Access to land and natural resources
Promising approaches to address the needs of poor female farmers
IFPRI, August 2008
This brief focuses on key agricultural resources needed by poor female farmers to generate incomes and ensure their families' food security. It is organized around key resources and promising approaches to increase poor women's control of those resources. One resource that is not included in this review is human capital. It must be emphasized that investing in women's education, health, and nutrition is an integral part of enabling women to guarantee their families'—and their own—well-being. These approaches were identified in the course of a review of projects and interventions in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
From being property of men to becoming equal owners? Early impacts of land registration and certification on women in southern Ethiopia
UN-HABITAT / Norwegian Mapping and Cadastre Authority, January 2008
Traditionally, the land tenure system in Southern Ethiopia may be characterised by patrilineal inheritance and virilocal residence. Young girls have very little influence over when and whom to marry. Further, they have to go to a husband that their clan or family has identified for them, meaning that they after marriage move to the home of their new husband and inherit no land from their parents. Bride prices and dowries are commonly used, and girls are seen as the property of the husband and his clan. This also implies that if the husband dies, his wife is still the property of his clan. Hence, a brother of the late husband would then become the new husband of the wife. This report provides recommendations as to how women’s land rights could be strengthened further in Ethiopia by improving the quality of the land reform, followed by some recommendations for issues where further research is needed.
Access of the Poor to Agricultural Services - The Role of Farmers' Organizations in Social Inclusion
KIT Publishers, 2007 - US$25 / €17
Using case studies from Benin, Rwanda and Tanzania, this book explores how farmers' organisations can facilitate access by the poorest farmers to agricultural services, and which conditions tend to favour social inclusion. By asking how the poorest of the poor can gain benefit from agricultural services, the authors hope to stimulate research and debate with a view to drawing up guidelines for the future development of farmers’ organisations. The book goes into a detailed analysis of current organisations, their rules and members, before moving on to examine some strategies for ensuring greater involvement of disadvantaged groups or individuals, so they too can benefit from the services on offer.
In Search of Equality: A Survey of Law and Practice related to Women's Inheritance Rights in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region
COHRE, 2007
The focus of research was on the legal situation of inheritance rights in these States, as well as women's actual experiences with respect to inheritance. Research findings reveal the complexity of the issues, identifies causes and consequences of inheritance rights violations, and recommends key changes, based on a human rights framework. The main finding of the report is that inheritance laws should be reformed to embody full gender equality. Far more challenging will be the eradication of the cultural roots of discriminatory customs, traditions and notions. Education must also take high priority as most women are unaware of their rights.
Reclaiming Rights and Resources: Women, Poverty, and Environment
CARE, January 2007
This 34-page report presents 7 case studies from across Africa that focus on three types of threatened environmental resources: land, forests, and water. In each case women share their stories of how the loss or degradation of such critical resources has adversely affected their lives and what they are doing to address these problems. In the foreword, Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai argues that women's livelihoods are directly linked to the state of the environment, and that when rural environments become unsustainable, it is women whose lives are most disrupted. She also argues that educating those who work most closely with the land - especially women - will greatly benefit the environment.
Landless women, hopeless women? Gender, land and decentralisation in Niger
IIED Issue paper no. 143, October 2006
This 35-page paper is a summary of a regional case study on gender, land and decentralisation. The main study has two parts: three portraits of women showing different examples of access to natural resources and local leadership; and a general report based on the portraits and on interviews carried out in seven study sites in Maradi and Zinder regions in Niger.
Improving gender equity in access to land
FAO Land Tenure Notes 2, 2006
This guide has been prepared to support NGOs that are working to promote more equitable access to land for women and men in rural communities. In most societies, access to land has favoured certain individuals and groups at the expense of others. Women are one of the groups that often have fewer and weaker rights to land. The guide addresses gender relations and how their structure affects access to land. It presents strategies to improve gender equity by evaluating the current situation to identify what gender issues exist, by informing people of their rights to land, and by working to empower the marginalized.
Better land access for the rural poor: Lessons from experience and challenges ahead
IIED and FAO, October 2006
This paper reviews recent policy and practice to improve land access for poorer groups. It examines shifting approaches to land reform, different means to secure land rights and to achieve more equitable land distribution, the particular vulnerability of certain groups to losing their land rights, and the need to address land rights within conflict resolution and peace building. It concludes with broad recommendations for protecting land rights of poorer and more vulnerable groups. It focuses on Africa, Latin America and Asia, while also referring to experience from Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Reclaiming Our Lives. HIV and AIDS, women’s land and property rights and livelihoods in southern and East Africa – Narratives and responses
HSRC Press, 2006
A study drawing on research, workshops and personal and organisational testimonies, covering Eritrea, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It aims to raise awareness of the heavy impact of HIV/AIDS on women’s property rights and livelihoods and the active steps being taken by many grassroots organisations to respond to the crisis. It looks at a number of creative initiatives such as the Memory Book Project in Uganda.
The Land and Property Rights of Women and Orphans in the Context of HIV and AIDS. Case studies from Zimbabwe
HSRC Press, 2006
This publication covers analysis of the study sites in Seke, Buhera, Chimanimani and Bulawayo Districts, land and property rights of widows and other vulnerable women in those sites, livelihood strategies, obstacles and options, policy issues and recommendations. The study highlights the vulnerability of widows to property rights violations.
Linking livelihoods and gender analysis for achieving gender transformative change
FAO, LSP Working Paper 41, 2006
This paper is one of a series which addresses livelihood issues in access to natural resources. It reviews the key elements of livelihoods and gender perspectives and their "fit" with each other. It draws attention to the challenge of addressing gender issues within natural resource-based development programmes using a livelihoods perspective. The paper emphasises the need to go beyond gender role analysis and proposes some generic questions to help analyse changing gender relations. The paper also looks ahead towards ways in which the gender project might be framed in the future, and advocates for more support to non-farm natural resource-based interventions for building livelihoods, especially the livelihoods of rural women.
For her it’s the big issue: putting women at the centre of water supply, sanitation and hygiene
WSSCC, Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council, March 2006
How can the vital role of women in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) interventions be better recognised? This report is a collection of evidence and brief examples highlighting the effect and benefits of placing women at the core of planning, implementation and operations of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) programmes.
Land Tenure Reform and Gender Equality
UNRISD, January 2006
This UNRISD Research and Policy Brief examines the extent to which women’s interests are reflected in the new generation of reforms to land tenure, including land titling, and the new possibilities opened by democratic transitions that have placed inequalities in land distribution back on national agendas.
Gender and land compendium of country studies
FAO, 2005
Hunger and poverty are, in general, consequences of inadequate and restricted access to land and other resources, such as capital, inputs and technology; being women among those with less access to land, while accounting for a large share in small-scale food production. This compendium has been put together to provide an improved understanding of the complex issues concerning gender and land. It draws on research commissioned by FAO, and has been compiled by the Gender and Development Service in collaboration with the Land Tenure Service.
A place to live: Women’s inheritance rights in Africa
COHRE, 2005
This publication gives an overview of laws and policies affecting inheritance rights and their effects on women’s lives in 10 Sub Saharan African Countries.
Law, Land and Tenure and Gender Review: Southern Africa
UN HABITAT, 2005
This set of four reviews provides a broad overview of the national and local legal framework related to land, housing, inheritance and marital property rights in Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia and Zambia. This includes a description of relevant policies, such as the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper or National Development Plan. The series examines tenure types and land management systems and analyses their accessibility to the (urban) poor, also from a gender perspective. It highlights innovative forms of tenure and alternative dispute settlement mechanisms and describes the important role of civil society organisations in law and policy formulation, advocacy and implementation . Relevant good practices are documented in each review, such as tenure regularisation, participatory decision-making, women’s rights to land and housing and innovative land management. The review concludes with a set of recommendations.
International Decade for Action - Water for Life 2005-2015
"Appropriate policies and good governance practices are needed to encourage and guide farmers to make better use of water," FAO said in a message on the eve of the International Decade for Action 'Water for Life 2005-2015' launched by the United Nations and Governments on 22 March, World Water Day.
Agriculture is the biggest water consumer. On average, according to FAO, it takes one tonne of water to produce one kilogram of wheat. Most of the water used by crops comes from the rain stored in the soil. The agriculture sector faces a complex challenge: producing more food of better quality while using less water per unit of output; providing rural people with resources and opportunities to live a healthy and productive life; applying clean technologies that ensure environmental sustainability; and contributing in a productive way to the local and national economy. This will not only require changes in attitudes, but also substantial and well targeted investments in infrastructure, modernization, institutional restructuring and upgrading of the technical capacities of farmers and water managers.
The Water for Life Decade provides a unique opportunity to adapt agricultural and rural development policies, accelerate changes in irrigation governance and, through adequate water laws and institutions, support the integration of the social, economic and environmental needs of rural populations, according to FAO.
For more information see the Water for Life Decade website
A gender perspective on land rights - equal footing
FAO, Sustainable Development Department, March 2005
Access to land is essential to food production and income generation. It is also a key social and economic asset, crucial for cultural identity, political power and participation in decision-making. Ensuring equal land rights for men and women increases economic opportunities, encourages investment in land and food production, improves family security during economic and social transitions and leads to better land stewardship.
