Did you know, around the world nearly 2.5 billion people rely on land for their livelihoods? Yet many do not have the tenure to their land necessary to thrive.
Securing land rights for the world’s poorest people is the work of Landesa, who in 2022, received a $20 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. With a history going back to the Vietnam War, Landesa’s efforts to strengthen gender-equal land rights have helped improve the lives of many hundreds of millions of people worldwide. Nevertheless, land rights remain foundational to just about every current global development issue, including accelerating gender equality, improving economic prosperity and arresting the climate crisis.
In the latest of our series of Global 20 interviews, we hear from Landesa’s Chief Development Officer, Mark Ruffo, who explains why they don’t accept government funding, their capacity building in the Global South and how they are uniquely positioned to help 400 million rural women realise the benefits of strength and land rights by 2027.
