Overall targets
The land and natural resource rights of pastoralists are increasingly fulfilled by States and the private sector in Niger and the region.
Immediate targets
1. CSOs have increased capacity to mobilise and support pastoralists to use administrative and legal mechanisms to claim their land and natural resource rights in Niger. 2. Relevant duty-bearers including the private sector at local and national level in Niger have increased capacity and willingness to fulfil the rights of pastoralists. 3. CSOs promote national and regional level learning and dialogue across actors such as governments, the private sector and regional bodies on pastoralists' rights.
Target groups
Primary target group: RBM, AREN and DEMI-E as well as their networks. It is expected that as many as 2000 individuals in the partner organisations, out of which 400 are women, will be directly involved in the project The members of these organisations will benefit directly from learning events, training, documentation, sharing of experiences and learning within and across countries, engagement with relevant stakeholders, implementation of advocacy plans, increased understanding and use of legal mechanisms etc. By directly targeting already existing CSOs representing pastoralists, the project will benefit from strong legitimacy with the target group and the fact that the feedback loop to the target group is already in existence within these organisations. The project will address gender imbalances in participation and power through the institutional capacity strengthening as well as by ensuring that women are part of the decision-making of the project. The secondary target groups of the project overlap with key stakeholder groups and are the direct and indirect targets of advocacy, dialogue and pressure as well as capacity strengthening by the project partners. The project will also establish a learning community with organisations in East Africa, such as the Pastoralists Indigenous NGOs Forum (PINGOs Forum) in Tanzania and the Pastoralist Development Network of Kenya (PDNK). These organisations have successfully used the international human rights systems for the promotion of the rights of pastoralists and with this outreach, the learning from the project might be disseminated to an even larger group.
Resume
The "Hands off Our Lands" project focuses on pastoralists rights to land and natural resources in West Africa with a specific focus on Niger. Pastoralists’ livelihoods are challenged as a result of climate change, the destruction of grazing lands, and the illegal sale of pastoral land to the private sector (extractive industries, property development, agribusiness, etc.). The project aims to ensure that land and natural resource rights of pastoralists are increasingly fulfilled by the States and the private sector in Niger and in the region. The project will strengthen the capacity of civil society to use existing administrative and legal mechanisms to claim their rights and reclaim illegally occupied land or receive compensation. The project will also strengthen governmental institutions' capacity to fulfil the pastoralists’ rights. The project will focus on strengthening international human rights mechanisms and multi-stakeholder dialogue with states and the private sector.