Although land forms the basis for marginal livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa, the asset is more strategic for women as they usually hold derived and dependent rights to land in customary tenure areas. Initiatives to secure women’s land tenure in customary areas are undermined by the social embeddedness of the rights, patriarchy, lack of awareness by the communities, legal pluralism, and challenges of recording the rights.

With the promulgation of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 (CoK 2010), land was classified into public, private and community lands, occasioning the need for clear guidelines on acquisition of public land acquisition within the community land while appreciating the provision of the Community Land Act, 2016.

In August 2017, Botswana’s parliament passed the Tribal Land Bill, which became the Tribal Land Act no. 1 of 2018. It shall come into operation once the minister sanctions. Until then, the 1994 Act shall be operational. The new Act is aimed at addressing the challenges that cannot be effectively addressed by the operational Act. Some hail it as progressive, but this article argues that the Act has some limitations. Its insistence on the registration of customary grants with the Registrar of Deeds may lead to unintended consequences, such as family conflicts.

The adoption of modern Land Administration Systems (LAS) in Sub Saharan Africa is done with the expectation that principles of equity, non-discrimination, efficiency, transparency, productivity and sustainability among others may be achieved to meet societal needs in those countries.  However, a lack of functional systems to document land through the provision of proper documentation particularly in Sub Saharan Africa has led to a high tenure insecurity in local communities, landlessness and a lack of proper investment in the land they hold.

Cet article situe les débats actuels autour de l’accès genré aux terres collectives au Maroc par rapport à une discussion plus large sur l’héritage colonial et la fabrique du droit coutumier. La construction coloniale de la ‘collectivité ethnique’ et l’institutionnalisation du ‘droit coutumier’ ont préservé la coutume comme catégorie juridique mais elles ont rigidifié son application en l’inscrivant dans le cadre plus général du droit positif.