A Message from RRI President, Solange Bandiaky-Badji

RRI President, Solange Bandiaky-Badji

Dear Friends,

I am delighted to share with you RRI’s 2022 annual report—a brief snapshot of our achievements from this past year.

Globally, we saw significant developments in 2022, marked by a continued increase in recognition for the role played by Indigenous Peoples (IPs), local communities (LCs) and Afro-descendant Peoples (ADPs) in climate and conservation action. Donors and philanthropies formalized new funding commitments for these groups and proponents of voluntary carbon markets created “high integrity” frameworks to safeguard human rights.

This report gives a snapshot of just some of our coalition’s pivotal successes that give us hope and vigor, particularly as we embark upon our new 5-year Strategic Program. These achievements reinforce our promise to radically accelerate progress toward a more just, equitable, and sustainable future.

Our Mission

Securing Indigenous, community, and Afro-descendant land rights—including the rights of the women within these groups—is vital to both staving off the climate crisis and achieving sustainable development. It’s also a human rights imperative. Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) is a global coalition of more than 150 rightsholder organizations and their allies dedicated to advancing the land and resource rights of local peoples—informed and driven by Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities themselves.

Our mission is to provide support against the marginalization of these communities and for their sustainable, self-determined development. We do this by promoting greater global commitment and action towards policy, market, and legal reforms that secure their rights to own, control, and benefit from natural resources, especially land and forests.

To advance this mission, we have three global goals:

To substantially increase the forest area under local ownership and administration, with secure rights to manage, conserve, use, and trade products and services
To increase the adoption of progressive laws, regulations, and practices that promote the customary and statutory forest land rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, local communities, and women within those groups, and simultaneously reduce efforts that weaken these
To dramatically improve the self-determined socio-economic status of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities

How We Deliver

Partnerships

21

projects funded through the Strategic Response Mechanism, worth US$971,959

Countries

Collaborators

Partners

Donors

Current & Past Project Locations

World map showing the countries RRI operates in
Africa Silhouette (Vibrant)

Africa

Burkina Faso

Cameroon

Central African Republic

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Gabon

Ghana

Guinea

Kenya

Liberia

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Nigeria

Senegal

South Africa

Tanzania

Togo

Uganda

Africa Silhouette (Asia)

Asia

Cambodia

China

India

Indonesia

Lao PDR

Myanmar

Nepal

Philippines

Thailand

Africa Silhouette (South America)

Latin America

Belize

Bolivia

Brazil

Colombia

Costa Rica

Ecuador

Guatemala

Honduras

Mexico

Nicaragua

Panama

Peru

Suriname

Rights and Resources Group (RRG) Staff

Total staff worldwide
Icon - Group

Women
Icon - Woman

Men
Icon - Man

Facilitators in developing countries
Icon - Handshake

Knowledge

Publications
w

Languages

Downloads

Blog Readers

Objectives

Building the Evidence Base

RRI makes the case for rights recognition and provides a global baseline from which to measure and instigate progress.

Ayu, an Indigenous Talang Mamak youth from Riau province in Sumatra, Indonesia. | Credit: Jacob Maentz

Rapid Response Funding

RRI provides rapid response financial support for Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities to take advantage of unforeseen opportunities to engage with key stakeholders, push for key reforms, and/or pilot innovative ideas.

Indigenous communities in Peru’s Madre de Dios region demand territorial recognition | Credit: Tenure Facility

Country-level Engagement

RRI helps create an enabling environment for tenure reform by responding to priorities identified annually by Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples, enhancing collaboration around crucial reform processes; providing the latest research in accessible formats for advocates; and linking local-level work to key national and international development and climate processes.

Innovation and Incubation

RRI creates institutions, initiatives, and tools that fill gaps in the ecosystem of existing efforts to recognize community land rights. These include: MegaFlorestais, The Interlaken Group, the Tenure Facility, Land Rights Now, and Landmark.

Connecting and Convening Unlikely Allies

By creating spaces and opportunities for stakeholders to come together, RRI creates credible pathways for diverse constituents to agree on and implement sustainable development solutions that fully respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities.

Chyulu Hills, Kenya | Credit: Sho Hatakeyama, Unsplash
Blue Skies
Flag icon (White)

From Darkness to Blue Skies: A Coalition Listening Exercise

Over the course of 2022, RRI commissioned in-depth interviews with one hundred leaders of grassroots networks in 22 countries—men, women, and youth among Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-descendant Peoples—about their hopes, dreams, and fears for the future. The interviews used the “Blue Skies” thinking approach, which is a freeform space for brainstorming and new ideas. We encouraged participants to be open-minded and to think beyond day-to-day concerns. We sought clarity on what they want the world to be like in 2030 and beyond, how such a world could be brought into being, and their worries about their paths to get there. The leaders we interviewed expressed diverse views but shared at least one universal vision. In a “blue skies” world, their communities would have secure rights to their communal lands, forests, and territories; including the rights to govern these areas and exercise control over who lives there and uses their resources. Four key themes emerged in these conversations:

  • The need for a new generation of foundational leaders
  • The freedom to live with dignity and rights
  • Embracing technology to create new narratives
  • The creation of a new Indigenous model of economy
Community women’s network meets in Liberia | Credit: Mina Beyan

Regional Achievements

Regions

Africa

Regions

Asia

Regions

Latin America

Thematic Work

01

Charting a Path to Scale

02

Linking Rights with Climate and Conservation Action

03

Advancing Justice for Women

04

Linking Rights with Community Livelihoods

05

Building the Evidence Base

Metrics
Metrics icon (White)

Metrics

Communications and Outreach

Products

Op-Eds

Newsletters

Events

Publications
20.1k Total
Downloads
8 Languages

Blog Posts
58k Total
Readership
66%   3 Languages

Press Releases
4 Languages

Videos
19.9k Total
Viewership
4 Languages

Social Media and Web

* Includes USD $200 paid promotion.

** In 2021, we conducted a paid promotional campaign for the publication Whose Water? which drew an additional 45,064 people to the website. Without a similar paid campaign in 2022, the website saw a net decrease of 5.23% in traffic. If this paid campaign is excluded from the data, total organic traffic to RRI’s website in 2022 increased by 15.11%.

Highest Reaching Content

Publications Icon (White)

Publications

Total Downloads
Most downloaded publications
Number of Downloads
Who Owns the Land in Africa?
2,250
Rights-Based Conservation: The Path to Preserving Earth’s Biological and Cultural Diversity?
1,502
Reconciling Conservation and Global Biodiversity Goals with Community Land Rights in Asia
1,432
Funding with Purpose: A Study to Inform Donor Support for Indigenous and Local Community Rights, Climate, and Conservation
1,041
Report: Status of Legal Recognition of Indigenous Peoples’, Local Communities’ and Afro-descendant Peoples’ Rights to Carbon Stored in Tropical Lands and Forests
784
Blog Posts Icon (White)

Blogs and Press Releases

Total Views
Most viewed blogs and press releases
Views
Governance Governing Government
7,708
RRI and Campaign for Nature Launch CLARIFI: A New International Mechanism to Finance Community-led Action for Climate Change and Conservation
1,146
Why Indigenous-led Conservation is Crucial for Canada’s Climate Goals
1,047
DRC Senate Adopts New Law on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of the Indigenous Pygmy Peoples
772
Indigenous Community in Indonesia Meets with Leadership of Palm Oil Company for First Time in 25 Years
767
Videos Icon (White)

Events and Initiatives

Total Hits
Most viewed content of this section
Views
[News] Tenure Tracking and RRI’s New Tenure Tool
4,029
[News] Community Land Rights and Conservation Finance Initiative (CLARIFI)
2,838
[News] Strategic Response Mechanism
2,410
[News] The Land Rights Standard
1,195
[Event] Dialogue on Indigenous and Community Leadership in Conservation: Enhancing North-South Collaboration
854
Videos Icon (White)

Videos

Total Views
Most Watched Videos
Views
The Ogiek Story: Community-led Conservation in Mount Elgon, Kenya
18,120
Que sont devenus les philosophes qui n’enseignent pas la philosophie?
507
RRI’s Tenure Tool
269

Financial Highlights

Donor Information

Over $10 million
  • Bezos Earth Fund, Tropical Andes
  • Bezos Earth Fund, Congo Basin
  • Chicago Community Foundation
$1 million — $9.99 million
  • Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
  • Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
  • Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), 2023–2027
  • Ford Foundation
  • Quadrature
  • Skoll Foundation
  • Yellow Chair Foundation
$20,000 — $999,999
  • The Sobrato Organization
  • Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA)
  • Milkywire
  • The SED Fund
  • The German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)
  • Montréal International
  • Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
  • Christensen Fund
  • Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
The Maju Bersama KPPL (Kelompok Perempuan Peduli Lingkungan), a women’s environmental group from Pal VIII village, Bengkulu, Sumatra, Indonesia | Credit: Jacob Maentz