Research report: Land rights of pastoralist women in Tanzania

The first in a new series of Research Reports published by the International Rangelands Initiative of the International Land Coalition (ILCA) is “Securing pastoral women’s land rights in Tanzania” (2017, 62pp) by Elizabeth Daley and Naseku Kisambu. It is based on a study supported by ILC’s Woman & Land Program in Chemba and Kiteto Districts in northern Tanzania, where the Tanzania Women Lawyers Association worked with local NGOs and used participatory methods to examine the nature of pastoralist women’s rights and the constraints and opportunities they face in gaining access to land and natural resources. It is noteworthy that many of the pastoralist women in the study areas found access to water to be an even greater challenge than access to land.

The aim of the study was to improve the understanding of development actors and policymakers about how pastoralist women’s land rights can best be secured. It looked particularly at the role played by the policy environment in the land-tenure insecurity of Tanzania pastoralists and at differences in how men and women are affected by the policies. The study closes with discussion of the current opportunities for pastoralist women to gain more secure land rights.

Posted on 2 December 2017 in Pastoralism & Natural Resources, Pastoralism, Gender & Youth