Recognizing the need for access to timely, sustainable, transparent, and reliable information on land in promoting responsible and accountable land governance, 19 focal CSO representatives from nine Asian countries (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, and Thailand) convened in a regional planning meeting on “Sustainable, Reliable, and Transparent Data and Information towards Responsible Land Governance (CO-TRAIN)” in Bangkok, Thailand on 12 to 13 March 2018.
The CO-TRAIN Project is an initiative that upholds transparent and accessible information as mandated in the Commitment-based Initiative (CBI) #8 of the International Land Coalition (ILC)’s People-Centered Land Governance.
Building from CSO-led frameworks and indicators on land monitoring – i.e. Land Watch Asia (LWA) Land Monitoring, and the PCLG Dashboard – the CO-TRAIN Project aims to achieve three key result areas (KRAs), namely:
KRA 1 – Initiating CSO engagement with National Statistics Offices (NSOs) in the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
KRA 2 – Undertaking the LWA Country Monitoring on access to land and tenurial security in support of policy work; and
KRA 3 – Convening and facilitating the work of the CBI #8 Working Group.
Facilitated by the Asian NGO Coalition for Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ANGOC) as the lead coordinating organization for the CBI #8 Working Group, the partners have agreed on the outlines and methodologies of activities of the KRAs.
Country partners have also finalized their workplans in implementing the project.
CBI 8 Project Partners who attended the meeting include the Association for Land Reform and Development (ALRD) in Bangladesh; STAR Kampuchea in Cambodia; South Asia Rural Reconstruction Association (SARRA) in India; Konsorsium Pembaruan Agraria (KPA) in Indonesia; Union of the Water Users’ Associations of the Kyrgyz Republic (UWUA), Kyrgyz Association of Forest and Land Users (KAFLU), Rural Development Fund (RDF) in Kyrgyzstan; Community Self-Reliance Centre (CSRC) in Nepal; Society for Conservation and Protection of Environment (SCOPE) in Pakistan; and Philippine Association for Inter-cultural Development (PAFID) in the Philippines.
Other Project Partners are the Farmer and Nature Net (FNN) in Indonesia; Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) in India; Mobilization and Development (MODE) in Nepal; and Xavier Science Foundation, Inc. (XSF) in the Philippines.
Harafik of the ILC-Asia Regional Coordinating Unit and Tam Hoang of the UN-HABITAT Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific participated in the meeting as well.
