Initiative Type: U.S. Government Initiatives

Launched in 2013, Power Africa’s goal, to add more than 30,000 megawatts (MW) of cleaner, more efficient electricity generation capacity and 60 million new home and business connections depends on having secure rights to use the land required for energy infrastructure projects.

Power Africa will build on Africa’s enormous power potential, including new discoveries of vast reserves of oil and gas, and the potential to develop clean geothermal, hydro, wind and solar energy, which will not only provide for important electricity needs but also reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. Such clean energy development can provide an economic boon, especially in Africa, where research suggests that renewable sources can provide all of the power needed by the continent at a reasonable cost. Power Africa will help countries develop newly-discovered resources responsibly, build out power generation and transmission, and expand the reach of mini-grid and off-grid solutions.

And viable energy infrastructure projects are more likely to take place and less likely to have a negative effect on local land rights’ holders if both local communities and investors alike have secure tenure. What is more, investors are likely to face less risk and a greater likelihood of a reasonable return on their investment in settings where all legitimate land rights—formal and customary—are secure, as the project is less likely to encounter conflicts over land or challenges from people whose lives have been adversely affected.

More information about Power Africa can be found on USAID’s website.

Launched in 2015, Let Girls Learn is a collaborative, whole of government approach to addressing the range of challenges preventing adolescent girls from attaining a quality education. Let Girls Learn implements part of the Girls Count Act, signed into law the same year, which supports girls to reach their full potential through, in part, promoting efforts that help secure land rights for women and girls by ensuring that they are registered at birth.

Birth registration is critical for improving access to critical services and it may help strengthen rights, including helping women and girls to secure property rights, home ownership, and inheritance rights. While registration is important for all individuals, it is particularly important for girls who are less likely globally to have their births officially registered.

Recognizing that adolescent girls face multiple challenges in pursuing an education, Let Girls Learn is employing a holistic approach to change the perception of the value of girls at the individual, community and institutional levels; foster an enabling environment for adolescent girls’ education; and engage and equip girls to make life decisions and important contributions to society. The initiative also supports a collaborative approach that enables USAID to work with other U.S. Government Agencies, and to partner with civil society and the private sector to address the range of challenges confronting adolescent girls around the world, building upon the broad portfolio of existing programs all aimed at addressing the complex and varied barriers preventing adolescent girls from attending and completing school and from realizing their potential as adults.

Learn more on USAID’s website.

Feed the Future, which was launched in 2010, renews the U.S. Government’s commitment to invest in sustainably reducing hunger and poverty, and places responsible land-based investment at the core of its programs—including clarifying land rights and maximizing the positive impact of agricultural investments on women, smallholder farmers, and families’ nutritional status.

The U.S. Government’s pledge of at least $3.5 billion to support agricultural development and food security over three years has helped to leverage and align more than $18.5 billion from other donors supporting a comprehensive approach to achieving sustainable food security. Integral to this approach is the creation of enabling environments that are conducive to agricultural growth and food security; these often hinge upon securing land and property rights of smallholders, investors, and other resource users. Clear and secure property rights for landholders and users reduce the potential for conflict and the threat of eviction; provide incentives to conserve and improve these assets; encourage land-related investments; allow land rental and sales markets to transfer land to more productive uses and users; and, if coupled with cost-effective systems of land administration, reduce the cost of credit by leveraging these assets as collateral.

Additionally, in 2016, the Global Food Security Act (GFSA) was signed into law, which aligns global development issues of food insecurity, malnutrition and global poverty with U.S. national security interests, including acknowledging progress “in the promotion of land tenure rights,” particularly regarding women and smallholder farmers as essential to a strategy that will achieve greater food security. The GFSA strengthens the Feed the Future initiative’s existing accountability mechanisms and establishes parameters for robust Congressional oversight, monitoring and evaluation of impact toward this commitment.

More information can be found on the Feed the Future website.