By Jeannette Bayisenge Lecturer at University of Rwanda (UR) PhD student at the Department of Social Work University of Gothenburg/Sweden Securing women’s land rights through land tenure reform program in Rwanda March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 1

October 15, 2012PPT ASSWA conference in SA2

Aim -Explore and analyse the gender aspect of the process of the LTR in Rwanda -Capture women’s experiences in reference to their land rights within LTRP in Rwanda March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 3

Presentation overview Methodology Background of LTR in Rwanda Findings  Knowledge and attitudes about LRTP and legal framework regulating it.  Women’s decision-making over land and its produce  Challenges in ensuring women rights to land Conclusion March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 4

Methodology Area of study: Northern part of the Country Data collection tools: – Semi-structured interviews with implementers at different levels, coordinators of CNF (National women’s council ), etc – FGD with local land committees, local mediators “Abunzi”, and women’s associations – Case studies – Agricultural Household survey with 477 women from different background March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 5

 Inheritance law of 1999  The constitution of 2003  Land policy 0f 2004  Organic land law of 2005 modified in 2013  Inheritance law of 1999  The constitution of 2003  Land policy 0f 2004  Organic land law of 2005 modified in 2013 LTR programs by WB, IFAD, USAID Ensuring gender equality in land rights LTR programs in Rwanda LTR programs in Rwanda March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 6

Why is it important to ensure land rights to women? March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 7 Women owned only 1%of the world’s resources, while constituting 50 per cent of the world’s population (UN, 1980:8) Women produce between 60 and 80 per cent of all food crops in African countries ( Daley&Englert, 2010) Over 71.7% of Rwandans depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.82% of women work in agriculture compared to with 61% of men agriculture (EICV3, 2012) The 1994 Tutsi genocide and the HIV epidemic increased the number of FHH to 33.6% (National Gender statistics report 2013,11)

Land registration and titling March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 8 By June 2012, 10.3 million of land parcels were recorded and 8.4 million titles issued to people

8/29/2015Int'l Social Work conference-Kampala9 Women’s knowledge in relation to legal framework regulating land in Rwanda Little awareness about land related laws where 4/5 of the women in the study said are not familiar with it Education, being member of women’s association, having a leadership position and participation in public meetings increase their level of knowledge.

8/29/2015Int'l Social Work conference-Kampala10 Women's attitudes Nearly 2/3 support joint titles weather marriage is registered or not 2/3 of ever married women have registered their marriage 73.2% support that individual titles non registered wives in polygamous marriage ¼ don’t support equal inheritance rights between children

8/29/2015Int'l Social Work conference-Kampala11 Land titles and women’s decision making over land 98.7% said that land title improves their land tenure security and participation in decision making Those with independent tiles said that they have full control of their land as long as they hold land certificate with their names in their hand. Those with joint title are sure that their husbands cannot sell it without their consent however they are still many failing cases No much changes has been made with regard to the daily management of land and its produce Nearly 1 out five of the respondents have requested for loans in financial institutions. Among them, 76.8% of them have used land as a guarantee

8/29/2015Int'l Social Work conference-Kampala12 Women's attitudes Nearly 2/3 support joint titles weather marriage is registered or not 2/3 of ever married women have registered their marriage 73.2% support that individual titles non registered wives in polygamous marriage ¼ don’t support equal inheritance rights between children

Challenges to women’s land rights March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 13 Polygamy: ( Ubuharike n’ubushoreke ) Formal polygamy and various form of modern polygamy referred to as private polygamy or outside marriage. 14.8% of women in the study live in polygamous relationships either as the first or subsequent wives The majority of participants and respondents in this study recognise polygamy as one of the main cause of land related conflicts Inheritance Equal inheritance rights to both girls and boys/ husband and wife Nearly ¼ of the respondents don’t support equal share between girls and boys and believe that boys should have bigger share. No-retroactivity of the law Conflict between widows and their in laws Possible rejection of women who failed to bring land with them when they marry

Unwillingness of men to regularise their marriage 1/3 of married women is not registered/informal marriage Men are reluctant to register their marriage because once they do so, automatically the wives have rights to equal share of the matrimonial property Yet women continue to be engaged in informal marriages due to different reasons March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 14

March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 15 Little knowledge about land related laws 4/5 of the respondents said that they were not familiar with land related laws Slowness in mind-set changing Patriarchal power structures that give supremacy to men are still strong. Therefore deeply embedded socio- cultural norms and values do not facilitate the adaptation to new changes (¼ don’t support equal sharing between children)

Conclusion Large support of the idea that women should have land titles and the effort of the GoR to fight against gender imbalances in land related rights Land titling can empower and give positive outcomes to women. However it is not obvious as many other factors play a big role Norms, values, gender relations as well as land rights are embedded into complex and diverse realities of local people Theory and practice dilemma where laws and policies that look good on papers are not necessarily easily implemented and intentions of the laws do not necessarily seem to be logical to the local people as well as to the implementers. 8/29/2015Int'l Social Work conference-Kampala16

Women from some categories seem to be more disadvantageous compared to others when it comes to the land laws literacy, the ability to claim their rights and attitudes vis-à-vis the LTRP Strategies aiming at strengthening women’s land rights should not look at women as a homogenous group but rather as having particular specificities that are important to consider. March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 17

March 24, 2014 The 2014 World Bank Land and Poverty conference/Washington DC 18