Philippines: Inclusive land tenure data for SDGs

The LandMonitor project is co-led by the International Land Coalition (ILC) and the Land Tenure Desk of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) within the framework of the 2022 IFAD Innovation Challenge. It responds to a persistent and well-documented lack of national-level data and reporting on land tenure, as well as a failure to involve people’s organizations and target communities in land policy processes, including those that contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In doing so, LandMonitor proposes to integrate the work of strategic partners at global, regional and local levels, as well as diverse data sources and community perspectives–including rural women’s–in a more comprehensive approach to land tenure data collection and reporting.

The project relies on existing land monitoring initiatives and data, including official land administration data, data curated and generated through ILC’S LANDex PLATFORM, other partner initiatives and land tenure data reported at IFAD project level. The project reached out directly to target groups through its local technical assistance partner Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC), with an aim of gathering more inclusive data and reporting on land tenure.

The project, including its data and recommendations, has been used to inform IFAD investments, processes and reporting, while serving local and national advocacy purposes. Likewise, the findings inform progress towards the SDGs and have been leveraged in dialogues with State actors, including the Philippines Statistical Authority (PSA). The LandMonitor process was piloted in the Philippines and will be replicated in Brazil – and, possibly, in additional countries in other active IFAD regions.