Growing commercial interests;population growth and conservation initiatives are increasing competition for land in Tanzania. At the same time;land-related conflicts are on the rise. These trends undermine livelihoods by threatening rural people’s access to land and tenure security. Women tend to be disproportionately affected as available land diminishes;disadvantaged by weak land rights and limited participation in decision-making processes. Alongside gender-discriminatory practices;rural populationsslim knowledge of land governance further jeopardises women’s access to land and tenure security;as their existing rights go unrecognised. To address this;an approach that supports communities to adopt village bylaws has been trialled;with promising results. The participatory development of local rules that are inclusive and ‘gender sensitivehelps to promote stronger and more equitable land governance;by clarifying processes at local level and ensuring both men and women are involved in making decisions on land issues.
The Future Agricultures Consortium is an Africa-based alliance of research organisations seeking to provide timely, high-quality and independent information and advice to improve agricultural policy and practice in Africa.
Through a network of over 90 researchers across the region and around the world, we are showing how agricultural policy in Africa can help to reduce poverty and strengthen agricultural growth.
Mokoro is pleased to host the ’Land Rights in Africa’ site as a contribution to the land rights dialogue and related debates. This website was created in January 2000 by Robin Palmer, and was originally housed by Oxfam GB, where Robin worked as a Land Rights Adviser. A library of resources on land rights in Africa – with a particular focus on women’s land rights and on the impact of land grabbing in Africa – the portal has been well received by practitioners, researchers and policy makers, and has grown considerably over the years.
