Joyce Rosemary Nangobi Slum Women’s Initiative for Development (SWID) IMPROVING TRANSPARENT SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE LAND OFFICES: THE JINJA CASE STUDY

OUR COMMUNITY CONTEXT: JINJA 2 nd Largest urban center in Uganda Vibrant fishing center since birth Previous industrial heart of Uganda Center surrounding migration High levels poverty, informal settlements

SWID HISTORY Walukuba Housing Estate Tenants were given an option to purchase the houses Town goal to privatize was to upgrade deteriorated housing stocks Women had no resources to directly purchase their houses, with some eventually defaulting on rent payment. Many were evicted and start to organize themselves Such evictions from which women and their children suffered most, led to the formation of the Slum Women’s Initiative for Development (SWID) in 2003.

OUR MISSION To improve on the quality of lives of people living in Jinja urban slums and rural communities through empowering them to meet their social, political and economic needs in a sustainable manner” (SWID, n.d.) OUR VISION An empowered community with a home for every women. SWID is a Huairou Commission partner

LAND ACQUISITION CHALLENGES FOR WOMEN Women have difficulty getting titles under their names Bribes necessary to get titles Women unaware of housing and land rights Delays in land application process

OUR SOLUTIONS

REVOLVING LOAN FUND PROJECT GOALS Launched in 2003 The aim was to increase opportunities for grassroots women to gain greater economic freedom To strengthen women’s groups and savings associations To increase capacity for women to borrow and undertake more financially viable enterprises To strengthen women’s groups’ capacity to access land and building financiers

OUR STRATEGY Trainings help group’s negotiate for a credit guarantee fund with banks, micro credit institutions, government and donors Cyclical or rotational borrowing strategy Clusters access loans as a group Loan repayments lent to new clusters

OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS 120 women access land & housing for secure tenure 200 women got loans for land and businesses 12 women from the Practical Rural Women’s Association, an affiliate group to SWID, got land for housing construction 100 women acquired knowledge and capacity building in Savings and loan management, governance skills, record keeping, business management and business pl anning Reduced speculators trying to prey on women

TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY INITIATIVE: EMPOWERING GRASSROOTS WOMEN TO REDUCE CORRUPTION AND STRENGTHEN DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE Project Components  community mobilizing  community mapping  advocacy through local to local dialogues

PROJECT HISTORY March community members invited to meet by SWID Discuss government transparency problems and new manual on the procedure & steps on land titling. Flow chart discussion of land titling process and challenges Bottlenecks Weak Links Poorly Defined Steps

COMMUNITY MAPPING Identify Key Stakeholders Uganda Land Commission, Jinja District Land Board, Jinja Municipal Council, Area Land Committees, Local Council II and CBOs Formed 13 member Community Coalition Youth with A Vision, Police Wing Youth Association, SWID Core, Pressure from Below, Baidhumbira, Munomukabi, Ona, Mitamu, Mpumudde Women’s Group, Practical Rural Women’s Association, Kakira Community Initiative for Development, Buwenge Development Group for Women’sEmpowerment and Budondo Post Test Club Members commit to move forward Mobilize members in their respective groups Each to guide their own group on land titling process Raise awareness on corruption 40 grassroots women trained and clustered to lead the whole process

AWARENESS RAISING Meeting of 100 people in July, 2013 Land Titling Manual Development Work with Consultant Land Titling Manual Dissemination to 550 Sensitization Workshop on Corruption Radio Show Airs the Sensitization Workshop

ADVOCACY Two Local to Local Dialogues held 2013  Area Land Committee Chairperson makes public commitments to guide women through land titling process  Land officers agree to move around the community to clearly verify ownership

MOVING THROUGH THE PROCESS IN GROUPS Paying fees Organizing land documents Visiting land offices Submitting papers Understanding the process Thirty-five women have received land title verification Another 120 women in the process of preparing their land ownership documents

MAIN CHALLENGES Senior Surveyor Roadblocks and Complexity of the Titling Process Collective Document Gathering and Management Education on Record Keeping and Fee Payments Cultural Mindsets and Barriers

LESSONS LEARNED Approach Government as a Group to Cut Corruption Involve a Land Area Chairperson Continue to Monitor Corruption

In conclusion, we continue to affirm that grassroots women's access to property is critical not only for their economic security but for the economic security of their children. When women become empowered to learn how to own their own assets, they begin to have more independence and are enabled to play a bigger role in many areas of decision making in their households and communities. Through our process of collective action and strategic planning we have taken important steps to improve the strength and overall prosperity of society. Women have clearly learned to become more proactive and engaged in breaking through the many obstacles in their way to owning property. While they face continuing barriers of long-standing traditions, inadequate laws, ineffective courts and a lack of education, each of these barriers have been shown to pose new opportunities for creativity and growth both for individual’s and the group. Grassroots women will no longer stand passively aside and allow barriers to damage their lives or those of their families or impede their efforts to build for a brighter day.