Presented at the Country Learning Exchange held during the 7th GLTN Partners meeting 2018 in Nairobi, Kenya.

1. STRENGTHENING WOMEN’S LAND RIGHTS
AND SECURITY OF TENURE FOR ALL ON
CUSTOMARY LAND
Implementation of innovative
and gendered land tools and
approaches

2. PARTNERSHIP- Coming Together to
Advocate Land Policy Reform
1. UN Habitat / GLTN
2. UCOBAC
3. Huairou Commission
4. Government of Uganda
- Ministry of Lands,
Housing and urban
development (MLHUD)
5. ACTogether - Uganda

3. INTRODUCTION: – NLP on Customary
land tenure, Gender and land rights
Discriminates against women – Therefore State
shall;
By legislation, protect the right to inheritance and
ownership of land under customary tenure for
women and children.
Ensure that both men and women enjoy equal
rights to land on customary land without
discrimination.
Establish a land registry system for the
registration of land rights under customary
tenure.

4. CHALLENGES – Gap between policy and
practice (Formalisation of customary land)
• 68.6% of land in Uganda is under customary land
tenure and this is largely unregistered.
• Land administration bodies are extremely weak,
lack capacity, grossly under-resourced, lack
necessary facilities to effectively perform their
duties.
• General public ignorance on laws and processes
• General mistrust/mixed feelings of the process of
formalization of customary land

5. CHALLENGES – Gap between policy
and practice (Gender specific)
• Deeply entrenched discriminatory social
norms against women’s land rights
• Women unable to obtain/inherit/own/make
decisions on land
• Lack of well coordinated process to reach
women in an affordable and systematic
manner to ensure that gender inequality is
diminished rather than concretized

6. KEY INTERVENTIONS – Bridging the
gap between policy and practice
1. Community
mobilisation and
sensitisation
2. Capacity building of
land actors at all levels
3. Land boundary
mapping and data
collection
4. Dispute
resolution/Mediations
5. Customisation of
SDTM

7. KEY ACHIEVEMENTS – Bridging the
gap between policy and practice
 Strengthened
partnerships
 Strengthened capacity
of land administration
actors
 Community buy in in
the formalization of
customary land – over
300+ applications for
CCOs
 Participatory,
community led and
sustainable process

8. KEY ACHIEVEMETS– Bridging gap
between policy and practice
 Establishment of community
data center
 Reduced land conflicts,
including boundary conflicts-
15 disputes identified, 14
resolved successfully, 1
dispute ongoing.
 Increased documentation of
land rights – 301 parcels
mapped for 6,851
beneficiaries ( 4096 female
and 2,755 male)

9. EXPECTED LONG TERM OUTCOMES
LONG TERM OUTCOMES
 Strengthened security of
tenure for all
 Enhanced equitable access ,
ownership, and control on
land through strengthened
WLR
 Reduced
evictions/disinheritance
especially among women
 Increased land productivity
and food security

10. LESSONS
LEARNT/RECOMMENDATIONS
• Recognize, Formalize and adopt Fit for purpose land
administration approach to secure tenure at scale
• Land rights documentation processes should be made
easy, fast and affordable to attract and reach more
especially women
• For sustainability - Build Capacities of communities and
participator y process for a community led process
• Need to invest in community mobilization and sensitization
- clarify existing misconceptions and fears & transform
discriminatory social norms against women
• Strengthen Alternative Dispute resolution mechanisms
including traditional mechanisms of dispute resolution (
Clan courts)