Developed with USAID support, Mapping Approaches for Securing Tenure (MAST) combines participatory land mapping with flexible technology to temporarily fill service gaps in land administration and to supplement official land information systems, and ultimately improve long-term governance of community land and resources. MAST aims to enable communities to document and secure their land and resource…Read More
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Applying MAST for Enhanced Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Outcomes
Research finds that strengthening women’s land and resource rights positively impacts women’s empowerment and decision-making capacity. Yet laws and practices across much of the world hinder women’s access to these critical assets. USAID has helped address this inequity over the past decade through Mapping Approaches for Securing Tenure (MAST), a blend of participatory land mapping…Read More
Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) Annual Progress Report – 2022
Summary of Year 4 In Year 4, ILRG completed several global pieces, including revisions to the capacity assessment framework, as well as desk-based products on the intersection between biodiversity, zoonosis, and carbon mitigation objectives and on migration and forest condition. Additional analyses are underway. ILRG has coordinated with the Integrated Natural Resource Management program (INRM)…Read More
MAST in Tanzania by the Numbers
Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) is a blend of participatory mapping approaches and flexible technology tools that USAID developed to empower communities to document and secure their land and resource rights in support of a range of development objectives. In Tanzania, USAID implemented MAST in rural areas to lower the cost and time associated…Read More
A Decade in the Making: The Evolution of Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST)
Introduction Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) is a blend of participatory mapping approaches and flexible technology tools that USAID developed to empower communities to document and secure their land and resources rights in support of a range of development objectives ranging from women’s empowerment and food security to climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation….Read More
Five Lessons from Using MAST to Advance Women’s Land and Resource Rights
July 6, 2022
Research shows that strengthening women’s land and resource rights has a striking and positive impact on women’s empowerment. And yet, across much of the world, formal and informal laws and customs hinder women’s access to land and resources, leaving them unable to fulfill their full potential as agents of economic and social change. USAID is…Read More
Leveraging MAST in Natural Resource Management: Cross-Sectoral Uptake Throughout Tanzania
Mobile Applications to Secure Tenure (MAST) is a blend of participatory mapping approaches and flexible technology tools that USAID developed to empower communities to document and secure their land and resources rights in support of a range of development objectives ranging from women’s empowerment and food security to climate change mitigation and biodiversity preservation. The…Read More
Research
Targeted Study on the Role of Customary Land Formalization in Women’s Economic Empowerment
This report presents the results of a mixed-methods study on the role of customary land documentation in strengthening Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE). The overarching purpose was to help fill critical knowledge gaps on if and how strengthening women’s land rights via formalized customary land documentation affects their empowerment and economic growth, with a specific focus…Read More
Strengthening Women’s Land Rights in Rural Tanzania: Results from an Impact Evaluation of USAID’s Land Tenure Assistance Activity
April 9, 2021
In rural Tanzania, as in many other low- and middle-income countries, land is a crucial asset that supports livelihoods and enables individuals and households to expand their economic opportunities. Most Tanzanians in rural areas are farmers who obtained their land through long-standing customary norms. However, weak land rights protections and a lack of documented ownership…Read More
Lessons from the Field: Operational Lessons from Delimiting Community and Family Lands
Introduction This learning brief captures some lessons learned from practical implementation of the Mobile Approaches to Secure Tenure (MAST) approach, known as Community Value Land Chain (CaVaTeCo) in Mozambique. These lessons were provided by staff of field teams and the back office technical support team, based on experience in the Integrated Land and Resources Governance…Read More
USAID Brief Reveals Linkages between Gender-Based Violence and Documentation of Women’s Land Rights
November 23, 2020
Different forms of GBV are linked to land documentation, including economic violence such as a denial of land access, ownership, and inheritance rights, forced displacement, and property grabbing. Banner Photo credit CLEMENT CHIRWA – TETRA TECH A USAID brief, published to mark 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, reveals important lessons from land rights…Read More
Gender-Based Violence and Land Documentation & Administration in Zambia: Emerging Lessons from Implementation
This brief draws from USAID’s experience supporting systematic land documentation in Zambia to further advance awareness and knowledge about the relationship between gender-based violence (GBV) and the access, use, and control of land and property. It aims to inform current and future design and implementation of programs that promote land-based investment and land rights (particularly…Read More