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Stand for Her Land Campaign Uganda (S4HL)

The Stand for Her Land (S4HL) campaign is a civil society led global collaborative campaign with a mission to strengthen women’s land rights through collective advocacy that aims to close the implementation gap between law and practice. The S4HL campaign engages in collective, country-led advocacy to remove social and structural barriers that prevent women from exercising their land, property and natural resource rights and to ensure that land tenure governance, reforms, and processes equitably include and benefit women.

The campaign in Uganda is coordinated by UCOBAC under the auspices of the National Land Coalition with over 30 civil society organizations and community-based organisations at the national, sub national and grass roots level respectively. The campaign is implemented in partnership with Landesa, with financial support from BMZ.

Priority Focus Areas under S4HL

  • Social norms and cultural practices preventing women from accessing, owning and controlling land
  • Inadequate funding and capacity for land management and administration institutions to support WLR
  • Limited Awareness on the legal and regulatory framework on women land rights by rights holders, duty bearers and community members
  • Limited access to land justice for women
  • Limited participation, weak voice and fractured agency of grassroots women in land governance

S4HL Campaign Milestones

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Grassroots Women Leaders’ Academies

The grass roots women leaders’ academy is an initiative by the S4HL Campaign to establish a strong grass roots women regional base for collective advocacy on WLRs.

The academies are aimed at promoting grass roots women voice, participation and agency as one of the key advocacy issues under the Stand for Her Land Campaign in Uganda. Today the academies have been held in all the four (4) regions of Uganda including; Eastern Uganda in Soroti district May 5th to 6th, 2023, Central at Sports View Kireka, Kampala July 26th to 27th 2023, Northern in Lira City August 31st to September 1st, 2023 and Western Uganda in Kabale September 27th to 28th, 2023. 90 grassroots women from selected organized women groups and CBOS from the districts of Kumi, Soroti, Amuria, Busia, Moroto, Napak, Kotido, Kaabong, Bugiri, Butaleja Mubende, Mityana, Kassanda, Masaka, Kampala, Lira, Zombo, Dokolo, Amolatar, Kabale, Kisoro, Mbarara and Ntungamo were trained on how to organize, engage and influence land governance processes. To improve and invoke women’s participation, training materials were developed and they covered the most needed topics related to advocacy and leadership including; Human and women’s land rights (WLRs), gender norms, power and empowerment, coalition building and communication, lobbying and advocacy.

At the end of the trainings, participants developed district specific advocacy plans that will be incorporated into the campaigns work plan.

Over the years, there have been attempts to develop a comprehensive legislation governing marriage, considering the fact that the Marriage Act was enacted 119 years ago and has since not been updated. In 2022, Parliament of Uganda through the Uganda Parliamentary Women Association (UWOPA) embarked on the revival of the Marriage and Divorce Bill. 

Guided by a Memorandum of Understanding with UWOPA, the campaign facilitated and was represented in a number of build-up activities towards the realization of the Bill. As a result, the campaign was represented in; lobby and technical retreat meetings attended by key influential directorates of government including; the Attorney General and the Parliamentary Legal Committee organized by UWOPA, and the CSO consultative meeting organized by S4HL on October 5th, 2023. A group photo with representatives of organised women groups and community based organisations from selected districts in Northern Uganda after attending the academy. 

Some of the issues raised during the different consultative forums include; the need to address and deal with realities of cohabitation, interrogate whether marriage is a social or a legal issue, assess what amounts to presence of parties at a contraction of marriage, strengthening the clause of notice of marriage and how to strike a balance between consent and cultural inclinations and pre-marital counselling before marriage.

Following the invitation from the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to submit views and recommendations on the on-going review of the Land Act, the S4HL Campaign in Uganda and Women’s Land Rights Movement held consultative engagements with key stakeholders to analyze the position of women in the proposed areas of reform in the Land Act. 

The gender analysis focused on ensuring that, there is enhanced participation and representation of women, equal access to and utilization of services, a fair economic consideration in regard to women and men accessing land services, ensuring the sustainability of proposed systems to benefit more women and men and ensure that social and cultural issues in regard to women and men’s access to services and ownership of land are considered.

The S4HL Campaign in partnership with Food Rights Alliance held a CSO budget consultation meeting on 3rd October 2023 aimed at enhancing the knowledge and understanding of CSO actors in the national budget processes including preparation of the budget framework paper and preliminary budget estimates for FY 2024/25. It also focused on sharing aspirations geared towards improving the land sector and food productivity in Uganda. 

From the deliberations, it was evident that land and agro-industrialisation sectors are among the least funded priorities in the national budget. Below are some of the Key proposals made during the dialogue.

Land Governance

  • Funding of the Area Land committees
  • Allocation of funds for sensitizing communities at grass root level about the LIS
  • Strengthening technical capacity on land management systems in a bid to promote peace
  • Harmonizing formal and customary land laws
  • Streamlining activities of regional land offices with the District Land Office

Agro-industrialisation

  • Increasing the Agricultural fund from 3% to 8% or 10%
  • Fast-track the implementation of the Agriculture Value Chain Development Strategy (AVCDS)
  • Prioritization of regional common user facilities and incubation centers to support smallholder farmers improve the quality of their products.
  • Improve road networks to connect rural agricultural areas to urban centers and export hubs.
  • Build and upgrade marketplaces with necessary amenities.

A position paper detailing the CSO priorities for Land and Agri-industrialisation for Financial year 2024/25 was developed and later presented to stakeholders at a convening in Ridar Hotel, Seeta during the central local government budget consultative meeting for financial 2024/25.

International Women’s Day

The Stand for Her Land Campaign joined global celebrations recognizing women’s contributions to development, especially in areas like food security and natural resource management. Under the global theme “DigitALL: Innovation and Technology for Gender Equality” and Uganda’s national theme on equal opportunities in education and innovation, the campaign partnered with the Women’s Land Rights Movement and National Land Coalition Uganda to run an online awareness campaign promoting gender-inclusive digitalization. The campaign concluded with a radio talk show on Radio 1 Spectrum, featuring representatives from the Ministry of Lands, National Land Coalition, and a grassroots leader. Discussions praised the digital National Land Information System but noted its gender data gaps. The government was urged to make digital tools more accessible by lowering internet and phone costs. Panelists stressed the importance of inclusive, affordable, and locally relevant technology. An opinion piece summarizing the campaign’s insights was published in the Daily Monitor on March 9, 2023. Click HERE to see more details. 

The S4HL Campaign in Uganda, joined the rest of the world to celebrate the International Day of the Youth 2023 under the theme “Green Skills for the Youth: Towards a Sustainable World”. A webinar was held to discuss the effective participation of the youth in land governance. It aimed at strengthening youth inclusion in land governance and was attended by 56 stakeholders. 

Some of the issues raised inhibiting effective youth participation in land governance include;

  • Societal perceptions that the youth do not have the capacity to manage or make decisions on land
  • High unemployment rate among the youth which limits their purchasing power
  • Lack of knowledge on land related legal frameworks and policies
  • Perceptions among the youth that land based activities such as agriculture are not profitable and take long to yield.

A number of strategies were made to enhance youth participation in land governance including; adoption of youth friendly educative approaches focused on create awareness on land related legal frameworks and policies, empowerment of youth councils and leaders to articulate land related matters and maximizing the potential and capabilities of the youth through interesting them in urban and small field agriculture, and organizing youth camps on land and property management. The celebrations were crowned by an opinion piece on empowering youth through Secure Land Rights published on the Daily Monitor of August 14th, 2023.

The Stand For Her Land campaign in partnership with the Women’s Land Rights Movement and Food Rights Alliance celebrated the International Day of Rural. The day was comemorated under the theme “Financing for Rural Women’s Empowerment”. A series of activities were undertaken including raising awareness about the unique challenges facing rural women in access, use of, ownership and control of land and exploring critical actions to address them. 

For instance, Radio Talk Shows were held both in Lira (Q.FM) and Kabale district (Voice of Kigezi). The shows focused on reflecting on the critical role land tenure security for women contributes to the actualisation of their empowerment, scrutinize the available government credit programs and assessing their performance in ensuring sustainable wellbeing of intended beneficiaries. They were attended by a number of stakeholders including; a Grassroots Woman Leader, the District Community or Gender Officer and a S4HL Coalition Member. A number of issues were raised during the discussions including; the significance of men in the struggle for women’s land rights, sensitising communities more on the urgent need to uphold the rights of women and transforming discriminatory norms baring women from owning critical resources like land.

A webinar to examine the critical role of financing of the land sector for rural women’s empowerment was held. It was held under the global theme: “Financing for Rural Women Empowerment” Opportunities and Challenges for Ug

The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development (MLHUD) in partnership with the District Local Governments, Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Uganda, CSOs and other Non-State Actors organized the seventh (7th) Land Awareness Week (LAW) 2023 in the seven (7) districts of Lango Sub Region (Lira, Apac, Dokolo, Amolatar, Kwania, Kole and Alebtong). The land awareness week was marked under the theme “Promoting Land Rights for Inclusive and Sustainable Development”. As a result, 3 radio talk shows were held in Lira district as part of the week’s activities. The shows created awareness on the importance of women’s land rights, especially in management and registration of customary land, marriage and succession.

The Stand for Her Land Campaign participated in the NULP 2023, held in Moroto district under the theme “Accelerating Sustainable Land Use Practices in the Wake of Technological Advancement”. The event was coordinated by the Land Justice Network and it offered an opportunity for actors to deliberate on land issues affecting communities in the north. The convening was graced by Hon. Nakut Faith, the Woman MP for Napak district who called upon participants to embrace the power of awareness raising and legal literacy on regulatory frameworks on land, promoting legal registration, supporting communities to sustainably and effectively utilize land and further promote effective technological use through ensuring and supporting equal access to tools and skilling. Three grassroots women leaders from Karamoja sub region were facilitated by the campaign to participate in the event.

The S4HL campaign joined the world to commemorate 16 days of activism against GBV. The 16 days were celebrated under the theme “UNITE! Invest to prevent Violence against Women and girls”.

A number of activities were undertaken to mark the celebrations including; a TV news feature aired in English and Luganda on both NTV Uganda and Spark TV on December 10th, 2023. The objective was to assess the nexus between land related gender- based violence and key S4HL campaign advocacy issues like the lack of awareness on land laws and policies in communities; discriminatory social norms and the underlying challenges inhibiting access to justice for women. The stories aired detailed the magnitude of land related gender-based violence. Victims were interviewed to explore how the land issues they were facing generated into GBV and how they attained justice. The story also captured interventions undertaken by partners to support women access justice. It also captured perceptions of community leaders on the possible strategies of mitigating gender based violence amidst property management in families. Click the links below to access details of the stories.

Video One or Video Two

A number of conferences were organized at the national, regional and international level. Participating in these events enabled the campaign to achieve visibility as well as advocacy towards closing the implementation gap on women’s land rights.

Engaging in these spaces worked towards popularising the Stand for Her Land Campaign’s strategic objectives in addition to taking stock of the legal laws and policies, information dissemination and strengthening effective accountability in the delivery of land services at both local and national level. Some of the events that the campaign engaged in include;

Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA 2023)

The Stand for Her Land campaign participated in the CLPA 2023 conference held at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from November 21st – 24th 2023 under the theme “Promoting Sustainable Land Governance in Africa for Accelerated Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement (AfCFTA).” The campaign held a side event and a paper was presented on Strengthening Women’s Land Rights for Accelerated Realisation of AFCFTA. The conference provided an opportunity for regional land actors to reflect on the significance and added-value of Women Land Rights in trade. The side event featured a panel discussion comprising of three speakers who deliberated on the theories underpinning gender and WLRs; they examined the efficacy of existing laws, highlighted the obstacles encountered, practical strategies and demonstrated how stronger WLRs can support accelerate the realisation of AfCFTA.

The campaign also held a technical session where the Executive Director of UCOBAC, Ms. Frances Birungi presented a paper on strengthening WLRs for accelerated realisation of AFCFTA. During the presentation, she underscored the pivotal role of women as primary land users, emphasizing that the realization of the objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) hinges significantly on securing their land rights. While acknowledging that several countries have enacted legislation to ensure equal access and ownership of land; she pointed out the stark reality that limited efforts have been made to effectively implement the laws.

  • Participants called for a revolutionary response, highlighting the vital importance of the digital revolution. Acknowledging the global trend toward digitization; it was emphasized that women must adapt to these changes to actively engage in trade.
  • There was a call for the reinforcement of Women’s Land Rights (WLRs). It was emphasized that the prospect of trade itself hinges on the establishment of a robust WLRs
  • A collective call to broaden the discourse beyond WLRs. The suggestion was to step back and reflect on commitments made by the African Union, specifically referencing the 2009 guidelines aimed at securing women’s land rights

The Conference took place in Kigali Rwanda from 17th – 20th July 2023. It served as one of the largest multi-sectoral convening’s to advance gender equality. It was attended by over 6,300 people and held under the theme “Spaces, Solidarity and Solutions” and with funding from Landesa. The Stand for Her Land Campaign in Uganda was represented by a grassroots woman leader.

We participated in the Sixty Seventh session of the Commission on the Status of Women that took place from 6th to 7th March, 2023 in New York under the theme “Innovation and Technological Change, Education in Digital age for Achieving Gender Equality and the Empowerment of all Women and Girls.”

With support from the United Nations Convention to combat desertification, we facilitated a grassroots woman leader attend the forum in Kenya. The conference aimed at exploring local solutions to the climate and biodiversity crises.

The S4HL campaign was represented at the National Land Policy Forum held between October 31st and November 2nd 2023 at Hotel Africana. The convening focused on discussing progress made in the implementation of the National Land Policy activities in the last 10 years and reviewing of the new policy. During the meeting, a detailed position of CSOs was presented.

The campaign participated in the National Learning Exchange on securing Women’s resource rights through gender transformative approaches. The event took place on December 6th, 2023 at Hotel Africana.

The Campaign recorded a podcast to document and publish culturally acceptable practices on access, ownership, use and control of land in the Lango sub-region. The objective is to ensure that societies appreciate culturally acceptable norms and practices in their respective traditions by understanding certain practices and guide communities towards identifying and transforming harmful and discriminatory practices. The process will also enable cultural institutions to document culture for future generations and popularize progressive practices. The podcast will be published in 2024.

The S4HL campaign held a partners meeting to take stock of the progress of the campaign’s activity implementation in 2023 and share the work plan for the year ahead. The meeting provided a platform for partners to assess the progress of the campaign’s activities, discuss potential areas for collaboration in 2024, and explore partnership opportunities at both organizational and campaign level.

A number of issues were raised during the meeting including; having a sustainability plan in place at the end of the campaign. The meeting was attended by several partners including international NGO’s, Civil society Organisations and Community Based Organisations.

Video: Her Land 0'clock Podcast on Culturally Acceptable Norms and Practices

In this video, we engage in a conversation with Eng James Roberts Ajal, the Prime Minister of the Lango Cultural Foundation. This Podcast is an initiative of the Stand for Her Land (S4HL) Campaign that aims at documenting and publishing culturally acceptable practices on access, ownership, use and control of land in various cultural settings.

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