Provides an overview of different forms of shared tenure, whether between husband and wife, stable partners, extended families, women’s groups or communities. Analyses to what extent they are beneficial to women. Includes a preliminary examination of the impact of shared tenure on women’s effective land and housing rights, on women’s access to credit and on domestic violence. Seeks to contribute to the development of tools and strategies towards women’s security of tenure.

Provides a socioeconomic analysis of the pre and post fast track resettlement agrarian employment structure in Zimbabwe’s commercial farming sector. Finds that the extent of employment on farms prior to fast track has been overstated, while the re-absorption of former farm workers into the agricultural sector has been greater than previously understood. Job losses have not been as pervasive as widely claimed.

Study in the Oromiya and Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples regions of Ethiopia assesses the impacts of land registration and certification since 2004, including joint certification for husbands and wives. Includes gender implications of land certification and empowerment of women, position of polygamous wives, perceptions of benefits of the reform, recommendations.

Examines women’s land and property rights in Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia. Considers the legal and other impediments hindering these rights in situations of conflict and reconstruction. Outlines the practical problems faced by women in connection with the legal and traditional structures regarding land and property rights, and makes some suggestions about how the situation can be rectified.

Research conducted under the UN Peacebuilding Programme in Acholi where land conflicts have increased after the peace agreement. Involved community members and statutory and traditional leaders. Examined existing practices for the sustainable transformation of land related conflict. Revealed efficacy of existing community level mechanisms in effectively resolving land disputes. Need to resolve the legal status of local councils.

Rwanda has provided a picture of promising change for improving gender equalities in land rights. This report draws upon extensive qualitative field research in 20 sectors of Rwanda to examine the current state of gendered rights to land in practice. Among Rwandan communities, there is now widespread knowledge of laws granting gender-equal rights. More and more women are receiving inheritance and inter-vivos gifts and are increasingly receiving these in equal shares, while formally married women are exercising greater decision-making power over land held jointly with their husbands.

Focuses on Article 30 of the Rwanda 2013 Land Law, which prohibits sub-division. Finds that implementation of Article 30 has not prevented land subdivisions, but rather encouraged informal subdivisions and transfers. Recommends that the provision should be reviewed.

Most West African countries are in the process of reforming their land policies. Discussions tend to focus on the tools and mechanisms for securing and regulating land tenure. While tools are certainly a vital part of the process, it is important to understand that the same tool can serve very different interests depending on how it is conceived and used. Are we sufficiently aware of the diversity of issues that may be associated with a land policy? And what do we know about the real effects that tools have on all these different issues?

Includes summary; global land resources and projections for the future; soils and soil policies; ecosystems’ services; biofuels and impacts on land use; biofuel production and land use in Brazil; land and national self-sufficiency; land use and increasing production; overseas land investments (often called ‘land grabbing’); land rights and ownership – the Rwandan example; international voluntary guidelines for land investment; conclusion.

Covers purpose of the conference, proceedings, overview of land reform in the region, facilitating policy recommendations, general policy recommendations – policies and programmes complementary to land reform, policy processes and political dynamics, the role of civil society, state capacity – the way forward, references, country tables, and keynote address by Martin Adams.

Includes women and livelihoods; gender equality in land policy and policy development; the Communal Land Reform Act; women’s rights to land and livestock; conclusion and recommendations.

Includes competing views of land-grabbing, Code of Conduct: consolidation of land-grab agenda, the many faces and directions of land use and land property relations change today, the ‘land sovereignty’ alternative.