Intern Blog #1: My first Three Weeks at LEI

I have been very warmly welcomed by the LEI team, who quickly began sharing articles, lecture material and online resources to help me transition into land administration for the internship. I have felt so lucky to share an office with such passionate individuals who collectively carry with them decades of experience and knowledge in the industry. Aside from the work I am doing, what has been a huge highlight of the internship to date is hearing the stories of the LEI team and how they got to where they are now. As someone just starting out in this field, the various pieces of advice and wisdom being imparted on me are invaluable. I was able to continue these conversations last week with other local individuals working in international development at a networking event I was invited to through LEI.

Instead it means that women enjoy secure access to, control over and ownership of land on an equal footing with men. Research shows that there are positive multiplier effects when women’s land rights are secure – benefits accrue not just for women’s economic empowerment, but also for food security at the household level, child malnutrition and investments in natural resource management.

MRLG Phase 2 will end on the 31st December and seamlessly starting on the 1st January 2023 will be Phase 3. This funding commitment by Switzerland (SDC), Germany (BMZ-GIZ) and Luxemburg allows the alliances to coordinate and plan sustainable actions for the coming 3 years to improve land tenure access for smallholder farmers through policy and practice changes. We look forward to sharing the Phase 2 operational report in the new year, along with the very exciting launch, planning and information sharing 3-day session to be held 28 Feb – 2 March, Luang Prabang with core MRLG partners – exemplary effort by the team for the completion of MRLG Phase 2.

These spatial plans – and the supporting data and technology to manage them – will prove essential to achieving Indonesia’s forestry, climate change and economic commitments. They also fundamentally recognise the territorial rights and interests of Indonesia’s forest-dwelling and indigenous peoples.

More than 200 submissions were received which can be viewed here, including LEI’s submission. Our submission emphasised the importance of DFAT reengaging with the land sector in the Indo-Pacific. We define ‘land sector engagement’ to include context specific measures to support inclusive land tenure security, the collection and utilisation of geospatial data, and stable and effective land administration systems.

The webinar discussed ideas of shaping land administration design with a better-informed political economy approach. The webinar pre-meetings with each of the panellists leading up to the event along with the research on this topic are incredibly thought provoking. LEI are keen to continue contribute in this space, not only from insights of Tony Burns’ PhD candidacy, but also through reflections on LEI projects. As a start, and given the nature of the project, we have revisited the Mekong Region Land Governance project in a paper by LEI and our MRLG Team Leader, Micah Ingall’s, that was recently accepted at the FIG Congress, Warsaw. Tony and Kate Rickersey will be presenting this in a session on the 13th of September to be broadcast virtually. We are interested in your feedback if you’d like to take a read of the paper “ Thinking and Working Politically in the Land Sector in Mekong Region”.

You can watch the recorded webinar via YouTube by following this link: Smarter Design of Land Administration Reform – YouTube

Large-scale land investments across Africa and Asia have often caused repercussions to food security and supply issues. They have often compromised the livelihoods of smallholder farmers, exacerbated land tenure conflicts and caused environmental degradation. Addressing investment practices – through inclusive business and sustainable agroecology – has the potential to achieve more sustainable food systems and is the core focus of the recently launched Transformative Land Investment (TLI) project.

LEI was established in 2001 with a goal of being inspirational in developing outcomes for its clients and stakeholders in the land sector, our motto being “sustainable development from the ground up”. We are proud that LEI has crossed a milestone in our history, celebrating 21 years of operation. We have maintained long relationships in countries where much of our work began: Indonesia, Philippines and in particular Lao PDR, where we continue to this day. Throughout the period we have encountered and grown alongside many counterparts, colleagues, and clients, learning, and evolving along the way.

For many Australians, Nauru is known only for its divisive history (and present) ‘hosting’ refugees that have made it to our shores. Others may recall a past that ransacked the nation’s ecology for its high-quality phosphate. Phosphate mining has stripped the elevated inland (‘Topside’) of its tropical forests to leave behind a pinnacled-desert, rendered largely uninhabitable. The nation’s 12,000+ people are left to live and work along the lower-lying thin strip of coastline around the island.