out of the public purview and meets little resistance as the regime-controlled media keeps Hungarians ‘distracted’ with ‘dangers’ inflicted by the ‘enemies of the Hungarian people’ such as refugees and the European Union.

From forced eviction to loss of livelihood, social status, savings and even life, land corruption in Africa has serious and far-reaching consequences. Such corruption comes in many forms, and it must be understood – along with the factors that enable it – before it can be tackled.

This guide was developed to assist participatory video practitioners to undertake corruption-focussed projects and to encourage its uptake within the anti-corruption movement worldwide. Participatory video is a form of community media that engages citizens in the processes of investigating and documenting their circumstances, devising solutions and advocating for change. The videos produced can be used to establish communications between citizens and decision-makers, opening up new spaces for dialogue and opportunities for increased social accountability.