A Practice Manual on Mainstreaming Gender in Land Reforms

The “Improving Land Governance in the IGAD Region” project aims at facilitating implementation of the AU Declaration on Land Issues and Challenges in accordance with the Framework and Guidelines on Land Pol- icy in Africa, to facilitate access to land and security of land rights for all land users in the IGAD region, especially vulnerable groups such as pastoralists, women, and youth. The countries in the IGAD region have different laws governing land because of their colonial history, diversity of cultural and religious norms, and endowment with natural resources. They are also at various levels in undertaking land reforms. The region is characterised by political instability, with the largest number of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the continent. Desertification, climate variability and climate change are major concerns in this region, a region that has substantial desert mass. Drought and floods pose serious challenges for land management. These circumstances have also meant that people move across boarders either as climate or conflict refugees.

Furthermore, transnational processes in the IGAD region do not only include transnational social movements, migration, communities, and citizenship, but also religions or various cultural practices. These have become the drivers and retainers of change in land governance in the IGAD region and have had implications on the rights of women to land from a regional perspective.