The WLCA project with funding support from Friends of Transparency International (TI) is an eighteen (18) months project being implemented by TI chapters in Zimbabwe, Ghana and Uganda and coordinated by TI Secretariat (TIS) in Berlin.
Introduction
In Africa, a large portion of arable land is in tenure by small-scale farmers – often women. Vast areas of savannah and semi-desert land are in tenure by pastoralists and indigenous communities. Each land deal – whether transparent or opaque – deprives customary land users of two of their most relevant resources: water and land. Unfortunately, the results are often poverty and hunger. Approximately one in five people around the world, report that they have paid a bribe for land services during the last year; in Africa, almost every second client of land administration services was affected. At the same time, land investors seem to specifically target countries with weak governance.
Background
The main purpose of Transparency International’s (TI) “Women Land & Corruption in Africa” (WLCA) project is to link with other civil society organizations and institutions concerned with women, land governance, and together, generate and share relevant data and information on corruption in the land sector, as well as its trends, nature, and existing strategies and mechanisms that are utilized to combat it. The project is aimed at understanding the issue of corruption as it impacts land rights of women in Sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Ghana, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, and bringing this issue to the top of the agenda of national, regional and international land governance discussions and projects. To achieve this, TI will first conduct research on corruption in land administration and land deals in the target countries. Then, based on this research, TI will network and advocate for recognition and integration of women’s land rights and related anti-corruption activities in development and governance.
The overall goal of Transparency International’s “Women Land & Corruption in Africa” project is to contribute to improved livelihoods of men and women of all generations adversely affected by corrupt practices in land administration and land deals, and thereby to enhanced security of tenure, as well as to equitable and fair access to land and water, and ultimately to sustainable and inclusive development and growth.
Stakeholders
GII is implementing this project in collaboration with Civil Society Coalition on Land (CICOL) and other key public sector institutions.
Some key actions include:
- Engaging CICOL and some key public sector institutions
- Build on existing literature
- Engaging a university student to undertake exploratory research
The project intends;
- To increase the understanding on the issue of women, land and corruption
- To leverage the discussion and recognition of corruption issues effecting women in their access to, use of and control over land at national, regional and international forums
- To enhance the capacity to design and implement projects which respond to women’s concerns about corruption in land administration and land deals
