The Tenure Facility is a result of deep consultations with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, other financial mechanisms and civil society since 2012. The organisation was launched in 2014 by the Rights and Resources Group (RRG), the coordinating mechanism of the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI). A multi- stakeholder Advisory Group guided the initial pilot phase from 2014-2017. During this phase, six pilot projects demonstrated the effectiveness of strategically deployed funds to foster coordination between civil society and government in order to implement reforms and remove bottlenecks to secure the rights and livelihoods of communities. In addition, the pilots provided lessons to fine-tune working modalities of the new mechanism.

In late 2016 the Tenure Facility began its transition from an initiative under RRG to an independent legal entity. An international Board of Directors was established prior to the formal registration of the Tenure Facility as a Swedish Collecting Foundation (Insamlingstiftelse) in January 2017. Importantly, several major financial commitments were made to the Tenure Facility from key donors in 2017, thus giving the transition impetus to fully establish operations swiftly and according to legal and donor standards.

The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility work alongside Indigenous Peoples and local communities to advance their land rights while sharing the knowledge, innovations and tools that emerge