Review of the situation of land rights in Apac District and of opportunities for land rights protection work. Examines the 1998 Land Act and its implementation in practice. Finds that the protection clauses for women are proving ineffective. Also looks at the major threats and barriers to land rights and suggests ways forward. Among many other pertinent questions, asks why the Ugandan Government has shown so little interest in customary tenure and why it pursues land titling to the extent it does.

Includes introduction; vulnerabilities shared among all women; different categories of women have different vulnerabilities – widows, unmarried girls, divorced women, separated women, cohabiting women, married women; proposed solutions. Argues that rather than working against custom, policymakers and activists should be creative in identifying a range of culturally-appropriate solutions within custom that can successfully strengthen, defend and protect women’s land rights.

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.

Consultation draft of a DFID Issues Paper on Land Policy by Julian Quan, with the author looking for comments and feedback by the end of November 2002. It revises an earlier version of April 2002, ’following a series of regional workshops on land policy sponsored by the World Bank, and takes account of comments received through that process.’ Includes the significance of land rights for poverty elimination; opportunities and challenges for pro-poor land policy; integrating land into poverty strategies; implications for DFID and the international community; conclusion.

Includes relevance of the World Social Forum to the Kenyan situation, Kenya’s informal traders and their WSF experiences, Kenya’s fisher folk community and their WSF experiences, news.

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.

Focuses on women’s perceptions of land rights in the communal areas of Namaqualand in the Northern Cape. Explores the links between patriarchal social systems and women’s conservative attitudes towards holding land and shows how current policy processes and legislation allow local customs to continue to entrench gender discriminatory practices. Findings indicate that women are disadvantaged by historical norms, values and attitudes, which afford them only secondary rights to land.

Includes a series of interviews on the theme, ‘How should the Ndungu Report recommendations be implemented? – what Kenyans say.’ Also includes some of the the Ndungu Report’s recommendations.

Paper examines current trends in land tenure and sources of insecurity, describes innovative policy and practice to secure various kinds of tenure rights. Seeks to gather insights and lessons from seven case studies (Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Namibia, Mozambique, Uganda, Niger). Aims to inform current policy debates and initiatives to support land tenure security for low-income, resource-poor and vulnerable groups who make up the majority of Africa’s population.

Ensuring security for farmers is a fundamental economic, social and citizenship issue, raising institutional questions. There needs to be a break with inherited colonial legal dualism. Local management of land and resources is needed. There is no automatic link between land title and security of tenure. Looks at the main approaches adopted in West Africa in the recent past. Fully confirm the role, dynamism and adaptability of family farms. Positive recognition needs to be given to local land arrangements and informal contracts. Decentralisation offers valuable opportunities.

Contains chapters on formalisation of land rights; women’s land rights – a human rights-based approach; a market-based approach to land rights, followed by country studies on Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Comprises notes from an informal meeting in Pretoria addressing the impasse on land reform in Southern Africa. The main focus is on overcoming problems and constraints, including on redistribution, tenure reform, the land rights of women, HIV/AIDS and donor support. Has sections on the viability of small-scale farms, post-transfer support, mobilising support for land reform, and proposed follow up. There are two main appendices; one on the status of land reform in each of the countries in the region, the other a matrix of current land issues in each country.