Property rights and collective action affect people’s livelihoods. The most vulnerable and marginalized rural groups often lack access to resources because they lack secure property rights and find participation in collective action too costly due to time and resource constraints. Tenure security provides key assets for food security, allowing the poor to help themselves by growing food, investing in more productive activities, or using property as collateral for credit. Collective action can contribute to poverty reduction through mutual insurance, increased opportunities for income generation, and improved provision and access to public services. CAPRi’s research objectives include:
- Identifying effective policies and practices that enhance the ways that collective action and property rights are used to build secure assets and income streams for and by the poor
- Providing policymakers, NGOs, and community groups with knowledge of the factors that strengthen rights of the poor to land and water resources and lead to more effective collective action by the poor
- Strengthening the capability of CGIAR centers and National Agricultural Research systems (NARs) to integrate research on collective action and property rights into their work on agricultural technologies and natural resource management, and to work with community organizations.
From 2004 to 2007, CAPRi carried out a global research project on the role of collective action and property rights in reducing poverty supported by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).