Background paper for an IDS Sussex workshop on new ideas on the rights to land, housing and property. Contains a renewed focus on poverty and, within that, a new focus on land rights; livelihoods and rights-based approaches; the World Bank and received orthodoxy in land policy; DFID’s focus on land rights in Africa; Francophone perspectives; recent World Bank thinking; the mysteries of capitalism (a discussion of de Soto); lessons learnt.

Contains defining gender-based violence; property grabbing as a form of this; HIV and AIDS and property grabbing; women’s property rights: the erosion of customary norms and practice; statutory legal reform � is it the answer?; empirical evidence from Southern and Eastern Africa; responses to property grabbing; conclusion. Argues that the harassment and humiliation that often accompany property grabbing further strip women of their self-esteem, affecting their ability to defend their rights.

Covers gender and property rights, the impact of AIDS on property rights, laws, policies and programs to promote widows’ and orphans’ property rights. Includes women and children’s knowledge, life skills and participation. Concludes with lessons and recommendations.

This was a major and highly successful workshop on women’s land rights in Southern and Eastern Africa, organised by FAO and Oxfam GB. It attracted an unusually diverse range of participants. This official report summarises the papers, presentations and discussions in the original order of the programme.

The workshop was held in Lusaka as part of FAO’s initiative in the area of women’s property rights in the context of HIV and AIDS. Report covers legal issues of, and lessons on, women’s land and property rights in Zambia; Theresa Chilala’s case; testimonies by widows and orphans in Zambia; successful interventions to protect women’s property rights by authorities � lessons from the region; inspiring initiatives by women and grassroots groups; key recommendations; working group deliberations; press release; opening and closing speeches; strategic framework.

Report divided into 5 sections: inheritance and property rights; disability rights, HIV & AIDS, women’s property rights and livelihoods; survival strategies, nutrition, psychosocial support, economic empowerment, and self-reliance; self-reliance and economic empowerment for women in the context of HIV and AIDS; inspiring initiatives from the region (Zambia, Uganda, and Kenya). Contains a number of personal testimonies. Launched the famous T-shirt: ’property and a piece of land give women peace of mind’.

The focus is on management and use of wetlands in Kenya. Coverage includes their role in poverty reduction, Lake Naivasha, Yala, the Nzoia River Basin, and the need for securing wetlands as common property resources. Argues that secure access to wetlands for poor rural communities is fundamental to improving their livelihoods.

Contains close scrutiny of chapter 11 (on land and property) of the Kenya Draft Constitution Bill; editorial on Kenya Land Alliance supports the campaign for the protection of forest lands; the new Minister of Lands and Settlements’ plans to modernise his Ministry (including a commitment to make public the Njonjo Land Commission report); the new Minister for Planning and National Development’s perception of land issues in Kenya (including a commitment to tax land held by speculators); a review of NARC’s (National Rainbow Coalition) agenda for success on land issues (including an end to land

Includes key policy concerns and recommendations, the Draft National Land Policy of 2006.

A wide-ranging valedictory lecture by the veteran radical land guru. Offers glimpses of the role of law in Tanzania’s jump from the frying pan of state nationalism into the fire of corporate neoliberalism. Argues that the creation of ‘free’ labour and of land as capital were central to the colonial project. Examines the changing status of customary titles and the series of Land Acts from 1999. Argues that De Soto’s current Mkurabita project will in effect mean registering large chunks of village land in preparation for their alienation through force, fraud, and corruption.

Stresses views of conference participants that agrarian reform is an alive issue on the political agenda of many countries. A wide consensus on the positive contribution that more equal access to land and other assets makes to the fight against poverty. Meaningful reform must involve the transformation of property rights. Agrarian reform must involve state regulation to overcome the failure of markets to deliver equitable outcomes. Also a wide consensus on the need for strong and effective state action.

Includes setting the scene; understanding gender and property rights in the era of AIDS; legislation, training and capacity development; advocacy, mobilisation and networking; political dialogue; linking gender, property rights and livelihoods; taking stock – where are we and where should we go?; recommendations and ways forward; annexes.