Landesa Visiting Professionals Program

Who Are We?

The Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights is an initiative of Landesa, an international non-profit organization that partners with developing country governments and non-governmental organizations to secure land rights for the world’s poorest people.   Over the last 40 years, we have partnered with more than 45 countries on legal reforms that have provided secure land rights to more than 100 million families. Currently, Landesa is working in countries as diverse as China, India, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Liberia, and Burkina Faso. 

At the Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights we partner with governments, foundations, and local organizations around the world to research, improve legal frameworks, create tools, pilot innovative approaches, and develop a network of professionals focused on improving the condition of women and girls by strengthening their access and control over land.

Why Do We Focus on Women’s Land Rights?

Three quarters of the 1.2 billion people surviving on less than a dollar a day live and work in rural areas. For most of them land is a key input– their ability to lift themselves out of poverty is strongly influenced by the extent to which they have secure access to and control over a plot of land.

Women are particularly vulnerable. They may lose access or control over land when they get married, get divorced, become widows, or their husbands take another wife. They may be prevented from inheriting land from their parents. They may not have a say into how the family land is used or how the income it generates is allocated. They may not know their rights. They may not be able to enforce the rights they do have. Research has shown that addressing these issues can improve the lives of women, their families, and their communities.

What Are the Goals of the Visiting Professionals Program?

We seek to cultivate a group of qualified professionals who are strongly committed to strengthening women’s land rights at national, local, and international level.  We will start with a group of four Visiting Professionals from India, China, and East Africa. 

Our goal is to enhance these Visiting Professionals’ capacity to strengthen women’s land rights; to foster their ability and motivation to participate in a women’s land rights network; and, to reinforce their commitment to strengthening women’s land rights.

What Do We Offer?

The program begins with a six week period of in-house intense training, mentoring, and sharing with land tenure experts at Landesa headquarters in Seattle. Visiting Professionals will have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the challenges to strengthening women’s land rights; expand the set of approaches they can consider to address these challenges; and, improve their effectiveness by strengthening their leadership, managerial, and communication skills.  In addition to enhancing Visiting Professionals’ capacity, the six weeks in Seattle are designed to foster the ties and mutual trust that will lay the foundation for an international network of women’s land rights professionals. 

Upon Visiting Professionals’ return to their countries, we will continue to work with them for a year of mentoring and sharing expertise, as they implement a mutually agreed project that they designed during their stay in Seattle. 

What Will the Visiting Professionals Program Entail?

This is a competitive year-long program for experienced and strongly motivated professionals who want to enhance their ability to improve women’s land rights in their countries or communities. Visiting Professionals will work closely together and with Landesa staff to enhance their skills, expertise, and commitment to support each other by:

• Participating in and contributing to substantive discussions;
• Sharing their knowledge and expertise through presentations and informal conversations;
• Working on their leadership, managerial, and communication skills;
• Providing and receiving constructive feedback;
• Benefiting from one year of dedicated mentoring;
• Fostering the trust and ties that will lay the foundation for a sustainable women’s land rights network that can be a resource for those working in this field.

For the first six weeks, Visiting Professionals will be based at our headquarters in Seattle, USA. Upon their return to their countries, we will continue to mentor them for a year as they implement a mutually agreed project.

We cover travel expenses, provide housing and a small stipend for the six weeks in Seattle.

Which Professionals are Eligible to Apply? 

• Practitioners,  policy advocates, community organizers, educators, and other professionals who are strongly committed to strengthening women’s land rights;
• Professionals with at least five years of development experience, two of which are either on land tenure or on women’s rights;
• Professionals who are currently working in-country for an organization (NGO, Education Institution, Government Agency, etc.) located in India, China or East Africa;
• Professionals with advanced English proficiency skills (speaking, reading, and writing). 

How Should You Apply? 

Please make sure we receive the following documents by Tuesday February 28^th, 2012: 

1. Cover Letter explaining your interest in the Visiting Professionals program
2. Application Form
3. CV
4. Two writing samples that demonstrate your understanding and involvement in development work and/or women’s land rights
5. Two references (please include  name and contact information)

Applications may be submitted online at landesa.org, via e-mail to inquiries@womenandland.org or post to:

Landesa Center for Women’s Land Rights

Attn: Sabrina Goodwin

Landesa

1424 Fourth Ave., Suite 300

Seattle, WA 98101 USA

Finalists will be notified for interviews in mid-March.  Visiting Professionals for 2012 will be notified and announced in early April.  The appointment starts on September 10^th, 2012.