Towards more equitable rural realities

For a large part of the world’s population, livelihoods depend directly on access to land and its secure long-term use. Between 713 and 757 million people have faced hunger in 2023, an increase compared to 2019. Food insecurity is most prevalent in rural areas, affecting women disproportionately. Growing inequality is an additional exacerbating factor of global hunger.

 

As land is an essential factor for 90 per cent of the global food production, insecure tenure puts people at the risk of being evicted, displaced, or losing access to the land or resources they depend on. This, in turn, can threaten social cohesion of nations as well as entire regions. In more than half of all countries, laws and customs hinder women’s ownership or access to land, concerning both traditional and formalized tenure.

Although as many women as men work in agriculture, women hold less than 15 per cent of land ownership worldwide.

In 90 countries, traditional land administration systems favour their legal exclusion from access to land, while in 35 countries, neither daughters nor widows can claim their rights in the same way as male relatives.

Reach, Benefit, Empower — gender approach of the Global Programme Responsible Land Policy

As a response to this situation and to support the feminist development policy of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the GIZ Global Programme on Responsible Land Policy (GPRLP, Promotion d’une Politique Foncière Responsable, or ProPFR in French) aims to improve access to land, especially for women and marginalised groups in target countries. Gender equality is promoted as both a fundamental human right as well as an essential approach to improve women‘s access to land . After an initial assessment of where the programme stands, a Gender Roadmap based on the principle of Reach, Benefit, Empower was developed that took stock of gender related aspects, achievements and shortcomings. This was subsequently enhanced by country specific assessments and recommendations summarized in Gender Action Plans.

Reaching women is not sufficient, hence approaches are developed that benefit women and even empower them.

Documented land rights are an important step, accompanied by measures that allow women to benefit from their land, while empowerment requires additional measures that build capacities, foster, and teach skills as well as promote self-confidence for women to capitalise on land rights. Progress is jointly assessed with actors from government, civil society, and academia. While there is no uniform approach and the gender action plans need to account for the specific barriers to equal land access for women, the following country examples highlight success factors.

Examples from Madagascar, Uganda and Burkina Faso

Madagascar: reforestation and community empowerment in Diana region

Madagascar is committed to rehabilitating 4 million ha of forest landscape by 2030, as forests are generally poorly managed nor protected. Overall, 70 per cent of the land is used for low-yield, extensive, self-subsistence agro-pastoral purposes, often under unclear and complex land tenure conditions. Even in cases where forest management has been transferred to local user groups, the lack of tenure security often leads to land conflict and hinders the sustainable management of forest resources. This is vital for storing carbon to mitigate the harmful effects of climate change.

Through individual village reforestation initiatives, villagers have been trained in nursery management and independent seedling production. Each registered farmer voluntarily takes responsibility for planting seedlings in relation to the targeted areas, while the GIZ-supported project provides legal security for the land developed through a multi-disciplinary team led by an agent from the State Land Department. Reforestation is combined with land ownership for personal empowerment, as securing individual land rights and community user rights is key to forest resource management. In the Diana region of northern Madagascar, reforestation efforts have helped to restore forest landscapes, which works only if local communities are involved in resource management and derive tangible benefits thereof.

Julia Marie Zafy Florence is one such dedicated participant in this type of restoration. In addition to other household chores, collecting wood for cooking the family meal was part of her daily routine. In order to improve her living conditions, on her own initiative, Zafy Florence was able to seize the opportunity to create a forest estate. Thanks to the support of the Protection and Sustainable Exploitation of Natural Resources Programme (PAGE), she was able to acquire a 4.2 ha plot of land on which she planted trees. In addition, with support by GPRLP, she was able to obtain a legal title deed. The trees she planted have now reached maturity and she transforms them into charcoal using an efficient carbonisation technique that is low in CO2 emissions. Most of the charcoal is sold in towns, where around 80 per cent of the urban population depends on it, while gas remains a fuel beyond household purchasing power. Florence Zafy’s income has now increased and, to run her micro-enterprise, she can apply for bank loans thanks to the legal title deed to her land. By taking out a loan, she also intends to invest in the purchase of a lorry to transport the products of her reforestation efforts. Life for her family has improved considerably, as she can now send her children to school and provide them with food on a daily basis.

A total of 3,000 reforested plots covering 4,320 ha have thus been secured, belonging to 3,130 beneficiaries, 33 per cent of whom are women. However, the status of the land on 8,031 plots covering a total area of 7,800 ha is currently being assessed for subsequent titling. This represents a potential of 36,000 tons of sustainably produced charcoal, or around 36 per cent of the needs of urban households. In addition, 4,800 ha of natural forest have been preserved, with beneficial effects on the climate. Julia Marie Zafy Florence observes:

“Now that I have a legal title deed, I can be sure that the land and the plantations on it really belong to me.”

Uganda: the journey of a group of women farmers to secure land rights

Women in Uganda face severe challenges in securing land rights due to cultural norms and legal barriers. Traditionally, land is inherited through and by the male family lineage, excluding women from inheritance and legally recognized ownership. This, in turn, impacts their economic stability as, without land, women struggle to invest, access credit or farm effectively, creating a state of self-perpetuating poverty. Beyond individual titling, the GIZ Responsible Land Policy in Uganda (RELAPU) together with the Dutch NGO, ZOA, supported the formation of farmers’ groups, to benefit from pooling the required resources and watching out for each other. The Loketa Farmers Group, a group of female refugees, faced significant challenges when they began farming for commercial purposes. Female refugees struggle in a unique manner, fighting for equal opportunities both due to their gender and their citizenship status. At first, the group relied only on verbal agreements for renting land, which led to numerous issues. The chairperson of the Loketa Farmers Group recalled: “(…) crop theft was rampant, and no one was held accountable, deepening the mistrust between [us] farmers and the local community”. After one of the awareness-raising events of the project, the group of women farmers decided to shift from verbal to written tenancy agreements. This not only reduced the potential for disputes but also brought about a significant improvement in the livelihoods of both refugees and host communities. The clarity and security provided by written agreements allowed for more stable and predictable farming activities, fostering a sense of trust and cooperation between all parties involved, showing the strength of group action. Solidarity between women was supported and cultivated through this joint initiative, leading as an example case of shared land use rights for women in rural communities.

Addressing cultural complexities, such as the often deeply ingrained gender disparities, requires a delicate and thoughtful approach that aims to include both women and men.  Throughout the implementation, a total of 10,216 participants were reached, including 5,804 male and 2,714 female nationals as well as 1,015 male and 683 female refugees, all benefiting from awareness-raising events. As a result, from 100 arising conflicts, 82 could be resolved in the process of land mapping. Overall, 1,514 Certificates of Customary Ownership (COO) were issued, which give assurance to the beneficiaries that their land-rights are secured for generations to come.

Burkina Faso: increasing resilience for vulnerable Internally Displaced Persons

Due to the ongoing security crisis in Burkina Faso, thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, becoming Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). According to the latest estimates in March 2023, the number of IDPs in the country stood at 2,062,534, an alarming figure that underlines the scale of the humanitarian crisis. In this context, women are among the most vulnerable. Faced with this crisis, many IDPs find themselves in precarious conditions, with no access to land to meet their basic needs. In order to improve livelihoods of vulnerable groups through access to land, ProPFR has provided crucial support to IDPs by facilitating access to land loans in accordance with the land law of 2009, which regulates land tenure in rural areas and its implementing decrees. Although the country has a legal framework for regulating procedures for registering and securing plots of land, the agencies provided for by the law often do not exist or are not operational, particularly at communal and village level. There is thus a strong need to install decentralized land administrations, while at the same time working to improve the conditions of various vulnerable groups such as women, the youth, IDPs and migrants.

To this end, ProPFR has helped IDPs benefit from land loans in order to farm in newly settled areas. The IDP approach is implemented in various stages and consists of a two-fold approach to build trust between landowners and displaced persons, whereby landowners obtain full title deeds and, in exchange, lend plots to IDPs. The formalization of land loans is essential to protect IDPs from disagreement with the landowners, such as reclaiming their land before the end of the loan period. At the same time, the landowners do not run the risk of losing their land either, as they have obtained a secure title deed with the support of the project and partner communes. Through its IDP Approach, ProPFR has succeeded in working with the customary authorities, lineages, and landowners to obtain land loans for IDPs. Thanks to this initiative, IDPs are able to cultivate the land, produce their own resources and regain a degree of economic autonomy, while preserving their dignity and wellbeing.

By working with customary and religious authorities, local communities and administrative authorities, a glimmer of hope is offered to IDPs, helping them to overcome the challenges they face and rebuild a more stable future through secure access to land. As a result of the various activities in the commune of Kourinion (in the Hauts-Bassins region), 105 ha of land have been leased to 27 IDPs, including 4 women. Likewise, in the commune of Boni (Hauts-Bassins region), 15 ha were leased to 14 IDPs, including 7 women. 40-year-old beneficiary of a land loan, Aminata Ouedraogo, testifies:

“Originally from Bourzanga in Burkina Faso, I fled to Badara Pindié because of the insecurity. We lost all our possessions and, at first, it was difficult to farm without land. I now have access to a plot of land to feed my family.”

The gender approach of the various implementing country modules of GPRLP highlights the intersectionality of challenges that women face when trying to secure land rights and seeks to reach the empowerment stage in all countries. The urgency to overcome these barriers is in line with the orientation stated in the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests (VGGT). Also, achieving gender equity in land tenure is an important prerequisite towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.