In 2010, the Land Core Group emerged from the Food Security Working Group (FSWG) as a coalition of individuals and organisations interested in advancing land rights of smallholders and indigenous communities in Myanmar. In 2015, following a process of consultation with LCG members, LCG formally separated from FSWG and became an independent, registered organisation that no longer had members and no longer represented other civil society groups. LCG continued to bridge the gap between civil society and government by facilitating multi-stakeholder processes, sharing information, and hosting meetings for civil society groups.
A defining achievement was our role in helping to facilitate an unprecedented public consultation process for the National Land Use Policy (NLUP), in cooperation with the Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry (now the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation), donors and civil society, between 2013 and 2015. As a result of that process, the NLUP incorporates a number of progressive principles that advance the rights of women and men smallholder farmers and indigenous communities.
Our work on the NLUP laid the foundation for our later engagements with government to bring about the implementation of the NLUP. We see the implementation of the NLUP as critical to achieving more equitable land governance, and are supporting the National Land Use Council, tasked with its implementation. We have also drawn on experience with consultations on the NLUP in organizing consultation processes on land-related legislation, such as the Forest Rules.
Less visible has been our work over the years engaging directly with different progressive actors in Government and Parliament, helping them perform their functions better and advancing our policy aims.
Our research, engagement with civil society, and information sharing, began while LCG was a working group and has continued through our Civil Society Engagement and Research, Knowledge, and Information workstreams. One of our longest running programs, delivered through our Civil Society Engagement workstream, is the Training of Trainers (ToT) land rights and land laws awareness program, which you read more about under ‘What We Do’.