Rural Development Institute (RDI)
Encyclopedia
Founded as the Rural Development Institute in 1967, Landesa is a nonprofit organization that partners with governments and local organizations to ensure that the world’s poorest families have secure rights over the land they till. Landesa has helped more than 100 million poor families gain legal control over their land. When families have secure rights to land, they can invest in their land to sustainably increase their harvests and reap the benefits—improved nutrition, health, education, and dignity—for generations.
Nominated for the Nobel Prize
and other prestigious awards, Landesa partners with governments, world leaders, NGOs, foundations, donor agencies such as the World Bank
, USAID, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and others to design and implement land laws, policies and programs that provide opportunity, further economic growth and promote social justice.
Landesa has six offices around the world and focuses its land rights programs in India, China, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Landesa currently works in 13 developing countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Uganda.
, a Harvard Law School
graduate who left his Wall Street career at Sullivan & Cromwell
to teach at the University of Washington
School of Law where he established the Law in Sustainable Development Program. Troubled by the escalating Vietnam War
, Prosterman recognized that secure land rights could provide the rural poor a place to grow food to feed their family and a foundation to raise themselves out of poverty without being forced to join the Viet Cong. His “land to the tiller” program led to a 30% increase in rice production, and an 80% decrease in Viet Cong recruitment.
, India
and post-conflict areas of Africa
with a focus on women’s land rights. Women comprise over 50% of the world’s population, are responsible for 60-80% of the world’s food production, yet, in many countries, they cannot inherit or own land.
Landesa’s “micro-land ownership” program in India
provides landless families with a micro-plot as small as 1/10 of an acre on which they can build shelter, grow food to supplement the family diet and income, and raise livestock or start a micro-enterprise. Like the idea that started the “micro-credit” movement, “micro-land ownership” has the potential to provide opportunity for millions of the world’s poorest.
Landesa lawyers and land tenure specialists are experienced in crafting a variety of land law and land-related institutional reforms to help developing countries bring development and opportunity to their poorest. Upon the invitation of the host government, Landesa's staff conducts field assessments, institutional assessments, legislative drafting and policy advice. Landesa then provide assistance with implementing the new land laws, and can help organize pilot programs. Landesa has been involved - on five continents - with land administration consulting, social impact studies, implementation planning, implementation monitoring, training, public education programs, and program design and management. There are typically five primary elements to this work.
RDI employs a staff of more than 75 worldwide, including 23 senior land tenure specialists with legal, economic, gender and agricultural expertise, complemented by a professional staff with livelihood, natural resource management, economics, sociology, and other social science expertise. Landesa has offices in Seattle, Beijing, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, and Bangalore. Seattle-based support staff provide financial, IT, human resource, and administrative services to Landesa’s overseas programs and projects. Landesa also employs a team of research assistants who provide legal research and writing support.
Landesa land tenure specialists are experienced in carrying out research to inform land tenure reform efforts, crafting a variety of land law and land-related institutional reforms, and supporting implementation of those reforms. Our work focuses primarily on rural and peri-urban contexts in developing and transitional economies. Services include field assessments, institutional assessments, legislative drafting and policy advice, development of follow-on regulations and procedures, technical support for legal assistance, social impact studies, implementation planning, implementation monitoring, training, public education programs, and program design and management. There are typically five primary elements to this work.
An initiative of Landesa, the Center for Women’s Land Rights champions the untapped potential of women and girls to transform their communities. With secure rights to land, women and girls can improve food security, education, health, and economic development for themselves and their families. When women have secure rights to land, they can become investors in their family's future and ensure that their children's needs are met.
Studies have found that when women have secure rights to land:
In short, investing in a women's land rights creates an extraordinary ripple effect that spreads to her family, village, and beyond.
However, in much of the world, while women shoulder the burden of food production, they often don't have secure rights to the land they farm. Although they till the fields, they are often barred from inheriting or owning those fields.
To address these challenges and unite the global community in support of women’s land rights, the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights was launched in 2009. Landesa’s Center provides resources and training on women’s land rights and connects policymakers, researchers, and practitioners from around the world. Landesa’s Center pilots innovative solutions to women’s lack of secure land rights. It educates development experts about the gap between customary and institutional law and ensures that this is addressed in Landesa’s projects. Landesa’s Center ensures that women remain a core focus of Landesa’s work to help the poorest of the poor.
- Bill Gates
, Sr. • Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
“The advice of the Rural Development Institute has been more valuable than any foreign technical advice I have received.”
- Bekbolot Talgarbekov • Former Minister of Agriculture, Republic of Kyrgyzstan
“RDI’s valuable recommendations have aroused the attention of party and government leaders within China’s central government. . . . They have been extremely impressed by RDI’s unique work methods and focus on providing practical recommendations to existing problems.”
- Chen Xiwen • Director, Rural Work Group State Council, Peoples Republic of China
“At the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, we boast that we have helped over 800,000,000 out of poverty; RDI alone has been responsible for half of those.”
- Pamela Hartigan
• Managing Director, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Nominated for the Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
and other prestigious awards, Landesa partners with governments, world leaders, NGOs, foundations, donor agencies such as the World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
, USAID, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and others to design and implement land laws, policies and programs that provide opportunity, further economic growth and promote social justice.
Landesa has six offices around the world and focuses its land rights programs in India, China, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Landesa currently works in 13 developing countries: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, China, Ethiopia, Ghana, India, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Pakistan, Rwanda, and Uganda.
History
Landesa was founded as the Rural Development Institute in 1967 by Professor Roy ProstermanRoy Prosterman
Roy Prosterman is Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Washington and the founder of the Rural Development Institute , which changed its name to Landesa in January 2011. He is also active in the fields of land reform, rural development, and foreign aid...
, a Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
graduate who left his Wall Street career at Sullivan & Cromwell
Sullivan & Cromwell
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP is an international law firm headquartered in New York. The firm has approximately 800 lawyers in 12 offices, located in financial centers in the United States, Asia, Australia and Europe. Sullivan & Cromwell was founded by Algernon Sydney Sullivan and William Nelson...
to teach at the University of Washington
University of Washington
University of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
School of Law where he established the Law in Sustainable Development Program. Troubled by the escalating Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, Prosterman recognized that secure land rights could provide the rural poor a place to grow food to feed their family and a foundation to raise themselves out of poverty without being forced to join the Viet Cong. His “land to the tiller” program led to a 30% increase in rice production, and an 80% decrease in Viet Cong recruitment.
Offices
Based in Seattle, Landesa has program offices in Beijing, China; Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Delhi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata, India.Landesa’s Work
Landesa has worked in more than 45 countries. Today, Landesa works in ChinaChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and post-conflict areas of Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
with a focus on women’s land rights. Women comprise over 50% of the world’s population, are responsible for 60-80% of the world’s food production, yet, in many countries, they cannot inherit or own land.
Landesa’s “micro-land ownership” program in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
provides landless families with a micro-plot as small as 1/10 of an acre on which they can build shelter, grow food to supplement the family diet and income, and raise livestock or start a micro-enterprise. Like the idea that started the “micro-credit” movement, “micro-land ownership” has the potential to provide opportunity for millions of the world’s poorest.
Securing Land Rights
For more than four decades, Landesa has championed the power of land rights as the key to a better, safer world. Land is the single most important asset for most of the world’s poor. More than half of the world’s population lives in extreme poverty, surviving on $2 a day or less, and of those, more than 75 percent live in rural areas and rely on agriculture for their sustenance. Most do not have secure rights to land and therefore, limited opportunity to build a better future for themselves. Land in the developing world determines access to shelter, income, education, healthcare, plus economic and nutritional security. It is the single most important asset.Landesa lawyers and land tenure specialists are experienced in crafting a variety of land law and land-related institutional reforms to help developing countries bring development and opportunity to their poorest. Upon the invitation of the host government, Landesa's staff conducts field assessments, institutional assessments, legislative drafting and policy advice. Landesa then provide assistance with implementing the new land laws, and can help organize pilot programs. Landesa has been involved - on five continents - with land administration consulting, social impact studies, implementation planning, implementation monitoring, training, public education programs, and program design and management. There are typically five primary elements to this work.
- Field research to identify existing conditions and viable land law/regulations/policies and administration options.
- Development and review of laws and regulations that create and sustain land system programs.
- Promoting, planning, assisting in the adoption and implementation of, and providing financial support for the legal, institutional, and policy measures needed for successful land systems.
- Undertaking educational public awareness programs for professionals, government officials, and other system participants so that all stakeholders become aware of new land system laws and regulations and the rights and obligations created by them.
- Monitoring and evaluation of implementation and results so as to learn from successes and make changes when appropriate.
Consulting Services
Landesa’s fee-for-service practice focuses on the legal, policy, institutional, and educational issues of land tenure, land access, land market development, land conflicts, land acquisition and resettlement, and land registration systems.RDI employs a staff of more than 75 worldwide, including 23 senior land tenure specialists with legal, economic, gender and agricultural expertise, complemented by a professional staff with livelihood, natural resource management, economics, sociology, and other social science expertise. Landesa has offices in Seattle, Beijing, Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, and Bangalore. Seattle-based support staff provide financial, IT, human resource, and administrative services to Landesa’s overseas programs and projects. Landesa also employs a team of research assistants who provide legal research and writing support.
Landesa land tenure specialists are experienced in carrying out research to inform land tenure reform efforts, crafting a variety of land law and land-related institutional reforms, and supporting implementation of those reforms. Our work focuses primarily on rural and peri-urban contexts in developing and transitional economies. Services include field assessments, institutional assessments, legislative drafting and policy advice, development of follow-on regulations and procedures, technical support for legal assistance, social impact studies, implementation planning, implementation monitoring, training, public education programs, and program design and management. There are typically five primary elements to this work.
Global Center for Women's Land Rights
Providing secure land rights to women isn't just a good idea - it is essential to addressing poverty and hunger around the world.An initiative of Landesa, the Center for Women’s Land Rights champions the untapped potential of women and girls to transform their communities. With secure rights to land, women and girls can improve food security, education, health, and economic development for themselves and their families. When women have secure rights to land, they can become investors in their family's future and ensure that their children's needs are met.
Studies have found that when women have secure rights to land:
- Family nutrition and health improve
- Women are less likely to contract and spread HIV/AIDS and are better able to cope with the effects of AIDS
- Women are less likely to be victims of domestic violence
- Children are more likely to get an education and stay in school longer
- Women may have better access to micro-credit
In short, investing in a women's land rights creates an extraordinary ripple effect that spreads to her family, village, and beyond.
However, in much of the world, while women shoulder the burden of food production, they often don't have secure rights to the land they farm. Although they till the fields, they are often barred from inheriting or owning those fields.
To address these challenges and unite the global community in support of women’s land rights, the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights was launched in 2009. Landesa’s Center provides resources and training on women’s land rights and connects policymakers, researchers, and practitioners from around the world. Landesa’s Center pilots innovative solutions to women’s lack of secure land rights. It educates development experts about the gap between customary and institutional law and ensures that this is addressed in Landesa’s projects. Landesa’s Center ensures that women remain a core focus of Landesa’s work to help the poorest of the poor.
Global Fellowship Program
Landesa's Global Fellowship Program provides training opportunities for qualified professionals seeking to pursue a career in helping to secure land and property rights for women and girls. The program is designed to provide a career path and specialized training opportunities for legal professionals in the U.S., experienced professionals in developing countries who could benefit from comparative experience, and experienced non-legal professionals from NGOs who seek comparative legal knowledge.e-Library on Women’s Property Rights
Landesa's Global Center for Women's Land Rights is building a database of formal laws related to women's land rights from every country in the world. This “e-library” will also include research on customary law related to women's land rights where available. The e-Library on women’s property rights will be an open-source platform, allowing users to share and post laws and related materials on how those laws are practiced thorough a discussion forum. The e-Library will be cross-referenced via topics (widows' rights, dowry, girls’ inheritance, etc.) as well as by countries and regions in a variety of languages.This helps legal practitioners and women's advocates create more effective and suitable programming.Girls and Land
Daughters do not traditionally inherit land, because they typically move away from the village to their husband’s home after marriage. Most girls leave their family homes with no economic asset of their own (such as land), leaving them vulnerable and powerless in their new homes. To address this, Landesa is working in partnership with its partners to help girls gain a critical economic asset—land—to reduce their vulnerability to poverty, gender-based violence, HIV, early marriage, and trafficking, and to gain opportunities for a better future.Awards and honors
- (2009) Evergreen Award, Executive Alliance
- (2009) Telly Award (for film “Land is Hope), People’s Telly Awards
- (2008) Development Marketplace Award, World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
- (2008) Razoo Top 100 Nonprofits, Razoo
- (2008) Finalist, United Nations Public Service Award, United NationsUnited NationsThe United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
- (2008) World Citizen of the Year, World Affairs CouncilWorld Affairs CouncilWorld Affairs Council may refer to:* World Affairs Councils of America, a non-profit, non-partisan umbrella organization for world affairs councils throughout the United States...
- (2007) Featured Commitment (Micro-land Ownership in India), Clinton Global Initiative, Clinton FoundationClinton FoundationThe William J. Clinton Foundation is a foundation established by former President of the United States Bill Clinton with the stated mission to "strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence." The Foundation focuses on four critical areas:...
- (2007) Featured Commitment (Center for Women and Land), Clinton Global Initiative, Clinton FoundationClinton FoundationThe William J. Clinton Foundation is a foundation established by former President of the United States Bill Clinton with the stated mission to "strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence." The Foundation focuses on four critical areas:...
- (2007) Finalist, Hilton Humanitarian Award, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
- (2007) Finalist, Alcan Prize for Sustainability, International Business Leaders Forum
- (2006) Henry R. Kravis Prize in Leadership, Henry R. Kravis Institute in Leadership, Claremont McKenna CollegeClaremont McKenna CollegeClaremont McKenna College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college and a member of the Claremont Colleges located in Claremont, California. The campus is located east of Downtown Los Angeles...
- (2003) Gleitsman International Award, Gleitsman Foundation
- (2002) Outstanding Global Social Entrepreneur, Schwab Foundation for Social EntrepreneurshipSchwab Foundation for Social EntrepreneurshipThe Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship provides platforms at the country, regional and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship.- History :...
- (1996) Courageous Award, Washington State Bar AssociationWashington State Bar AssociationThe Washington State Bar Association is the mandatory statewide bar association of Washington State. As an administrative arm of the Washington State Supreme Court, it administers the admissions, licensing, and discipline functions for lawyers licensed in Washington. It also acts as their...
- (1991) John and Marguerite Walker Corbally Professor in Public Service
- (1993) International Citizen of the Year, Seattle International District RotaryRotary InternationalRotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
- (1990) Outstanding Public Service Award, University of WashingtonUniversity of WashingtonUniversity of Washington is a public research university, founded in 1861 in Seattle, Washington, United States. The UW is the largest university in the Northwest and the oldest public university on the West Coast. The university has three campuses, with its largest campus in the University...
- (1973) Ralph Bunche Award for Outstanding Contribution to World Peace through Law, Seattle-King County Bar Association.
Supporters
“Forty years ago, Roy Prosterman was struck by the non-apparent truth that what keeps the world’s poorest people poor is their inability to own the land they work. Since then, he and [Landesa] (RDI at the time) have shown what wonders can be wrought from a piece of land when the people who till it, own it.”- Bill Gates
Bill Gates
William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...
, Sr. • Co-chair, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It is "driven by the interests and passions of the Gates family"...
“The advice of the Rural Development Institute has been more valuable than any foreign technical advice I have received.”
- Bekbolot Talgarbekov • Former Minister of Agriculture, Republic of Kyrgyzstan
“RDI’s valuable recommendations have aroused the attention of party and government leaders within China’s central government. . . . They have been extremely impressed by RDI’s unique work methods and focus on providing practical recommendations to existing problems.”
- Chen Xiwen • Director, Rural Work Group State Council, Peoples Republic of China
“At the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, we boast that we have helped over 800,000,000 out of poverty; RDI alone has been responsible for half of those.”
- Pamela Hartigan
Pamela Hartigan
Pamela Hartigan is the founding partner of Volans Ventures and the founding managing director of the Schwab Foundation.She spent over a decade supporting community-based organizations and working with youth in Washington, D.C...
• Managing Director, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship provides platforms at the country, regional and global levels to promote social entrepreneurship.- History :...
External links
Articles
- Kristi Heim. "Visionary's cure for global poverty rooted in the land." The Seattle TimesThe Seattle TimesThe Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
, May 2006 - Zhu Keliang and Roy Prosterman. "From Land Reform to Economic Boom." China Business Review, July–August 2006
- Roy Prosterman and Tim Hanstad. "Getting down to basics in a fight for Children's lives." The Seattle TimesThe Seattle TimesThe Seattle Times is a newspaper serving Seattle, Washington, US. It is the largest daily newspaper in the state of Washington. It has been, since the demise in 2009 of the printed version of the rival Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Seattle's only major daily print newspaper.-History:The Seattle Times...
, December 22, 2004