Civil society steps up efforts to address land disputes

People tilling land. The New Times / File.

Civil Society Organisations dealing with land related issues under their umbrella organisation, LandNet Rwanda Chapter, have reaffirmed their commitment to support the population to address land disputes.

Speaking at the association’s general assembly on Wednesday, the Coordinator, Annie Kairaba, said that as the land registration exercise comes to a close, there are many other challenges that need to be addressed.

"Previously, most Rwandans did not reorganise the value of land as it is today or after registering it; and this is creating fresh disputes especially among family members," Kairaba said.

She explained that family members have realised that land tittles do not only prove ownership, but also give chances of accessing loans from financial institutions.

Kairaba, who is the Country Director of Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development (RISD), observed that despite the positive impact of the land registration exercise, there is need to monitor the population to ensure that land disputes are avoided.

The meeting that also aimed at assessing the role of CSOs in the implementation of the land reforms considering the Land Policy and Law through advocacy to protecting rights of property owners, attracted among others representatives from Rwanda Natural Resource Authority (RNRA).

During the general assembly, participants from various organisations were given a chance to express their expectations from Land Net as well as what they plan to do in hitting the organisation’s target.

In 2004, an organic law on land was enacted to guarantee a safe and stable form of land tenure. This paved way for registering land for individuals to own it unlike before when it was considered government property.

Eng. Didier Giscard Sagashya, Deputy Director General for Lands and Mapping at RNRA, appreciated the role of CSOs in addressing land disputes.

He gave an over view of what has so far been done and future plans to have the exercise completed.

"In seven districts, work is totally complete and we are distributing land tittles as we also work towards completing the remaining districts," he said. The districts include Kirehe, Bugesera, Rwamagana, Kamonyi, Kicukiro, Nyarugenge and Gasabo.

Sagashya is optimistic that the target to have land titles issued across the country by December 2013 will be met.

Source: The Newtimes

First Africa Land Forum: Challenging times for indigenous peoples and pastoralists in Africa

November 14, 2012, Yaoundé, Cameroon -

From November 7-8, 2012, 95 participants from 22 countries convened at the Hotel Franco in Yaoundé, Cameroon for the 1st Africa Land Forum with the theme ‘Securing the land rights of indigenous people and rural communities’. The forum was organized by the Mbororo Social and Cultural Development Association of Cameroon (MBOSCUDA) and the International Land Coalition (ILC) Africa.
The Africa Land Forum included presentations from nationally recognized activists and land rights experts in Cameroon, including Dr. Manu Ibrahim, lecturer at the University of Dschang, Mr. Abdoulaye Harrissou, acclaimed author of 'Land, a human right: micro-properties, social peace and development' and the esteemed Hawa Bouba of MUSAB Cameroon. ILC Africa members from throughout Africa presented their achievements and lessons learned for promoting people-centred land governance at the national level. The importance of gender equity and women’s land rights was a central theme throughout the Forum.
During his keynote speech, MBOSCUDA National President El Hadj Jaji Manu Gidado, declared “Our country, Cameroon, is made up of 240 different ethnic groups, including the Mbororo and Pygmies. MBOSCUDA is one of the principle organizations advocating for their political and socio-economic emancipation”. He exclaimed,. “Every day land is becoming more precious. The rich are becoming more interested in land that belongs to the  indigenous and rural poor communities, who are considered as everlasting strangers who must one day leave their land. We are saying no, we are all Cameroonians, we are all Africans, and all of us have the same rights.”
On the second day of the Forum, a delegation of ten forum participants, including ILC Africa Chair Odenda. Lumumba, Mr. Gidado, representatives of indigenous people in Kenya and Madagascar, and the ILC Secretariat were summoned by Cameroon Prime Minister Philémon Yunji Yang to discuss national land reform and indigenous peoples.
Musa Usman, MBOSCUDA Vice President, articulated their discontent with the marginalization of indigenous people in Cameroon from decision-making processes to the Prime Minister. Mr. Lumumba explained ILC’s program supporting the development of National Engagement Strategies (NES) for collaborative land policy reform processes that bring together diverse stakeholders, including governments, and how this process could be relevant to the land reforms of Cameroon.
Emphasizing his support for engaging with MBOSCUDA in the land reform process, Mr. Yang said, “I am very hopeful that organisations like yours can help us in the land reform process. The ILC can help support governments in this regard by sharing lessons learned elsewhere.”
At the end of the forum, participants unanimously approved the Yaoundé Declaration, which identifies emerging issues and challenges on land issues and details eight recommendations focused on African governments, in particular the government of Cameroon. The Yaoundé Declaration highlighted both the Africa Land Policy Framework and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, and calls on governments to reform of national land processes to adhere to them.
ILC Africa Chair Odenda Lumumba said, “This declaration will guide our future dealings and concerns about land issues in Africa. It’s not going to be easy, as land in agriculture in Africa basically serves vested interests.” Many African countries are now developing new national land frameworks.
To read the full Declaration issued by the land forum, visit: http://www.landcoalition.org/news/yaounde-declaration-1st-ilc-africa-land-forum
The program and presentations can be downloaded from the ILC website: http://www.landcoalition.org/events/1st-africa-land-forum-securing-land-rights-indigenous-people-and-rural-communities
Pictures of the land forum can be viewed on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/landcoalition/sets/72157631944415004/

Source: International Land Coalition

Land Owners to Be Fined

The minister of natural resources Stanislas Kamanzi, has warned land owners will be fined if they fail to effectively utilize and protect their land.
Other sanctions include confiscation of the land after giving a warning to landholders that fail to effectively use their lands.
According to art.73 of Organic Law N° 08/2005 of 14/07/2005 determining the use and management of land in Rwanda stipulates that the district, municipality and town land commission shall always monitor that individual and leased district land in the district, municipality and town is well managed and productively exploited.
According to the recent land registration process, it was noted that about 75% of Rwandans possess a plot of land which is not exceeding a ¼ ha.
This was revealed by Minister of Natural resources Stanislas Kamanzi during the meeting with Southern province authorities.
Though the lands in possession are too small, residents blamed for failure to effectively use those small lands while at the same time protecting them to be affected by soil erosion.

Source 

US AID Land Project: Requests For Proposals For Research on Three Land-Related Themes

Initiated in June 2012, the LAND Project seeks to strengthen the resilience of Rwandan citizens, communities and institutions and their ability to adapt to land-related economic, environmental and social change. 

Building the capacity of Rwandan institutions to produce high quality, evidence based research on land is a critical part of reaching this goal. Solid, empirical research is fundamental to the identification of needed policy changes in the land sector and also to validate policies and laws that are already contributing to stronger citizen resilience and improved livelihoods.

From September 24th to 26th, the LAND Project held a multi-stakeholder workshop to identify key, policy-relevant research priorities on land. Drawing from a list of 58 research themes submitted in advance of the workshop, participants collaborated to distill this down to three research priorities that would receive LAND Project support during the first year: Subsequently, LAND Project sought the views of several GOR institutions whose mandates intersect with these research priorities to help inform that development of draft technical Terms of Reference for each theme.

Requests for Comments on the technical Terms of Reference were then published and responses from stakeholders informed the further development of those TORs for incorporation into the present Requests for Proposals.

The LAND Project is eliciting three separate Requests for Proposals (RFP) for research on the following themes:

1. Examination of the Inheritance and Succession Law and its Practice in relation to Land Rights: A Gender   Perspective;

2. Assessment of the Socio-economic and Environmental Impacts of the Land Use Consolidation Component of the Crop Intensification Program in Rwanda; and

3. Land Market Values, Urban Land Policies, and their Impacts in Urban Centers of Rwanda.

Only Rwandan organizations or companies are eligible to submit tenders. If you are interested in receiving a copy of one or more of the above RFPs, please send a request to 


LAND Project Operations Director, Andrew Musemakweli 
amusemakweli@land-project.org. 

Please be sure to specify clearly which RFP you wish to receive.

Proposals must be received no later than 16h30 on Wednesday, 4th December 2012, following the instructions contained in the RFPs.

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