The document details the initiative’s methodology, including the conceptual framework, research questions, and the dimensions evaluated in the gender analysis. It provides a comprehensive definition of land rights and introduces innovative tools and approaches employed in gauging transformative changes in women’s empowerment. The methods section further explores the tools and techniques utilized, including community profiles, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions.
Tag: customary law
Women’s Land Rights in Bangladesh. Securing Women’s Resource Rights through Gender Transformative Approaches
The following analysis of relevant social and legal contexts in Bangladesh reviews existing literature to identify the current institutional and regulatory framework, tenure interventions and barriers to the recognition of women’s land tenure rights, as well as the access to mechanisms to resolve land conflict and to reinforce women’s rights. This analysis reviews secondary data is to identify and contextualize the opportunity for Gender Transformative Approaches (GTAs) to reinforce women’s land rights in Bangladesh.
Strengthening Rural Women’s Capacity to Advocate for their Land Rights: Step-by-Step Process and Case Study from The Gambia
This document describes the process led by ActionAid International The Gambia (AAITG) to build rural women’s capacities to advocate for land rights in The Gambia, and provides guidance for scaling the approach in other contexts.
Women’s Land Rights in Niger. Securing Women’s Resource Rights through Gender Transformative Approaches
This review provides an overview of the existing land governance arrangements in Niger regulating women’s land rights. The first section discusses land tenure systems and institutional arrangements. The second part discusses two different types of land tenure interventions – registration and certification – and the extent to which they have impacted the recognition of women’s land rights. The third part unpacks the predominant barriers to and gaps in recognition of women’s rights to land, while the last part highlights land dispute resolution mechanisms and their implications for women.
Women’s Land Rights in the Kyrgyz Republic. Securing Women’s Resource Rights through Gender Transformative Approaches
Legal reforms and political commitments on land and on gender since the end of the Soviet Union have protected women’s rights and have included affirmative measures to support women’s ownership, and use rights to land, as well as an improved role in management of pastures. However, while the experience of women on the two types of land differs considerably, common barriers to gender equity remain; these challenges mainly derive from patrilocal marriage traditions, patrilineal inheritance patterns, exclusion of women from decision-making and power, and social norms that prevent women from asserting and protecting their interests inside and outside of the home.
Tenure reform and perceived food security in Indonesia: An exploratory study
Key messages
- Land and forest tenure reform has been expanding globally, increasingly with the aim of improving the livelihoods and food security of indigenous people and local communities through securing forest access.
- In Indonesia, legal rights for local communities to access and manage state forests were partially recognised in 1999. Social forestry only started to advance in 2014, however, following the government’s pledge to transfer the management of 12.7 million ha of forest to forest-dependent communities. Evaluating the impact of these forest tenure reforms on local communities’ food security is critical to understanding the effectiveness of the reforms.
- CIFOR has developed a framework to assess the impact of forest tenure reform in Indonesia by comparing the perception of current levels of food security and the perception of changes in food security of communities living in areas that have undergone forest tenure reform with those living in non-reformed forest areas.
- Communities’ perceptions of food security are influenced more by household characteristics and level of village development than by forest tenure reform status – the higher the village development, the greater the perception of food security. However, communities that have undergone forest tenure reform are more likely to perceive that their food security status has improved than those who have not.
- Communities in customary areas perceived higher food security, however those who had poor access to forests previously, such as those in reform areas, benefitted from forest access through reforms and thus perceived an improvement in food security conditions.
An exploratory review of legal texts and literature on living tenure systems in Madagascar
A lack of information about the living customary systems that manage commons in Madagascar hampers efforts to identify the levels at which collectivities charged with allocating land and enforcing land claims should receive legal recognition. To help address this knowledge gap and inform ongoing legal reforms aimed at recognizing collective tenure, we reviewed relevant legal texts and field studies of Malagasy tenure systems. Our review of legal texts revealed that the lack of a clear legal definition of the collectivities located closest to rural villagers is a major obstacle to efforts aimed at recognizing the land allocation and governance rights of existing local institutions. At the same time, our review of field research of customary tenure systems demonstrates that these systems continue to function more or less effectively in many parts of rural Madagascar. The evidence also suggests that the positive effect of customary tenure systems on conservation outcomes is contingent upon the degree to which those making and enforcing the rules are perceived to have legitimacy, as well as the degree to which the rules reflect local realities and values. This argues in favour of providing clear statutory recognition of local-level customary institutions, and their authority to establish and regulate use of land and forests.
Women’s Land Rights in The Gambia. Securing Women’s Resource Rights through Gender Transformative Approaches
This socio-legal analysis provides an overview of existing land governance arrangements in The Gambia as they relate to women’s access to land and resources. It discusses two different types of land tenure interventions: title deeds and certification. These inventions vary according to different types of recognized rights-holders and the area in which rights are being formalized. Access to and control over land and other productive resources in The Gambia is shaped by complex tenure systems. Coexisting and interacting customary systems and statutory regulations are influenced by reform processes, with differentiated effects in rural and urban areas. Rights to resources are often negotiated across multiple rights-holders, overlapping tenure regimes and resource systems. Despite important progress through legislative reforms, implementation has been slow and prevailing barriers and gaps continue to influence the recognition of women’s land rights and their ability to benefit from them.
Women’s Land Rights in Ethiopia. Securing Women’s Resource Rights through Gender Transformative Approaches
This review summarizes relevant findings from the socio-legal analysis conducted in Ethiopia. It combines the review of key legal and policy documents and literature on existing barriers to the recognition of women’s land rights. The review analyzes existing tenure systems, identifies tenure interventions recognizing rights to women, as well as barriers constraining their ability to benefit from those rights. Most of the land in Ethiopia is under statutory tenure, landholding certification is the most important land tenure intervention recognizing land rights. Constitutional Reforms adopted since 1995 specify principles to protect women’s rights, including provisions to recognize and enforce their rights to land and resources through a land certification process which ensured women’s engagement. Since 1998, Ethiopia’s massive rural landholding certification process has certified over 20 million plots. Despite these advancements in gender-responsive policy, Ethiopian land tenure practices continue to be characterized by the marginalization and invisibilization of women.
Women’s land rights realities in the ‘Rubi-Tele’ Hunting Domain, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Women contribute to reducing hunger and improving household food security and livelihood. However, they do not benefit from secure land rights. This study thus aimed to determine the factors that prevent women from Rubi-Tele from enjoying their rights. A 2-week survey completed by four focus groups in four villages helped us gather information that was later analysed using a socio-legal approach. All women were involved in agriculture, but they were the only workers who could not control or manage the land. They often accessed land through the family channel (96.7%), while other pathways were less used by the origin (3.3%). Although the Democratic Republic of the Congo has made enormous progress, women were unaware of these advances: thus, 70% did not know their rights. This unawareness impeded their ability to initiate strategies to claim their rights. Some women have been able to identify their difficulties. They incriminated the custom standards that favoured their male counterparts (21.7%). Additionally, begging for husband permission (28%) and poverty (20%) were cited as barriers to women’s property rights. Moreover, some women conservationists preferred the custom to formal laws, despite their advances (30%). No strategy has been initiated because women fear the society’s response.