This brief discusses a pilot intervention in Rwanda led by the Belgian
NGO, RCN Justice & Démocratie, with support from the International
Development Law Organization (IDLO) and the Belgian Government. A
more detailed and complete discussion of the pilot is given in Lankhorst
and Veldman (2011a). The pilot aimed to transform the customary
resolution of disputes involving women’s land claims concerning
inheritance or marital relations. The intervention examined whether
and to what extent it was possible to increase the scope for acceptance

The world today faces a wide range of critically important issues, whose resolution require inter- national collaboration of various stakeholders. Environmental conservation and conflict resolution are such examples. Interestingly enough, these two issues have been until very recently conceptual- ized as separate problems, and coordinated resolution came to be pursued only recently. This paper attempts to connect these two critical agendas by using the case study of land issues in Rwanda in Africa.

In Rwanda, for many years ago, rights over land for women and female orphans were not
recognized. The main causes were the inexistence of efficient land administration systems and
the prevalence of traditional system of land tenure which were complex and did not favor
women and female descendants. In 2004, the Government of Rwanda had adopted a new land
policy which was complemented by the 2005 Organic Land Law and a series of laws and
regulations with regard to access to land, land management perspectives, and to the modalities

Secure access to productive land is critical to poverty, acknowledging the complexity and
dynamics of evolving rural realities; (b) identify
the major implications of that relationship for
IFAD’s strategy and programme development
and implementation; (c) articulate guiding
principles for mainstreaming land issues in
the Fund’s main operational instruments and
processes; and (d) provide the framework for
the subsequent development of operational
guidelines and decision tools.
In this policy, land refers to farmland,

This policy research brief on land tenure reform and government revenue aims primarily to examine the effects of land tenure reforms on land-based revenue and to provide policy recommendations that would build on existing efforts developed to ease the process of paying and collecting various land revenue. The research topic was suggested by land sector stakeholders among other topics during the LAND Project’s Year 3 Work Planning Meeting, and was endorsed by the Rwanda Natural Resources Authority and LAND Project as an important research area.

This research, entitled "The Impact of Gendered Legal Rights to Land on the Prevalence and Nature of Intra- and Inter-Household Disputes" set out to interrogate the changing landscape of gendered land rights in Rwanda, and to examine the impact of the statutory changes introduced by laws governing land, inheritance, succession and matrimonial property passed between 1999 and 2013.

The following document provides an overview of the land issues in Rwanda and the new Land
Policy and Land Law and identifies some of the key challenges for implementation, from the
perspective of the DFID appointed Land Policy Specialist to MINITERE.

Over the last decade, the Government of Rwanda (GoR) has engaged in reforming the land sector through formulation and enactment of an enabling legal framework, establishment of land administration institutions, and land tenure regularization. In 2008, the GoR initiated the Land Tenure Regularization Program (LTRP) with two main objectives: (1) to ensure secure forms of land tenure for citizens and (2) to ensure efficient management and administration of land.

Before 1999, land rights in Rwanda were governed by three regimes: customary
(traditional) law, colonial laws still in effect, and laws enacted after independence. In each of
these, men were privileged in ownership and control of land whereas women were excluded
or had fewer rights.
The 1999 Succession Law restructured and harmonized land ownership in Rwanda,
superseding all prior legislation. A significant portion of these changes related to gender
equality. Equal rights to umunani (umunani or ascending partition is an act accomplished by

This report presents the results of a small scale household survey that was conducted in May
2015 to assess the extent to which rural Rwandan citizens are vulnerable or resilient to
environmental, market and land tenure risks and the level they understand the laws and rights
related to land. The report also compares the results of the survey with those from the baseline
survey conducted in May 2014, and seeks to inform the LAND Project of its progress in
achieving objectives entailed in the project’s results framework, namely:

Rwanda has nearly 280,000 hectares of wetlands, almost 11% of the country’s total
area.1 These wetlands provide critical habitats for wildlife and biodiversity, maintain
important hydrologic processes that help to clean and protect ground and surface
water, support a variety of local livelihoods and largely define Rwanda’s idyllic
undulating topography.
2 Despite their ecological and economic importance, Rwanda’s
wetlands are being degraded and lost faster than any other ecosystem, with

Across equatorial and east Africa, climate change is affecting the frequency, intensity
and variability of regional climate patterns.1 Changes in rainfall patterns, temperatures
and storm intensity are having significant effects on national economies, regional
infrastructure, land use and local livelihoods. These changes are forcing national and
local governments to adjust and adapt how they plan, prepare and implement day to
day operations today and larger visions for the future. The ability of governmental