Last 21 April, ANGOC organized a roundtable discussion (RTD) towards developing a land monitoring framework for civil society organizations (CSOs) in Asia. ANGOC introduced the project, entitled Developing a Land Monitoring Framework: an Asian CSO Initiative, to the Land Watch Philippines network. Dean Roel Ravanera of Xavier University College of Agriculture is the Lead Consultant for this Project. He proposed focusing civil society land monitoring on access to land and land tenure, with corresponding indicators and variables.

During the roundtable discussion, which is the first of three activities ANGOC is organizing for the initiative, the Land Watch Philippines members provided feedback and suggestions on how to shape the framework.

The second activity is an e-consultation. Finally, a Project Advisory Committee Meeting or an Experts’ Meeting is slated for mid-May.

This civil society land monitoring initiative aims to support the Land Watch Asia campaign. Monitoring land rights issues at the country and regional levels has been a recommendation to move the LWA campaign forward. It aims to develop the capacity of NGOs to monitor access to land implementation, landlessness and land conflicts in select Asian countries, through the preparation of a framework.
The proceedings are presently being prepared and will be available soon.