{"id":520992,"date":"2022-06-28T19:59:40","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T02:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/?post_type=arcnews&p=520992"},"modified":"2022-06-28T11:30:48","modified_gmt":"2022-06-28T18:30:48","slug":"her-land-her-power-how-geospatial-tech-secures-womens-land-rights","status":"publish","type":"arcnews","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/arcnews\/her-land-her-power-how-geospatial-tech-secures-womens-land-rights","title":{"rendered":"Her Land, Her Power: How Geospatial Tech Secures Women\u2019s Land Rights"},"author":5752,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1041,381322,11022],"tags":[331752,197122,476452,476912,474952],"arcnews_issues":[479682],"class_list":["post-520992","arcnews","type-arcnews","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collaboration","category-sustainability","category-thought-leader","tag-land-rights","tag-nonprofit","tag-sdg","tag-women","tag-women-and-gis","arcnews_issues-summer-2022","arcnews_sections-gis-people"],"acf":{"short_description":"Women are disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to land access and property rights. Esri partner Cadasta is working to change that.","pdf":{"host_remotely":false,"file":"","file_url":""},"flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"blockquote","content":"Editor\u2019s Note: This article was originally published as a guest blog post by the United Kingdom\u2019s Geospatial Commission. It has been lightly edited for clarity and style."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"It is estimated that 70 percent of land in the developing world is undocumented. This makes one billion people vulnerable to eviction and, more specifically, affects a staggering one in five women globally, according to nongovernmental research organization Prindex.\r\n\r\nLand rights are the foundation of stability and prosperity. Landownership insecurity\u2014the fear of losing your home or the land on which you live and farm\u2014is often linked to a lack of legally recognized landownership documents to prove or defend land claims."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":519292,"image_position":"right","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Even when accounting for legal and cultural differences across countries, women are disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to land access and property rights.\r\n\r\nWe know from evidence that when women do have secure landownership, the entire household benefits. Women increase their decision-making power, agricultural productivity, income, health and education spending, and investments in climate-resilient land practices. Conversely, landownership insecurity limits women\u2019s economic and social status and makes them and their families more vulnerable to poverty, eviction, conflict, land grabs, hunger, and climate change.\r\n\r\nThe Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)\u2014namely, SDG 1, to end poverty, and SDG 5, to achieve gender equality\u2014call for reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources. These include access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, as well as financial services, inheritances, and natural resources.\r\n\r\nEsri partner Cadasta is a nonprofit global technology and services organization that enables vulnerable communities to affordably and easily document, map, and secure inclusive land and resource rights. By creating an accessible digital record of land, property, and resource rights and building local capacity, Cadasta helps empower individuals, communities, organizations, governments, and businesses with the information they need to make data-driven decisions and put vulnerable communities and their needs on the map.\r\n\r\nOf the 5.8 million people registered on Cadasta\u2019s platform\u2014who live in 3,566 communities across 44 countries on 20.6 million hectares of land\u201453 percent are women and girls. Registering women and girls for the platform is done through community and government engagement to change mindsets and practices, which complements the introduction of geospatial tools to achieve gender parity in the data."},{"acf_fc_layout":"image","image":519302,"image_position":"left","orientation":"horizontal","hyperlink":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"Another essential tool for strengthening women\u2019s land rights is ensuring that women\u2019s names are on formal land documents. From the outset, Cadasta has helped its partners develop clear, localized gender inclusion strategies to close the gap between the law and the implementation of women\u2019s rights."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

In Her Name: Ampol Satyavathi\u2019s Story<\/h3>\r\nGetting her name on a land title was a life-changing experience for Ampol Satyavathi, a local vendor in a small fishing village near Konark, on the Bay of Bengal in the Puri district of the state of Odisha, India.\r\n\r\nFor 38 years, she lived in this informal community with no secure title to her home or land. Through a partnership with Tata Trusts and the state government\u2019s Jaga Mission\u2014dubbed the \u201cworld\u2019s largest slumland settlement program\u201d and winner of a World Habitat Award\u2014Satyavathi\u2019s dream of owning her own place became a reality.\r\n\r\n\u201cI now have the document that proves that this is my home and my business,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel more secure and am hopeful that this will help my business grow.\u201d\r\n\r\nFacilitated by the use of geospatial technology and digital survey tools, all members of the community have received land rights documents. Additionally, the area has been upgraded with improved roads, markets, water and sanitation services, and lighting.\r\n\r\nFor Satyavathi and her community, geospatial technology, participatory community mapping exercises, and the resultant land rights have made a huge difference\u2014all the more for children.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe young people were the ones who proposed the road extension, the play area for the children, and the fish storage area,\u201d Satyavathi said.\r\n\r\nIn addition to securing Satyavathi\u2019s land, the collection and use of geospatial data have empowered people to set a course for the future of the whole community."},{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Mapping from the Ground Up<\/h2>\r\nConsidering women\u2019s rights and participation every step of the way, Cadasta provides the technology and geospatial tools that help document women\u2019s use of, and claims to, land. Making geospatial technology accessible allows the visualization and understanding of data in new ways, which further enables them to make decisions that will improve their lives."},{"acf_fc_layout":"sidebar","layout":"standard","image_reference":null,"image_reference_figure":"","spotlight_image":null,"section_title":"","spotlight_name":"","position":"Right","content":"Cadasta employs the following Esri technology in its organization and on the ground with partners and community members:\r\n