Transcript Kabanda-747

LAND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AS A
TOOL FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
NAOME KABANDA
HEAD, NATIONAL LAND POLICY
IMPLEMENTATION SECRETARIAT
MINISTRY OF LANDS, HOUSING AND URBAN
DEVELOPMENT
KAMPALA, UGANDA
Email Address: [email protected]
1
LAND POLICY IMPLEMENTATION AS A
TOOL FOR WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT

Uganda is an agricultural country
with
agriculture contributing over 20% of the
country’s GDP.

Women constitute almost 83% as primary
producers contributing between 70-75% of
agricultural production.
2
EMPOWERING WOMEN CONT’D





Uganda promulgated its new Constitution in 1995
According to the Constitution, land belongs to the
citizens and vests in them in accordance with 4 tenure
systems-Mailo (equated to freehold), Leasehold,
Freehold and customary tenure.
About 80% of Uganda’s land is still held under
customary tenure.
The most predominant way Ugandans acquire and own
land (land transmission) is through inheritance and
succession.
Uganda is a highly patrilineal society and land
ownership is passed on from father to son and few
women and girls own land under this system
3
WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS UNDER UGANDA NATIONAL
LAND POLICY,2013





The Uganda National Land Policy (NLP) was approved by Cabinet in
February 2013 as a framework for the development and use of
Uganda's land resources for the next decade.
The vision of the Policy “ a transformed Ugandan society through
optimal use and management of land resources for a prosperous and
industrialized economy with a developed services sector”.
To kirk start the implementation of the NLP, an Implementation Action
Plan has been developed detailing all actions that are necessary to
implement the NLP in a phased manner.
The actions have also been prioritized (short term, medium term and
long term actions ) to allow for a sequenced implementation , as well
as continuous buy-in by key stakeholders including Development
Partners.
Nine priority areas have been identified for implementation in the first 3
years; one of these is enhancing the protection and strengthening of
women’s access and secure rights to land.
4
PRIORITISATION OF ACTIONS INTENDED TO STRENGTHEN
WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS UNDER THE NLP
Why Prioritize WLRTS under the implementation of NLP?
 Prioritization was dictated by a number of factors i.e.
 Political Will;
 Research and studies;
 Resource envelope;
 Actions that are a must and come before others for
any meaningful implementation of the NLP and;
 Actions that would contribute and enhance the
country’s GDP by reducing poverty levels among the
communities working on land as their main source of
income.
5
KEY ACTIONS FOR ENHANCING WLRTS UNDER THE
ACTION PLAN
Key actions to be undertaken include:
 Put in place specialized training programs and additional resources
directed towards dealing with women as both a discrete group and as
members of the households and communities;
 Enhance land administrative and other land sector services that can reach
and benefit women such as recruitment of women staff in order to serve
the needs of women in the communities;
 Set up more legal aid centers to assist women, simplifying legal procedures
necessary for acquiring land through continuous legal education;
 Continuous engagement of traditional/customary leaders to address
issues and barriers under customary tenure that bar women and girls from
owning land in all strong customary areas;
 Review of all laws on marriage, inheritance and succession to allow for
equal ownership and inheritance by both boys and girls, and women and
men; and
 Setting up a M&E framework to monitor progress at all levels to allow
reviews from time to time.
6
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, it is important to note that enhancing
women’s land rights in policy implementation
requires a set of actions to be built during the
design of implementation, depending on the
environment one is working with.
Most important in all this is to use the window of
opportunity that may be available such as the Post2015 Framework which is intended to elevate the
issue of secure land rights on the global
development agenda to enhance women’s land
rights in our countries.
7
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO ME
8