Questionnaire to ILC members and partners on the benchmarks of pro-poor land governance
Consultation on the Zero Draft of the FAO
“Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of
Land and Other Natural Resources”
Once adopted, the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and Other
Natural Resources (Voluntary Guidelines) are likely to be a point of reference for much of the work of ILC
and many other organisations and networks working on land tenure. Many ILC members and partners
have been involved in the regional consultations. The ILC secretariat is now facilitating a coordinated input
by ILC members and partners into the preparation of the first draft.
The focus of ILC’s contribution will be on the relevance of the Voluntary Guidelines to ILC’s mission to
promote secure and equitable access to and control over land for poor women and men. It is expected
that ILC member and partner submissions will strengthen the extent to which pro-poor land governance
and its benchmarks are addressed in the Voluntary Guidelines.
“Pro-poor land governance” is a broad concept implicit in ILC’s statements of vision, mission and strategic
objectives. Yet “pro-poor” in an era of increased polarisation and competition for scarce land and natural
resources, and “land governance” in contexts where models of democracy, territoriality and citizenship are
being reconceived, are concepts that require further definition.
How to submit your inputs
 Submissions can be made directly to FAO on http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/voluntary-guidelines/econsultation/en/.
 Alternatively, you can send your contribution to ILC. Taking advantage of the e-consultation opened
by FAO, ILC members and partners have the opportunity to collectively think about pro-poor land
governance and its benchmarks, with the aim of strengthening the Zero Draft.
 The ILC Secretariat will submit to FAO any feedback received, together with a Synthesis Report.
Instructions
Please, read the Zero Draft of the Voluntary Guidelines in attachment.
Answer as many questions as you prefer.
Be as concise as possible, but feel free to discuss any aspect of the Zero Draft.
Please send your responses to l.miggiano@landcoalition.org by 4th May 2011.
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General assessment
Q1. Do you have any overall comment on the Zero Draft of the Voluntary Guidelines?
Q2. Did you take part in any of the consultation meetings held by FAO in 2009 and 2010? If so, which one?
Are the outcomes of the consultation you took part in adequately reflected in the Zero Draft?
Pro-poor land governance
Q3. According to the experience of your organisation, how would you rank in order of priority the
relevance of the elements listed below to ILC’s mission of promoting pro-poor land governance?
Please rank the following items using numbers 1 to 6, with “1” being the highest priority:
 Inclusive processes for land governance, with the participation of the full spectrum of land users.
 People-centred land policies that prioritise the interests of vulnerable groups whose livelihood
depends on land, including the landless
 Gender equality in access to land and land tenure.
 Recognition of diverse, flexible and plural tenure systems and protection of the commons.
 Agrarian reform and land redistribution to avoid excess of land concentration and landlessness.
 Transparent and accessible land information
Q4. Would you add any other element that you think should be addressed by the Voluntary Guidelines or
edit the ones listed above?
1. Inclusive processes for land governance, with the participation of the full spectrum of land users
Q5. Express your level of satisfaction and provide your comments on how the following elements have
been addressed throughout the Zero Draft:
(i)
(ii)
(iii)
(iv)
the democratisation of land governance;
processes that empower poor women and men;
independent and representative land users’ organizations;
the meaningful participation of these latter in national policy dialogue and local decisionmaking over territorial development
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Q6. The Zero Draft makes reference to Consultation and Participation as Principles of Implementation of
the Voluntary Guidelines (Par. 5) (i.e. Engaging with those who could be affected by decisions, and
responding to their contributions). Does this definition adequately reflect the above mentioned elements? If
not, how would you rephrase/change it in order to do so?
Q7. Do you have any comment on the par. 20 “Regulated spatial planning”? Would you add to any other
benchmark for the meaningful participation of citizens in the design, planning, implementation,
monitoring of the territorial development (including social, environmental and economic sustainability)?
2. People-centred land policies that prioritise the interests of vulnerable groups whose livelihoods
depend on land, including the landless
Q8. Express your level of satisfaction with and provide your comments to the paragraph 12 “Investment
and concessions”.
Q9. Does the paragraph 12 “Investment and concessions” adequately reflect transparency, accountability
and the respect of international human rights and labour rights obligations by the private sector as key
elements of pro-poor land governance? If not, how would you rephrase the Zero Draft in order to do so?
Q10. In the experience of your organisation, beyond transparency, accountability, participatory
approaches, and human rights what are some of the “ethical” standards mentioned in the Zero Draft
public and private sector should comply with? (See Paragraphs 6.8; 11.7; 17.8; 18.6; 19.6; 20.6; 21.8)
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3. Gender equality in access to land and land tenure
Q11. Express your level of satisfaction and provide your comments on how women’s land rights and
gender-sensitive policies
have been addressed throughout the document (please indicate
paragraph/article and section for specific comments).
4. Recognition of diverse, flexible and plural tenure systems and the protection of the commons
Q12. Express your level of satisfaction on how diverse, flexible and plural tenure systems – including those
of indigenous peoples and pastoralists, fisher folks, users of common pool resources and holder of
overlapping and shifting rights - are recognised in the Zero Draft (with a specific reference to Part 3 “Legal
recognition and allocation of tenure rights and duties”).
5. Agrarian reform and land redistribution to avoid excess of land concentration and landlessness
Q13. Does the Zero Draft adequately promote “secure and equitable access to land” and the ability of
people to exercise effective control over it as a key component of sound land governance?
Q14. Express your level of satisfaction on the text and the position of the chapter “Redistributive Reforms”
(par. 15);
Q15. How would you like land concentration to be addressed within the Voluntary Guidelines? In what
ways does land concentration undermine pro-poor land governance and challenge broader economic,
social and environmental sustainability?
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Q16. In the experience of your organisation, in what ways should the interests of the landless, land-poor
peasants and rural workers (including labour rights) be recognised within a pro-poor land governance
agenda? How would you like landlessness to be addressed within the Voluntary Guidelines?
6. Transparent and accessible land information
Q17. The Zero Draft makes a specific reference to civil society land monitoring under the section
“Investments and Concessions” (Par. 12.7). In what ways do transparent and accessible land information
and land governance monitoring carried out by civil society organisations contribute to broader sound land
governance? How should this be recognised in and facilitated by the Voluntary Guidelines?
Q18. The Zero Draft makes reference to state and civil society’s monitoring under the section “Investment
and Concessions” (Par. 12.7). Does this section adequately reflect transparency and accountability of the
private sector as key elements of pro-poor land governance? If not, how would you rephrase the Zero Draft
in order to do so?
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7. What is missing?
Q19. Feel free to express any other comment on the Zero Draft of the Voluntary Guidelines and/or any
specific sections of it, and propose amendments by using the table below.
Paragraph
Comment
Suggested change
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