Presentation by Elisa Scalise and Renee Giovarelli Co-founders of Resource Equity Global awareness of two land tenure issues--the importance of recognizing and promoting land rights for women and the problem of insecure collective land and resource tenure rights--is rising. The importance of managing collectively held land, both for those who use it and for the environment, has grown increasingly clear. In fact, studies have estimated that as much as 65 percent of the world’s land is held under collective tenure—customary, community-based tenure systems. Securing that tenure is important for protecting the rights of those communities, and has been shown to improve resource management. However, efforts to secure community land tenure, generally through documenting and registering rights, are still new. In particular, to date, the conversation around securing collective rights to land has paid little attention to women’s rights, and the effects of formalizing the rights of the collective on women are not well studied. Focusing on securing collective land and resource rights without considering gender differences within communities has the potential to severely disadvantage women who are very often socially, economically, and politically excluded. This report on gender issues and best practices in collective land tenure projects seeks to begin filling this gap, by taking a detailed look at how six collective tenure land projects addressed gender differences. The six case studies include projects in China, Ghana, India, Kyrgyzstan, Namibia, and Peru. The case studies are program assessments focusing primarily on how each project approached gender, what the gender-differentiated impacts have been in terms of project participation and benefits, and what lessons can be learned and best practices can be drawn from these projects. https://www.dropbox.com/s/rraj5rz8kip9t70/2016-03-14%2012.01%203_14%2012pm-1pm%20Room%208A%20Gender%20Methods%20Seminar%20with%20Resource%20Equity%20.mp4?dl=0

1. GENDER AND COLLECTIVELY
HELD LAND:
GOOD PRACTICES AND LESSONS
LEARNED
Six Case Studies

2. Choosing Case Studies
 Interventions on collective lands that aimed to increase the
land tenure security of the community while also addressing
gender differences.
 Namibia—compared CLRA intervention to non-intervention
in an existing customary system
 Other criteria considered included diversity in types of land,
geographic location, type of implementer, and type of
funder.
 Limited in number of projects that fit our criteria and were
also willing to participate in close analysis of gender
dimensions of intervention.

3. Methodology
 Each case study drafted by different author(s)
 Desk research covered project documents; legal and
contextual framework analysis
 Field-based assessment of intervention, conducted over 10-
14 days, usually in coordination with a national expert and
the team who implemented the project
 Case studies drafted in consultation with local experts, and
findings presented to stakeholders in validation workshops
 Case studies reviewed by Landesa and RE staff and then
peer reviewed by at least one national expert

4. Six Case Studies
Country Type of land Project Aim Author(s)
China Grassland Ensuring compensation related to rights to
collective held grassland is shared by women
Wang Xiaobei (Landesa)
Yang Li (Research Center for Rural
Economy)
Ghana Arable land Improve capacity of Customary Land
Secretariats and improve role of women in land
governance
Amanda Richardson (RE)
Reem Gaafar (Formerly Landesa)
India Forest land Increase forest dwellers access to and control
of forest resources under the Forest Rights Act Amanda Richardson (RE)
Kyrgyzstan Pastoral land Increase livestock productivity on community
held pastures in context of pasture land
reforms.
Elisa Scalise (RE)
Peru Arable land Increase women’s participation in community
land governance Leslie Hannay (RE)
Namibia Arable Land
(&residentialp
lots)
Implementation of the Communal Land Reform
Act and operationalization of customary
system governing communal land.
Hirut Girma (Landesa)

5. China (Alashan League of Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region)

6. Context
 Ongoing national government program “subsidies and
rewards mechanism for grassland ecological preservation”
(2010)
 Central policy, subsidies provided to herders’ household
based on the amount of grassland. HH decides how funds
are allocated
 Local policy, provide subsidies to herders’ HH based on
number of family members

7. Ghana

8. Context
 AGRA Land Policy Action Node (2012) implement
Land Access and Tenure Security Project in Northern
Region
 Customary Land Secretariats
 landholding rules; land use planning; overlapping claims
 dispute resolution; boundaries of the customary land area
 simple registries
 identify, adjudicate, demarcate and register holdings in the
customary area
 improve the security of vulnerable (women)
 COLANDEF: Community sensitization; capacity
building of CLS; ADR for traditional authorities.

9. India: Facilitating Individual and Community Rights
under the FRA 2006 and Strengthening Campaign on
Peoples’ Access and Control over Natural Resources in
Five Districts of Jharkhand

10. Context
 Naya Sawera Vikas Kendra (NSVK); Local NGO
works with communities—Oxfam funded
 Jharkhand, new state (2000); Part of Bihar;
Approx. 28% of population is “tribal”; 12%
“scheduled caste”
 Objectives: Increase forest dwellers’ access to
and control over forests under FRA (women,
tribal, and scheduled caste);Build community
based institutions; mass awareness campaigns
re: FRA; Address FRA Implementation Gap

11. Kyrgyzstan: Livestock and Market
Development Program (IFAD)

12. Context
 43% Grassland (State Owned)
 2009 Pasture Law devolved responsibility to PUU
 Customarily men responsible for pastures; women use
 Objective: Increase livestock productivity, improved and
equitable returns to livestock farmers
 Outcome 1: More productive/accessible pastures
 Outcome 2: Healthier livestock
 Outcome 3: Market partnerships in milk value chain
providing incentives for productivity increases

13. Namibia
Enforcement of CLRA 2002 in Oshana Region
Operationalize customary system governing communal lands
in Kavango East (Shambyu TA).

14. Context
 Oshana Region: Leads implementation of the Communal
Land Rights Act that introduced the registration of
customary land rights in communal areas; recognizes and
consolidates the legal authority of Traditional Authorities
to administer communal land while also reinforcing
gender responsive customary laws
 Kavango region declined to participate in the registration
process. Instead, continues to independently administer
customary land rights in accordance with its established
customary system.

15. Peru: “Indigenous Quechua and Aymara Peasant
Women’s Access to Land Governance in their
Communities” (SER)

16. Context
 SER promotes human rights through
democratic participation and rural
development
 Goals:
increase women’s use and control of
community land and resources
increase rural women’s involvement in
land tenure governance
support rural women’s access to
productive resources

17. What does it
mean in practice…
To promote and
secure collective
tenure in a
gender-sensitive
way?

18. Two Questions that Always
Matter for Collective Tenure
Who is a member of the community?
 Who decides who is a member?
 What rights do members have?
 What rights do non-members have?
 Can status change between member and outsider?
Who has the right to participate in governance or control?
 Who has right to govern land used communally?
 Can women meaningfully participate in governance?
 For communally held land that is used by households?
 Can a woman’s rights to land change if marital status does?

19. Key Gender Issues
 social change
 women’s empowerment
 legal rights
 project design
 governance
 training and knowledge
 data collection and use

20. Social Change/Risks
 For women and men to have equitable rights
to land, either in the household or
community, requires social change
 Social change requires focus, time, effort,
and community acceptance, and is difficult
to achieve without existing relationships
within the community

21. Implementing Organizations
 NSVK in India: issue-based committees, run by social
workers employed by NSVK; young, literate; bridge between
the community and outsiders
 Social workers trained in monthly meetings; trained on FRA-
-how to prepare claims, how to lead an exercise for
mapping land holdings.
 SER Peru: already involved in community on democratic
participation/rural development
 Worked with women/men on governance

22. Build on Positive Customs
 Namibia: (Kavango East) Shambyu Traditional Authority-
women well represented at all levels
 Women’s representation in leadership not sufficient to
change deeply held customs related to women’s rights to
land
 Non-native women and men--level of scrutiny is higher
 Women likely to fall in this category due to patrilocal
residence.
 Land acquired during marriage--ancestral land, not often
allocated to outsiders

23. What actions might limit these
risks?
 Seek out and support local partners with
existing relationships (land/gender if
possible)
 Connect local issues and organizations to
efforts at the regional and national level
 Understand local customs and social norms-
-what is the potential benefit or harm of
change and to whom—and build on positive
customs

24. Women’s Empowerment/Risks
 Women’s low status = impact on decision-making
 Raising status takes time; interventions often short-term
 Women may not know how to organize to mobilize change
 Women may not know how to lead or participate in group
meetings
 Women may not understand the value of contributing to
decisions
 Men may not allow for change if they do not understand
the need
 Men may be suspicious if they are left out of process

25. Women’s Groups
 India/NSVK: Women already organized; savings and
income-generating SHG; already frequent meetings
 Ghana/COLANDEF: project reached large number of
women by working with and training existing groups; Met
quota for women’s involvement by targeting women who
were part of women’s groups.
 China: Women’s group organized for purpose of gaining
subsidies for non-use of land; 10 married-out women not
allocated grassland under HRS.
 Group shared information, provided support; collective
action put political pressure on the government to avoid
escalation.

26. Community
India NSVK: Men required training;
communication
Peru SER: women needed
“permission”
Work with Local leaders

27. What actions might limit these
risks?
 Work with existing women’s groups
 Women’s groups as part of design
 Help women understand value of mobilization
 Community leaders give women permission to pursue
action
 Provide training on group organizing, leadership,
participation, etc.

28. Risks to formalizing collectively
held land
 Customary law supersedes other laws for women’s
equal rights
 Membership not defined and excludes married-in
women
 Local authorities define membership; few women
participate
 Membership not confer right to manage
land/resources
 HH rights not protected by family law if land
collectively held.

29. Legal Pluralism
 Namibia: customary law that creates conflict may be repealed or
modified by Parliament. CLRA recognizes legal authority of TAs to
administer communal land; gender responsive process safeguards:
independent customary land rights; widows protected; informal
marriages; joint titling.
 Ghana: intestate succession law exempts stool land from its purview,
and states that customary land held in trust in the traditional leadership
of stools (80% of Ghana’s land)
 Peru: autonomy of local communities trump constitutional protections
for women; peasant and native communities self-govern, including land
rights; women excluded from inheritance rights and decision-making
 China calls for gender equality but devolves authority over governance
decisions to village collectives; village collective decisions not subject to
appeal

30. Membership Rights
 Women excluded as outsiders
 China: woman’s “membership” is not set – depending on how each
village defines membership
 Kyrgyz Republic: membership defined by residency and thereby includes
women who live there, no matter their marital status.
 Peru: Membership rules gender neutral; membership in community
does not grant right to vote and participate in community decisions;
must be a qualified community member; one person per household; no
explicit requirement that internal governance includes women; male-
dominated community assemblies, favor inheritance to sons rather than
widows
 Ghana: likelihood of widow retaining rights to marital property depends
on age, number of children, and relationship with in-laws.

31. Collective rights and marital
and inheritance rights
 Where land is held, used, and managed collectively, intra-
household laws do not apply; issue is membership
 Marital property and inheritance laws apply only to land
that is held and used by the household
 India: FRA provided where forest land was under cultivation
by HH for period of time, marital property laws apply and
joint titling required.
 Namibia (Oshana): Need not rely on marital property and
inheritance laws to protect interests of women;
formalization rules can integrate protection; CLRA defines
spouse more broadly than the marital property laws to
include customary/unregistered conjugal unions

32. What actions might limit these
risks?
 Give TAs rights and responsibility to address women’s
exclusion
 Know community membership rules; include married-in
women
 Definition of membership includes all residents
 Membership gives right to vote and to manage land
 Land used by HH but collectively held, apply family laws to
HH

33. Project Design/Risks
 Pre-project assessment of community not consider women as
distinct from men
 Team does not understand value or importance of women’s land
rights; no gender expertise
 Project design not take into account women’s marital status
 Project staff not identify vulnerable women or how to reach them
 Women not have a voice in project design
 Only women receive training; men hostile to change because of
lack of understanding
 Project design unchangeable; not incorporate monitoring

34. Design Lessons
 Hire women staff; obstacles: physical capacity, time,
capacity, norms, experience, or interest.
 Gender sensitivity training: Staff at NSVK not focused on
gender or FRA when they began; Oxfam exposure
visits/training. Interviewed staff—very knowledgeable
 Target specific women—activities they’re engaged in
 Flexible Design

35. What actions might limit these
risks?
 Set targets for hiring of female staff; Identify challenges and
barriers to employing women
 Train project implementers at beginning of project; include
gender sensitivity
 Hire STTA to work with project gender experts who lack
experience; work with men and women
 Target women as beneficiaries of project; pre-design
assessment to identify target goals;
 Build flexibility into design and monitor effectiveness for
women
 Understand legal framework and adopt legal duty to address
inequality of women.
 Consider legal changes that provide framework for equality in
collective land tenure

36. Inclusive Governance/Risks
 Not treated equally in governance institutions/processes; interests
not considered; not participate in decisions that affect land;
governing body unaware of value of inclusion
 Governance institutions not address women’s ‘double burden’
 Community policies, rules, by-laws not challenge gender
inequalities
 Community/national institutions not accountable on gender
equality
 Unaware of rules and procedures of governing bodies
 Unwilling or uninterested in participating in governing bodies
 Lack skills, confidence, experience of speaking in forums

37. What Actions Might Limit
Risks?
 Ensure policies, laws, by-laws informed by gender; gender balance in
decision-making bodies
 Develop accountability for community; go beyond gender targets/quotas
 Find means for communicating rules, decisions, information to women
 Create space for women and men’s interests to be voiced and heard
 Ensure women’s rights are known and appreciated
 Ensure dispute resolvers grounded on principles of gender equality
 Where line Ministries are represented include Ministry of Gender
 Incentivize women in governance; include training, outreach, capacity
building

38. Thank you!