The Netherlands Land Academy’s Annual Conference — LANDac — was held in Utrecht from July 2-4, 2025. A parallel session on ‘Fostering food security by ensuring access to land for persons with disabilities’ was co-organised by We are Able! (WaA!) with ZOA, Dutch Coalition on Disability and Development (DCDD), SeeYou Foundation and VNG International. The session highlighted the key barriers to disability inclusive food security and land rights. Practical solutions and experiences from the field were shared and the role of local governments in driving inclusion was explored.
The programme included a disability inclusive land rights game, identifying barriers and how to overcome them, experiences from the WaA! programme, and the importance of effective collaboration between organisations of persons with disabilities (OPDs), local governments and communities to promote disability inclusive food security and land rights with an interactive discussion on what can be done.
This session towards Disability Inclusive Land Rights shared insights from the WaA! programme, a five-year programme that supports people with disabilities to secure a meaningful place in their communities and improve their access to food and land. We are Able! works across six African countries: Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda. The programme promotes inclusive decision-making and local solutions, focusing on empowerment, amplifying voices and creating resilience among persons with disabilities.
on Disability Inclusive Land Rights
Inge Vos, Sector Specialist Food Security and Livelihoods and one of the panellists, gave a presentation on ‘Barriers and how to overcome them: Experiences from the We are Able! Programme’. She said, “Secure land rights is not just about property, but also about power, agency and inclusion. Denying persons with disabilities access to land is denying them the opportunity to build their own future. Secure land rights give them the means to grow food, earn an income and live with dignity.”
This parallel session focused on exchanging lessons, hearing inspiring perspectives, and exploring how inclusive land governance can lead to more food-secure communities. The WaA! programme champions disability-inclusive land rights, which is often an overlooked facet of food security and land access.
At the LANDac Conference, the WaA! team had the exciting chance to speak with Esther Wanjiku Mwaura Muiru, Global Advocacy Director at Stand for Her Land. In the plenary session, she emphasised that “System change takes seven generations; we must dare to think in generations”.
She called for long-term investments in platforms that solidify laws and policies and truly secure women’s land rights. Without this structural approach, we will never achieve equality in land rights, she stated—and the same applies to people with disabilities who face cultural, physical and institutional barriers to secure access to land.
Some more takeaways from Esther’s keynote speech were investing in platforms that focus on the implementation of existing laws and policies that improve equality, and that resources are needed for locally led multi-stakeholder platforms and a long-term engagement beyond project cycles.
The statistics speak volumes:
• 1 in 7 people globally live with a disability;
• In developing countries, 55% of them face food insecurity, 82% live below the poverty line, 90% live in rural areas—where land rights are key for survival and self-determination.
This is why the WaA! programme focuses on inclusive land rights for persons with disabilities. The strategy builds on three key pillars:
- Community mobilisation and raising awareness among citizens;
- Strengthening Organisations of People with Disabilities (OPDs) and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs);
- Engagement of local and public authorities into a dialogue on the food security of persons with disabilities through Lobby and Advocacy.
During a session on the role of local governments in disability inclusive food security and land rights, Michelle van Raalte, Senior Project Manager East and Southern Africa at VNG International and one of the panellists, said: “If local governments are seen as a partner rather than an enemy, they can actually provide an enabling environment for persons with disabilities to thrive.”
Through close collaboration all WaA! partners (ZOA, ADF, SeeYou Foundation, VNG International, The Hague Academy for Local Governance, TLM Netherlands), are building a more inclusive and equitable future, where food security starts with secure access to land, and ensuring that no one is left behind.
Photo Credit: DCDD