A path shared for 27 years - IFAD

LAND
If you have land, you are If you have land, you are more in
control. In the past, all a villager had
more in control.
to do to get it was to ask for some –
from the chief if you were a man, or from your
husband, father or brother if you were a woman.
Practically everywhere, land used to be owned
only by men (mostly collectively, through their
extended family) and men were also expected to
deal with outsiders. But things started changing
as villages grew and as the need to earn money
became stronger. People were no longer content
just to make ends meet: they wanted a better
life, to send their kids to school, to pay for
health care. Land became increasingly hard to
get and individuals started laying permanent
claim to such land as they were able to get. It
was only a matter of time before they started
buying and selling land. That was unthinkable
in the traditional village. Although the poorest
cannot get land for free anymore, anybody with
money, including women, can buy land, today.
That’s made a huge difference in the lives of
rural poor people – but only if they have money
and can get a strong title.
“I am more confident and plan to set up a shop on my plot of land. I’ll
hire someone to run it. I have learned to keep accounts. My husband
has more respect for me because I can help provide for the family. Our
relationship has improved.”
Woman member of KWFT, Kenya
“After my husband died, what saved me is that I was aware of my land
rights. I had participated in many workshops and trainings on women’s
rights. At the funeral, I paraded my three children before the mourners,
who included my in-laws, and told everyone that I was going to live
with my children on the land we’d been using when my husband was
alive. I don’t have full control of the land and the cows. I have to ask for
the clan leader’s permission to sell a cow or rent out the land.”
Margaret Cherop, teacher, Kapchorwa, Uganda
“The land I work and live on belongs to my father-in-law.
He insists that it is still his and that he hasn’t given it to me
or my children. He tells us where we can cultivate and it is
always in a different place. I have no idea what will happen
when he dies.”
Should we ever want or have to sell our land or put it up as collateral,
it will be easier because we have a deed to prove it’s our property. Also,
having a deed makes the land a lot more valuable.
Comments from small landowners in Dan Saga, Niger
“Even after I die, nobody will be able to contest the ownership of my
land because the deed is the strongest possible proof and paper doesn’t
lie even after 100 years. My children and grandchildren won’t have
problems defending their rights to the land.”
Large landowner, Dan Saga, Niger
“The way the land titling procedure was carried out actually reduced the
risk of land disputes. Anybody who didn’t speak up when a deed was
recorded in front of the whole village won’t be able to lay claim to that
land afterwards. Anybody who tried would lose that fight out of hand.
Land titles make our life easier as local authorities because it is our job to
arbitrate fairly on land disputes.”
Moussa Bara, Village Chief, Dan Saga, Niger
“The children know that their mother has a field in a given place; they
know its location and that it is not part of the family property.”
Ladidi, President of a women’s group, Dan Saga, Niger
Yunia, Nyanza Province, Kenya
54
Men showing their land titles; women got
their titles the same day, Niger.
©The Joint Programme