Securing and Protecting Land Rights from a Gender Perspective : A Case of Land Rights Monitors in Tanzania
Godfrey Eliseus Massay
Many large-scale agricultural investments have significant impacts on the land rights of the communities in developing countries. Communities have dealt with such impacts using different adaptive approaches. One of many approaches is through grassroots movements that are led by some dedicated men and women. This paper documents the work of land rights monitors (LRMs) as used by one of the civil society organizations in Tanzania in securing land rights of the communities along large-scale agricultural investments regions. It highlights the challenges they face in their struggle for the land rights and their success stories. The paper demonstrates different approaches employed by women and men LRMs in their struggles and how the same have affected them as well as the results of their work. Moreover, the paper describes how this engendered grassroots movements have secured and protected land rights of the communities and how the same have created the society that appreciates gender roles in strengthening land rights. Throughout this paper, I argue that LRMs is the innovation which can strengthen democracy in land governance and administration at the local level. However, more need to be done in up-scaling and replicating this innovation in order to secure land rights in Tanzania.
Event: Annual World Bank Conference on Land and Poverty 2015
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