improving womens and girls land rights: illustrative interventions from india and uganda tim hanstad...
TRANSCRIPT
Improving Women’s and Girls’ Land Rights:
Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda
Tim HanstadRural Development Institute (RDI)
Outline
I. Introduction1. Why do women’s land rights matter?2. Barriers to women’s land rights: a legal perspective
II. Putting a gender lens on land projects targeted at “households”
III. Illustrative interventions targeting women’s or girls’ land rights
1. Land Purchase for Women: Andhra Pradesh, India2. Daughters, Dowry, and Early Marriage: West Bengal,
India3. Women and Girls in IDP Camps: Uganda
Why Do Women’s Land Rights Matter?
More than half of all women in developing world work in agriculture
Women effective agents of economic and social change
Land as key resource – food security, income, wealth, power, credit, status, government services
Secure land rights for households impact females differently than males
Benefits of Women’s Land Rights
Access to markets Incentive framework for productivity Social security More bargaining power Children’s welfare Reduced domestic violence Reduced Risk of HIV/AIDS
Barriers to Women’s Land Rights: A Legal Perspective
Formal Law Framework: Discriminatory or poorly drafted laws and regulations
Legal Literacy and Aid: Lack of awareness and understanding of rights
Customary Law: Entrenched customs, especially related to land and marriage, divorce, bride price/ dowry, polygamy, and inheritance.
Land rights must be both legally and socially legitimate to be usable and enforceable.
Gender Lens on Land Projects
Legal and field analysis to identify gender factors and limitations
Involve women in project planning and design Outreach and awareness aimed at females Incorporate activities and elements designed to
address legal and cultural issues. Monitor involvement from and impacts on
women
The IKP Land Purchase Program: Andhra Pradesh, India
80% of women workers in rural India depend on agriculture
Women rarely have rights to land
IKP Program: State Govt of Andhra Pradesh, World Bank, and RDI help landless women purchase land
IKP Land Purchase Program: Andhra Pradesh, India
Women SHGs identify land on market, negotiate price with seller, and obtain financing
Community Coordinators support process
Plot is subdivided, individually titled
Grant + loan + beneficiary contribution
Benefits of the IKP Land Purchase Program
Women are generating 72% of total household income from plots
Women have improved status and respect, both within families and communities
Women report improvements in family’s diet and health Women’s families are better able to access credit Women report lower incidences of domestic violence Women report decreased likelihood that husbands will evict
them Spending on children's education has significantly increased
Daughters, Dowry and Land:West Bengal, India
Girls considered a burden: Fewer prospects to earn income and almost always leave family at marriage
Girls often do not inherit land, even though there are formal inheritance rights: Hindu daughters have a right
to equally inherit land; Muslim daughters have a right
to inherit a portion; Most families know the law,
but don’t follow it
Daughters, Dowry and Land:West Bengal, India
Poor families have greater pressure to marry daughters early
Early marriage can mean trafficking or “unsafe migration”
Ongoing program context: State govt land purchase and allocation
Daughters, Dowry and Land:West Bengal, India
Program design:
1)Government: Prioritized allocation for families with vulnerable girls and ensure girls’ rights to land
2) Community: “community conversations”; girls’ and boys’ groups; to increase awareness of girls’ vulnerability and land rights
Vulnerable Women & Girlsin Post-Conflict Uganda
Many Ugandans have been living in internally displaced person (IDP) camps over last 20 years
Women’s access to land is through her husband, father or brother
Many women and girls in the IDP camps lost family ties through death, rape, disappearance
Now IDP camps are closing; many women and girls have nowhere to go
Vulnerable Women & Girlsin Post-Conflict Uganda
RDI intervention: Help women and girls in IDP camps get access
to land as a group Promote collective input purchasing and
marketing of goods they produce In partnership with local NGO, identify and
dialogue with chiefs and elders willing to allocate a portion of clan land
Uphold the women and girls’ right to the land
Final Remarks
Critical to understand the complexity, challenges and barriers to women’s and girls’ land rights; but it IS possible to design interventions to overcome those barriers