CSOs Urged to Empower Women with Land Acquisition Knowledge Not only Rights

The ministry of lands has challenged Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to empower women with land acquisition knowledge but not just their rights. 

Eunice Nabakwa, a Principal Lands officer at the Ministry of Lands has said many times CSOs focus on women land rights but they do not explain what it takes for a woman to own land in Uganda.

Nabakwa said being a woman doesn’t automatically mean you own land. She said even if land is gifted to a woman or inherited, it is important to ensure that they have sufficient knowledge on how to document it for it to become theirs.

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Nabakwa was representing the Ministry of Lands at "Her Land Rights workshop organized by Uganda Community Based Association for Women and Children’s Welfare (UCOBAC) in partnership with GIZ. The workshop was organized under the theme Fit for Purpose with emphasis sustainable land registration system.

Samuel Eriaku, the GIZ land officer, said the challenge with land registration in Uganda is the fact that very many people have not been equipped with knowledge of digital land registration system. Eriaku said many people still trust their traditional ways of demarcating land using trees, until hills and stones which can be removed at any time.

“I work with GIZ and we have been able to move to many places to engage people on land registration. But many prefer traditional demarcation ways. In fact, they are always skeptical on whether GIZ is colluding with the government to grab their land,” Eriaku said.

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Frances Birungi Odong, UCOBAC Executive Director, said sustainable land rights and registration campaign is aimed at removing social and structural barriers that prevent women from exercising their land rights, and ensure that land tenure governance, reforms, and processes equitably include and benefit women.

  “Land demarcation and surveying lie at the heart of vision 2040 which looks at strengthening the fundamentals of the economy to harness the abundant opportunities around the country. With only 20% of land in Uganda being registered, the vision requires that if land ownership is to facilitate development, government ought to roll out a systematic land demarcation and surveying program for the entire country,” Odong said.

According to Odong, numerous challenges that limit land rights demarcation, surveying and mapping among which is the cost of private surveyors, lack of equipment and shortage of qualified personnel. She added that to mitigate those challenges, the policy aims at enhancing the capacity for land rights adjudication, demarcation, surveying and mapping by reviewing and updating the legal and regulatory framework to allow for the use of modern technology and promote systematic demarcation as a cost- effective strategy for registering rights.

“The policy also further intends to enhance the training, deployment and regulation of demarcation, surveys, and mapping through which they will educate communities and incorporate traditional institutions on the functions of surveys and mapping,” Odong added.

CSOs and other participants said land registration offers ultimate proof of ownership, reduces incidences of land conflicts and stimulates development. UCOBAC’s Communication Officer, Ritah Kemigisa, said despite the aforementioned state aspirations and supportive legal framework, there is still limited progress made in 10 years of the implementation of the National Land Policy. 

According to Kemigisa, this can partly be attributed to the fact that land registration processes in the country is mainly donor driven and funded with no framework for sustainable country driven land rights registration processes.