Brief summary of 4 presentations at the Mokoro land seminar by Martin Adams (Mokoro) on FAO’s support for tenure, rights and access to land and natural resources: lessons from Mozambique; by Joseph Hanlon (LSE) on The Mozambique land grab myth; by Elizabeth Daley (Mokoro) on Current issues around gender and land; and by Joss Saunders (Oxfam) on Engaging in strategic litigation and working with

In Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya, a decentralized approach to land administration promises more accessible dispute resolution and a better deal for women. Among the challenges however, are old social attitudes that pre-empt discussion about women’s right to control land. In Lira district, for example, in-laws and land-grabbers routinely chase widows off land.

The objective is to record current living customary law and ways in which it is moving in progressive directions so that this information can be used towards justice, as evidence in court cases, and in policy development and political engagement from local to national levels.

Despite formal legal recognition of women’s land rights, no government institution is mandated to protect women’s land rights or to ensure their legal implementation and enforcement. The roles of decentralized land administration institutions do not include the protection of women’s land rights.

Women in many African countries have a legal right to
own land, but this often means little in areas where
“customary law” prevails. As a result, researchers in two
countries have come to believe that women’s security
of tenure depends as much on addressing social
assumptions as on enacting legal reforms.

The core of this book focuses on recent findings from sub-Saharan Africa, where researchers in 14 countries have explored the topic from many angles: legal, customary, political, and economic. Researchers from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academics, and grassroots activists worked together with communities, exploring the experiences of women in specific contexts.

Research has become a driving force behind upcoming
land restitution efforts in Colombia, where for decades
peasants have lost land by violent means. The initiative
is especially important for women, who have also built
new networks in pursuit of a broad range of social goals.

After three days of deliberations on the findings of a decade of research and initiatives across Africa, conference participants presented this series of recommendations affirming women’s rights to ownership, access, and control of land.

The study investigates the state of women’s land rights under statutes and customary practices in Cameroon and how the conception of these rights affects women’s role in the economy.

Comerci, M. E. (2011). Vivimos al margen. Trayectorias campesinas, territorialidades y estrategias en el oeste de La Pampa (Tesis de posgrado). Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, Bernal, Argentina.

Land Tenure Working Paper 21. This paper draws on proceedings of a meeting held to discuss the impact of growing private sector investments in land, fisheries and forests. This meeting, aimed at the private sector, took place at FAO headquarters on 28 February and 1 March 2011. The purpose of this paper is to provide a record of the discussion from the private sector perspective.

Land Tenure Working Paper 20. This paper presents an analysis of communal tenure and its role for natural resource management system, in different contexts of selected Asian countries.