Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad...

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Improving Women’s and Girls’ Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Transcript of Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad...

Page 1: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Improving Women’s and Girls’ Land Rights:

Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda

Tim HanstadRural Development Institute (RDI)

Page 2: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Outline

I. Introduction1. Why do women’s land rights matter?2. Barriers to women’s land rights: a legal perspective

II. Putting a gender lens on land projects targeted at “households”

III. Illustrative interventions targeting women’s or girls’ land rights

1. Land Purchase for Women: Andhra Pradesh, India2. Daughters, Dowry, and Early Marriage: West Bengal,

India3. Women and Girls in IDP Camps: Uganda

Page 3: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Why Do Women’s Land Rights Matter?

More than half of all women in developing world work in agriculture

Women effective agents of economic and social change

Land as key resource – food security, income, wealth, power, credit, status, government services

Secure land rights for households impact females differently than males

Page 4: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Benefits of Women’s Land Rights

Access to markets Incentive framework for productivity Social security More bargaining power Children’s welfare Reduced domestic violence Reduced Risk of HIV/AIDS

Page 5: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Barriers to Women’s Land Rights: A Legal Perspective

Formal Law Framework: Discriminatory or poorly drafted laws and regulations

Legal Literacy and Aid: Lack of awareness and understanding of rights

Customary Law: Entrenched customs, especially related to land and marriage, divorce, bride price/ dowry, polygamy, and inheritance.

Land rights must be both legally and socially legitimate to be usable and enforceable.

Page 6: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Gender Lens on Land Projects

Legal and field analysis to identify gender factors and limitations

Involve women in project planning and design Outreach and awareness aimed at females Incorporate activities and elements designed to

address legal and cultural issues. Monitor involvement from and impacts on

women

Page 7: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

The IKP Land Purchase Program: Andhra Pradesh, India

80% of women workers in rural India depend on agriculture

Women rarely have rights to land

IKP Program: State Govt of Andhra Pradesh, World Bank, and RDI help landless women purchase land

Page 8: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

IKP Land Purchase Program: Andhra Pradesh, India

Women SHGs identify land on market, negotiate price with seller, and obtain financing

Community Coordinators support process

Plot is subdivided, individually titled

Grant + loan + beneficiary contribution

Page 9: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Benefits of the IKP Land Purchase Program

Women are generating 72% of total household income from plots

Women have improved status and respect, both within families and communities

Women report improvements in family’s diet and health Women’s families are better able to access credit Women report lower incidences of domestic violence Women report decreased likelihood that husbands will evict

them Spending on children's education has significantly increased

Page 10: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Daughters, Dowry and Land:West Bengal, India

Girls considered a burden: Fewer prospects to earn income and almost always leave family at marriage

Girls often do not inherit land, even though there are formal inheritance rights: Hindu daughters have a right

to equally inherit land; Muslim daughters have a right

to inherit a portion; Most families know the law,

but don’t follow it

Page 11: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Daughters, Dowry and Land:West Bengal, India

Poor families have greater pressure to marry daughters early

Early marriage can mean trafficking or “unsafe migration”

Ongoing program context: State govt land purchase and allocation

Page 12: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Daughters, Dowry and Land:West Bengal, India

Program design:

1)Government: Prioritized allocation for families with vulnerable girls and ensure girls’ rights to land

2) Community: “community conversations”; girls’ and boys’ groups; to increase awareness of girls’ vulnerability and land rights

Page 13: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Vulnerable Women & Girlsin Post-Conflict Uganda

Many Ugandans have been living in internally displaced person (IDP) camps over last 20 years

Women’s access to land is through her husband, father or brother

Many women and girls in the IDP camps lost family ties through death, rape, disappearance

Now IDP camps are closing; many women and girls have nowhere to go

Page 14: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Vulnerable Women & Girlsin Post-Conflict Uganda

RDI intervention: Help women and girls in IDP camps get access

to land as a group Promote collective input purchasing and

marketing of goods they produce In partnership with local NGO, identify and

dialogue with chiefs and elders willing to allocate a portion of clan land

Uphold the women and girls’ right to the land

Page 15: Improving Womens and Girls Land Rights: Illustrative Interventions from India and Uganda Tim Hanstad Rural Development Institute (RDI)

Final Remarks

Critical to understand the complexity, challenges and barriers to women’s and girls’ land rights; but it IS possible to design interventions to overcome those barriers