2015-World Bank, Government of Japan and FAO-A Good Practices Brief. The Voluntary Guidelines and The World Bank: Increasing Women’s Access to Land, Approaches that Work.

The brief highlights practical approaches that respond to these themes (policy making, legal issues, land tenure governance, technical issues, and communication strategies) and recommendations to increase women’s access to land from a range of projects. The analysis shows that mainstreaming gender into land programs can be achieved—the case studies presented in the brief predominantly utilize common sense and well-tested solutions. Success also requires the right mixture of client demand, funding and dedicated expertise. Although efforts to secure women’s land rights include the passage of gender-equal laws, this is just a first step to realizing equality on the ground. Customary practice, and related procedures and norms associated with access to credit, taxation, inheritance, marriage, and divorce also impact women’s access to land.