Nathaniah Jacobs

Senior researcher, law, economies and justice programme

Nathaniah’s work focuses on using the law to promote fair, just and sustainable policy and practice outcomes. Before joining IIED, she spent over a decade working in human rights practice and the civil service. Her expertise span land and tenure security, natural resource governance, the recognition of customary rights and environmental justice. The intersecting nature of these areas cuts across multiple sectors of land-based investment and just transition processes.

Nathaniah uses legal empowerment approaches to help ensure communities can meaningfully engage and assert their rights within different law and policy arenas. She has led the implementation of a responsive technical support facility aimed at improving governance of land-based investments across 23 countries. This work has included political economy analysis, action research, multi-stakeholder dialogue, engagement with policy and legislation and strengthening institutional co-ordination.

Building strong networks, facilitating peer-to-peer learning, and supporting knowledge sharing are central to her approach.

Expertise

Land and natural resource governance; legal empowerment approaches; human rights; responsible business conduct, particularly around land-based investments; public participation and citizen engagement; consultation and consent seeking processes; women’s land rights; legal; just transition; access to justice.

Before IIED

Oxford policy fellow embedded within the Ethiopian Environment, Forest and Climate Change Commission (EFCCC). Provided legal and policy backstopping to the EFCCC and supported the development of multiple laws, policies, and programmes.
Senior attorney at Lawyers for Human Rights, Land, Housing and Property Programme in South Africa. Provided legal support to communities and individuals impacted by human rights violations, developed and ran strategic public interest litigation cases and engaged in community legal empowerment activities with a focus on land reform and tenure, urban housing rights, gender and natural resource governance.
Law clerk at the Constitutional Court of South Africa.

Education

MPhil, Development Studies, University of Cambridge
LLM, Public International Law, Leiden University
LLB, law, University of Pretoria

Current work

Senior researcher within the law, economies and justice programme on renegotiating the law to promote fair and sustainable economies. IIED lead for the ALIGN technical support facility, a demand driven facility that has delivered technical support for the strengthened governance of land-based investments in 23 countries.