Rwanda land tenure regularisation case study

What People Fight Over: Arenas of Contestation

“…Nevertheless, there are examples of successful efforts to increase women's access to land. In Rwanda, land-related issues contributed to the 1994 genocide (Gillingham and Buckle 2014). Consequently, to prevent further cycles of violence and to address grievances such as those related to ethnic division and gender discrimination in land access, the government moved to clarify land rights and launched a program of land tenure regularization (Gillingham and Buckle 2014).…”

Topic Guide: Women’s empowerment in a changing agricultural and rural context

“…Two Evidence on Demand publications: the Topic Guide on Land (Locke and Henley, 2014); and a case study from Rwanda (Gillingham and Buckle, 2014) as well as a recent DFID property rights evidence paper (DFID 2014c) may be useful for those with a particular interest in land. They are available to download here:…”

“…Section 1 of the Topic Guide stressed that rural women are not a homogenous group. Gillingham and Buckle (2014) in their Land case study highlight that despite the significant contribution that the land registration in Rwanda has made to bringing about gender equality, the situation of non-formally married wives or multiple wives remains a challenge. Polygamy is illegal in Rwanda so second wives cannot be registered as wives on land leases.…”

“…Whether land rights have empowerment effects for rural women is also challenging to answer. The case study from Rwanda referred to above (Gillingham and Buckle, 2014) highlights how enforcing women's land rights through the registration process has improved awareness of women's rights. This, and the fact that equal rights are enshrined in the Rwandan constitution has, according to the Ministry of Women, been transformational in terms of the recognition of women's rights in Rwanda.…”

“…The Abunzi need proper training in resolving what legally are clear cut cases (Gillingham and Buckle, 2014).…”