Improving Tenure Security for the Rural Poor: Rwanda – Country Case Study

Most of the world’s poor work in the “informal economy” – outside of recognized and enforceable rules. Thus, even though most have assets of some kind, they have no way to document their possessions because they lack formal access to legally recognized tools such as deeds, contracts and permits. The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (CLEP) is the first global anti-poverty initiative focusing on the link between exclusion, poverty and law, looking for practical solutions to the challenges of poverty. CLEP aims to make legal protection and economic opportunity the right of all, not the privilege of the few. (see http://legalempowerment.undp.org/) FAO, with donor funding from Norway, has undertaken a set of activities for “Improving tenure security of the rural poor” in order to meet the needs of FAO member countries and, in turn, support the CLEP. This work falls within the FAO corporate strategy on “Sustainable rural livelihoods and more equitable access to resources”. Recognizing that secure access to land and other natural resources (forests, water, fisheries, pastures, etc.) is a crucial factor for eradication of food insecurity and rural poverty, FAO’s cross-departmental and cross-disciplinary work focused 2005-2006 activities on sub-Saharan Africa which has the world’s highest percentage of poor and hungry people.