Arab Land Initiative: renewal of the partnership among UN-Habitat, GLTN and BMZ

In early October, UN-Habitat and the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development of Germany (BMZ) renewed their collaboration on the Arab Land Initiative. The regional programme on Good Land Governance in Support to Inclusive Development, Gender Equality, Peace and Stability, and Climate Resilience, running until 2028 and with a budget of Euros 3.5 million, was signed to this effect.

Ensuring good land governance and functioning land administration is crucial for socio-economic development, peace, and climate resilience. Only empowered and capacitated local, national, and regional actors can effectively collaborate to sustain the long-term engagement needed to reform the land sector in the Arab region. With this logic, under the leadership with UN-Habitat and the Global Land Tool Network, the Arab Land Initiative was established in 2016.

Building on the achievements and lessons learnt from phase 1, the second phase of the Initiative started in January 2023 to improve the capacities of national and regional stakeholders, create and share knowledge, foster collaboration, and catalyze land-related interventions in the 22 countries that are part of the League of Arab states. Through collaborative efforts, the Initiative will support the work done by partners and draw the attention of decision makers and governments on land governance. 

There are six thematic areas of focus:

• Women’s land rights 
• Land and conflict and Housing, Land and Property rights of displaced people
• Land for climate resilience and food security 
• Land for housing and sustainable urbanisation
• Fit-for-purpose land administration 
• Monitoring land governance 

UN-Habitat, GLTN and BMZ are very pleased about the renewal of this partnership and look forward to continuing and increasing the collaboration with regional, national and local land governance actors in the coming years.