The Government of Switzerland through the Swiss Agency for Development Corporation (SDC) has granted one million and five hundred thousand Swiss Francs towards the Global Land Tool Network (GLTN) to support the implementation of GLTN Phase 3 (2019-2023).
The funding, which covers a period of two years from December 2018 to December 2020 and will go towards delivering the vision of GLTN in Phase 3 – creating a world in which everyone enjoys secure land rights – in tandem with the new GLTN Strategy within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda (NUA).
So far, GLTN has had two programmatic cycles (Phase 1 and Phase 2) during which there have been numerous successes and lessons learned on how to improve tenure security. To build on this, the Swiss Agency for Development Corporation and other GLTN partners, have jointly developed and endorsed a strategy for Phase 3 that sets a shared vision and direction for GLTN for the next 12 years. The partners agreed that the spirit of this strategy is human rights-based with a gender focus will be translated into action through a joint program that has the following strategic objectives:
- accelerate land sector reforms by fostering global, regional and national discourse on responsible land governance and transformational land policies
- institutionalize inclusive, gender-responsive and fit-for-purpose land tools to scale up tenure security
- monitor land-related commitments and obligations by mobilizing international, regional and national partners to track progress and build evidence
- to share and develop capacity, knowledge, research and resources on land tenure security.
As GLTN rolls out Phase 3, the work to improve access to land tenure security is on a larger scale. The GLTN Leader, Oumar Sylla, expressed his delight at the additional SDC funding and said that ‘the Swiss Agency for Development Corporation funding and the new GLTN Phase 3, creates a dynamic partnership where both our organizations are working together to deliver on its mandate which includes accelerating land reforms and scaling up the use of land tools to enhance tenure security for all’.
The SDC funding will also contribute to monitoring land related commitments such as the Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda and further mobilize actors in the land sector to track progress while sharing and developing capacity.
Established in 2006 and facilitated by UN-Habitat, GLTN is an alliance of over 75 diverse international partners made up of land professionals, academic and research institutions, civil society and developments partners who include the Swiss Agency for Development Corporation. SDC continues to be a strong GLTN partner and is committed to working together with GLTN to increase access to land and tenure security for all, with a focus on the poor, youth and women.
