Land National Network Engagement Strategy (Landnnes)

LandNNES is a broad platform-based civil society platform which brings together over 22 civil society formations (members) with a common medium-to-long term vision around the broad theme of people centred land governance. In late September 2017, a national Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) was established with the FAO Country Office playing a catalysing role. With the MSP created, being co-chaired by Department of Rural Development and Land Reform (DRDLR) and theAssociation for Rural Advancement (AFRA), it was important that the synergies and complementarities between the National Engagement Strategy (NES) chaired by AFRA and supported by the International Land Coalition (ILC), and the UN-FAO Voluntary Guidelines on Governance of Tenure (VGGT) related activities merge into a single approach to strengthen tenure governance, especiallyLand is one of the fundamental factors in resolving South Africa’s triple challenge of inequality, poverty and unemployment. The history of racialised land dispossession resulted in the spatial dysfunction we see today, and shaped a discriminatory labour regime which continues to limit how the majority of South Africans are able to secure a decent and sustainable livelihood. Governance failures in land and agriculture in the democratic era means that these issues continue to generate poverty and inequality and to constrain employment opportunities. Land governance is an overarching framework. Equitable land distribution, tenure security, social and ecological land use and an inclusive and democratic food system all fall under this bigger governance umbrella. Land governance essentially refers to the policy and institutional framework that defines, regulates and administers land and who can use it, for what and under what conditions.