32571 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects A Synthesis Report June 2005 Prepared for Gender and Rural Development Thematic Group (PREM/ARD) and the Land Policy and Administration Thematic Group (ARD) of The World Bank Table of Contents Acknowledgments v Acronyms vii Executive summary ix · Why does gender matter in land projects? ix · Priority gender issues in land administration projects x 1. Introduction 1 2. Why does gender matter for land policy? Theory and evidence 3 · Gendered economic and social benefits of land rights 3 · Regional challenges to gender equity in land policy 5 3. Actors in the struggle to improve women's land rights 11 · State institutions 11 · Labor organizations 12 · Legal aid organizations 13 · Customary institutions 13 · Women's organizations 14 · Donor organizations 14 4. Priority gender issues in land administration projects 17 · Intrahousehold legal and customary rights 19 · Identification of property holders 26 · Methodology for gender-disaggregated field assessment of land rights 31 · Adjudication and registration processes 32 · Education, training, and communication 35 iii 5. Lessons learned and recommendations 41 · Legal foundation 41 · Identification of property right holders 42 · Research 42 · Adjudication and registration processes 43 · Education, training, and communication 44 Appendix 1: Summaries of country case studies 47 Appendix 2: Case study methodologies 55 Appendix 3: Sample template for gender-specific baseline social 57 assessment Appendix 4: Sample gender-specific indicators for monitoring and 59 evaluation of World Bank land administration projects Appendix 5: Sample questionnaire for data collection for baseline 59 and impact evaluation Endnotes 83 Bibliography 85 List of Figures · Figure 1: Conceptual framework for potential effects of the formalization 4 of women's property rights in land · Figure 2: Primary land administration activities related to gender issues 17 · Figure 3: Land distribution, by gender of household head, in Azerbaijan 21 · Figure 4: Amount of land titled, by gender and farm type, in Bolivia 22 · Figure 5: Registration documents in Ghana 32 · Figure 6: Field adjudication and survey of boundaries, World Bank Land Management and Administration Project in Cambodia 34 · Figure 7: Training of registration staff in Kazakhstan 37 · Figure 8: Participation in information meetings, by gender, Lao PDR Land 38 Titling Project · Figure 9: Information campaign in Peru 39 · Figure 10: Participation in land adjudication in Lao PDR 39 List of Tables · Table 1: Forms of property ownership 20 · Table 2: Location of land, by gender of registrants, in Ghana 23 iv Table of Contents Acknowledgments This report was prepared under the direction of Eija Pehu World Bank Gender Focal Point for the Southeast (Task Team Leader, Agriculture and Rural Development Asian Region; Nalinthone Phonyaphanh and Viengkeo Department), by Renee Giovarelli, Susana Lastarria- Phetnavongxay from the Lao PDR World Bank office; Cornhiel, Elizabeth Katz, and Sue Nichols (consultants), Chris Lunnay and Peter Cox of LandEquity; Jane under the aegis of a joint partnership between the Gender Davies, Director of the Australian Agency for Interna- and Rural Development Thematic Group and the Land tional Developent, Lao PDR; and Keith Bell, World PolicyThematic Group.The guidance, process oversight, Bank Task Manager. and feedback provided by the members of theTaskTeam Gratefully acknowledged are the comments and (JohnW. Bruce, KlausW. Deininger, Nora Dudwick, Lu- suggestions from the following people during the cia Fort, JorgeA. Muñoz,A. Waafas Ofosu-Amaah, An- preparation of this report: Frank Byamugisha, Michael drea Silverman, and Wael Zakout), and the support and Carter, Kevin Cleaver, Carmen Diana Deere, Gershon insight given by the leadership of the Land Policy The- Feder, Sushma Ganguly, Renate Kloeppinger-Todd, matic Group (Edward C. Cook and Isabel Lavandez Anne Kuriakose, Nwanze Okidegbe, Rogier J. E. van Paccieri) are gratefully acknowledged. den Brink, and Liz Alden Wiley. Also acknowledged Additionally, for help within each country, addition- are Arunima Dhar for technical comments and for fa- al materials, and support with data, field logistics, and cilitating the study, and Sanjiva Cooke and Melissa input, the following people are acknowledged: Azer- Williams for their help with the logistics and produc- baijan--T. Sampath; Rufiz Chirag-Zade and Saida R. tion of the report. The editing and formatting of the re- Bagirova of the World Bank country office; and Gyula port were carried out by Christine Cotting and Upper- Nadjafova, Rena Ibragimbekova, and Rasim Ramaz- Case Publication Services, Ltd. Veronica McGinn, anov of Sigma Research. Bolivia--Daniela Camacho Centre for Property Studies at the University of New of INRA, and Rosario Salazar. Ghana--Charles Bo- Brunswick, coordinated the process of the study and akye and Edward Dwumfour of the World Bank coun- the project team appreciates her ongoing assistance try office; Rebecca Sittie, Head Land Registrar; and and the work of research assistants Sarah Hilliker, Gio- Michael Forsen of the Land Registry Office. Lao vanna Limongi, Olena Sloan, and Jennifer Sturdy. PDR--James Chamberlain, consultant; Gillian Brown, v Acronyms ARD Agriculture and Rural Development Department AUSAID Australian Agency for International Development CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEPES Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales (Peruvian Center of Social Studies) CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CONTAG Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura (National Confederation of Agricultural Workers) FIDA-Kenya International Federation of Women Lawyers-Kenya FSU Former Soviet Union GRID Gender Resource Information and Development Center INCRA National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform INRA Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria (National Institute for Agrarian Reform) LTP Land Titling Project LTP1 First Land Titling Project LTP2 Second Land Titling Project NGO nongovernmental organization PESANTEch Paralegal Education Skills Advancement and Networking Technology PETT Programa Nacional de Titulación de Tierra TAWLA Tanzania Women Lawyers Association UN United Nations UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women All dollar amounts are U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. vii Executive Summary This report is a synthesis of information gleaned from But land is a particularly critical resource for a four case studies of World Bank-financed land pro- woman when the household breaks down--that is, for grams in Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ghana, and the Lao example, in the event of male migration, abandon- People's Democratic Republic. (See appendix 1 for ment, divorce, polygamous relationships, or death. In summaries of these case studies.) The case studies both urban and rural settings, independent real proper- were designed to both broaden and deepen our under- ty rights under these circumstances can mean the dif- standing of how land policies affect women and men, ference between dependence on natal family support with an aim to applying this knowledge in very practi- and the ability to form a viable, self-reliant, female- cal ways to World Bank-supported land projects. The headed household. Indeed, women's land rights within case studies are essentially program evaluations fo- marriage may afford them greater claims on the dispo- cusing on how each project approached gender issues, sition of assets upon divorce or death of the husband, what the gender-differentiated issues are in terms of as Fafchamps and Quisumbing (2002) found to be the project participation and benefits, and what lessons case in rural Ethiopia. can be learned from these diverse experiences. (See In addition to the direct economic benefits of land appendix 2 for a discussion of the methodology used ownership, property rights may serve to empower in preparing the case studies.) women in their negotiations with other household members. Even beyond increasing bargaining power Why Does Gender Matter in within the household, land rights may empower indi- Land Projects? viduals to participate more effectively in their imme- diate communities and in the larger civil and political Land ownership confers direct economic benefits as a aspects of society. From a gender perspective, facili- key input into agricultural production; as a source of tating women's greater participation in these extra- income from rental or sale; and as collateral for credit household institutions has both the value of diminish- that can be used for either consumption or investment ing male dominance of community-level decision purposes. However, women may not fully participate making and the benefit of building up women's orga- in these benefits as members of a household if they do nizational skills, social networks, and social capital. not share formal property rights over the land; only in- Women with property rights are more likely to be ac- dependent or joint ownership can ensure that women tive members of their communities, and as a result, have access to control over land-based earnings. For- community institutions themselves are more likely to mal rights to land for women can have an impact on be responsive to the needs of women. intrahousehold decision making, income pooling, and Although the basic principles of the direct and in- women's overall role in the household economy. direct benefits of independent land rights for women ix are global in nature, there are important regional and in the land administration processes, in either the subregional gender-related differences in land tenure public or private sector. regimes, legal structures, and household resource al- In several of the projects evaluated here (that is, location that should be taken into consideration in the Azerbaijan, Ghana, and Lao PDR), gender was not formation of land policy and land administration ini- considered explicitly at the time of project design. In tiatives. Ultimately, the specific local, national, and more recent land administration projects undertaken religious laws, customs, traditions, and institutions by the World Bank and other donors, more direct at- governing land rights must be identified through tention has been paid to including a gender compo- field research and interviews with women who will nent. Explicitly recognizing gender as an issue to be participate in and benefit from the land project. Un- considered at the outset will allow better monitoring derstanding gender differences requires gathering and evaluation of project impacts and will enable the household-level information at the earliest stages of required financial costs and the required expertise for the project. programs to be included. This synthesis report is structured to address the central gender issues facing policy makers and project managers sequentially as Priority Gender Issues in Land they arise during the course of a prototypical land Administration Projects project. In the design and implementation of a land adminis- Intrahousehold Legal and tration project, there are many issues that should be addressed to increase the participation of women and Customary Rights thus improve the project's ability to recognize and le- Land projects usually review and provide input into galize women's rights to landed property. Land ad- land legislation and policy. To specifically consider ministration is concerned with the management of gender, the project must also understand formal law the landholding system for land, natural resources, and customs related to intrahousehold property. Laws and fixed improvements such as buildings. Land ad- and customs related to marital property and inheri- ministration projects might involve tance will have the greatest impact on women's rights · individualization or privatization of land rights; to own land within a household and when a house- · formal recognition of rights based on occupation hold structure breaks down. Customs or traditions and use; connected to intrahousehold relationships are not eas- · conversion of rights from one legal system to an- ily changed, and most land projects will have to work other; within the existing legal and cultural framework, at · introduction of a land registration system or con- least initially. version of the documentation of rights from one form of registration to another; Identification of Property Holders · introduction or strengthening of land valuation and As land administration projects have increasingly ap- taxation systems; preciated the importance of formalizing women's · development or enhancement of land use planning rights to land, there has been the recognition that the and regulation, including land consolidation and practice of issuing titles to just one person in the reordering; household (the household head) may be denying oth- · development or enhancement of dispute resolution er people their land rights. Identifying property hold- systems; ers requires looking deeper than the household level · changes in organizational structure and procedures to the individuals within a household or community. (institutional strengthening and re-engineering). Questions such as the following will all lead to a bet- The projects reviewed for this research included ter understanding of how to best identify and formal- combinations of most of these issues. Gender issues ize women's land rights: Who has communal and who arise in all of these activities because of the ways in has individual rights to land? What are the inheri- which rights are held, transacted, and managed, or be- tance and marriage practices? How much of a role do cause of the varying roles played by women and men consensual unions that are not formalized play within x Executive Summary this social system? and What are the variations be- Education, Training, and tween urban and rural areas? Communication Methodology for The training of implementers and communication with beneficiaries are key to ensuring gender equity Gender-Disaggregated in any land administration project. Training for and Field Assessment of Land Rights communication with beneficiaries of the project help The collection of appropriate gender-disaggregated ensure that women can make informed decisions and data is essential for all land administration projects, can help enforce accountability and transparency of and should be a World Bank priority, given the invest- the project. Well-informed beneficiaries can make ments in the land sector. The main issues are (1) how the project sustainable and more effective. land rights are distributed among different groups of The content of the community training and com- women and men, and (2) what effects differentiated munication will vary, but, at a minimum, specific land rights have on gender equity and on women's ca- training for women should include the following: pabilities. Collection of this information should be 1. the legal rights of women specifically, including done during land administration project preparation inheritance and divorce; to guide the design of the project, during project im- 2. special problems encountered by women (for plementation, and after the project is completed. example, documentation, location of registra- tion offices, access to credit); Adjudication and 3. the involvement of women and men in the adju- Registration Processes dication process and in registration of rights; In land administration, gender issues have often been 4. potential benefits of participation. relegated to women's organizations, nongovernmental In addition to the message of the training or com- organizations (NGOs), or female staff. Gender equity, munication, timing, location, and gender of partici- however, should not be seen as a separate subproject. pants can all have an impact on whether the message Instead, it needs to be mainstreamed throughout the reaches women, especially those women who are project and the organizations involved. At the same poor, illiterate, or vulnerable. time, one cannot expect a land administration project alone to change social policy or law. Lessons Learned and During design and implementation of adjudication Recommendations processes and registration systems, project staff need to be aware of the complexity of tenure, the variety of Probably the most important lesson and recommen- local customs and practices that can exist within a dation that can be made regarding the integration of country. Project staff, community leaders, and project gender in land administrations projects is to make beneficiaries need appropriate information about the gender an integral part of the project from the begin- formal and informal laws. ning and in all of its phases and components. One un- The scheduling and location of public meetings, derlying lesson from all four land projects and the lit- site adjudication, and registration processes should erature review in relation to legislation is that formal also consider such limitations as household duties law that requires gender equity in property rights is and transportation costs. Documentation, such as mostly ineffective in the face of customary law that identity cards, can also be difficult for women to ob- does not recognize equitable property rights for men tain, especially in rural areas. Ways to mitigate this and women. Another key finding is that land legisla- problem need to be addressed early in the project de- tion may conflict with family or personal law, and sign. In dispute resolution, women may have rights both types of legislation must be reviewed for their under formal law, but either do not have the knowl- impact on women. edge or do not have the money to pursue their rights The importance of identifying property holders on through the courts. Lack of support from family and the ground before starting a land administration pro- community can deprive women of rights even after gram cannot be overstated. That is, who has what rights court rulings. in the bundle of rights associated with land? Land ad- Executive Summary xi ministration programs should consider ethnic and cul- cal and regional variations in cultures, socioeconomic tural variations that influence norms and practices re- conditions, and traditions are included and respected garding land rights. These include access rights across within any information campaign. different ethnic groups, inheritance practices in patrilin- eal and matrilineal societies, and marriage practices. In Research addition, customary norms and practices tend to change as populations move from rural to urban areas. These Perhaps the most valuable lesson learned regarding different norms and practices will influence who are gendered land rights is that lack of information can considered legitimate landed property holders, and they lead to policies and projects that either limit or reduce may conflict with formal legal norms. women's economic and social opportunities. Few, if Strategies that focus on gender training, education, any, projects gather gender-disaggregated informa- and communication for project designers, implement- tion at the beginning of a project and then throughout ers, and beneficiaries will include having a plan for its life. But not understanding women's rights as sep- communicating the importance of gender issues; ad- arate from the household's rights risks disempower- dressing different levels of target audiences; including ing the most vulnerable--although often most eco- both men and women in any training; ensuring that nomically active--members of society. gender issues are mainstreamed; and ensuring that lo- xii Executive Summary 1 Introduction Over the past 10 years, the World Bank has undertak- and what lessons can be learned from these diverse en a tremendous expansion of its lending portfolio in experiences. the areas of land policy and administration.1 There Drawing on insights from the case studies, along are currently 44 approved projects with land as a pri- with a review of existing literature and comparative ex- mary component, more than 100 projects with land as periences of other countries and international develop- a secondary component, and in the pipeline more ment agencies, the report is structured to address the than a dozen projects dealing with both urban and ru- central gender issues facing policy makers and project ral land issues.2 managers sequentially as the issues arise during the In its flagship publication on land policy, the Bank course of a prototypical land project. Following this recognized that past initiatives have often failed to ap- brief introduction, chapter 2 deals with the question of preciate the importance of the way in which control of why gender matters for land policy and administration, assets, and in particular land, is assigned within the and identifies specific regional challenges facing the household (Deininger 2003). The 2003 Policy Research gender equity goals of land programs. Chapter 3 dis- Report argued that strengthening women's land rights cusses the distinct roles of government, nongovern- is important both for potential gains to agricultural mental organizations, and international donors in pro- productivity and for household-level human capital moting gender equity in the formalization of land investments such as nutrition and child schooling. It tenure systems. Chapter 4 then takes up the gender- advocated legal measures, education, and capacity specific concerns at the various levels and stages of a building, as well as preferential treatment of women in land project: the legal framework; the field identifica- public programs, such as titling and land reform. tion of property rights holders; the baseline studies, This synthesis report on gender issues and best monitoring, and evaluation of projects; the formal ad- practices seeks to both broaden and deepen our un- judication and registration of land rights; public infor- derstanding of how land policies affect women and mation campaigns; and beneficiary and implementing men, with an aim to applying this knowledge in very agency training. Set forth for each of these phases of practical ways to World Bank-supported land proj- project implementation are a checklist of gender- ects. The study is built around four case studies of specific information needs and recommendations for Bank-financed land programs in Azerbaijan, Bolivia, how to incorporate such information into project de- Ghana, and the Lao People's Democratic Republic. sign and implementation. Chapter 5 summarizes the The case studies are essentially program evaluations lessons learned and policy recommendations. Sum- focusing on how each project approached gender is- maries of the individual case studies, along with a de- sues, what the gender-differentiated impacts have scription of the studies' methodologies, are included been in terms of project participation and benefits, as appendixes to the main report. 1 2 Why Does Gender Matter for Land Policy? Theory and Evidence In most developing countries, land is a critical asset investment purposes. Depending on the norms gov- for women and men, and especially for the urban and erning intrahousehold decision making and income rural poor. Property rights in land--whether these are pooling, women may not fully participate in these customary or formal in nature--act both as a form of benefits if they do not share formal property rights economic access to key markets and as a form of so- over the land; only independent or joint ownership can cial access to nonmarket institutions, such as the assure women access to control over land-based earn- household and community-level governance struc- ings. Comparative analysis of data from Honduras and tures. Figure 1 illustrates this conceptual framework. Nicaragua, for example, suggests a positive correla- Because of land's fundamental importance in confer- tion between women's property rights and their over- ring such access, it is essential that policies that seek all role in the household economy: greater control in any way to alter the distribution or to formalize over agricultural income, higher shares of business property rights in land take great care not to inadver- and labor market earnings, and more frequent receipt tently disenfranchise the most vulnerable members of of credit (Katz and Chamorro 2002). the target population, including women. Indeed, if In addition to the short- and medium-term eco- such land programs form part of an overall poverty nomic gains generated by greater access to product, reduction strategy, it is incumbent upon policy mak- capital, and land markets, women with stronger prop- ers to understand the ways in which these most vul- erty rights in land are also less likely to become eco- nerable groups gain access to land, the particular nomically vulnerable in their old age, or in the event challenges facing their claims to land rights, and the of the death of or divorce from a spouse. In her study role that effective rights to land can play in securing of gender and inheritance in rural Honduras, for ex- their livelihoods and those of their families. ample, Roquas (1995) found that widows (and wom- en landowners, in general) are more likely to work their lands indirectly, relying on some combination of Gendered Economic hired labor, family labor, and rental to generate in- and Social Benefits come, and/or use the property as collateral for loans of Land Rights for nonagricultural undertakings. Moreover, for wid- ows, land ownership may be one of the few vehicles Land ownership clearly confers direct economic ben- through which elderly women can elicit economic efits as a key input into agricultural production, as a support from their children, either in the form of la- source of income from rental or sale, and as collateral bor contributions to agricultural production or cash for credit that can be used for either consumption or or in-kind transfers. In the absence of other forms of 3 social security, the elderly rural population relies can mean the difference between dependence on natal heavily on intergenerational transfers for their liveli- family support and the ability to form a viable, self- hoods; and children are more likely to contribute to reliant, female-headed household. Indeed, women's their parents' well-being if the latter retain control land rights within marriage may afford them greater over a key productive (and inheritable) resource such claims on the disposition of assets upon divorce from as land (Lucas and Stark 1985). or death of their spouses, as Fafchamps and Quisumb- Land is a particularly critical resource for a woman ing (2002) found to be the case in rural Ethiopia. in the event that she becomes a de facto household In addition to the direct economic benefits of land head as a result of male migration, abandonment, di- ownership, property rights may serve to empower wom- vorce, or death. In both urban and rural settings, inde- en in their negotiations with other household members, pendent real property rights under these circumstances and with the community and society at large. Intra- FIGURE 1 Conceptual Framework for Potential Effects of the Formalization of Women's Property Rights in Land Women's Property Rights in Land Economic Benefits Social Benefits Land-Based Income Land-Based Collateral Household Level Community Level Agricultural Enhanced Greater Consumption Production Bargaining/ Participation Credit and Sales Decision-Making in Community- Power vis-à-vis Level Spouse Organizations Land Investment Rental/Sales Credit Income Greater Influence of Female Preferences on Expenditures and Investments Expansion of Female-Owned Household Enterprises Enhanced Fallback Position in Case of Divorce Enhanced Old-Age Security 4 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects household economic theory suggests that the strength for women, these must be complemented by initiatives of spouses' "fallback positions" or "threat points"-- in areas such as education, reproductive health, and how well they can do in the absence of economic co- political representation in order to realize their full po- operation with their partners--is an important deter- tential for reducing gender inequality. minant of their ability to shape household preferences and therefore shape resource allocation decisions (cf. Regional Challenges to Katz 1997). Data from Central America, for example, have indicated that greater female landholdings are Gender Equity in Land Policy associated with modest increases in food expenditures Although the basic principles of the direct and indi- and child educational attainment, controlling for other rect benefits of independent land rights for women relevant household characteristics and unobserved are global in nature, there are important regional and preferences, with elasticities in the 0.01­0.05 range subregional gender-related differences in land tenure (Katz and Chamorro 2002). Quisumbing and Maluc- regimes, legal structures, and household resource al- cio (2002) also found a positive relationship between location that should be taken into consideration when the amount of assets (including land) that a woman forming land policy and land administration initia- possesses at the time of marriage and the shares of tives. Ultimately, the specific local and national insti- household expenditures devoted to food, education, tutions governing land rights must be identified health care, and children's clothing. through field research. What follows are findings Even beyond increasing bargaining power within from the secondary literature regarding general pat- the household, land rights may empower individuals to terns and trends in the major regions of the develop- participate more effectively in their immediate com- ing world. munities and in the larger civil and political aspects of society. From a gender perspective, facilitating wom- Africa en's greater participation in these extrahousehold insti- tutions has both the value of diminishing male domi- The rights of African women regarding land owner- nance of community-level decision making, and the ship and management vary dramatically according to benefit of building up women's organizational skills, the cultural and historical context of the region they social networks, and social capital. Women with prop- are born into, as well as the region they marry into. In erty rights are more likely to be active members of his survey of land tenure rights of African women, their communities, and as a result, community institu- Kevane (2004) divided Africa into six specific re- tions themselves are more likely to be responsive to the gions: those influenced by Islamic law, the matrilin- needs of women. eal areas of Africa, the house-property systems of Although it is imperative that land administration East Africa, the cocoa- and coffee-producing areas of and other land-related policies and projects support- West Africa, Sahelian West Africa, and southern ed by the World Bank be mindful of the potentially Africa. Although tenure systems vary greatly even negative consequences of excluding women from within these regions, these six classifications are such programs, the formalization of women's proper- helpful in developing a general base for understand- ty rights in land should not in and of itself be seen as ing the diversity within Africa. a panacea for gender inequality--just as land market Of the six regions outlined above, those areas in- reform in general is not a panacea for poverty (cf. fluenced by Islamic law, matrilineal areas, and the Boucher, Bradford, and Carter 2005). On the one house-property systems of East Africa each offer hand, there may exist multiple barriers to women's women greater opportunities for land rights than do ability to translate formal land rights into the kinds of the remaining three regions. The specific regions of economic and social access discussed above, includ- Africa where Islamic law favors women are the ing gender-specific social norms that circumscribe coastal eastern region, Northern Nigeria, Northern women's economic activities and decision-making Sudan, Chad, and the area from the Sahelian coun- roles, as well as discrimination in the markets for land, tries to Senegal. According to Islamic law, a daughter labor, and capital. On the other hand, even where en- is entitled to inherit a share of land equal to half of the hanced property rights do generate positive outcomes share of land bequeathed to her brothers. The varia- Why Does Gender Matter for Land Policy? 5 tion in size results from the cultural understanding The cocoa-producing regions of West Africa tend to that a woman is provided for by her husband, whereas be areas where women lack basic rights in regard to a man must provide for his wife, his mother, and his land ownership and management. There is also virtual- unmarried sisters. In addition to this, a woman in ly no variation in the rights granted to women in matri- some areas is also entitled to one-eighth of her hus- lineal or patrilineal communities, as men successfully band's land, should the woman be widowed. Howev- gain individual ownership rights over the land and er, Islamic communities throughout western Africa women tend to gain communal rights in the name of tend to avoid adhering to Sharia law by forcing their matriarchy. In patrilineal communities, women women to cede or sell inherited land to their brothers with a claim to land are actually representing an absent or other male relatives. In Sudan, recent conflict brother or other male relative. Courts in these regions within the country has reduced the possibility of indi- also tend to favor the rights of men over women. vidual ownership of land by women, even through di- Another major factor affecting women's rights to rect inheritance (Mwagiru 1998). land in Africa is the landholding patterns. Most farm In addition to African Muslim societies, matrilin- and residential land is customarily owned by individ- eal areas throughout Africa also offer women more uals by virtue of inheritance of ancestral land. There opportunities regarding land rights. Where we tend to are also common areas owned by communities at cus- see patrilineal societies bequeath land only to male tom. In these communities, women tend to have equal members of the family, matrilineal communities tend access for gathering or grazing, and in fact may rely to bequeath to both male and female members of the upon this access disproportionately. There are coun- family. In areas throughout central Africa, where ma- tries where all land is owned by villages, or held by trilineal descent is highly concentrated, the villages the village for the state (for instance, Ethiopia and also tend to be matrilocal, with women living in their Tanzania), but they are almost entirely products of so- home villages after marriage. These areas tend to see cialist reforms. a higher incidence of female retention of land owner- Individualization of land has not always resulted in ship after marriage or through inheritance. an increase in women's ability to own and control Eastern African countries, including Kenya and land. If common land is titled to the head of the Tanzania, have an entirely different cultural foundation household, wives may lose their property rights, espe- regarding land ownership. Under the house-property cially if joint ownership is not compulsory. Second, systems of these areas, a husband may have several customary rights of women for seasonal or other wives, yet must provide some portion of his cattle, shared use of land can be cut off by individualization farmland, and homeland to each wife. In this scenario, of ownership rights. If these "secondary" rights are each wife maintains control over the production of her not specifically preserved (for instance, by register- allocated property--conditional on her bearing sons. ing them), they can be lost. In fact, formal ownership Although the wife does not own the property in the of land and property generally has strengthened the technical sense, such as with a land title, she does control of already powerful groups, has rendered have veto power over the husband's decisions regard- women's rights and access to resources less secure, ing her property. In addition, it is customary in many and has led to loss in many cases.3 house-property communities for the husband to offer In much of Africa, men determine user rights for property as compensation upon divorce. women and children. Married women may have use Although the house-property system appears to of- or cultivation rights to the land of their husbands, but fer women greater control over land in some areas, it difficulties arise when there is a divorce or separa- must also be mentioned that most customary law tion.4 Access, acquisition, holding, and use are sub- throughout East Africa is patriarchal, with rights of ject to the superior right of the family, group, clan, or women limited to their status as daughters and wives, community. rather than individual members of the community. A As land becomes more valuable because of cash woman's inheritance rights to land may be weakened cropping and an increase in population growth, by claims made by male relatives of her deceased women may lose their rights to land. This may occur husband, or by claims made by her brothers to her fa- even in communal systems of land ownership. For ex- ther's property (Tsikata 2003). ample, in Tanzania, widowed women who had previ- 6 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects ously been allowed to stay on their husbands' land are ing or his death is undocumented, women cannot ob- now being dispossessed of that land as it increases in tain title to property. Other inheritance regimes arise value.5 under other customary laws. Land distributed by the In Ethiopia, the most recent laws have moved state is distributed to male heads of households and women's rights to land and property forward. The joint ownership of land is not provided for in law.7 Family Code (2000) puts civil law ahead of custom- In parts of Asia, such as Cambodia and Lao PDR, ary law, and mandates joint tenure for married cou- women and men traditionally had an equal right to ples and those living in long-term (more than three land. In many of these countries, community proper- years) consensual unions. However, Ethiopia's consti- ty regimes are recognized in formal law. This is the tution (1995), which calls for equality for men and case in Indonesia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam, for exam- women, opens up the door to customary law for in- ple. However, even when under both customary and trafamily relations by stating that, with the consent of formal law men and women have equal rights to land, the parties, disputes relating to personal and family in titling programs land is often titled to male heads laws can be resolved in accordance with religious or of household only. This occurs for several reasons, in- customary laws.6 cluding because titling is a formal, public process and Because much of the land in Africa is ancestral therefore is the responsibility of the head of the land, the majority of countries do not have marital household, usually a male. Public education, gender property regimes. That is, property acquired during a awareness training at all levels of the project, and us- marriage remains the separate property of one of the ing local approaches for gender inclusion are strate- partners. This system can greatly disadvantage wom- gies that encourage joint titling of land to men and en in patrilineal, patrilocal societies. women, especially where it is culturally acceptable (Tinker and Summerfield 1999). In India, land law is legislated at the state level, not Asia nationally, so the legal land rights of women vary. Women's property rights in Asia are heavily influenced Several states in India, such as Madhya Pradesh and by religion and custom, and many countries have plu- West Bengal, have promoted the joint titling of land ralistic legal systems codifying the various customary in their land reform programs. The state of West Ben- or religious family laws. Inheritance schemes vary, de- gal has implemented one of the most extensive redis- pending on religion or customary lineage patterns (pa- tributive land reforms in India since the 1950s. How- triarchal or matriarchal). ever, Indian law also recognizes the personal law Hindus, Muslims, and Christians in India are each (inheritance and marriage, divorce, separation, and so governed by different testamentary and intestate suc- forth) of its different ethnic and religious groups cession laws. Hindu personal law divides property (Agarwal 2003). These personal laws are often in into two classes: separate (usually self-acquired) conflict with the gender-equity provisions of land re- property and joint family (ancestral) property. Mus- form legislation. In a land reform program in Kar- lim intestate succession is governed by uncodified nataka State, women received title to land when the Muslim personal law, which grants widows and government distribution program focused exclusively daughters the right to a share of some family proper- on women (Brown and Chowdhury 2002). ty, although a share smaller than that of men. The In- In Nepal, equal property rights are constitutionally dian Succession Act of 1925 generally governs the provided, although neither formal nor customary law succession of property if a Christian dies intestate. If otherwise provides for equal rights (Shrestha 1999). a Christian man dies without a will and he has chil- In China, although land use rights were theoreti- dren, his widow receives one-third of the estate and cally allocated to farm households for a period of sons and daughters get equal shares in the rest years, approximately 80 percent of Chinese villages (Brown and Chowdhury 2002). adopted the practice of periodically readjusting land- Sri Lanka has a pluralistic system like much of holdings in accordance with changes in household Asia. Under one inheritance scheme, women cannot makeup as part of the household responsibility sys- inherit from their deceased spouses unless their hus- tem. As originally implemented, any changes in the bands provided for them in a will. If a husband is miss- number of members in a household, such as by birth, Why Does Gender Matter for Land Policy? 7 death, or marriage, were to be followed by an imme- local-level patriarchal norms and practices with re- diate adjustment of the size of a family's landholding. gard to women's rights to land, even where the formal This system of immediate readjustment was hard to privatization rules do not disfavor women. manage and was later replaced in most villages by a In most of the FSU and Eastern Europe, inheri- system of reassessment and readjustment of the entire tance laws are similar to those of the Western Euro- village every few years (Prosterman et al. 2001). pean civil codes. Property is generally to be divided In most cases these land readjustments ensured equally among the spouse and children. However, that women did not lose their rights to a share of where customary law differs, formal inheritance laws household land upon marriage, because their hus- are rarely followed. This is true, for example, in both bands' households would be entitled to receive addi- the Kyrgyz Republic and Azerbaijan where youngest tional shares of village land upon their entry into the sons generally inherit land and immovable property, households. However, even the practice of land read- and daughters receive a dowry. justments did not ensure that all women received land Distribution of state land to private individuals and shares in their husbands' villages. Women who were the impact on women varies from country to country. divorced were particularly vulnerable. By custom, In Uzbekistan, for example, where there is a gradual they returned to their families, but their land shares transition from centralized to market-based property may have already been readjusted in that community, and production, former agricultural collective land causing them to create land pressure on their parents has been divided and leased out to families, and un- or their brothers (Li and Bruce 2005). paid family labor has largely replaced wage labor and Because the practice of readjustments caused a sig- machinery. In the absence of state policy to maintain nificant overall reduction in land tenure security on gender equity with regard to land rights, men are farmland in China, a new Rural Land Contracting Law gaining control of land: Leasehold contracts and the went into effect on March 1, 2003. This new law pro- household parcels are overwhelmingly in the name of tects contracted land rights from readjustments, while the male head of household. Very few women are allowing villages to reserve land to help newly added granted leases and very few women manage farms populations to the village. To protect a woman who (Kandiyoti 2003). moves away to her husband's village but is no longer In other transition countries, titles and deeds to pri- able to receive land in the new village, women are able vatized land are not always made out in the name of to keep the portion of the land belonging to their birth both husband and wife, and women may also not be families that was allocated for them. However, land is allowed to lease land. In Albania, for example, family seen as belonging to the household, and when a woman land was issued according to the number of family leaves the household, the land is no longer considered members, but titled and registered only in the name to be hers. According to interviews with women farm- of the head of household (Lastarria-Cornhiel and ers, few women will exercise this right (unpublished Wheeler 1998). The male household head, generally field research)8 (Li and Bruce 2005). the oldest man in the family, is able to exercise cus- tomary rights over that family land, and it remains un- Central and Eastern Europe and the clear whether individual family members have a right to withdraw, sell, or lease their land shares. Former Soviet Union In the Kyrgyz Republic, although the legal rules The shift from collective to individual agriculture in provide for individual rights within the family and the the transition economies has brought about the priva- land titles list the names of all family members, indi- tization of land rights and varying degrees of land viduals actually only have the right to the value of transaction liberalization. Whereas the gender-differ- their portion of the land, but not to demarcate or par- entiated impacts of this radical and far-reaching asset tition this land.9 In the Kyrgyz Republic, women redistribution process are just beginning to be studied, leave their households to join their husbands'families in several Former Soviet Union (FSU) and Eastern upon marriage. For a woman to receive the value of European countries there are indications of unequal the land she leaves, the remaining co-owners of the treatment of men and women in the implementation of land plot must purchase the land from her. The pri- the new land laws, and evidence of the resurgence of mary impetus for this rule was a concern about frag- 8 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects mentation of land, but cultural norms played an im- land.10 Women are eligible to receive property prima- portant role as well. Very few women request the val- rily in their roles as wives and daughters. ue of their land when they leave their households to Many Latin American countries limit the portion join their husbands' households because it would be of an individual's property that she or he can freely shameful for them and for their families if they did so will to others, and subject the remainder to certain (Giovarelli et al. 2001). rules regarding the distribution to surviving spouses In much of Eastern Europe, however, individual ti- and children. In Honduras and Nicaragua, for exam- tles to land have been distributed and women have the ple, property owners may cede up to 75 percent of cultural and societal right to own land. State land was their estate--high by Latin American standards--to distributed to individuals in the Russian Federation; whomever they choose, and the remaining 25 percent in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania, is set aside for widows (porción conyugal) (Deere land was restored to whomever were the rightful heirs and León 2001). to the land, regardless of gender or household status. In the case of an intestate death, all Latin American In these cases, women are able to exercise full owner- countries designate the legitimate children of the de- ship rights to their land because, in addition to the le- ceased person, regardless of sex, as the first benefici- gal right to land, they have a socially accepted right to aries of equal shares of the property (less the marital the land distributed to them. share). However, given widespread land scarcity, it is In much of Eastern Europe, community property common for families to consolidate inherited proper- for marital couples is compulsory (Bulgaria, Croatia, ty either through sales or more informal arrangements Czech Republic, and Russia, for example). On the that allow one or several (usually male) siblings to re- other hand, although marriage registration in Eastern tain control of the farm. In most of the region, only if Europe and the Former Soviet Union was mandatory there are no living children do wives become primary under the old regimes, research indicates that legal beneficiaries, eligible to share the estate with the par- marriage rates are decreasing in many of these coun- ents of the deceased husband. tries. In Bulgaria, legal marriage dropped from 9.0 It is also noteworthy that the laws governing inher- per 1,000 in the 1970s to 4.2 per 1,000 in 1997. Sta- itance of property in general do not necessarily apply tisticians assume that the decrease in the number of- to land acquired under government-sponsored agrari- marriages is partly the result of an increase in the an reform programs; provisions for the latter are of- number of couples who cohabitate but are not mar- ten more geared toward preventing fragmentation of ried (South Eastern European Women's Legal Initia- holdings by limiting the number of inheritance bene- tive 2005). According to May 1999 sociological re- ficiaries to a surviving spouse and/or single child. search on tendencies among young people, 60 From a gender perspective, the upshot of all of the percent of the respondents stated that they did not laws governing inheritance is that landowners who prefer marriage as a form of cohabitation (Giovarelli leave wills have a fair amount of discretion regarding 2004). In unregistered marriages, the compulsory the disposition of their property--and are therefore joint title provisions will not take effect. likely to be influenced in their decision by intra- household norms and expectations--whereas those who die intestate (especially common among the Latin America poor) are subject to national law that gives priority to How do Latin American women acquire land? Data children and some protection to spouses. from several countries indicate that inheritance is the Deere and León (2002), who pioneered the re- most important medium through which women be- search on gender and land in Latin America, argued come independent land owners: 54 percent of female- that intergenerational inheritance patterns appear to owned land in Brazil was inherited, 84 percent in be demonstrating greater gender equality over time. Chile, 43 percent in Ecuador, 57 percent in Honduras, They attributed this trend to four factors: (1) rising 76 percent in Mexico, 47 percent in Nicaragua, and literacy, which raises wives' and children's awareness 75 percent in Peru (Deere and León 2002; Katz and of their legal rights regarding inheritance; (2) smaller Chamorro 2002). Laws and customs governing inher- family sizes associated with decreasing fertility, itance are therefore key to the gender distribution of which leads parents to divide property more equally Why Does Gender Matter for Land Policy? 9 among siblings; (3) higher migration rates of young back to the 1960s for most Latin American countries, people, which further reduce the number of potential the majority of agrarian reform legislation privileged heirs interested in remaining in the agricultural sec- men by designating only household heads with agri- tor; and (4) the declining importance of agriculture in cultural experience as potential beneficiaries (Deere the livelihood strategies of rural households, which and León 2001). Women, therefore, make up fewer reduces the income value of land and therefore makes than 20 percent of the beneficiaries in 10 countries land less coveted by male family members. for which gender-disaggregated data are available A second important means by which women in (Deere and León 2001, table 11). However, a "second Latin America acquire land is through compulsory generation" of agrarian reform--one in which the marital property regimes. Civil or family laws that clarification and legalization of property rights has mandate joint ownership of land acquired during a taken precedence over redistribution--has seen the marriage for married couples or couples living in con- share of allocations and titles issued to women in the sensual unions automatically give women some con- 1990s increase to close to 40 percent. Continued trol over land while married and a share of the land in progress in the alleviation of legal, institutional, and case of divorce or abandonment. Most Latin American social barriers to women's land rights is crucial to countries have some form of marital property laws. reconciling the gap between women's participation in State-sponsored redistribution and titling pro- the rural economy and their access to productive re- grams have recently begun to target women. Dating sources.11 10 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects 3 Actors in the Struggle to Improve Women's Land Rights In the last few decades, a number of institutions and One of the distinguishing features of the Land Re- organizations have become involved in programs to form Law in Bolivia is the explicit recognition of improve women's land rights. These range from gov- women's and men's equal rights to land. Article 3, ernment institutions to civil society organizations to paragraph V, states that equity criteria in favor of donor agencies. women will be applied in the distribution, administra- tion, tenure, and use of land, independent of women's State Institutions civil status. Women are not required to be heads of households or married in order to be eligible for land Beginning in the 1980s, international organizations, rights. The gender provisions of the INRA (National such as divisions of the United Nations, took up the de- Institute for Agrarian Reform) Law are supported by mands of the women's movement for equity and have other Bolivian legislation, such as the 1994 constitu- been successful in pressuring member governments tion (article 6)12 and the ratification of the UN's Con- around the globe to modify laws and codes to explicit- vention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimi- ly recognize gender equality, including equity with re- nation against Women (CEDAW)13 by the Bolivian gard to property rights. At the national level, many State in 1989. countries created women's offices, usually attached to Other state institutions can also play an important ministries or to the presidential office, which advocate role. In India, for example, West Bengal promoted the for and promote gender equity. These offices have usu- joint titling of land in its land reform programs. Be- ally dealt with basic legal rights, such as general equal- ginning in 1992, at the petition of peasant women's ity clauses in constitutions and civil codes and with so- organizations, directives were issued from the West cial services for women, such as health care. They have Bengal government that land was to be allocated to also been active on equal property rights, lobbying for women as individuals or jointly with their husbands. and promoting gender equality clauses in family and Local land reform offices, however, largely ignored inheritance laws as well as in such land legislation as these directives, claiming not to have knowledge of land reform laws and titling laws. An example of the them or maintaining that the local planning commit- very active role such institutions have had in the imple- tees (panchayats) at the village and district levels mentation of a land administration program is the Lao should draw up the list of eligible land reform benefi- Women's Union in Lao PDR, with representatives in ciaries. If these local committees do not find eligible the communities. The provincial-level Women's Feder- women, local land reform officials maintain that ation in China, for example, plays an important advo- there is little they can do. Several studies have found cacy and mediation role in difficult cases of inheri- that even when a wife's name is included on land re- tance, land disputes, and allocation of apartments. form documentation, she often is not informed of that 11 fact or is not made aware of her property right to the tions, to legally recognize women's rights to land. In land (Brown and Chowdhury 2002; Gupta 2002). In the 1988 constitutional convention, the national agri- addition, her name is entered in an ambiguous man- cultural workers' union, Confederação Nacional dos ner that does not make it clear whether she is includ- Trabalhadores na Agricultura (National Confedera- ed because she is a joint owner or because her inclu- tion of Agricultural Workers [CONTAG]), together sion will merely help in identifying her husband with the governmental women's office, Conselho Na- (Brown and Chowdhury 2002). cional dos Direitos da Mulher (National Council for the Rights of Women), lobbied strongly for inclusion Labor Organizations of an article (article 189) in the new constitution that would recognize women's rights to agrarian reform A number of civil society organizations and institutions land, including joint ownership. The joint titling of have also engaged in the struggle to recognize and im- land to couples is optional, however, not mandatory. prove women's rights. Among these are NGOs and la- During the early 1990s, the two main labor organiza- bor organizations. In this section, we will examine the tions, CONTAG and Central Unica dos Trabalhadores ambiguous role that labor organizations have played. (Central Workers' Union), called for the inclusion of Labor organizations (particularly rural workers' women's names on agrarian reform certificates and ti- unions and peasant groups) have been active in ef- tles; neither organization, however, made this issue a forts to gain land rights for landless and landpoor ru- principal priority (Deere 2003). ral workers. Although women are very active in these The number of women who have received legal struggles, these organizations have often failed to rights, whether by individual or joint titles, remains recognize women as full members and to make their low. One reason is that the agrarian reform agency did needs and demands a priority. Urban labor organiza- not modify or change its norms and procedures in the tions, which generally have more active women's identification of beneficiaries or in the issuance of groups within them, have not always supported rural certificates and titling.15 In addition, there was little women's demands. The experiences of rural women institutional, political, or grassroots pressure for IN- in Brazil with regard to their land rights within the CRA to recognize women as legitimate agrarian re- agrarian reform process are examples of the conflict- form beneficiaries or to recognize their rights to joint ing trajectories of labor organizations as class-based ownership. The rural labor organizations and the peas- organizations and of women's efforts to gain effective ant organizations pressing for land redistribution, in- rights to land, not just legal recognition. cluding the women's wings of these organizations, Brazil is the most recent country in Latin America failed to follow up on the opening that the constitution to implement a redistributive land reform. During the gave rural women. In part this was because of the low first years of the reform, most of the redistributed priority given to women's land rights and to other gen- lands were estates already occupied by rural families der issues by the leadership of these organizations. organized into peasant groups. In the early 1990s, the According to Deere (2003), a decade after legal agrarian reform effort slowed considerably, picking recognition of joint ownership, the national leader- up again in the mid-1990s with the Cardoso govern- ship of CONTAG finally took up the recommenda- ment. In contrast to most other countries, at that time tions of its women's commission and, at its Seventh the implementation of agrarian reform in Brazil was National Congress in 1998, approved the specific de- delegated to state governments instead of the national mand that the names of both spouses be included in government.14 The language of the agrarian reform the land registry. Over the next few years, CONTAG legislation and the procedures followed by the agrari- participated in a number of national women's events, an reform agency (the National Institute of Coloniza- such as International Women's Day on March 8, tion and Agrarian Reform [INCRA]) were to adjudi- 2000, and the Marcha das Margaridas in August of cate land to the household head. As a result, as of that same year. As a result, INCRA finally acknowl- 1996 only 12.6 percent of agrarian reform benefici- edged the legal norm of joint property established in aries were women (Guivant 2003). the 1988 constitution by announcing that it would At the same time, however, efforts were undertaken change its titling procedures to include on property by various organizations, including labor organiza- documentation the names of both spouses (Deere 12 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects 2003). Although no official gender-disaggregated policy recommendations include the formulation of data are available for the period after 1996, some pre- more gender-responsive policies in land reform proc- liminary data for several states cited by Deere (2003) esses; the automatic inclusion of women as joint own- indicate that not only has the number of beneficiaries ers in family properties; and the adoption of an inher- increased significantly, but also the proportion of itance law that makes it mandatory for women to have women beneficiaries has increased. a share of their parents' ancestral land. Another legal aid organization, Tanzania Women Legal Aid Organizations Lawyers Association (TAWLA), has played an impor- tant role in extending gender awareness regarding Legal aid organizations are generally NGOs that pro- property rights. The Gender Land Task Force, which vide free or low-cost legal counsel and advice to was coordinated by TAWLA, issued a series of recom- groups and individuals who are resource poor. One mendations for the 1999 Land Acts. Most of its rec- mechanism for providing legal counsel that has become ommendations were adopted, including legal aware- quite widespread among legal organizations is the ness programs (leaflets, posters, and radio messages training of paralegals who work with communities and in simple language) and legal aid desks in villages to disadvantaged groups. Many of these legal organiza- provide timely legal services. Other recommendations tions also engage in advocacy for women's land rights included training of trainers, law enforcers and opin- and in lobbying legislative bodies and state land pro- ion leaders; production of a booklet of procedures and gram officials to legally recognize women's equal land a training manual; and the formation of a village in- rights as well as marital property and joint ownership. formation center. These actions should facilitate the In the Philippines, the Paralegal Education Skills observance of the joint property presumption between Advancement and Networking Technology (PESAN- spouses, which is contained in the 1999 Land Act. TEch) produced a study on the agrarian reform pro- The principal objective of the Women's Legal Cen- gram that found the legal system had failed to prop- tre in South Africa is to remove barriers, through ad- erly handle land and agrarian cases. The paralegals at vocacy and litigation, to women attaining substantive PESANTech provide farmers (male and female) with equality. The organization lobbies parliament for land the basic knowledge and skills necessary to improve reform on issues affecting women's rights and con- their tenure arrangements and entitlements. The para- ducts impact litigation on women's rights issues, in- legal organization was set up to further the effective- cluding land rights. As the Women's Legal Centre ness of land literacy efforts by providing advocacy as takes up test cases, it has found that customary tenure well as information. and law were difficult to litigate against because of In Kenya, the International Federation of Women strong opposition and the lack of a coherent law re- Lawyers (FIDA-Kenya) undertakes advocacy and form process. For example, the center has not been civil litigation on women's land rights. Their activities able to bring a case to court on customary inheritance include research; training of community and opinion practices that discriminate against women as both leaders, monitors, and paralegals; advocacy in public daughters and wives. interest cases; and extension of legal awareness. FIDA-Kenya has undertaken a number of cases in the Customary Institutions recent past that clearly show how traditions perpetu- ate injustices against women in relation to property Customary institutions are often very important for rights. They have focused more on rural than on ur- enforcing women's land rights or making changes to ban areas, and are trying to stop husbands and fathers long-held cultural norms. They are local and there- from selling off land that sustains families. This often fore accessible, the leaders are generally respected by entails engaging with local land boards that are gen- the community, and women are less ashamed to ap- erally made up only of men. Paralegals are chosen proach village leaders than to participate in a formal from the communities, receive regular training, and court hearing. There may be a number of different in- are given certificates. These paralegals take care of stitutions that enforce customs in villages. Customary minor legal actions and report violations. FIDA- institutions may include councils of elders; mahallya, Kenya has also produced a primer on property law. Its or neighborhood, committees (generally in Muslim Actors in the Struggle to Improve Women's Land Rights 13 countries); tribal councils; clan leaders; religious civil marriage or consensual union), that sale con- leaders; and informally identified leaders such as tracts of land purchased by women be recognized as teachers or other educated professionals. These tradi- legal for title purposes, and that inheritance of land tional institutions can have more power to change be equally divided among all sons and daughters cultural norms than do legislative bodies or modern (Deere and León 1998). The Red Nacional de la Mu- institutions. Traditional leaders are able to speak with jer Rural also brought attention to the fact that authority for the whole community and can thereby women were not being targeted in the information institute fundamental, socially agreed change. and education campaigns organized by the Programa Nacional de Titulación de Tierra (National Program of Land Titling [PETT]). In 1997, the Red Nacional Women's Organizations de la Mujer Rural began a national campaign de- Women's organizations have also been active in manding joint titling of marital property, and started pressing for women's rights to land, particularly after to pressure PETT officials to adopt norms and proce- the declarations of the Fourth World Conference on dures to ensure the joint titling of spouses (Fernandez Women held in Beijing in 1995. For example, wom- et al. 2000). The Red Nacional de la Mujer Rural, to- en's organizations in almost all the countries of Latin gether with the rural research facility Centro Peruano America have lobbied government and pressed for de Estudios Sociales, also organized a series of re- women's land rights. gional meetings around the country with women In Guatemala, the Coordinadora de Mujeres por el peasant organizations and, with the regional PETT Derecho a la Tierra y la Propiedad (Organizing Com- agency, they highlighted the productive role of mittee of Women for the Right to Land and Property) women in agriculture, the importance of land rights has been working with the Land Fund to ensure that for women, the participation of women in the titling women are treated equally with regard to access to process, and the need for gender-sensitivity training the fund and to ownership. In Panama, successful for titling officials (Fernandez et al. 2000). lobbying by the Coordinadora Nacional de Mujeres Rurales (National Committee of Rural Women) re- Donor Organizations sulted in the inclusion of mandatory joint titling in the reform of the Agrarian Code. Donor organizations can play an important and some- In 1993, Peru began implementation of a rural ti- times inadvertent role in improving women's land tling program with two main objectives: to title the rights. A project in Honduras funded by the Canadian land adjudicated to farm workers and peasants during International Development Agency (CIDA) provides the agrarian reform of the 1970s, and to regularize an example. the rights of smallholders who occupied land without In 1992, Honduras passed an "agricultural modern- legal title. The language of the titling program is gen- ization" law that established a program for the pur- der neutral in the sense that gender is not mentioned chase and titling of occupied public lands by small- as a requirement of eligibility for title. The titling pro- holders. These lands were to be adjudicated without gram, however, did not consider the cultural con- bias to women and men, and could be jointly titled to a straints that women, particularly rural women, may couple. Joint titling was only optional, however-- face in having their names included on land titles.16 available only if a couple requested it. Because of In addition, titling program officials did not receive women's subordinate status in Honduras and the lack any gender-sensitivity training at the ministerial and of information regarding the joint titling option among program levels or at the ground implementation lev- rural women, very few joint titles were issued during el. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the large major- the first few years of the titling program.18 ity of titleholders are men, and that spouses are not In the Guayape Valley of Honduras, a rural develop- being included in title documents. ment project19 funded by CIDA had begun operation In 1996, under the umbrella of the Red Nacional in 1991. In its first phase (1991­5), the project focused de la Mujer Rural,17 a national forum of 130 peasant on diversifying and stabilizing agricultural production leaders, presented a series of demands regarding the in the valley, mainly through irrigation and technical rural titling program. Among the demands was that ti- innovation. This phase gave some limited support to tles be issued to both spouses (whether spouses by land titling, mainly to facilitate borrowing for farm im- 14 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects provements. Ninety percent of the titles were issued percent were issued to men alone (Secretaría de Agri- solely in the name of the male member of the couple, cultura y Ganadería, Honduras 2000). with only 10 percent issued to couples. The United Nations Development Fund for Wom- The project's second phase (1996­2001) focused en (UNIFEM) Project in Tajikistan conducted a na- on the development of a replicable model for sustain- tional consultation on rural women's rights in Tajik- able natural resource management. Experience in the istan, with the participation of representatives from earlier phase made it clear to NGO staff that complet- the Government of Tajikistan, UNIFEM headquar- ing the titling process was important for all aspects of ters, local NGOs, and UN agencies and international the valley's sustainable socioeconomic development organizations operating in Tajikistan. The purpose of and for setting up the basis for investments in agricul- the national consultation was to highlight women's ture and natural resources management and conserva- lack of empowerment, land rights, and economic se- tion. CIDA also realized that the project's success de- curity. The consultation attracted many participants, pended on the participation of both spouses within a and further plans for action were made to advocate household, and that couples in comparison to individ- for rural women's interests and concerns related to uals had a better credit repayment record. In the sec- the land reform in Tajikistan. The UNIFEM Project ond phase, therefore, couples with joint titles were developed official commentary, related to women's given preferential status for credit. In this way, CIDA land rights, to the Family Code of Tajikistan and to promoted the option of joint title in the Guayape Val- the Land Code. ley. Through a combination of innovative agreements In addition, an agreement has been signed between and initiatives between the NGO and government UNIFEM and the Women and Family Affairs Com- agencies involved in the titling process, the number mission under which information and counseling of titles issued to women more than doubled, com- centers will be established in 11 districts of Sogd and pared with other regions in Honduras.20 By the year Khatlon provinces and in some other regions of Tajik- 2000, women were included on 56 percent of titles istan. The centers will offer free legal counseling on that were issued for 2,500 parcels covering almost land, loans, and farming, and should help the fledg- 20,000 hectares: 36 percent of titles were issued to ling Tajik female farming sector grow. couples, 20 percent were issued to women only; 44 Actors in the Struggle to Improve Women's Land Rights 15 4 Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects In the design and implementation of land administra- one form of registration to another (for exam- tion projects, there are many issues that should be ad- ple, deeds registration to title registration); dressed to increase the participation of women and 5. introduction or strengthening of land valuation thus improve the projects' ability to recognize and le- and taxation systems; galize women's rights to landed property. At the same 6. development or enhancement of land use plan- time it should be recognized that land administration ning and regulation, including land consolida- projects alone cannot change, nor should they neces- tion and reordering; sarily change, the culture and traditions of the country. 7. development or enhancement of dispute resolu- They must act within the existing legal system, but at tion systems; the same time, they can promote reviews of the law 8. changes in organizational structure and/or pro- and of practice to make them more gender inclusive. cedures (institutional strengthening and re-engi- Land administration is concerned with the man- neering). agement of the landholding system for land, natural resources, and fixed improvements such as buildings. The main processes in land administration reform FIGURE 2 Primary Land projects (for example, Nichols 1993) are illustrated in Administration Activities figure 2. Related to Gender Issues The following reforms are common (individually or in various combinations) in large projects and pro- grams: Legal Reform Organizational Reform 1. individualization or privatization of land rights (that is, from collective, state, large estate, or communal landholding patterns); 2. formal recognition of rights based on occupa- Procedural Interventions tion and use (these may be group or individual · Project design and targets holdings); · Land rights holder identification 3. conversion of rights from one legal system to · Monitoring of impacts another (for example, conversion from lease- · Adjudication processes · Dispute resolution hold to a form of ownership or from customary · Education, training, and communication to formal law); · Providing support services (e.g., microcredit) 4. introduction of a land registration system or conversion of the documentation of rights from 17 it), and (d) in altering decision-making powers within households; The emphasis in most land administration 3. a belief that addressing gender issues within activities has customarily been on the technical land administration is ensuring that women are and legal components, rather than on the social, hired (for example, as clerks, interpreters, social economic, or environmental impacts of these specialists), rather than mainstreaming equal activities. opportunities for all employees in all types of activities. The projects reviewed for this research included combinations of most of these activities. For example, There has been a lack of understanding of the Ghana involved sporadic conversion from a document- diversity and complexity of tenure and a belief based to title-based registration system, whereas the that gender issues can be solved easily through co-titling or employing women on the projects. projects in Bolivia and Lao PDR entailed adjudication and formalization of rights, resulting in registration. The Azerbaijan project was concerned with privatiza- tion and registration. In Azerbaijan and Lao PDR, the Overcoming these misconceptions at all levels is the projects also explicitly dealt with new organizational real challenge for land administration projects with structures and institutional capacity building. This respect to gender. was one of the limiting features of the land registra- In several of the projects evaluated in this study tion project in Ghana, which was hindered by the ex- (that is, in Azerbaijan, Ghana, and Lao PDR), gender isting structures, mandates, and procedures. was not considered explicitly at the time of project de- Gender issues arise in all of these activities because sign. The need to address gender issues in Lao PDR of the ways in which rights are held, transacted, and arose from social studies made in parallel but not as managed, or because of the varying roles played by part of the project. In Ghana, the inclusion of women women and men in the land administration processes, in the titling project was a result of the nature of urban either in the public or private sector. Traditionally, landholding and general recognition of women's prop- land administration organizations are male dominated, erty rights. It did not result from any specific interven- in large part because of the importance of fieldwork tion or targets. In Bolivia, gender concerns were dis- (often in rough conditions) that was deemed unaccept- cussed during the project preparation, but it appears able for women (and is still unacceptable in some that these concerns did not translate into guidelines countries and regions). and procedures specifically focused on women. It was These factors lead to several issues in land admin- only after the project was several years into imple- istration reforms that have a gender dimension, in- mentation that the implementing agency began to take cluding some measures to modify titling procedures so as to 1. a lack of understanding of the complexity and incorporate women into the titling process and get diversity of land tenure patterns, including wom- their names on titles. en's rights, by most land administrators, by proj- In more recent land administration projects under- ect managers, and by those providing technical taken by the World Bank and other donors, more ex- assistance; plicit attention has been paid to including a gender 2. a belief that addressing gender issues only component. There have been generally three major means issuing titles or co-titles to women, with approaches: (1) specifying enhancement of women's little appreciation, for instance, for what hap- access to land and credit as project targets (for exam- pens (a) in subsequent transactions, (b) in en- ple, Brazil, Mozambique, Vietnam); (2) analyzing forcement and actualization of those rights, (c) impacts from a gender perspective through parallel in realizing the benefits that may stem from for- studies or demonstration projects (for example, Lao malizing women's rights (such as access to cred- PDR, Kyrgyz Republic, Zimbabwe); and (3) making 18 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects gender a cross-cutting theme in all project activities vorce say about women's rights to own ancestral (for example, Brazil, Cambodia). Each approach has property and/or marital property? its strengths and weaknesses, and the approach (or Cultural prohibitions against women's ownership or combination of approaches) taken will depend on the use of land are often more powerful than written law. scope of the project, the political will of the project Customary law may determine which rights to land a designers and implementers, and the particular cul- woman may freely exercise--perhaps the right to use tural issues within the country and region. The main the land or the right to gather fruit from it, but not the point, however, is that explicitly recognizing gender right to bequeath the land through inheritance, for ex- as an issue to be considered at the outset will allow ample. Women may also have inferior legal rights to better monitoring and evaluation of project impacts land as a result of outright discriminatory policies at and will enable the required financial costs and the the central or local level because of case law that rede- required expertise for programs to be included. fines the written law, or because of poorly drafted reg- Priority issues outlined in this section include the le- ulations governing land and property rights. gal (both formal and customary) framework regarding Land projects generally must deal with formal law women's rights to land, the process and methodology and customs related to intrahousehold property as for identifying rights holders on the ground, and the they exist, and they must work within them. Much actual formalization and adjudication of land rights, can be done within land legislation to encourage and education and training during implementation of women to acquire joint title to marital property, and the project. In addition, there is the critical issue of examples of this follow. Family law, inheritance law, monitoring and evaluating project activities and results or customary law, however, may have a more signifi- during the life of the project to ascertain whether gen- cant effect on women. Although changing family law dered activities and procedures are effective and to in- and inheritance law may be necessary, such changes troduce midstream adjustments where needed. do not come easily and in some cases would be out- side of the realm of a land administration project. What follows is a review of these legal and custom- Intrahousehold Legal and ary issues in the four cases undertaken for this report. Customary Rights In all four case studies, both formal law and custom- ary law had an impact on women's rights to land and The first question facing policy makers and project on the implementation of the land project. This sec- managers during the course of a prototypical land tion discusses the two central legal norms related project is what are the formal legal rights to land for specifically to women's ownership21 of property with- individuals and households? If gender is taken into ac- in the household unit: (1) marital property rights and count, the next set of questions would concern the (2) inheritance rights. rights to land within a household or community, and how those rights differ for men and for women. This inquiry would look at both formal legal land rights for Marital Property Rights women and customary or socially acceptable rights to Marital property can be held in common ownership, land. Specifically, the questions would be these: joint ownership, or separate ownership. Each of these · Do women have a basic formal legal right to hold can be voluntary or compulsory rights in law. Com- land (to own or to use over the long term)? mon ownership means that each person owns a por- · What rights are included--the right to use, to tion of the whole of the property (not yet demarcat- make decisions about, to pass by inheritance, to ed). The owners can do as they want with their partition, to transfer, to receive the benefit of or in- portion of the whole, and upon death, their portion is come from? part of their estate. Joint ownership means that more · What land do women have a right to own or use? than one person owns the whole of the property. The · What rights do women have within their natal fam- main difference between these forms of tenure is that ily, within their marital family, or outside of these? in the case of joint tenure, the land can only be acted That is, what do the inheritance laws, marital prop- on with the consent of all the owners because each erty laws, polygamy laws, and laws related to di- owner is acting for all owners on the whole property Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 19 (see table 1). For example, for land to be disposed of, erty, and often some land is excepted (that which is all joint owners must agree to do so. While still alive, bequeathed or gifted to one party only). joint owners may transfer their interest to all the oth- Compulsory joint or common ownership can occur er owners but to no other person. In some property in one of two ways. First, the state could distribute systems, if a joint owner dies, his or her interest in the and title state land to private individuals and require land will vest in the surviving owner(s). In others, that the land be distributed and titled to all members upon the death of one of the owners, the property of the household, or to all qualifying members of the must be divided equally among all owners and the household (regardless of gender). joint tenure becomes common tenure, with the de- In Azerbaijan, a former Soviet republic, the 1996 ceased owner's share being inherited by his heirs Land Reform Law required that land, which had been (usually spouse and children). The law may mandate held in collective ownership, be divided on a per capi- a type of ownership in certain circumstances (such as ta basis and distributed to rural residents. Under the marriage). Compulsory joint ownership for married World Bank Farm Privatization Project, all members couples is sometimes referred to as community prop- of a household who were above age 16 or 18 received TABLE 1 Forms of Property Ownership Common Ownership Joint Ownership Separate Ownership Tenure Parties own a separate Parties own the property Parties own property share of the whole together as a whole separately (each owns the whole) Compulsory or Usually voluntary Can be compulsory Can be the presumption voluntary (civil law/ (unless contract to the for married couples and family law) contrary) for married those in consensual couples, those in unions consensual unions, or household members of a farm. Can also be voluntary. Compulsory or Can be compulsory when Can be compulsory Can be the presumption voluntary (land land is privatized or when land is privatized as part of a distribution of law) individualized (land is or individualized for land distributed to all household married couples or members on a per capita families living in one basis) household Inheritance Owner can bequeath a Either the deceased's Separate inheritance separate share of the share automatically property by will, or share vests in the remaining will be distributed intestate owners, or the property must be divided and becomes common ownership Transfer Owner can transfer a Permission of other joint Can transfer without separate share without owner(s) is required for permission permission of other any transfer of the co-owners property 20 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects FIGURE 3 Land Distribution, by Gender of Household Head, in Azerbaijan 3.5 es) 2.9 3.0 (Hectar 2.5 2.0 1.9 Means ea 1.5 Ar 0.9 0.9 1.0 0.7 0.8 0.4 0.3 Capita 0.5 0.3 0.3 0.1 0.1 Per 0 Yerguch Shafag Pusyan Mamusta Gilinchl Gulaband-Hatai (Xachmas) (Salyan) (Sharur) (Lenkoran) (Barda) (Ujar) Farm (Region) Male Female a per capita share of land, and their names were listed of the conjugal couple (article 111). This stipulation on the land certificate, although only the name of the has been interpreted by the Land Administration Pro- head of the household was registered in the land reg- gram to include land distributed through the agrarian istry. Under the Land Reform Law, this distributed reform and resettlement programs. Based on this in- land was held in common ownership. terpretation, titling procedures require that land being Although the law called for equal distribution of titled for the first time be titled to the couple, not only land per adult farm member per farm, in fact there to the head of household. Moreover, Bolivia's INRA were variations between the size of the land plot re- Land Law (no. 1715, 1996) explicitly recognizes wom- ceived by male heads of household and the size re- en's and men's equal rights to land. Article 3, paragraph ceived by female heads of household on several of the V, states that equity criteria will be applied in the distri- farms. bution, administration, tenure, and use of land in favor In a 170-person survey of the six farms that were of women, independent of their civil status. reorganized under the World Bank project, we found For land that is acquired other than through state that female-headed households received on average distribution, a country's law may provide for compul- from 0.4 to 0.1 hectare per capita less than did male- sory joint ownership for married couples, and poten- headed households (see figure 3). Exceptions were tially for those who live in consensual unions. Com- the Mamusta and Gilinchl farms. On Mamusta farm, pulsory joint ownership rights for marital property female-headed households on average received 0.5 are usually established in civil law, family law, or land hectare more than male-headed households. On law, which frequently conflict. Gilinchl, the one household headed by a female re- In Azerbaijan, although the distribution of state ceived 1.0 hectare per capita more than households land created common ownership within the house- headed by males. hold, marital property under civil law is held jointly In Bolivia and Lao PDR, legislation provides that unless the matrimony contract establishes another land allocated to a household by the state is held in agreement. Under the civil law scheme, therefore, a joint ownership. In Bolivia, the Family Code specifies court could decide that, by law, the shares of a mar- that property acquired through grant or adjudication ried couple are held in joint ownership and not in from the state forms part of the community property common ownership, thus giving women within a Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 21 Separate property within the marital community other hand, when women have far fewer resources provides women with the most control over their than do men, separate property regimes can portion of the land. The women in Ghana who had disadvantage women if they do not traditionally land titled in their names stated that they preferred inherit or acquire land by themselves. In a separate to own their own land, rather than having joint property system, class or wealth may be a greater ownership of land with their husbands. On the determinant of ability to own land than is gender. marriage greater control over the total household land far exceeded the amount titled to women as individu- but less control over her share of the land. als and to women in joint titles. Formalizing the right to joint ownership through In Lao PDR, even though the state is the ultimate title registration is not always mandatory, and is owner of all categories of land, individuals and groups rarely fully enforced. In practice, the Bolivian legis- have use rights to land. Under formal law, land distrib- lation requiring joint ownership of state-distributed uted to couples is to be jointly titled (Law on Land, ar- land initially had little effect (1996­2001). Beginning ticle 43; Family Law; and Property Law). There are no in 2001, INRA, the land administration agency, real- cultural restrictions on women owning land. However, ized that the May 2000 regulations of the law did not even with formal law and customary law in place that include sufficient procedural guidelines to ensure supported women's right to a land title, when gender gender equity in the titling process. INRA, therefore, was not initially a focus of the titling project, the re- modified its activities and procedures with the objec- sult was a low number of titles with women's names. tive of including more women in the process and If the law establishes rights of community proper- granting land rights to more women. ty without requiring mandatory joint registration, Whereas the number of titles to women increased land could be registered in the name of the household as these issues were handled, the amount of land be- head only, and a court or other dispute resolution ing titled to women was even smaller than the num- body would have to adjudicate whether the land is ber of titles would suggest. Figure 4 confirms this by held in joint ownership. Under a community property showing that the amount of land being titled to men system, even when title to land is registered in one FIGURE 4 Amount of Land Titled, by Gender and Farm Type, in Bolivia 300 250 200 (Thousands) 150 es 100 50 Hectar 0 Solar Small Medium Empresa Farm Size Women Men Joint Legal Entity 22 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects TABLE 2 Location of Land, by Gender of Registrants, in Ghana Gender of Registrants Location of Land Male Female Joint Total First-class residential area 217 72 32 321 Second-class residential area 531 234 72 837 Third-class residential area 160 48 31 239 Fourth-class residential area 16 6 0 22 Commercial center 12 7 2 21 Total 936 367 137 1,440 Source: Land Title Registry, Accra, Ghana, 2002. name only, if the land was acquired during the mar- Law 152, co-owners can register as joint owners or riage and with marital funds, the land is owned equal- owners in common; where they are owners in com- ly by both spouses. Sometimes proof of marriage or mon, the registration must state what portion of land commingling of household sources is required to trig- each common owner holds (section 88). Either party ger the right. In most jurisdictions, each spouse may can request that the land be partitioned. also own property in his or her individual right The Ghana titling project focused on urban land, (called "separate" property). Therefore, joint owner- and for the most part, the owners were from upper- or ship provisions, without mandatory joint registration, middle-income families. A study of 1,440 registered are subject to customary and traditional interpreta- titleholders found that the majority of those who reg- tions of interhousehold ownership. istered land were from first- and second-class neigh- Countries that have a separate property regime borhoods (table 2). Neighborhoods are classified as have the presumption that both members of a couple first through fourth class, with first class being the (married or not) have a separate right to land or prop- wealthiest neighborhoods. For women who registered erty acquired during a marriage. Thus, even if some- as sole rights holders, 64 percent were from second- one is formally married and uses the marital property class neighborhoods, 20 percent from first-class to purchase land, that land can be in the separate own- neighborhoods, and 13 percent from third-class neigh- ership of one person only. In this case, if the land is borhoods. Overall, of the 1,440 titles examined, only titled it would also be titled and registered solely in 10 percent were registered jointly. the name of one of the parties. Many neighborhoods are mixed in Accra. That is, In Ghana, land is held as separate property. Under not all residential houses in first-class neighborhoods customary law, property is owned not by the marital are expensive, and some expensive houses can be community but by the ancestral family. Thus, the for- found in third-class neighborhoods. However, our in- mal law to date does not address community proper- terviews with 82 people who had registered their land ty. However, the 1992 constitution requires that the indicated that the great majority of titleholders lived parliament enact legislation regulating the property in houses that could be described as well above aver- rights of spouses (article 22), and that assets jointly age. The houses all had water, sewerage, electricity, acquired during marriage must be distributed equi- phones, and toilets. Most owners also owned one or tably in case of divorce. There are major variations, two vehicles and a satellite dish for television recep- primarily based on tribal affiliation, in the number of tion. The vast majority of owners were educated to women who own land in Ghana. One source esti- the college or university level. mates that 50 percent of land owners are women in Joint tenure can be very valuable for women in the the Ashanti region, and only 2 percent to 4 percent case of divorce or abandonment. Customary law does own land in the northern and upper west regions, re- not encourage divorce. Extended families, village spectively (Fenrich and Higgins 2001, note 1). Under elders, and the village government may make an ef- Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 23 fort to keep the family together. Often, a "cooling- land disputes in Uganda found that in Kabale and off " period is required by local leaders before a di- Mbale districts, land shortages, rising populations, vorce will be allowed. If a divorce occurs, in some and polygamy (with allocation of land to multiple cases property division is based on "fault." Few inter- children and multiple wives) led to a predominance viewees wanted to discuss divorce. of intrafamilial land disputes (Kigula 1993). This Women who are abandoned or divorced are vul- may also be the case in rural Ghana, and should be nerable in most societies because they are stigma- considered in any rural titling project. tized and less "marriageable." Moreover, they gener- ally do not have rights to their husband's ancestral Inheritance land, and they may not have rights to their own ances- tral land. In many cases, when a daughter is married, Women primarily inherit land as daughters or wives. her portion of the family wealth has already been giv- In many countries, women are more likely to acquire en to her in the form of dowry or bride price. In Kar- ownership rights through inheritance than by any oth- nataka State, India, each religion has its own mar- er way (Deere and León 2001). Generally, formal law riage and divorce laws. Laws governing Hindus, recognizes succession by will and by operation of Muslims, and Christians all allow for monetary main- law. Succession by will occurs when the deceased tenance in some form, but none permit a woman the person has written a will that orders the distribution right to any of her husband's ancestral or separate of his or her property. Intestate succession is by oper- property. One focus-group study indicated that the ation of law and occurs in the absence of a will or only land divorced Hindu women retained was the when a will does not cover the whole estate. Legal in- household plot of land received from government testacy rules are important because most rural and/or schemes and titled in their own names. In Ghana, poor people do not make a will. many of the women interviewed who had titled land In Azerbaijan and Bolivia, intestate property is to were divorced or separated. be divided equally among all the children and the Two legal issues related to community property spouse. In Azerbaijan, when one spouse dies, the de- must be examined in the context of land administra- ceased person's share of common joint property, in- tion and titling: consensual unions and polygamy. Le- cluding land plots, is defined and subtracted from the gal marriage can be expensive and time consuming, total amount or value of the property. A surviving and it may require residence or personal identification spouse has the right to inherit by will or at law a de- documentation that women do not have.22 In many ceased spouse's share of common property, but the countries, protection for women's property rights un- property does not automatically belong to her or him. der mandatory joint titling provisions is only enforced In Ghana, where most land is controlled by tribal (if at all) when legal marriage can be proven. A specif- chiefs, land is considered to be ancestral land, and the ic legal provision that a consensual union will trigger surviving spouse and children are only entitled to one legal protection of property rights acquired during that house and the household belongings under law. Be- union would enable many unmarried rural women to yond that, the spouse is entitled to a share of the resid- enforce their property rights when they would not oth- ual estate along with other family members under cus- erwise be able to do so. Bolivia and Lao PDR have tomary law (Dowuona-Hammond. 2003). However, as such a provision. to the residual estate, the inheritance law only applies Polygamy affects a variety of legal land issues, in- to property acquired by the marital community and cluding division of property, management of proper- does not apply to ancestral property, thus severely lim- ty, and joint ownership. In Ghana, polygamy is al- iting its scope. In addition, the law does not address lowed in both customary marriages and in Islamic polygamy. marriages, but not in "ordinance" marriages. Unfor- In Lao PDR, customary norms with regard to land tunately, the land legislation basically ignores polyg- rights and gender are principally applied through in- amy. Therefore, subsequent marriages can mean that heritance practices. Although Lao PDR is a multi- property designated for a first wife will be divided ethnic country with both matrilineal and patrilineal among the additional wives and children. Where agri- traditions, the great majority of its society is matrilin- cultural land is involved, first wives can be dispos- eal.23 In practical terms with regard to land rights, this sessed of land needed for survival. A 1993 study on means that both daughters and sons can inherit land 24 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Role of Law Reform Patrilineal inheritance patterns of ancestral land Although legislative reform can be a necessary step often correspond to patrilocal residence patterns and a prerequisite to a woman's right to own or use and one cannot be changed without changing land in her own right, legislative reform by itself of- the other. Legislation alone will not alter these ten makes little difference to the majority of women. customary and traditional patterns. Land The first women who take advantage of positive legal projects must strive for gender equity within changes--especially those changes that go against these established patterns. customary law or traditionally held beliefs--are ur- ban, educated, and usually wealthy women. As we noted above, customary law has a major impact on and that there are no cultural restrictions on women women's ability to exercise their rights to land. owning land. Inheritance practices are not rigid and As was indicated by the Bolivia and Lao PDR case parents usually decide which children will inherit studies, mandatory titling and/or mandatory registra- what family property. Often this decision is made on tion do not necessarily mean that women gain equal the bases of need and the relationship between parent rights to land. The unequal outcome is related to cul- and child. The traditional practice is for the youngest tural practices and biases, lack of information, or daughter to remain in her parents' home after mar- nonenforcement of legal rules. Legislative interven- riage to take care of them in their old age; she there- tion alone cannot provide women with the effective fore inherits the family homestead. right to own and control their own land if women's In all four countries, customary law plays a signif- ownership of land is not accepted and enforced cul- icant role in the succession of property. In Azerbai- turally and socially. Customary or religious biases jan, the formal inheritance law is ignored because, can mean that women will not be able to exercise under customary law, the inheritance scheme is en- their right to jointly own and control land until there tirely different than under formal law. Under custom- is a shift in the thinking and understanding of men, ary law, rights to land are viewed in the context of the women, officials, and household members. Legisla- distribution of wealth within the extended family. All tive change must be accompanied by legal education of the focus-group interviewees indicated that cus- and legal aid for both women and men. tomary inheritance rules and not formal inheritance Law can have an impact, however, and it can create rules were followed. Customary law provides that all an opening for women's land rights. In Azerbaijan, the children get a share of the household's wealth, and the Land Reform Law did not have many specifics for daughter's share is given in the form of a dowry. distribution of land, but it did call for distribution to A dowry is given directly to the bride by her fami- all adult members of the village. The World Bank ly and is considered to be her premortem inheritance. project developed a procedure that required that both A dowry can include livestock, jewelry, clothing, and men and women receive land, and they did receive it. may even include land. Women have the customary Although Azerbaijan comes out of the Soviet system right to retain the dowry and to take it with them to of collective farming, its very old traditions, which are their parents' home in case of divorce. still practiced, do not encourage this type of distribu- The youngest son generally inherits the property of tion. Women do not receive land under the country's the household, and the older sons have a house built customary marital property and inheritance laws. Yet, for them by their family. In anticipation of this inher- the law was followed, and women have rights to farm- itance, the youngest son remains in the household and land. The laws in Bolivia and Lao PDR also supported is responsible for care of his elder parents who con- women in receiving rights to land, and although these tinue to live with him. laws were not followed in many cases, women's land- In Bolivia, customary norms show a strong bias holdings increased overall. against women owning land. At the time of inheritance, Policies related to intrahousehold transfers of land, the land usually passes from father to sons, although such as inheritance and marital property, need to be widows are permitted to remain on the property. studied and understood before advising on land-related Daughters may inherit a small share of the land (Salazar legislation. Inheritance and marital property rules and 2004). practices have a major impact on women's rights to Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 25 ownership of land and their poverty status. As with tions specifies that titles are to be issued without many issues related to the family, inheritance and regard to gender.) marriage customs are deeply embedded in society. If · Is the director of the land agency held responsible a policy goal of a project is, for example, to assist for nondiscriminatory practices with regard to women-headed households and deal with women's gender? (In Bolivia, the most useful provision to poverty, establishing widows' rights to land as a pri- date is article 28[g], which gives the INRA direc- ority could be very beneficial. A national discussion tor [and provincial INRA directors] the responsi- of inheritance and marital property policies would el- bility to ensure that legal gender rights are ob- evate the status of the discussion of women's rights to served in the implementation of the INRA Law.) land in developing countries. · What documents are required by the regulations Donor projects can contribute to gender inequality for proof of ownership? Are these documents read- by supporting those who are already advantaged by ily available to both men and women, and are they wealth, power, or customs to the disadvantage of expensive to acquire? those who are poor and vulnerable. When women's · Do the regulations require that the field for the own- rights are explicitly taken into account and women er's name on the legal cadastral form include all participate in the design and implementation of a pol- owners if the land is held in common ownership? icy, equity is increased. In many cases, increased gen- Do the regulations require proof of marriage or con- der equality can also lead to increased economic sensual union? What type of proof is required? equality (Meinzen-Dick et al. 1997; Moock 1976). · Do the regulations require written consent for Land administration projects that do not at least un- transfer of property held in common ownership derstand laws and customs related to intrahousehold (including sale, mortgage, and lease)? Are there land rights can negatively affect women and families. guidelines for how to determine whether land is held in common ownership by operation of law, even if it is registered in only one name? Legal and Land Policy Issues · Do the regulations deal with polygamy if necessary? For the most part, when donors are involved in the · Do the regulations deal with illiteracy? drafting of land policy legislation, the language of the · Is there any requirement for public notice of sale legislation is at least gender neutral, referring to a or transfer of land? head of household, for example, and not making the · For individualization or privatization of rights, is it assumption that the head of household is male. On a requirement that all adult members of the house- the other hand, in many countries the cultural or tra- hold be listed on the title? Is it a requirement that ditional interpretation of gender-neutral terms (like they be listed in the registry as well? "head of household") assumes the male rather than · Where are disputes adjudicated? the female. Therefore, for land legislation to be inclu- · What is required for a dispute to be heard? sive of both men and women, at a minimum it must · How do the issues of money, time, and literacy in- explicitly recognize women's and men's equal rights fluence the dispute resolution process? to land. This is true in Bolivia's legislation, which states that "equity criteria will be applied in the dis- Identification of tribution, administration, tenure, and use of land in favor of women, independent of their civil status" Property Holders (Ley INRA, article 3, paragraph V). Traditionally, land administration projects have iden- Beyond such a declaration of equality, the legisla- tified the head of household, usually assumed to be tive rules that will have the biggest impact on women male, as the beneficiary of land formalization and ti- are more often found in the regulations and not the tling projects. In recent years, more efforts have been broader policy statements of the law. Consideration made to protect women's rights through co-titling should be given to the following issues: (that is, both names appear on the title documents and · Are men and women guaranteed equal participa- in the register). Also, with the growing number of tion in the adjudication process? (In Bolivia, for households headed by female in many countries, there example, article 231[c] of the Land Law Regula- are increasing numbers of titles in women's names. 26 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects view of the "one-titleholder-per-household" practice has shown that Traditionally, land administration projects have identified the head of household, usually · titling guidelines do not call for the identification of assumed to be male, as the beneficiary of land more than one property rights holder in the house- formalization and titling projects. hold; · titling procedures do not allow for inquiry into the number of property rights holders in the household; · titling forms do not permit the listing of more than one property rights holder; In Ghana, for example, in a survey that looked at · titling brigades are not trained to look for and iden- 1,440 registration entries, 65 percent of registered tify more than one property rights holder; owners were male, 25 percent were female, and 10 · titling activities with communities and households percent of the entries were to joint owners (Dowuona- (informational meetings, workshops, and so forth) Hammond 2003). In Azerbaijan, all adults in a house- focus on the male heads of household and do not hold were recognized, and in Bolivia and Lao PDR, encourage or facilitate the participation of other specific efforts were made to include women in the ti- people, including women. tling process. In both the Ghana and Lao PDR cases, which involve urban titling projects, the identifica- tion of women property holders will likely become more difficult as the projects extend to rural areas where there are more complex and varied traditional In both Ghana and Lao PDR, the identification of landholding patterns. In none of these projects were women property holders will probably become the results of subsequent transactions (for example, more difficult as the projects extend to rural inheritance or sale) investigated to see whether the areas where there are more complex and varied gender balance of landholder(s) recognized in the ini- traditional landholding patterns. tial process was retained. There are many issues that land administrative pro- grams face when attempting to identify property hold- ers on the ground. This subsection will explore some of Therefore, one of the first determinations that the principal issues involved in identifying property needs to be made in the identification of property holders and their implications for the fieldwork re- holders for each parcel of land is whether there is quired in issuing titles. These issues include different more than one rights holder, and if so, who those peo- types of land rights and titles, ethnic and regional varia- ple are. The types of titles to be issued to individual tions within a land titling program, and conjugal unions households, depending on the number of property (polygamy, legal marriage, and consensual unions). holders and legal options, include individual titles, joint title, and co-ownership titles. One-Proprietor-per-Parcel Model As land administration projects have increasingly ap- Some Major Ethnic and Cultural preciated the importance of recognizing women's Property Norms and Practices rights to land, there has been the recognition that the practice of issuing titles to just one person in the Land administration programs should consider ethnic household (the household head) may be denying oth- and cultural variations that influence norms and prac- er people their land rights. More than one person may tices regarding land rights. These include access hold rights to a particular parcel of land. Or, if there rights across different ethnic groups, inheritance is more than one parcel, different people may have practices in patrilineal and matrilineal societies, and rights to different parcels. Wives, for example, often marriage practices. These different norms and prac- have clearly recognized and legitimate use rights to tices will influence who are considered legitimate household land that are lost if the land is given in landed property holders, and these may conflict with ownership to the male head of household only. A re- formal legal norms. Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 27 Communal and Individual Land Rights Ethnic groups within a titling area may have different One of the first determinations that needs to be customary tenure systems. One basic issue is the rel- made in the identification of property holders for ative importance of communal rights and individual each parcel of land is to determine whether (or household) rights. In transition regions where in- there is more than one rights holder, and dividual ownership rights are replacing communal who those people are. rights, conflicts within the community may emerge. In Bolivia, for example, the land regularization pro- gram has the option of giving out community titles24 if the community requests that type of title. In com- found during a focus-group discussion in Bolivia munities that have requested such titles, some indi- where a father had the household land titled to the viduals and families--particularly those who have sons in the family, excluding the daughters and his purchased land--may want the land they control to wife. Daughters were told that their brothers would be titled individually, whereas the majority of the take care of them. community prefers that the community's land be con- Land administration programs should consider trolled by and titled to the community. Thus, two drawing up guidelines and procedures for dealing questions need to be considered with regard to this with land distribution to heirs when that distribution particular issue: What type of land rights system is conflicts with the law. Where premortem distribution preferred by community members, and what are the has not taken place, it would seem that land adminis- potential conflicts those preferences may cause? tration programs should adhere to inheritance law in deciding who inherits landed property; the heirs can Inheritance Practices subsequently decide what they want to do with their Other issues related to ethnic groups are largely relat- inherited land rights. ed to marriage and inheritance practices; it is these Marriage Practices practices that particularly determine customary norms with regard to women's rights to land. Customary in- The other issue related to lineage and inheritance is heritance rights may not be in accord with legislation marriage practices. The principal practice that affects regarding intestate inheritance. In addition, sons and a person's rights to landed property is the place of res- daughters may be occupying land that legally still be- idence after marriage. There is a general correlation longs to their parents--land is often distributed pre- between matrilineal inheritance and matrilocal resi- mortem or inter vivos, and the legal recording of the dence, and between patrilineal inheritance and patrilo- transfer is done after the death of the parents or not at cal residence. This correlation is not strict, however, all. Land administration programs need to determine because there are numerous variations in custom, and the norms and procedures for dealing with these con- changes are occurring as societies experience social flicting and informal inheritance practices. For exam- and economic dislocations. Generally, the customary ple, with regard to premortem inheritance, should the norm and practice in both matrilineal and patrilineal title be issued to the parent(s) who are still alive, or societies is that land inherited or received from one's should the heir who is living on the land receive title? family remains the property of that person and his or A more difficult question is how to deal with in- her lineage; it does not become part of the conjugal heritance practices that directly conflict with formal couple's property. legislation. What role does land administration have Two potential problems related to this issue are how in enforcing inheritance laws, particularly in societies land allocated by the state is viewed by the beneficiar- where the drawing up of wills is not common and ies, and exactly who are the beneficiaries. Very often, therefore intestate inheritance laws should apply. land titling programs are part of or occur subsequent to Could premortem distribution (without re-registra- land allocation programs; this has been the case in tion), for example, be taken as an indication of the de- Azerbaijan, Bolivia, and Lao PDR. If the land allocat- ceased person's desire and therefore be considered an ed by the state is clearly state land, it would not be con- informal will? In most cases, this will deny daughters sidered lineage or family land. In that case, social equi- their legal inheritance rights. Evidence of this was ty concerns would indicate that the land be allocated 28 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects In Bolivia, the Land Registry refused to register joint rejected by the Land Registry, and titling brigades ownership titles (as community property) to were therefore reluctant to issue such titles. Titling consensual couples, insisting that only legally brigades were also finding some male household married couples were recognized as legitimate heads and some community authorities resistant to spouses. As a result, titles to couples without an the inclusion of women in the process and on the accompanying marriage certificate were being land titles. and titled to both spouses and to single heads of family, marital or community property. The 1996 Land Law in whether they be male or female. In Bolivia, for exam- Bolivia states that men and women, regardless of their ple, the land administration project adopted the proce- civil status, have equal rights to land. The procedures dure that land parcels titled for the first time, whether of the land administration project in Bolivia require smallholder parcels or medium properties, are to be ti- that ·when a legal title or a regularization certificate is tled to the couple, not only to the head of household. issued to a couple, regardless of their civil status (mar- AlthoughAzerbaijan is a patrilineal and patrilocal so- ried or consensual), both names must be included in ciety, state land was distributed to all adult members of the space provided for the titleholder, recording the the former collective or state farm, regardless of gender. woman's name first and then that of the man. However, although women's names were on the land At this point, one issue is whether to recognize con- certificate, both men and women in focus groups said sensual unions if the legislation only mentions legal that men primarily make all decisions in the family, in- marriage and does not explicitly recognize consensual cluding those related to land. unions. This could be dealt with in the titling regula- In some cases, however, the land allocated may be tions and procedures by suggesting that evidence of land that the community and its families formerly joint use rights requires the joint titling option. Social owned. Families may therefore believe that the land is assessments on this issue should inquire about the actually theirs and that the allocation program is sim- prevalence of consensual unions in that society and ply returning the land to them. In this case, the issue the land use rights of both spouses. The results from of lineage will most likely influence who the commu- this social assessment should guide decisions by land nity and its members believe is the property holder. administration with reference to consensual unions. This was the case in the title registration of land cer- After having established whether joint titles are to tificates issued to households in Albania after land be issued to consensual unions as well as legally mar- privatization in the 1990s. And this may be a poten- ried couples, there is the issue of determining which tial problem in Lao PDR as the titling program moves relationships are consensual unions. Most legislation from urban to rural areas. Some rural areas are patri- that recognizes consensual unions also has a procedure lineal, and women do not generally acquire landed for legal recognition of consensual unions. Others may property from parents or in marriage. The land ad- simply list some basic criteria for consensual unions. ministration program will need guidelines and proce- In Bolivia, titling procedures indicate that the field ap- dures to deal with the issue of whether state alloca- praisals by the titling brigades verify effective posses- tion regulations or lineage norms determine who is sion regardless of civil status (married, divorced, sepa- the appropriate property holder(s) for a land parcel. rated, single, widowed) or gender. In Colombia, for example, co-ownership does not have to be proved, but only stated as true. In these cases, land administration Conjugal Unions and Land Rights program procedures should include acceptance of con- One of the problems that land administration programs sensual unions if couples meet these criteria or possess may encounter is nonformal conjugal unions. Most a certificate of legal recognition. countries that have reformed their legislation in the re- Many low-income families, however, are not aware cent past to make them more gender inclusive and gen- of these procedures, or do not have the resources to der sensitive tend to explicitly state that both legal mar- undertake them. In some countries where personal riage and consensual union are considered the basis for identification papers are an issue, particularly for Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 29 low-income and illiterate people, undertaking any le- husbands are living, the first wives' income and secu- gal procedure is problematic. A land administration rity are threatened. In addition, first wives are vulner- project in rural Peru found a solution to this problem able to having to divide their property among their by issuing co-property titles. The distinction is that in husbands' heirs. On the other hand, women who are this case marital status is not considered and they second wives have no legal rights to any of the men's both own a separate share of the property, rather than income or property and, therefore, this group of owning the property together as a whole (Deere and women is also very vulnerable. León 2001). Therefore, land administration guide- Legislation regarding property ownership in polyg- lines and procedures could include the option of issu- amous situations could be helpful. One possible rule ing co-property titles to a couple if they cannot pro- would be that upon taking a second wife, all property duce a certificate of consensual union. belonging to the first marriage or consensual union Another issue related to conjugal unions is polyga- would be partitioned and divided so that the husband mous households. Many societies do not outlaw only had his share to distribute to his new wife and polygamy. Even when a country does not legally children. Of course, the law is a very cumbersome tool sanction it, the legislation prohibiting it is generally for dealing with complicated family relationships, and ineffective if polygamy is customary or traditional. if it does not make sense within a particular context, it However, polygamy seriously affects women's rights will not be followed. Customary polygamy rules need to property and is the source of much tension and to be studied and understood before titling legislation anxiety over land rights in many countries. Polygamy is drafted, guidelines are drawn up, and procedures are complicates legislation requiring written consent of determined. spouses for disposition of property; it also compli- cates provisions on inheritance and co-ownership of Rural/urban and Regional Variations land. Legislating around polygamy is difficult, but to ignore formal or informal polygamy is to inadequate- Another regional issue is that of differing practices in ly protect women's property rights. The situation is rural and urban areas. In many countries, there are dif- made even more difficult by the fact that many men ferent laws and regulations for rural and urban land. In refuse to acknowledge or discuss polygamy, and Lao PDR, for example, permanent land use titles are women are often hesitant to raise it as an issue. being awarded to urban landholders under the Lao There are no effective and gender-sensitive titling Land Titling Program, whereas rural landholders have procedures for polygamous households. Several coun- been awarded land use certificates that are valid for tries have attempted to legislate land rights for women three years. Aside from legislation, however, there are in polygamous marriages. In Ethiopia, for example, other urban and rural differences. It appears that cus- the Oromiya regulations (2002) require that the hus- tomary norms and practices tend to change as popula- band and wife be jointly certified for their commonly tions move from rural to urban areas.25 For example, held land. In a polygamous marriage, a husband is al- a study of customary land tenure systems in Lao PDR lowed to get a holding right certificate with only one mentioned that although titling land to women in of his wives, and the other wife or wives will get an in- Hmong villages "simply would not work, despite the dependent right certificate. The use right of a family laws of the country," there was recent evidence in ur- is not affected if either the husband or the wife or both ban areas that this custom is not strictly adhered to and leave the area. In Burkina Faso, under the 1990 Fami- that both sons and daughters inherit land (Ministry of ly Code, if a couple is monogamous, the couple's prop- Finance, Lao PDR 2002, 59­60). On the other hand, erty is community property. But, if there is more than as the Lao PDR titling program extends from urban one wife, all property is separate property. areas to rural areas, it will have to deal with this con- Where polygamy is widely practiced but illegal, flict between formal and customary legal norms. In however, it is ignored in relation to land rights. Field many societies, land titling programs will need to es- research in the Kyrgyz Republic revealed that women tablish norms and procedures to deal with customary were concerned about losing their husbands and their property and ownership norms that do not correspond rights to their husbands' income in the event that their to gender-equal statutory laws. husbands took second wives. Women stated that hus- Related to rural/urban differences is the issue of bands generally favor second wives, so while their the market economy and its impact on property 30 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects rights, particularly notions of individual ownership. Collection of this information should be done during In urban areas, as the market economy exerts its influ- land administration project preparation to guide de- ence by making production practices more labor inten- sign of the project, during project implementation, sive and oriented toward the market, there is a tenden- and after the project is completed. The methods for cy for land rights to become more individualized (less collecting these data include social assessments, base- communal), for families to become more nuclear line studies, and impact-evaluation studies. The im- (less extended), for land rights to be acquired through portance of collecting gender-disaggregated data is purchase (rather than inheritance), and for customary essential for assessing the extent and depth of practices to become less prevalent. This is also the women's land rights and for assessing the impact of tendency is rural areas where commercial agriculture land administration projects on gender equity. is practiced, particularly among small and medium- In Lao PDR, the social assessment study did not size farm holdings. In these situations, lineage con- occur until well after the project began and the indi- siderations may become less important and inheri- cators were incomplete, thus hindering evaluation of tance practices more flexible. More opportunities the real impact in household and community power, may exist for both wife and husband to own land they decision making, and socioeconomic conditions. In have acquired together, for women to purchase land, Bolivia, where the titling project financed through and for both daughters and sons to inherit land rights. the World Bank is ending, an evaluation study is Illiteracy and lack of access to services may affect about to begin; however, there is no baseline study the implementation of land administration projects in with which to compare the results of the evaluation to rural areas. In Bolivia, as in many Latin American measure what the impacts have been. countries, low-income rural women often do not have identification cards as required by titling procedures. Project Preparation: This can either slow or prevent a claim, and more flex- The Social Assessment ible procedures (for example, verification by commu- nity leaders) or the inclusion of a component to facili- The social assessment for any land-related project tate obtaining identification documents might be should include community-level male and female key considered. informant interviews as well as focus groups of po- All of the above suggest that land administration tential male and female beneficiaries regarding land guidelines should take these regional differences into tenure norms and practices. Detailed information re- consideration and require procedures that accommo- garding variations in multiple land use rights, inheri- date these different situations and customary norms tance, and marital property, for example, can then be and practices. Wherever possible, these procedures a valuable input to meeting the objective of strength- should not ignore or take away any land rights that ening women's land rights within the target area's so- women may already hold; and wherever possible, ciocultural context. It is also at this project prepara- they should strive for gender equity in the allocation tion stage that gender-specific indicators should be of land and in the granting of legal land rights. developed to measure the program's differential im- pact on men's and women's land rights. Appendix 3 provides a template for key informant interview and Methodology for Gender- focus-group protocols that could serve as a guideline Disaggregated Field for future land project social assessments. Assessment of Land Rights Project Implementation: The collection of appropriate gender-specific data is a The Baseline Survey concern for all land administration projects and should be a World Bank priority, given its investments When a land administration program is under imple- in the land sector. The knowledge regarding gender mentation, it is appropriate to collect gender-disag- and land rights issues consists of (1) how land rights gregated household-level information, which can are distributed among different groups of women and serve the dual purposes of consultation for eventual men, and (2) what effects differentiated land rights adjudication and of establishment of baseline data for have on gender equity and on women's capabilities. project monitoring and evaluation. As resources al- Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 31 low, the baseline survey should be administered both Collection of Information and in areas targeted for intervention and in similar areas Evidence of Rights not targeted. Appendix 5 exemplifies the type of sur- vey instrument that could be used to collect such in- In land administration projects, the type and nature of formation. the information collected are usually determined by laws, regulations, and project procedures. However, Monitoring and Evaluation they can be classified as information about the poten- tial rights holders, information about the nature of the To monitor the extent to which gender-specific proj- rights (including duration, if based on possession, ect objectives are being met, to carry out midstream and sometimes land use, occupancy, or value), and in- implementation adjustments, and more generally to formation about the location and boundaries of the evaluate the gender-specific impacts of a given land rights. In Azerbaijan, the Farm Privatization Project program, it is essential that projects maintain gender- required initial information about the relative value of disaggregated databases and carry out periodic com- the land for distribution (for example, soil quality, ac- munity- and household-level data collection. At the cess to roads and water) as well as the number of project level, information on project participation and household members and other workers who were eli- benefits should be disaggregated by gender, includ- gible for shares in the distributed land. In Bolivia and ing such things as personnel statistics, attendance at most Latin American projects, crucial pieces of evi- public information and training sessions, as well as dence are personal identification documents that issuance of legal title. At the community level, key in- many women do not have or cannot easily obtain. In formant interviews and focus groups of beneficiaries Cambodia, where systematic titling took place (for designed along the lines recommended for the social example, for an entire village at the same time), each assessment can provide qualitative feedback to proj- house was visited and neighbors, as well as family, at- ect managers regarding the perception of project im- tested to the identity of rights holders. This process pact and male and female beneficiary satisfaction. may have both disadvantages and advantages: Cus- Finally, land projects should administer at least one tom may prevent communities from identifying all midterm and one project-completion household sam- stakeholders (for example, a daughter who now lives ple survey to track gender-specific changes against in the city but may have some legal interest), but the the baseline data. If designed properly, such surveys process may allow identification to proceed without can allow for the quantitative assessment of the im- bureaucratic delays. pact of land policy reform and land tenure regulariza- The second type of information--the nature of the tion on women's economic opportunities and intra- rights--is more problematic and varied because of household bargaining power. Appendix 4 provides a the many issues discussed above concerning the types list of sample indicators that could be used to monitor and evaluate gender-specific project impacts. FIGURE 5 Registration Documents Adjudication and in Ghana Registration Processes Critical to protecting the rights of men and women in land administration is the adjudication process. This consists of a number of steps, although each project may adjust the order and methodology to suit local needs or the aims of the project. These steps include information campaigns (which are discussed in the final section of this chapter); collection of informa- tion on the rights, rights holders, and location of the rights; provision of public notice (particularly in sys- tematic registration) and registration of the interests; and dispute resolution. 32 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects All stakeholders need to be involved in the adjud- South Africa, and only visited home occasionally. ication process. In a land titling pilot project in Actually, however, under customary law only the Mozambique, for example, certificates of title were men could hold the rights to land. being issued to women in a customary tenure area. Source: Nichols, Fourie, and Mejais 1996. The men were long-term migrant workers away in of interests that may exist. This is especially impor- interested parties--including neighbors--available?). tant in terms of customary tenure where women often If some parties are not available (as an example, in hold secondary rights in land (for example, rights to Muslim countries women may not be able to partici- gather firewood), but others have rights to farm the pate in a field demarcation with nonfamily men26), same land. These secondary rights are difficult to then mechanisms should be in place to ensure their in- identify, locate, and document, and they can be lost in terests are protected. This is especially important when a land titling project where, for example, certificates secondary plots are involved that may be wholly used of title are issued. Such certificates may become the by females in the community or when overlying inter- primary evidence of land rights, and under some sys- ests (such as rights to water) may exist in other parcels. tems of land registration (such as Torrens land title system or English land title system) the holders of Public Notice and Registration secondary interests may lose the ability to contest the registered title. Having women who understand the The most important aspect of the provision of public local traditions and tenure systems on the adjudica- notice (that is, through newspapers as in Ghana or tion teams can help ensure that these rights are pro- through public displays as in the Kyrgyz Republic tected (see Food and Agriculture Organization 2003). and Moldova) is that all potential stakeholders have In Ghana, these types of issues will be increasing- the ability to know about and understand their rights ly important as the land administration projects ex- and any threat to those rights. Thus, issues such as tend to periurban and rural areas. In the urban areas media, illiteracy (including map illiteracy), location, covered by the project of the 1990s, registration was and timing are crucial. Public displays need to be ac- voluntary and sporadic. Documents, if they existed, cessible by everyone, including the elderly and those had to be obtained from the Lands Department and who cannot leave home because of cost, lack of trans- other sources (such as planning commissions). Al- portation, or household responsibilities. Whereas this though this did not have a gender bias, the bureau- affects both women and men, women in rural areas cratic processes were very long and discouraged par- are often less mobile than men. ticipation by poor people, illiterate people, and those In some cases, the primary verification of people, from remote areas. interests, and boundaries is conducted on the site, and The third type of evidence required is the location after public notice, registration can proceed quite ef- of the rights. This may come in the form of surveys on ficiently. This is one of the advantages of systematic the ground or identification of parcels on large-scale titling, as conducted in Lao PDR, or of large-scale topographic, parcel, or photo maps. The important is- privatization, as in Azerbaijan. Sporadic registration, sues here are the timing of the site visit (are all of the as in Ghana, is often more cost efficient for govern- Initially, in most households in Lao PDR, only the documents, nor were they present when decisions men participated in the information meetings and were made as to whose name would appear on other certificate or titling activities. Therefore, the certificate or title. women were not aware of the legal and economic Source: Gender Resource Information and Development significance of having their names on land use Center 2000. Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 33 ments initially, but it can lead to bureaucracy and de- ways have the expertise in land law to apply accepted lays. In the Ghana project, the requirement for sur- principles consistently; (2) the court process is usual- veys and survey plans conducted by the Lands De- ly excessively long and costly and thus discourages partment created two- to three-year backlogs of all but the most economically valuable claims; and registration applications.27 People interviewed during (3) disputants, particularly women, often have un- the Ghana case study indicated that repeated visits equal powers to acquire legal advice and to sustain had to be made to the Lands Department to keep the their claims. These factors may especially inhibit applications moving, and that women were often claims by rural women who do not have the support most persistent. However, the women interviewed of family or community--for example, in cases of di- (those who had received title) were often well educat- vorce or inheritance. Rights in legislation or granted ed and able to take time to pursue the application. by the courts may not translate into actual enjoyment of those rights in a hostile environment. Dispute Resolution The solutions include special tribunals that can be established not only during initial adjudication but Although many potential disputes can be prevented also to settle land matters over time. Typically, tri- by transparent and consistent procedures, there is a bunals include land specialists and involve proce- need to develop mechanisms to resolve disputes that dures that are less costly and time consuming than the arise either during or after the adjudication process. courts. In areas where there are strong traditional The trend in land administration is to avoid having laws (such as customary tenure or religious law), in- disputes reach the courts because (1) courts do not al- volvement of the recognized community elders or au- thorities can facilitate dispute resolution, but those authorities may not be inclined to recognize women's FIGURE 6 Field Adjudication and land rights. Boundary Survey, World Bank Land Management and Administration Issues to Be Considered in the Project in Cambodia Adjudication Process The following are questions that should be consid- ered in adjudication to protect the interests of men and women: 1. Have all of the stakeholders had access to infor- mation concerning their rights and the adjudica- tion process? 2. Is the adjudication team familiar with the local customs, laws, and practices affecting the rights of both men and women? 3. Do the processes have to be modified from re- gion to region (for example, urban/rural or oth- er types of land tenure)? 4. Are secondary interests, including rights to re- sources, considered and protected in some way through the adjudication? 5. Do all stakeholders have equal access to the documentation required for adjudication, and, if not, what measures can be taken to level the playing field? 6. Are the timing and location of adjudication pro- cedures and registration offices appropriate for all potential interest holders? 34 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Education, training, and communication are valu- able tools in promoting gender equity in land admin- In Bolivia, the saneamiento interno process istration projects on a number of levels, including involves resolution of disputes during adjudication by community members, thus 1. raising general awareness about the rights of giving the community an investment men and women with respect to land and prop- in the project. erty within the country, and thus encouraging the longer-term sustainability of the project in- terventions and socioeconomic goals; 2. making project implementers more aware of the social and cultural implications of land admin- 7. Are women's rights adequately represented and istration and the need for gender sensitivity, in protected in dispute resolution, and how can addition to giving them tools (such as guide- lengthy and costly litigation be avoided? lines, examples, benchmarks) to use within the project; Education, Training, and 3. increasing the participation of women in land administration, a profession that is generally Communication male dominated worldwide (an exception being Major objectives or components of most land admin- some European countries); istration projects are institutional strengthening, ca- 4. increasing the participation of women and men pacity building, and improvement of organizational in the land titling process, subsequent registra- coordination and performance. In Lao PDR, this in- tion, and other related activities (for example, volved developing educational and training programs access to credit or community services). that included women and men and that eventually led The following sections discuss how these goals can to involving more women in the project implementa- be met more effectively. tion. Liaison with the Lao Women's Union strength- ened the project's capacity to address gender issues at Training of Implementers the local level. In Ghana, although initial attempts to coordinate The first phase of any project should be the identifi- land agencies through an intergovernmental commit- cation of gender issues in the country, noting regional tee failed, a new project will address these issues and variations. This information, together with best prac- will include a stronger socioeconomic component in tices from other jurisdictions, ideally would be used conjunction with the Ministry for Women's Affairs. in all training programs. The second phase should be Bolivia also strengthened its capacity to address so- the identification of whom within the project or asso- cial issues in the field through gender training of ciated with the project should receive the informa- field teams and the use of local mediators in some sit- tion. Decisions on the delivery, including trainers, uations. timing, and media, should follow. There is significant opportunity to affect long- Women and men both need to learn more about term gender mainstreaming through organizational gender issues related to land and land administration. reform, particularly through selection processes for Oftentimes, it is assumed that women in land admin- new staff and for education and training. Providing istration know more about or are more sensitive to the role models and mentorship programs, both within gender issues. One of the dangers of this assumption organizations and within foreign assistance, is also an is that gender issues are marginalized and left to be important aspect of building gender capacity in or- taken care of by the few women employees involved. ganizations, although none of the projects reviewed In Lao PDR, the role of gender awareness was dele- actively used these methods. It is important that these gated to the Lao Women's Union, and despite their activities and the roles represented are integral parts expertise, it did not really become mainstreamed in of the project and not simply add-ons designed to land administration. meet gender targets if sustainable results are to be An important opportunity exists for World Bank achieved (Nichols, Crowley, and Komjathy 1999). intervention by including women in any technical or Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 35 In the Lao PDR Project, a high diploma program were women working in the field in surveying and was established in the country, and of the first 26 adjudication. It was noted that the women were students, 7 were women. One woman was also well respected and listened to by the community sponsored for a graduate degree in Australia. In and were considered more trustworthy than men. Vientaine Province, 17 percent of the total staff other training, education programs, or study tours. threatening (especially where large cultural differ- This has been shown to be an enabling strategy that ences exist). This can often be best achieved by stress- can promote more gender inclusion, despite the tradi- ing the benefits to the organization or country, using tions within land administration. It enables women to statistics, if available, and concrete examples. Many play more than a secondary role, and it encourages countries do not like to admit that, despite legal pro- project managers to be more aware of gender balance. tection of equal rights, implementation of equal rights Some bilateral agencies, such as the Swedish Interna- may be faulty. Specific examples (such as the problem tional Development Agency, have used 50 percent with providing personal identification documentation quotas in both short- and long-term training abroad to in Bolivia) can help make the issue real. encourage more female participation in countries A more in-depth training is needed at the project such as Russia and Ukraine (WaterMark Industries management level. This involves both foreign techni- 1999). Similarly, AUSAID encouraged female partic- cal assistance and the main staff in the project imple- ipation in diploma and master's programs, the result mentation unit. It is at this level that information con- being greater participation of women in field teams cerning gender issues in the recipient country must and program development (for example, land policy). be available at the beginning of the project, including In Ghana, where no special considerations were baseline studies wherever possible. In addition to un- made, there were and continue to be few women in derstanding the cultural, social, and other aspects of field aspects of land administration. the specific population groups from a gender per- The training of implementers also needs to be mul- spective, the main issues for this audience will be tileveled. It should begin with decision makers (that · why should gender be a focus of the project? is, those designing and approving the project), such · how does it cross-cut the project activities? as task managers within the World Bank, top ministe- · what can the project do about it? rial representatives, and bilateral donors. This train- ing should include A variety of delivery methods for such training should be considered. General seminars for staff may 1. the general policy of the World Bank regarding be effective. If these seminars are voluntary, however, gender and the reasons why gender matters (in- they often preach to the converted, and so are either cluding any international agreements regarding poorly attended or disregarded by those who might women's rights applicable to the country); benefit most. Another approach is setting benchmarks 2. how land administration projects affect men and for the project to achieve at the outset; this tends to women culturally, socially, and economically; raise interest among those who need to achieve those 3. how the country can benefit from gender inclu- benchmarks.28 In the projects reviewed for this study, sion in land administration; only Bolivia appeared to have some specific goals for 4. best practices and examples of how these bene- project activities with respect to gender (such as atten- fits can be achieved. dance at informational meetings), and these proce- Various approaches for this training can be used, dures evolved during the project. such as (1) printed brochures and short text materials, At the field and operational level (for example, (2) an introduction to the topic during project negotia- communications people, adjudication teams, registra- tions, and (3) short seminars, as appropriate. The main tion staff) there is a need for a wide variety of train- point is to provide the material in a way that is not ing, depending on whether the activity involves direct 36 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects constant updating as more information becomes FIGURE 7 Training of Registration available and the need to take into account staff Staff in Kazakhstan turnover. The Bolivian project, for example, readjust- ed its field procedures during the project as the prob- lems were identified. If new information, forms, or processes are needed, then these will have to be intro- duced to operational staff on a continuous basis. Workshops during the project are also important in gaining insight from operational staff on actual issues and results experienced on the ground. Training of and Communication with Beneficiaries This part of the process is the key to ensuring gender equity in any land administration project. Although it contact with the landholders and on whether the ac- is often assumed, even in industrial countries, that tivities involve collecting data that should be gender people know their rights, both women and men may disaggregated. Various techniques could include not know them. Training for and communication with beneficiaries of the project help ensure that the ulti- · seminars and workshops for staff; mate client can make informed decisions and can · special modules in training courses (such as the help enforce accountability and transparency of the Lao diploma in surveying and mapping); project. Perhaps even more important, well-informed · case study examples; beneficiaries can make the project sustainable and · best practice guidelines; more effective (for example, by making more gender- · gender-related statistical indicators. informed decisions in subsequent transactions, or by It is always important to include both men and accessing credit or government services). The main women in the training to prevent the marginalization of issues in this training component include gender issues to female staff. The training is probably 1. identifying and involving the target audiences; best handled by in-country experts, such as the Lao 2. having the right messages, delivery vehicles, Women's Union, who understand the specific cultural and timing; issues and can better discuss how best the project ob- 3. creating a receptive learning and interaction at- jectives can be achieved on the ground. All of the case mosphere. studies also pointed out the need to understand the va- riety of issues in different regions of the country that The Lao Women's Union used a two-pronged ap- result from different customary law (Ghana and Lao proach for training that appears to have worked well PDR), religions (Azerbaijan and Lao PDR), and so- in communities. Two information sessions were held, cioeconomic considerations (Bolivia and Lao PDR). one with both men and women so that both groups In the Bolivian case study, the gender-sensitivity could understand and discuss the gender issues, and training of departmental INRA personnel and titling one with only women. The latter created an environ- brigades consisted of a half-day session. This training ment in which women were less inhibited and could outlined the objectives of the gender program; em- ask questions that were directly relevant to them. The phasized that women should participate in the titling community training focused on the rights under law process, reviewed the legal rights of women (not only and the benefits of involvement in the land titling. In in titling, but also in other property issues such as in- Lao PDR, the Women's Union had representatives at heritance); and discussed the problems that women the local level who also understood and could mobi- encounter, such as monolingualism and lack of iden- lize the beneficiaries. tity cards. Village information meetings were by far the most A main issue with training project implementation important means by which beneficiaries became unit staff and implementation teams is the need for aware of the titling program (see figure 8). More than Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 37 75 percent of all respondents in our 300-household, formal titling processes, the ad hoc nature of the random-sampling survey (70 percent of men and 92 process led to undertrained field support teams and no percent of women) reported learning of the project effective rules for safeguarding women's rights. through such meetings. For men, another relevant av- In Azerbaijan, educational sessions at the commu- enue of information was the village head; approxi- nity level were largely attended by men. Women who mately 15 percent of male respondents reported learn- attended were usually heads of households, and most ing of the land titling program in that way. Regarding women learned of the impacts and procedures through actual participation in the information meetings, 82 their spouses. There was no specific training regarding percent of male respondents and 72 percent of female gender issues or women's rights. Similarly, in Ghana, respondents reported having attended. Of those who where the project did not have any gender component, did not participate in these preproject information no specific attention was given to communicating in- meetings, the most important reason cited by men was formation on issues related to gender or to a gender- that they had not known about them, whereas women specific audience. The fact that in both of these proj- most frequently reported not attending because the ects women's names were included on titles was male head of household had attended instead. indicative of the legal foundation. In Ghana, the proj- The Bolivian case study pointed out the need for ect included mostly higher-income urban landholders, community-level training, and a variety of training which was also indicative of its voluntary nature. and communication media were used to raise aware- An example of successful information campaigns ness of rights to land. The main issues for such cam- that include gender issues at the local level is the case paigns include literacy and language issues; creating of Cambodia's land titling project. This education ac- neutral environments for open discussion; and the tivity includes both men and women and is careful to need to address specific barriers to participating in the ensure that illiterate women are provided with appro- projects, such as scheduling of activities and access to priate information. All related materials are posted in government offices. The Bolivia study also pointed a public place in the villages, literature on land rights out the fact that when the community is involved, dis- and titling procedures is provided in pictorial form, putes arising from adjudication are more easily re- meetings are held in local schools or community cen- solved. However, under the saneamiento interno (in- ters, and titles are issued locally. Involvement of both ternal community adjudication) process, advocated female and male field staff helps emphasize gender for by smallholders to overcome delays with the more inclusiveness. FIGURE 8 Participation in Information Meetings, by Gender, Lao PDR Land Titling Project Male Survey Respondents Female Survey Respondents 18% 28% No Yes 82% 72% 38 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects FIGURE 9 Information Campaign in Peru In Lao PDR, the meetings with communities included two sessions--one with both women and men, and one with women alone. The mixed sessions were generally male dominated, but they gave everyone a better understanding of the land rights of both women and men. newspapers. In many rural areas, pictorial materials, radio, or even video (for example, in Bolivia) are ap- propriate options to overcome educational barriers. An example from Lao PDR is given in figure 10. Informing both men and women of their rights is essential for mutual understanding of any differences. Other Considerations Sessions with both men and women also allow each One of the main considerations in education and group to understand potential barriers to full partici- training arising from this study is the need to address pation (for example, scheduling of adjudication, trav- different groups in different manners. For example, in eling to registry offices, obtaining documentation), Bolivia, the gender media campaigns that accompany and may encourage households to overcome these the titling efforts consist of printed materials, videos barriers together. However, it is also often important for women, posters, and calendars. All of these mate- to hold separate sessions for women to provide a non- rials are customized for the geographic zone, the lo- threatening environment for discussion and to pro- cal language, and cultural norms. In Lao PDR, these vide feedback to the land administration processes. differences have been addressed by the use of com- Having public meetings in which younger people can munity-level leaders (that is, members of the Lao participate is also a way to ensure that the next gener- Women's Union and district land administration ation of landholders better understands its rights. staff). In Ghana, the geographic differences are rec- Another issue in adjudication is the scheduling of ognized (that is, differences in customary law and so- field visits that may be inconvenient for either men or cioeconomic status) and will probably be addressed women who work away from home, or for women in future extensions of the project into periurban and rural areas. The content of the community training and com- FIGURE 10 Participation in Land munications will vary, but at a minimum they should Adjudication in Lao PDR include 1. the legal rights of women specifically, including inheritance and divorce; 2. special problems encountered by women (for example, documentation, location of registra- tion offices, access to credit); 3. the involvement of women and men in the adju- dication process and in registration of rights; 4. potential benefits of participation. Media for delivery of the messages should be tai- lored to regional and socioeconomic variations. This will include considerations of language, literacy, and access to such mass media as radio, television, and Source: Lao Women's Union training materials, August 2004. Priority Gender Issues in Land Administration Projects 39 who have both productive and reproductive work re- working outside the country), there is a necessity to sponsibilities. Scheduling also affects the provision have family or friends monitor titling claims. In spo- of public notice (often 30­90 days from the time of radic titling, as in Ghana, this involves checking the publication of the adjudicated titles and parcels). In national newspapers at least weekly to determine if countries where some landholders may be absent for any claims have been made against a property. long periods of time (for example, when they are 40 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects 5 Lessons Learned and Recommendations Probably the most important lesson and recommen- dation that can be made regarding the integration of gender in land administration projects is to make gen- The most important lesson learned is to make der an integral part of the project from the beginning gender an integral part of the project from the and in all of its phases and components. This chapter beginning and in all of its phases. is organized around the implementation of a land ad- ministration program, including (1) the legal founda- tion, (2) the identification of property holders, (3) the needs to involve listening to women to understand research and data collection activities, and (4) the ad- what legal rights are most valuable to them. judication processes; and the training and communi- In many instances, land projects that include women cation components. As each section will emphasize, and strive for gender equity are dealing with cultural gender issues will not be adequately and appropriate- change. Changing culture and customary norms is ly addressed if they are not an integral part, beginning hard, and it is possible that, if norms related to women's with the initial design and continuing through long- land rights do not change in the broader society, some term impact assessment. of the ground gained during a gender-inclusive registra- tion project may be lost subsequently. This highlights Legal Foundation the need for public education of both men and women relative to the importance of women having registered One underlying lesson from all four land projects con- land rights. sidered and from the literature review relative to legis- Another key finding is that land legislation may lation is that formal law that requires gender equity in conflict with family or personal law, and both types of property rights is mostly ineffective in the face of cus- legislation must be reviewed for their impact on tomary or religious law that does not recognize equi- women. Family law is rarely considered as part of land table property rights for men and women. That is to administration projects, and yet family law has a ma- say, although it is necessary that formal law requires jor impact on women's right to use or own property. equity in property relations, it is not sufficient and is When land is passed through ancestral lines that often only a first step that enables a small group of exclude women, women may be more likely to gain well-educated and often wealthy women to take ad- rights to land within a marriage, and provisions man- vantage of their rights. Moreover, some legislative and dating joint titling of marital property will provide social changes may be more readily accepted than oth- the best protection for women. This is especially true ers, by both men and women, and part of the process in patrilocal societies. However, in many instances, 41 rural women are not legally married, although they are married under customary or religious law. Legal rules that require joint titling for conjugal couples, Land administration projects need to be made whether legally married or not, can be an effective so- inclusive by recognizing that there may be more lution to this issue. than one property holder per parcel and more than one rights holder in a household. Gender-neutral language in land legislation may really not be gender neutral because of the cultural understanding of the words used. For example, "head of household," although gender neutral, most often means "man" in a cultural context. Women have the and legitimate use rights to household land but not to best chance of gaining rights to land in a land reform land in a distant field. A primary lesson learned from program where state land distributed to households is the four case studies is that titling guidelines must understood to include both spouses, not just one call for the identification of more than one property- household head (for example, in Azerbaijan and Bo- rights holder in the household. livia). In this instance, legal rules that require that Land administration programs should consider women and men receive an equal share of land and/or ethnic and cultural variations that influence norms have both of their names listed on the title can be ex- and practices regarding land rights. These include ac- tremely effective, even in the face of customs to the cess rights across different ethnic groups, inheritance contrary. practices in patrilineal and matrilineal societies, and The four main recommendations that can be ap- marriage practices. In addition, customary norms and plied in all land administration projects in relation to practices tend to change as populations move from legislation and gender equity are process-related and rural to urban areas. These different norms and prac- are as follows: tices will influence who are considered legitimate landed property holders, and these norms and prac- 1. In the planning stage of the project, do qualita- tices may conflict with formal legal norms. tive and legal research related to family laws Here are the two primary recommendations that that affect women's property rights and their re- flow out of these lessons learned relative to identify- lationship to customary land law to understand ing property rights holders: how a titling or privatization project will affect women. 1. Conduct field research to identify all property 2. Solicit women's input into necessary changes in rights holders within a household, in both rural legislation, especially related to family or per- and urban areas and among various ethnic sonal laws. groups. Include this information in the design 3. Include women who are knowledgeable about of the land administration program. women and property rights in legislative work- 2. If there is a basis in law for doing so (direct, ing groups. vague, or permissive language), ensure that rules 4. Have respect for local culture, custom, and re- regarding titling and registration allow for indi- ligion. cating more than one property rights holder on the registration forms, and that the forms them- selves facilitate inclusion of women. Identification of Property Rights Holders Research The importance of identifying property holders on the ground before starting a land administration pro- Lack of information can lead to policies and projects gram cannot be overstated. That is, who has what that either limit or reduce women's economic and social rights in the bundle of rights associated with land? opportunities. Few, if any, projects gather gender-disag- More than one person may hold rights to a particular gregated information at the beginning of a project and parcel of land. Or, if there is more than one parcel, then throughout the project's life. Understanding the different people may have rights to different parcels. situation on the ground for women--urban and rural, Wives, for example, often have clearly recognized wealthy and poor, literate and illiterate, wives, daugh- 42 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects targets are determined. This should be seen as the first step in monitoring for problem areas in Few projects gather gender-disaggregated data the project implementation and in measuring at the beginning and throughout the project the impacts over the longer term. cycle, and that lack of information can lead to 2. Collect and analyze gender-disaggregated data policies, projects, and procedures that either throughout and after the project to be able to ad- limit or reduce women's economic and social equately adjust methodologies and targets and opportunities. to measure what the project has achieved. ters, widows, and single women--takes time, effort, and research. But a land project that does not sort out Gender-disaggregated data is more than the women's rights as separate from the household's rights number of titles bearing women's names; the risks disempowering the most vulnerable, but often data need to capture the actual situations within most economically active, members of society. Rec- the household and within the community. ommendations for gendered research include baseline studies and data collection. The case studies show that a lack of baseline data before the project interventions makes rigorously as- Adjudication and sessing the impact of those interventions impossible. Without an initial survey, it is difficult Registration Processes · to know what are the gender-related issues that The most important lessons to be learned regarding need to be addressed; the adjudication and registration processes are that all · to measure the gendered effects of the project at a project staff have to be well informed about and well later date; equipped to address gender issues throughout the · to raise awareness of the need for gender-disaggre- project. Also all stakeholders (households, neighbors, gated data. community leaders, financial institutions, and so forth) need to be informed of their rights and any gen- In addition to the baseline studies, the collection of der concerns.It is important that gender be considered, gender-specific data over the course of the project for example, in site visits, field methodologies, loca- and over the longer term must be explicitly addressed tion of public meetings and registration offices, and in in land administration projects. this data collection efficient access to registration processes. should not be simply a count of how many titles have There is a need for project officers and all staff to women's names or of the number of women involved. have familiarity with local customs and practices af- There is a need, for example, for more extensive data fecting gender, as well as with legislation, which may on registration, on subsequent transactions (formal affect the design and implementation. Gender issues re- and informal), inheritance, and credit. This informa- lated to secondary interests (for example, rights to re- tion is essential not just during the project for mid- sources but not land) and not merely martial status need stream adjustments to correct flaws in design, but to be addressed in future projects, especially where cus- also for longer-term monitoring of the effects of tomary rights are being formalized. Issues related to World Bank projects. documentation, illiteracy, and lack of transportation There are two main recommendations that flow need to be considered at the project design stage. from these lessons learned in relation to research. There is also a need to ensure that land administra- They are tion projects and organizations open opportunities for 1. Conduct a true baseline study with carefully both women and men through employment, career considered metrics and methodologies to cap- paths, education, and training. Often large projects ture the gender issues and potential impacts be- provide an opportunity to ensure that there are role fore project interventions take place, and prefer- models and mentors (for example, foreign technical ably before critical project methodologies and assistance and project staff) and incentives to in- Lessons Learned and Recommendations 43 munication. Moreover, throughout the life of the proj- ect, it is critical to evaluate whether these activities Gender equity is not a secondary issue to be are having the desired effect. The projects in both Bo- relegated to the care of a few female staff livia and Lao PDR were greatly improved in their im- members. It should be integrated throughout the pact on women after midproject corrections included project and should be everyone's responsibility. training, education, and communication activities that focused on reaching women. crease not only the number of women but also their roles in the organization. A lesson learned is that in the adjudication, dispute resolution, and registration processes, the participation by female staff is an asset The greatest means of ensuring sustainable to the project, not only in dealing with gender issues gender equity and gender-related impacts are but also in their interaction with stakeholders. training, education, information, and awareness. The following recommendations can be made for future projects: 1. Ensure that gender issues are mainstreamed and not seen as an extra project or the responsibility Recommendations for Project of only female staff or women's organizations; Designers and Implementers make gender programs cross-cutting; make them everyone's responsibility. The following are recommendations and strategies 2. Carefully consider special issues, such as sched- for gender-sensitive training, education, and commu- uling of adjudication activities, requirements for nication for project designers and implementers: documentation, and location of services (such as registration offices) that may act as barriers to 1. Have a plan for communicating the importance of women's full participation. gender issues from the early project design phase. 3. Consider the local and regional variations in 2. Design that plan to address different levels of tar- custom, religion, and law when designing and get audiences (for example, senior administra- implementing projects. tors, technical assistants, project implementers) 4. Where appropriate, try to resolve disputes and with appropriate messages and formats. uncertainties at the local level to provide equi- 3. Include both men and women in any training, table access to the processes. education, or study visit opportunities. 5. Coordinate titling with support services, such as 4. Provide project managers and implementers credit and training, to ensure the maximum ben- with guidelines and best practices that may be efits of the process. adapted to suit specific country experience. 6. Increase gender equity in land administration 5. Involve men and women as role models and organizations at all levels and in all aspects of mentors throughout the project. the project, including education and training, so as to produce sustainable project results. Recommendations for Project 7. Ensure that foreign technical assistance and senior Beneficiaries staff also have gender-equity awareness and poli- cies so they can act as role models and mentors. The following are recommendations and strategies for gender-sensitive training, education, and commu- nication for project beneficiaries: Education, Training, and Communication 1. Use local expertise in project communication and community training. Local NGOs, other min- The design and implementation of the land adminis- istries, and universities often have local-level re- tration project itself must include gender awareness at sources and an understanding of local cultures every stage, including training, education, and com- and traditions. 44 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects 2. Target groups that include men and women, but are included and respected within any informa- also allow for separate women-oriented sessions tion campaign. to create a neutral environment. 5. Include gender as part of the program from the 3. Use a variety of media and messages to ensure initial stages forward. that all potential beneficiaries are included, es- 6. Assist women in establishing community organ- pecially considering constraints of literacy, lan- izations focused on their needs and interests. guage, and access to mass media. These might include access to microcredit, edu- 4. Ensure that local and regional variations in cul- cation and training, or development of indus- tures, socioeconomic conditions, and traditions tries suitable for and desired by women. Lessons Learned and Recommendations 45 Appendixes Appendix 1 includes summaries of the four country 1999). In 1996 the Land Reform Law was passed to studies: Azerbaijan, Bolivia, Ghana, and Lao PDR. enable privatization and distribution of state and col- Appendix 2 describes the methodology used for these lective farmland. The rules set out in the 1996 law are country case studies. Appendix 3 consists of a set of extremely general, with no detailed procedures for guidelines for the social assessment mentioned in implementation. chapter 4. Appendix 4 offers a sample questionnaire Project Background: The objective of the Farm Priva- that could be used for collecting gender-disaggregat- tization Project was to assist the Government of Azer- ed data in a baseline and impact evaluation household baijan in accelerating land privatization and in re- survey. Appendix 5 provides a list of sample indica- structuring state and collective farms by developing a tors that might be used to monitor and evaluate gen- model for the process in pilot areas that could serve der-specific project effects. as a basis for replication of privatization. The goal was to devolve full ownership of land rights and for- Appendix 1: Summaries of mal title to individuals. By mid-1998, one year into project implementation, formal land titling was com- Country Case Studies plete in the six pilot farms. Titles were distributed to Azerbaijan: Farm household heads of families, although all names of adult family members were included on the land cer- Privatization Project (1997­2003) tificates and titles (6,645 families). Background Legal Framework Azerbaijan is a former republic of the Soviet Union Land Legislation and Policies: The 1996 Land Re- that declared its independence in 1991. Azerbaijani is form Law allowed land to be transferred to citizens the official language, although Russian is still used to and legal entities of Azerbaijan only (there can be no some degree, especially in the capital city of Baku. foreign ownership of land). The law defined general- The majority religion is Muslim (90­95 percent). ly who is eligible to receive land in private ownership Azerbaijan is located in the southern Caucasus region and how the land should be divided. The size of the on the Caspian Sea. It is bordered by Russia, Georgia, land share was to be based on the area of the farm, the Armenia, and Turkey, and is alternately described as quality of the farmland, and the number of people Europe and as Asia. who have a right to obtain a share. The law did not Land Tenure Systems: Prior to independence from the specifically state that the land must be divided equal- FSU, most of the agricultural land was held by state ly; rather it stated only that the "average size" of a and collective farms. Until 1991, there were 983 col- land share would be determined by dividing the lective farms and 820 state farms, cultivating a total whole of the land by the number of people to receive of 1.46 million hectares (Venkataraman and Askerov land. Land was transferred to citizens free of charge. 47 The newly created farms (household farms) were farms and in all activities. The focus-group inter- guaranteed the right to decide what management views indicated that general meetings related to farm form they would take, whether they would combine privatization, commission meetings about division of with other farms, and so forth. The law also gave land, and educational seminars concerning private landowners the right to transact with their land. ownership of land were all attended almost exclusive- ly by men; the only women who attended were heads Gender and Land Rights: Marital property is to be held of households, not women whose husbands were the jointly unless the matrimony contract establishes anoth- heads of the household. Attendance at the general er agreement. The law recognizes succession by will meeting prior to farm reorganization averaged 85 per- and by operation of law. The intestate law provides that cent among male household heads and 50 percent surviving children, spouses, and parents take first in among female household heads. In focus groups, equal shares. When one spouse dies, the deceased per- women said they knew nothing about their rights to son's share of common joint property, including land land--only that they had a right. plots, is defined and subtracted from the total amount According to focus groups with both women and or value of the property. A surviving spouse is able to men, if there were men within a family, only the men keep her or his share of the common joint property. participated in the lottery, in choosing land, in regis- Under customary law, the inheritance scheme is tration of the land, and in signing the State Akt (title entirely different than it is under formal law. Custom- document). Some female heads of household also ary law provides that all children get a share of the participated. Only the names of heads of household household's wealth, and a daughter's share is given in were registered, although all family names were list- the form of a dowry. Even though daughters have a ed on the State Akt. legal right to the land they received during the initial Both male and female household heads received privatization and distribution, when they marry they advisory services on Gulaband-Hatai farm (Ujar very infrequently ask to continue using a portion of Rayon). Female household head participation on the family's land. Shafag farm (Salyan Rayon) and on Pusyan farm Assessment of Issues and Interventions (Sharur Rayon) was significantly lower than was male household head participation. In regard to women's rights to land, there is little vari- ation among the rayons (districts). According to fo- Distribution of Landholdings: Two focus groups of cus-group interviews and data collected from the women stated that land was not distributed evenly household survey, both men and women in all house- during privatization. The quantitative survey indicat- holds received rights to land in the Farm Privatization ed that the per capita landholdings vary from farm to Project. Women who were interviewed knew they had farm, with female-headed households receiving on both access rights and ownership rights to land. Com- average from 0.4 to 0.1 hectare per capita less than munity leaders report that women are able to pur- households headed by males. On all farms, except chase and inherit land in all districts. Women may Gilinchl (Barda), the per capita distribution was less also sell and bequeath land in all rayons, with the ex- than 1 hectare (0.12­0.95). On the Gilinchl farm, ception of the Xetai municipality in Salyan Rayon. In males received 2.99 hectares and females received Xetai, women are restricted from selling and be- 1.91 hectares. The community-level survey indicated queathing land. that women were dissatisfied with the land distribu- Of the 180 households across six farms that were tion primarily because the quality of land was worse surveyed in Azerbaijan, 150 households (72 percent) for them, or because of the distance between their reported a male head of household and 30 households lands and their homes. (27 percent) reported a female head. By farm, the dis- Parcel Inputs: Although there are some variations in tribution of male and female household heads is fair- types of inputs used by male-headed and female-head- ly consistent. ed households in all of the farms, the most interesting Project Participation: Participation in the farm reor- case is Mamusta (Lenkoran). Approximately the same ganization process by male and female farm heads number of both household types report using irriga- varied by farm, but fewer female heads of household tion and fertilizer, but only male-headed households participated than did male heads of household on all report using other inputs, except pesticide. 48 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Household Decision Making: In focus groups, a few Land Law (Ley INRA). Customary norms and prac- men and women stated that the entire family makes tices, however, show a strong bias against women decisions about what to do with family income. For owning land. Husbands control household land and, the most part, however, both men and women said if that land is formally titled, generally only the hus- that men primarily make all decisions in the family. band's name appears on the documents. At the time of inheritance, the land usually passes from father to Credit: Many families took credit, but usually only sons, although widows are permitted to remain on the men were involved. Most women stated that their property. Daughters may inherit a small share of the husbands signed all the documents, and they did not land. know that their husbands had taken credit until the One of the distinguishing features of the 1996 Ley documents were signed. INRA is the explicit recognition of women's and Water User Associations: All families are members men's equal rights to land, stating that equity criteria of the water user associations, but only men are listed will be applied in the distribution, administration, on the contract. tenure, and use of land in favor of women, independ- ent of their civil status.29 The provisional (1997) and Positive Aspects of the Land Reform for Women: Wom- final (2000) regulations for the Land Law, however, en stated that, with land rights, many families are in a were not specific with regard to gender issues, nor better position after the loss of the head of the family did they provide guidelines for procedures that would because women do not have to be dependent on their safeguard the land rights that women have under Bo- fathers and brothers. livian law. As a result, the first three to four years of NegativeAspects of the Land Reform forWomen: Grow- the regularization process (saneamiento) were imple- ing crops is very hard labor, and women without hus- mented by the Instituto Nacional de Reforma Agraria bands suffer a great deal and must work very hard. without regard for women's land rights and without Most women agreed that the reforms increased their monitoring of the titles being issued to women either workload. as individuals or as joint owners. Land Administration Program Divorce: Men refused to discuss divorce, saying that it did not occur and was a question not even worth The World Bank and other international donors have discussing. In many cases, women also refused to dis- provided financing to Bolivia to modernize and update cuss divorce. Some women said that divorces are its land administration records and institutions. The rare, but when they occur, men initiate them. If there original National Land Administration Project was im- is a divorce, the property is divided by the court and plemented from 1995 to 2001; the current project children go with the mother back to her family. In (Supplemental Land Administration) was approved in court, women will get half of the property. Out of 2001 and ends in 2005. The objective of the regulariza- court, women receive nothing when a divorce occurs. tion program is to legalize the land rights of the many rural families who received land through the land re- Inheritance: All groups stated that everything is di- distribution program in the highlands and valleys and vided among the children unless they are young, in through the resettlement program in the lowlands. In which case the wife receives the inheritance. Equal addition, people engaging in land transactions, partic- division of property did not mean equal division of ularly among smallholders, have neither completed the land. No one knew what the formal law was regard- legal transfer of land rights nor recorded the transac- ing inheritance; they strictly followed custom. tions in the land registry. Bolivia: National Land Regularization Procedures Administration Project (1995­2001) Initially, gender concerns did not guide or influence the design of regularization procedures. The sanea- Legal Framework miento forms did not include a place for more than Bolivia's basic legal framework is very positive with one name as titleholder. Personnel were not instruct- regard to women's land rights; this includes the Con- ed to correctly identify all landowners within the stitution, Civil Code, Family Code, and the 1996 household. Women were not encouraged to attend Appendixes 49 public meetings and workshops regarding saneami- who received legal title to land increases to 37 per- ento, nor were they sought out when the titling cent; on the other hand, the percentage of men also in- brigade visited their land for adjudication and parcel creases to 76 percent. Breaking down this information measurement. by year, the percentages of joint titles particularly and After several years and after critiques by civil soci- titles issued to individual women have increased sig- ety that the saneamiento process was dispossessing nificantly in the last few years. However, it is also evi- women of their land rights, INRA began to design dent that individual men continue to receive more than and implement procedural changes to increase the 50 percent of titles. Taking into consideration inheri- participation of women. Changes were made in the tance practices and Bolivia's marital property regime, fieldwork carried out by titling brigades to ensure these statistics appear to demonstrate that women may that women, particularly wives, were being included be more successful at acquiring land as spouses than in the titling documentation. That office also con- as daughters through inheritance. tracted with a gender specialist to organize and im- If we disaggregate the information by type of plement gender-training workshops (for INRA per- farm, it appears that women are more likely to obtain sonnel, titling brigades, and beneficiaries) and to title to smaller parcels of land: 23 percent of small develop gender-oriented informational materials. homestead parcels were titled to women and 47 per- These changes, however, have been done ad hoc cent were jointly titled. As parcels increase in size and apparently with little monitoring. If these proce- and/or commercial nature, the percentage of women dures had been in place from the beginning and had receiving titles either as individuals or jointly with formed an integral part of the program, the opportu- their spouses decreases. Except for the small home- nity to train INRA staff and titling brigades would stead parcels, individual men obtain the great majori- have been greater and possibly more effective. ty of land titles, and women obtain a small percentage The Bolivia case seems to indicate that when too (between 10 percent and 18 percent) of titles for agri- few resources are allocated to gender concerns (in cultural (small and medium) parcels and legally reg- this case, one person was placed in charge of gender istered commercial farms. Joint titles for agricultural issues for the whole program), these gender initia- parcels also decrease greatly. The amount of land be- tives are at risk and easily dropped.Where gender ing titled to men also far exceeds the amount titled to training has taken place, either with INRA staff and women as individuals and to women in joint titles. titling brigades or with beneficiaries, there does ap- Tentative conclusions are that (1) a great number of pear to be a positive impact on women's knowledge individual and joint titles being issued to women are and assertiveness with regard to their land rights. for homestead parcels, not for agricultural parcels; Gender training, however, has not reached all areas of and (2) the amount of land being titled to women is the saneamiento program. It seems that the most ef- even smaller than the number of titles suggests. fective gender training is one that results in a titling brigade becoming proactive in implementing stan- Major Problems Encountered dards that (1) include women (such as a verbal and A review of the procedural modifications over the last written campaign that greatly emphasizes women's five years reveals the difficulty that the titling brigades rights and the importance of their participation at all experienced in carrying out the instructions to include levels of saneamiento), (2) include a female techni- women in the saneamiento process--difficulties caused cian in each saneamiento brigade, and (3) request that by both government agencies and community mem- all internal saneamiento community committees in- bers. Among the former, the Land Registry, for exam- clude at least one woman. ple, refused to register co-ownership titles (as commu- nity property) to consensual couples, insisting that only Land Titled to Women legally married couples were recognized as legitimate A review of the statistics prepared by INRA reveals spouses. As a result, the Land Registry refused titles to that men as individuals have received more than 50 couples without an accompanying marriage certificate, percent of the titles issued since 1999, whereas so titling brigades were reluctant to issue such titles. Ti- women as individuals have received only 17 percent. tling brigades also met resistance from some male house- If joint titles are included, the percentage of women hold heads and from some community authorities when 50 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects they attempted to include women in the saneamiento can hear customary law cases, and increasingly, chiefs process and on the land titles. are ignored and people go directly to civil court. Another potential problem is the lack of training Land Tenure Systems: Land ownership in Ghana falls for a recent procedure called saneamiento interno. In into two main categories: state or public land, and this titling method, the community does the parcel customary or private land. Approximately 80 percent measurements (that is, INRA or the titling brigades of the land is held in customary tenure. Such land can measure the perimeter of the community) and deter- be held by individuals, families, stools or skins (com- mines who are the legal owners of the parcels. While munities), and tendamba (the first clans in a commu- saneamiento interno is potentially important in that it nity). All public lands in Ghana (20 percent) are vest- involves community members who are then more in- ed in the president in trust for the people of Ghana. vested in the saneamiento process, it has been adopt- Public lands are managed by the Lands Commission, ed without adequate training for titling brigades and in coordination with relevant public agencies and for the community facilitators. Focus-group discus- governmental bodies. sions revealed that community members, including Under customary law, the titleholder holds the land women, who believe they are being denied ownership in absolute, or allodial, ownership, in trust for the rights to their land, are anguished because they feel well-being of the whole community for the present that they have no other recourse (right to appeal). It and future generations (Kotey 2004). This title is would appear that communities that decide to do called the "stool" in many parts of the south, and the saneamiento interno are not informed of how the ap- "skin" in the north (Kotey 2004). Subchiefs or family peal process works and that, consequently, communi- heads may also play a role in managing stool land. In ty leaders are able to ultimately determine the out- some instances, subchiefs are more powerful than the come of contentious land conflicts. main chief because they receive funds from land transactions. The coexistence of customary and for- Ghana: Urban II Project-- mal land tenure creates both overlap and gaps in the legal framework. Titling Component (1994­1997) Gender and Development: Women in Ghana are dis- Background advantaged, compared with men, in education, litera- cy, and land ownership. Women farmers, on average, Ghana is a densely populated country (about the size cultivate plots that are about half the size of those cul- of Great Britain) with 18.8 million people. Of these, tivated by men (Fenrich and Higgins 2001). Women's 44 percent are Akan, which includes the Ashanti. The ability to own and control land is very much a part of Akan are matrilineal, although most of the other the intrahousehold distribution of wealth. The most tribes are patrilinial.30 Approximately 70 percent of important issue related to family land is that it must the population is Christian (predominantly in the stay in the family lineage. For this reason, marital south) and approximately 15 percent is Muslim (pre- property has not traditionally been community prop- dominantly in the north). Traditional religions are erty, but rather has been separate property. practiced exclusively by some people, and in con- junction with other religion by others. Project Background: The Ghana Urban II Project Ghana has a pluralistic legal system, which consists (June 14, 1990­June 30, 1999) had two primary ob- of statutory and constitutional law as well as common jectives: local government sector rehabilitation, and law principles, including judicial decisions, and cus- housing sector reform. The land titling pilot was part tomary laws and practice. Under customary law, the of the component to set up a home-financing compa- chiefs control and administer stool/skin land. Before ny, and it ran from approximately 1994 to 1997. The colonialism, the north did not have a chieftain system, World Bank titling pilot assisted the already existing but rather had seven priests who controlled land. sporadic titling system. The chieftain system is interrelated with the gov- Legal Framework ernment structure. For dispute resolution, often the chief is approached first, before the case goes to civil Land Legislation and Policy: The legal regime for court, although this is not mandatory. The civil courts land management in Ghana is pluralistic, based on Appendixes 51 the coexistence of statutory law, customary law, and were not registered, and this limited the scope of Law Islamic law. Under customary law, rights in land de- 111. Law 112 was amended (1991) to address this rive principally from a person's lineage, not from the problem by allowing either party to register the mar- marital family. riage, not imposing a timeline for registration, and al- Under Law 152, co-owners can register as joint lowing oral or documentary evidence of a customary- owners or owners in common; where they are owners law marriage instead of registration for application of in common, the registration must state what portion Law 111. of land each common owner holds31 Either party can Assessment of Issues and Interventions request that the land be partitioned. However, there may be a minimum plot size prescribed by law, in A major drawback of the Urban II Project was the which case one party would receive the value of his fact that the actual title application process was vol- or her land, not the land itself. untary and sporadic. Applicants were primarily those with wealth and education, and many applicants actu- Gender and Land Rights: There are major variations, ally lived abroad. The Urban II Project had no gender in the number of women who own land in Ghana-- component. variations primarily based on tribal affiliation. One The World Bank interventions did not specifically source estimated that 50 percent of land owners are address women, and fewer women were found to be women in the Ashanti region, and only 2 percent to 4 titleholders. In a 1,440-entry survey, 65 percent of percent of women own land in the northern and up- registered owners were male, 25 percent were female, per west regions, respectively (Fenrich and Higgins and 10 percent of the entries were to joint owners 2001). (Dowuona-Hammond 2003). Of the joint owners, 91 The 1992 constitution requires the parliament to percent were spouses. The Dowuona-Hammond enact legislation regulating the property rights of study indicated that the majority of those who regis- spouses,32 and it provides that spouses must receive a tered land were from first- and second-class neigh- reasonable provision from the estate, regardless of the borhoods (the wealthiest neighborhoods). existence of a will. The constitution also requires that As stated above, marital property is customarily assets jointly acquired during marriage be distributed separate property in Ghana. Our interviews found equitably in case of divorce. that most of those properties held in joint ownership Law 111 (1985) was intended to provide security to were businesses, and there were very few. Quite of- a surviving spouse and children, and it notes the grow- ten, both spouses had title to their own land plot. ing importance of the nuclear family (Fenrich and Hig- Land: Women who were interviewed stated that there gins 2001). Under the law, the surviving spouse and was no difference in the way men and women were children are entitled to one house and the household treated in terms of title registration or land purchase. belongings. Beyond that, the spouse is entitled to a All who were interviewed cited tenure security and/or share of the residual estate, along with others under legal requirement as the reason they had registered customary law (Dowuona-Hammond 2003). However, their land in the title registry. More than gender, Law 111 only applies to property not disposed of by a wealth seemed to be a determining factor of who had will; and does not apply to lineage property, but only land registered in her or his name. to "self-acquired" property. Whether land is self- acquired or lineage property is not always clear, and the Inheritance: No specific inheritance pattern emerged. term self-acquired is not defined in the law (Dowuona- Both sons and daughters inherited land, and members Hammond 2003). Law 111 does not address polygamy, of both matrilineal and patrilineal tribes showed only so multiple wives may be forced to share the spousal al- a slight preference for following custom. lotment. Process of Titling Land: All people interviewed stated The Customary Marriage and Divorce Law 112 that the process took a long time, often years, They (1985) was published the same day as Law 111 (in- had heard about the need to register from radio broad- heritance). Law 112 required marital registration and casts and newspaper articles, or by word of mouth. limited application of Law 111 to marriages that were registered. Ignorance of the law, illiteracy, and men's Divorce: None of those interviewed were divorced, al- unwillingness to register meant that many marriages though several lived independently from their spouses. 52 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Lao PDR: Land Titling Project 1 both daughters and sons can inherit land, and that (1997­2003) there are no cultural restrictions on women owning land. Inheritance practices are not rigid, and parents Legal Framework usually decide which children will inherit what fami- In Lao PDR, even though the state is the ultimate ly property. Often this is done on the basis of need owner of all categories of land, individuals and groups and the relationship between parent and child. The have use rights to land. The state has the responsibili- traditional practice is for the youngest daughter to re- ty for managing land and allocating it for use to indi- main in her parents' home after marriage to take care viduals, families, and organizations (Constitution, ar- of them in their old age; she therefore inherits the ticle 15). The 1991 constitution also affirms the rights family homestead. of private parties to use land, and the Law on Land In the patrilineal ethnic groups, such as the Khumu (May 1997) reaffirms the state's responsibilities (arti- and the Hmong found mostly in the midland and up- cle 3) and the rights of private parties (article 5) to land areas, men are the owners and administrators of protection, use, usufruct, transfer, and inheritance of land, and land is transferred from one generation to land (articles 53­58). The state assigned land manage- another through sons when they marry and leave the ment responsibilities, including land allocation, to rel- house or when the parents become too old to work the evant line ministries, including the Ministry of Agri- land. Marriage practices are patrilocal, so women culture and Forests for rural land and forest land (Law move to the husband's house and receive gifts of on Land, articles 8­9). The Law on Land also provides money or animals from their birth families. Women temporary and permanent rights to land to private par- do not generally inherit land from their parents. ties. A land certificate provides provisional or tempo- In spite of positive legal, political, and cultural con- rary legal use right for agricultural or forest land (arti- ditions for recognition of women's rights in Lao PDR cle 48). Land certificates are inheritable (article 18), (with exceptions in some regions), there are problems but they cannot be sold or used as collateral. Perma- in issuing land documents to women. This is the case nent land use rights are assigned and recorded with a in the land allocation program in rural areas where land title (article 49), and they include the right to pass land use certificates are being issued, and it was also on their use rights to heirs, the right to sell their use the case during the first years of the titling program in rights, and the right to use them as collateral for cred- urban areas. A 1998 study by the research arm of the it. Land certificates can be converted to land titles af- Lao Women's Union, the Gender Resource Informa- ter 10 years through an application for land title tion and Development Center (GRID), revealed that process (article 36). the names on land documents did not always reflect the actual landholder. Although more women inherit- ed land than did men, many more land use certificates Gender and Land Rights and titles were issued only in the husbands' names. In Lao PDR legislation, including the 1991 constitution, addition, both husband and wife acquired over half of acknowledges gender equity with regard to family, the land parcels, but only a small percentage of these inheritance, and property laws. Daughters and sons couples received joint certificates and titles. are to inherit equally. Land acquired by a couple is Among the reasons for the discrepancy between ac- supposed to be issued a joint land use certificate or ti- tual landholder(s) and the name placed on land docu- tle (Law on Land, article 43; Family Law; and Prop- ments are these: (1) the certification or titling process erty Law). Property acquired before marriage and itself; (2) previous land documentation, such as tax re- land inherited from parents are not generally includ- ceipts that had only the name of the household head; ed in marital property, and land title would therefore and (3) cultural norms whereby women defer to the be issued to the individual owner. traditional head of the family, particularly in public Customary norms with regard to land rights and situations. The results of this study heightened aware- gender are principally applied through inheritance ness on the part of the different actors in the land ad- practices. Lao PDR is a multiethnic country with ministration project (such as government agency offi- both matrilineal and patrilineal traditions, but the cials, NGOs, and donor agencies) that women's rights great majority of its society is matrilineal. With re- to land were not being protected in the process of gard to land rights, in practical terms this means that legally assigning property rights to land. Appendixes 53 Land Administration Project The 2003 socioeconomic baseline study indicates that the LTP1 process has been more successful in The Land Titling Project (LTP), begun as a small ur- providing women with legal documentation to land ban pilot project in 1994­95, issues permanent land rights than have other land programs. A comparison of use titles to land in urban and periurban areas. This households that received title and those that received program was extended to include periurban areas dur- another type of official document, such as land cer- ing the First LTP (LTP1), and is projected to include tificates, reveals that LTP1 has a higher percentage of irrigated (lowland) paddy land in the Second Land Ti- women titled and joint titles. Because LTP1 has fo- tling Project (LTP2). cused on urban land, and other official land docu- The titling carried out has been characterized as ments are more likely to be for rural and agricultural systematic--that is, an entire district was to be target- land, some of the explanation for this gender disparity ed and all land in the area was to be adjudicated. Sys- may be urban/rural and ethnic differences. tematic titling facilitates such processes as informa- The land administration project has been a learning tion campaigns, dispute resolution, and use of titling process with respect to gender issues and land. The resources. The Lao Women's Union was asked to play Lao Women's Union has been an effective participant an important role in communicating to landholders in the titling process because of its institutional struc- the benefits of title and the rights that would ensue to ture: There are union offices at the national, provin- men and women. The procedures developed included cial, and district levels, and at least representatives at · training of local field staff (facilitated in later the village level. However, nearly all of the gender fo- years by the Department of Land's inclusion of cus was delegated to the Lao Women's Union. The dis- more women at the district level); advantage of this arrangement is the minimal internal- · meetings to which both men and women were ization of gender issues and responsibility by the invited; project staff and implementation agencies. · separate meetings for women; Another problem related to the involvement of the · general awareness raising on the rights of women Lao Women's Union is the level of resources for their to land within the project. activities allocated from the titling program. Key in- formants from both the union and the donor agency Village information meetings were by far the most sector mentioned that budget funds set aside for Lao important means by which beneficiaries became Women's Union activities are minimal, and that ad- aware of the titling program. In the 2005 household ministrative obstacles often prevent the union from study implemented for the Lao PDR case study, more being reimbursed for its expenses. The union is en- than 75 percent of all respondents (70 percent of men thusiastic about its role in the land titling program, and 92 percent of women) reported learning of the but lack of resources may hamper its activities and project through such meetings. Both men and women limit its effectiveness. reported high incidence of having interacted with A further issue for land titling in Lao PDR is the project personnel when they came to survey the prop- fact that LTP1 dealt primarily with urban land tenure, erty. Eighty-four percent of men and 75 percent of where social issues are less influenced by customary women indicated that they were interviewed or con- law and where land has a market-determined value. In sulted during the survey process, most often in the future, as the titling moves to periurban and rural ar- form of "describing the property information to proj- eas during LTP2, the gender issues will be much more ect personnel." In contrast to the survey phase of proj- complex and there will be significant regional varia- ect implementation, fewer than half of the respondents tions that will have to be included in the program. reported active participation in the adjudication of ti- tle phase, with no significant difference between men and women. 54 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Appendix 2: Case Study · Pusyan (in Sharur)--1 · Shafag (in Salyan)--2 Methodologies · Yerguch (in Xachmas)--3 Azerbaijan Focus-Group Discussions A number of study methods were used to collect data The general objective of the qualitative study was to and information regarding the gender aspects of the determine some of the impacts, from a gender per- Farm Privatization Project. spective, of the farm reorganization and titling/regis- Collection of Documentation tration program. Information on short-term impacts regarding the Project documentation and relevant studies were col- titling/registration/farm privatization process were lected prior to the trip to Azerbaijan in October 2004. obtained, such as level of gender consciousness with Legislation was collected during the October trip. regard to property rights, attitudes of women and men This information was supplemented by interviews with regard to women's land rights, and social status and observations of the registration process. of women and men. Focus groups were held on the Key Informant Interviews territory of each of the six farms. The survey group conducted nine focus groups--three in each of three The team met with (1) World Bank staff in Baku, (2) for- rayons: one focus group of men only, one focus group mer staff of the Farm Privatization Project, (3) current of young women, and one focus group of elderly staff of the follow-on credit project, (4) specialists on women. The three farms were Gilinjili farm in Barda; gender issues, (5) the State Committee on Statistics, (6) Shafag farm in Salyan; and Pusyan farm in Sharur, regional registration officials, (7) the Ministry of Agri- which is in Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. The culture gender focal point, and (8) the State Committee international expert and a local gender expert con- on Women's Issues. ducted one focus group with women only or mixed The quantitative component consisted of a cross- groups on the territory of each of the three other sectional household and community survey conduct- farms: Narimanov farm in Lenkoran; Gulaband- ed in six sites (rayons, or districts: Barda, Lenkoran, Hatai farm in Ujar; and Yerguch farm in Xachmas. A Salyan, Sharur, Ujar, and Xachmas). Nine communi- focus-group protocol was used. The survey group ty interviews and 180 household-level interviews taped and transcribed the interviews. were conducted. Household Surveys Bolivia All interviews were conducted in person. In each of The Bolivia country study used several data collec- the six pilot farm villages, 30 households were inter- tion methods, including secondary data and informa- viewed. Each third house on the right side of the tion, key informant interviews, and focus groups. A street and each third house on the left side of the random-sample household survey of titled and con- street were selected for interviews. Within house- trol group households, using a gender-disaggregated holds, 50 percent of the interviewees were women questionnaire, is scheduled to be completed by June and 50 percent were men. The surveyors were trained 30, 2005; data were therefore not available for inclu- and the instrument was pretested. sion in this report. Secondary Data and Information Community-Level Surveys Various sources of information were reviewed to col- Community-level interviews were conducted with the lect data on formal and customary land rights and chiefs of local villages (baladiya). The distribution of gender. Legislation consulted includes the 1994 Con- interviews was related to the number of villages on stitution, the 1975 Civil Code, the 1973 Family each pilot farm as follows: Code,33 the 1996 Ley INRA, and the 2000 INRA · Gilinjili (in Barda)--1 Regulations. Previous studies on women's rights to · Gulaband-Hatai (in Ujar)--1 land were also consulted. And within INRA, admin- · Narimanov (in Lenkoran)--1 istrative documentation on how gender has been in- Appendixes 55 corporated into the land administration project, as che Zusammenarbeit), focused on disaggregating title well as statistics on the levels of titled women, were registration data by gender, which was extremely collected. helpful in our understanding of the situation in Accra, Ghana's capital. This information was supplemented Key Informant Interviews by interviews and observations of the registration During visits to Bolivia in July and September 2004, process. interviews were carried out with INRA directors and Key Informant Interviews officials at both national and provincial levels, with titling brigade personnel, and with research centers The team met with (1) World Bank staff in Accra, and scholars. (2) government employees in the Land Titles Office and the Lands and Surveys Department, (3) special- Focus-Group Study ists in socioeconomic issues (a small gender-and-land Five focus-group discussions with women and men workshop sponsored by GTZ was held during the (separately) in two different sites were undertaken in course of the visit), and (4) a selected sample of 12 ti- September with a Bolivian social scientist, Rosario tleholders in Accra to establish a small number of Salazar. The sites chosen are in areas where INRA has case studies on gender-related impacts. recently made increased efforts to carry out its gender- Household Survey sensitivity training program with titling brigades and with the titling population. The focus-group discus- A small household sample survey (60 households) sions took place in was conducted in Accra. 1. Ichilo (Santa Cruz): a lowland, resettlement Lao PDR (colono) area where smallholders migrated from the Quechua-speaking highlands, but are To explore the gender impact of the Lao PDR titling now mostly also Spanish speaking; program, several data collection techniques were used. 2. Pocona (Cochabamba): an ex-latifundio area in Interviews with key informants were done by two of the an inter-Andean valley (midlevel in altitude, study team members in August and October of 2004. 2,500­3,000 meters above sea level) where These key informants came from a variety of institu- smallholders received their land from the 1953 tions, including government, donor agencies, and agrarian reform, and are mostly Quechua speak- NGOs.A focus-group meeting was also held with a vil- ers, particularly the women. lage in the Saithany District (Vientiane Municipality) that had undergone systematic titling.A random-sample Ghana survey was administered to 300 households during De- cember 2004 in two administrative units: six villages in Collection of Documentation Vientiane Municipality and six villages in Savannakhet Project documentation and relevant studies were col- Province. Secondary information on a number of is- lected during a visit to Ghana in December 2004. We sues, including land legislation, tenure systems, land were able to obtain some documentation of the land programs, and gender issues, was collected from previ- administration component of the project, as well as ous studies, project documentation, and NGO and laws pertaining to land rights, marital property, inher- donor agency reports. Secondary information was used itance, and registration. In addition, a recent survey, to guide this study and to complement its findings. funded by GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technis- 56 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Appendix 3: Sample Template 3. What are the difficulties that men might have in buying land? for Gender-Specific Baseline 4. How common is it for women to buy land? Social Assessment 5. How do women generally pay for the purchase of a new parcel of land (for example, savings, This sample template is for a baseline social assess- loan)? ment of gender-specific land rights, mentioned in 6. What are the difficulties that women might have chapter 4. The following open-ended questions can in buying land? be adapted for use in the planning stage of a land project. They can be asked both of key informants at Market Rental the community level, and of potential beneficiaries in 1. How common is it for men to rent land? individual interview or focus-group settings. 2. What are the difficulties that men might have in renting land? Land Acquisition 3. How common is it for women to rent land? 1. What are the different ways in which men ac- 4. What are the difficulties that women might have quire land (for example, inheritance, purchase, in renting land? rental, local allocation, state allocation)? Local Allocation 2. What are the different ways in which women ac- quire land (for example, inheritance, purchase, 1. How and when is land allocated to men by local rental, local allocation, state allocation)? authorities? 2. How and when is land allocated to women by Inheritance local authorities? 1. From which parent(s) or other relative(s) do men 3. Approximately what proportion of households most commonly inherit land (for example, moth- receive land allocated by local authorities? er, father, uncle, brother)? State Distribution 2. From which parent(s) or other relative(s) do women most commonly inherit land (for exam- 1. Have men in this community received land from ple, mother, father, aunt, sister)? the government (for example, land reform, farm 3. When do men usually receive their inheritances privatization, leasehold, resettlement)? (for example, at marriage, at death of parents)? 2. Have women in this community received land 4. When do women usually receive their inheritances from the government (for example, land reform, (for example, at marriage, at death of parents)? farm privatization, leasehold resettlement)? 5. Are inheritance transfers usually legally record- Other ed or registered? If so, when is this usually done (for example, at the time of the transfer, upon 1. Are there other ways that men in this communi- the death of the original owner)? ty might obtain land (for example, borrowing, 6. Do all sons inherit equally or unequally from gift, exchange)? their parents? 2. Are there other ways that women in this com- 7. Do all daughters inherit equally or unequally munity might obtain land (for example, borrow- from their parents? ing, gift, exchange)? 8. If daughters inherit land from their parents, do they normally keep this land themselves? If not, what usually happens to this inherited land? Marital Property Practices 9. Do sons inherit more, less, or the same as daugh- All questions should distinguish between formally ters? married and cohabiting couples. Market Purchase 1. When couples first marry/cohabit, where do they 1. How common is it for men to buy land? establish residence (for example, with the hus- 2. How do men generally pay for the purchase of a band's family, with the wife's family, independ- new parcel of land (for example, savings, loan)? ently)? Appendixes 57 2. Do women generally bring a dowry to marriage/ 9. Do any of these sources regularly require that cohabitation? men use their land as collateral (guarantee) for 3. If so, does this dowry often include land? the loan? 4. Do men generally bring land to a new marriage/ 10. What are the most important sources of nonag- cohabitation? ricultural loans for men (for example, consump- 5. Once a couple is married/cohabiting, do they tion, small business)? keep separate control over the land they brought 11. Do any of these sources regularly require that to the marriage (for example, decisions over use men use their land as collateral (guarantee) for and transfer, control over proceeds)? the loan? 6. If new land is purchased while a couple is mar- Female Land Use ried/cohabiting, is it considered to belong to the husband, the wife, or both? 1. What crops do women most commonly grow on 7. If a couple separates or divorces, what happens their land? to the land? 2. Of the crops grown by women, which are most 8. If a husband dies before his wife, what happens commonly used for consumption by the family? to the land? 3. Which crops are most commonly sold? 9. If a wife dies before her husband, what happens 4. How common is it for women to rent out their to the land? land? 5. Which family members most often help women Gender-Specific Land Use in the cultivation of their crops? 6. How common is it for women to hire labor to Male Land Use help out in the cultivation of their crops? 1. What crops do men most commonly grow on 7. Do women in this community receive loans to their land? purchase inputs (seed, fertilizer, pesticide, hired 2. Of the crops grown by men, which are most labor) for agricultural production? commonly used for consumption by the family? 8. What are the most important sources of agricul- 3. Which crops are most commonly sold? tural loans for women? 4. How common is it for men to rent out their 9. Do any of these sources regularly require that land? women use their land as collateral (guarantee) 5. Which family members most often help men in for the loan? the cultivation of their crops? 10. What are the most important sources of nonag- 6. How common is it for men to hire labor to help ricultural loans for women (for example, con- out in the cultivation of their crops? sumption, small business)? 7. Do men in this community receive loans to pur- 11. Do any of these sources regularly require that chase inputs (seed, fertilizer, pesticide, hired la- women use their land as collateral (guarantee) bor) for agricultural production? for the loan? 8. What are the most important sources of agricul- tural loans for men? 58 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Appendix 4: Sample Gender- 7. Child school enrollment, by gender 8. Incidence of divorce/separation Specific Indicators for 9. Division of land assets upon divorce/separation Monitoring and Evaluation of 10. Division of land assets upon death of the head of World Bank Land the household Administration Projects Beneficiary Community-Level Indicator Project-Level Indicators 1. Participation in community organizations and 1. Staff composition, by gender (especially field- decision-making bodies, by gende level public information, training, and survey/ adjudication teams) 2. Information meeting attendance, by gender (dis- Appendix 5: Sample tinguish head of household from non-head of household) Questionnaire for Data 3. Training meeting participation, by gender (dis- Collection for Baseline and tinguish head of household from non-head of household) Impact Evaluation 4. Titles issued, by gender (individual, joint) This sample survey instrument consists of nine mod- 5. Post-titling land transfers (sales, bequests), by ules (pages 60­81). It can be adapted and modified gender as needed to establish baseline information and to monitor project impact over time. The modules are Beneficiary Household-Level 1. household roster Indicators 2. parcel information 1. Land use and investments/improvements, by 3. wealth gender 4. credit 2. Agricultural (for example, crop sale) income, by 5. community participation gender 6. nonfarm employment 3. Nonagricultural income, by gender 7. household enterprise 4. Land collateralization/credit receipt, by gender 8. expenditures 5. Outmigration, by gender 9. community-level data. 6. Food and nonfood expenditures Appendixes 59 of TIONA the of do of kind did most life? 12. MOTHER'S OCCUP What work mother [NAME] orf her s TION was highest [NAME]' 11. MOTHER'S EDUCA What the grade completed by mother? of TIONA the do of kind did of life? 10. THER'SAF most OCCUP What work father [NAME] orf his s TION was highest 9. THER'SAF [NAME]' EDUCA What the grade completed by father? TIVE TION the how 12 away he/she this 8. MIGRA For many months during past months has been from household? CUMULA MONTHS TUSA ST TED­4 OR AL ARA 7. MARIT MARRIED (FORMAL)­1 COHABITING­2 DIVORCED­3 SEP WIDOW WIDOWER­5 NEVER MARRIED­6 Roster of AL TIONA do the kind TIONALA does of 6. PRINCIP OCCUP What work [NAME] most time? OCCUP CODES the by TION grade was Household 5. EDUCA What highest completed [NAME]? IF IF OR MOS YEAR YEAR 4. AGE YEARS 1 OLDER MONTHS <1 YRS W­9 W­8 W­11 HEAD CHILD­3 TIVE­13 TO TIVE­12 UGHTER-IN-LA THER/MOTHER­10A RELA NONRELA TIONSHIP THER/MOTHER­6 THER/MOTHER-IN-LA 3. RELA HEAD­1 WIFE/HUSBAND­2 CHILD/ADOPTED GRANDCHILD­4 NIECE/NEPHEW­5 FA SISTER/BROTHER­7 SON/DA BROTHER/SISTER-IN-LA GRANDF FA OTHER OTHER 2. SEX MALE­1 FEMALE­2 eats in normally and dwelling? 1. HOUSEHOLD MEMBERS Who lives together this NAME 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ID CODE 60 was for the of which, the plot out income? part year this CODE 5c. If rented any last household members received rental HOUSEHOLD MEMBER ID any was for last much plot out the charge? of how, you this LOCAL 5b. If rented part year did AMOUNT IN CURRENCY to this 12 or 12 did out all last 12 use or it ALL CODE past for the ALL USED you continually the rent of RENTED­3 AL months? 5a. Did land for months, you others part 12 USED MONTHS--1 RENTED MONTHS­2 BOTH AND RENT ­5 CODE CROP this currently (specify) used? is CROP USE 4. How parcel being ANNUAL LAND­1 TREE LAND­2 FOREST­3 ASTURE­4P OTHER _________ LAND ? AREA UNIT CODE the this is of 3. What area plot/parcel AREA plot. each of Information name the me cel land? give or PLOT pasture Par EACH or describe FOR land, module. Please forest next to land, QUESTIONS skip NO, household? is 1. your agricultural to to REMAINING any ASK own answer If belonging THEN land currently of module. PLOTS. . with ALL PLOT FOR household plot/parcel NEXT your continue each of THE YES, QUESTION is about TO 1. member me THIS to tell GOING PLOT any OF answer Does If Please COMPLETE BEFORE 1. 2. NAME 61 season? AGRICULURAL EXTENSION SERVICES growing last the THRESHER during PLOW parcel this on TRACTOR /equipment inputs HERBICIDES following the of PESTICIDES any use you TILILZER 12a­g. Did YES­1 NO­2 FER plot this 11. Is irrigated? YES­1 NO­2 Information get [MAIN that price you the sold? LOCAL cel 10. What did for CROP] you PRICE IN CURRENCY of Par was much [MAIN 9. How that CROP] sold? AMOUNT UNIT CODE the [MAIN season of you did during parcel? much vest growing this 8. How CROP] har last on AMOUNT the how on in parcel? use/what grow CODE 7. Who household decides to to this HOUSEHOLD MEMBER ID CROP 2ND last grow the you did during season? plot crops CROP this 6. What on growing MAIN 62 likely most ­3 inheritance? CURRENT OF parcel as OF CODE Y­2 TH this down ANCE is DEA MARRIAGE (specify) assp 18. When to UPON OWNER­1 UPON BENEFICIAR OTHER _____________ INHERIT WHEN? SON­91 kelyli CODE parcel? this RESIDENT most HOUSEHOLD NONRESIDENT ANCE IF is TIVE­93 inherit UGHTER­92 17. Who to ENTER CODE NONRESIDENT NONRESIDENT DA OTHER RELA INHERIT WHO? the on NAME DOCUMENT is(are) CODE(S) ID SECOND ON name(s) whose HOUSEHOLD NAME DOCUMENT titled, 16. If document(s)? ENTER FIRST ON do or plot title rights owner(s) Information this legal for current land? 15. What ownership the have of cel Par owner(s)? was acquired current year parcel approximately the 14c. In what this by YEAR it? specifically CODE 14b. Who inherited/purchased/ acquired HOUSEHOLD MEMBER ID ­4 land? this TION­3 CODE current REFORM/ the acquire (specify) did 14a. How owner(s) INHERITED­1 PURCHASED­2 AGRARIAN DECOLLECTIVIZA OTHER ________________ ACQUISITION to? this CODE 13. Which household member(s) does parcel currently belong HOUSEHOLD MEMBER ID 63 CAR/TRUCK MOTORCYCLE/ SCOOTER items? BICYCYLE ollowingf the of any TELEVISION own TOR household REFRIGERA your 7. Does YES­1 NO­2 STOVE toilet of dwelling TOILET­1 (specify) type the TRINE­2 6. What does have? FLUSH LA OTHER __________­3 ealth main used W the fuel (specify) is of cooking? 5. What type for GAS­1 ELECTRICITY­2 WOOD­3 COAL­4 KEROSENE­5 OTHER __________­6 TO POND, source and TER­5A ANDPIPE/ LAKE, principal drinking RAINW the for CONNECTION WELL­2 APS/STT OR VENDOR­4 STREAM, (specify) is TEA TEA water TERA 4. What of cooking? PRIV PIPELINE­1 PRIV PUBLIC WELL­3 W RIVER, SPRING, OTHER _______________­6 OIL, OR the is source lighting? GAS LIGHTING­4 3. What main of ELECTRICITY­1 KEROSENE, OR LAMPS­2 CANDLES FLASHLIGHTS­3 NO ROOF this the of FLOOR are construction TCH­9 2. ALLS What major materials dweling? BRICK­1 CONCRETE­2 ADOBE­3 WOOD­4 TIN/ZINC­5 MUD­6 BAMBOO­7 TILE­8 THA LINOLEUM­10 W this 1. How many rooms does dwelling have? 64 of did loans? for the kind borrower 8. What guarantee the provide lender(s) this/these the or the unt from in months? was amo 12 7. What total borrowed moneylenders, employers, landlords last t any or 21 did tha, how borrow had/has from, last times household money the repay 6. In months, many this member any he/she to moneylenders, employers, landlords? for reason this/these EMERGENCY­10 INPUTS­1 ____________­11 main DURABLES­8 OTHER the BUSINESS­5 AIR/IMPROVEMENT­7 OR TURAL was EQUIPMENT­2 REP (specify) ARM 5. What borrowing/obtaining loan(s)? AGRICUL ARMF ANIMALS­3 LAND­4 NONF CONSUMPTION­6 HOME CONSUMER CEREMONY­9 MEDICAL OTHER edit of did for the kind Cr borrower 4. What guarantee the provide lender(s) this/these loan(s)? the the from family in or months? was amount 12 3. What total borrowed friends members last did 12 that, or how borrow had/has from, last times household money friends the repay 2. In months, many this member any he/she to any family members? code ID ROSTER borrowed CODE or HOUSEHOLD ID FROM has household who and (individual months 12 name member source last the any the in record household from any NAME 1. Please of money institution) 1 2 3 4 5 65 borrowing/ for reason loan(s)? EMERGENCY­10 INPUTS­1 ____________­11 main DURABLES­8 OTHER the BUSINESS­5 this/these AIR/IMPROVEMENT­7 OR TURAL was EQUIPMENT­2 REP (specify) ARM 13. What obtaining AGRICUL ARMF ANIMALS­3 LAND­4 NONF CONSUMPTION­6 HOME CONSUMER CEREMONY­9 MEDICAL OTHER ) the idd lender(s the guarantee loan(s)? of provide kind this/these 12. What borrower for borrowed cooperatives, months? amount unions, 12 edit total last credit the the Cr in was banks, NGOs 11. What from or many member he/she how banks, that, from, cooperatives, months, household money 12 repay this to any last unions, did the NGOs? 10. In times borrow had/has credit or borrowing/ for reason loan(s)? EMERGENCY­10 INPUTS­1 ____________­11 main DURABLES­8 OTHER the BUSINESS­5 this/these AIR/IMPROVEMENT­7 OR TURAL was EQUIPMENT­2 REP (specify) ARM 9. What obtaining AGRICUL ARMF ANIMALS­3 LAND­4 NONF CONSUMPTION­6 HOME CONSUMER CEREMONY­9 MEDICAL OTHER 1 2 3 4 5 66 IN TEA the in TICIP does ARP MAKING­3 participate MEMBER­2 NOT actively group? .4 How person this LEADER­1 ACTIVE DOES DECISION of any your in CODE of groups/ group) HOUSEHOLD ID household 4 to members participates up community community adult who (List per the #1 #2 following .3 Among household, the activities? members NAME NAME IN Module TEA the in TICIP does ARP MAKING­3 participate MEMBER­2 NOT actively group? .2 How person this LEADER­1 ACTIVE DOES DECISION of any your CODE in of HOUSEHOLD ID groups/ group) Participation household 4 to members participates up community community adult who (List per the #1 #1 following . Among household, the activities? members NAME NAME Community TION WITH T QUESTIONNAIRE ORGANIZA OF CONSUL Y CONFIRM/PROBE) NAME (MA COMMUNITY TO group group TION committee association group group management community ORGANIZA business group/cooperative group group or group savings waste OF production union or group or ter `1 TYPE Farmers' Other radersT Labor Neighborhood/village Religious Political Credit Education Health Wa Ethnic-based Other 67 IN TEA the in TICIP does ARP MAKING­3 participate MEMBER­2 NOT actively group? .8 How person this LEADER­1 ACTIVE DOES DECISION of any your in CODE of groups/ group) HOUSEHOLD ID household 4 to members participates up community community adult who (List per the #1 #4 following .7 Among household, the activities? members NAME NAME IN Module TEA the in TICIP does ARP MAKING­3 participate MEMBER­2 NOT actively group? .6 How person this LEADER­1 ACTIVE DOES DECISION of any your CODE in of HOUSEHOLD ID groups/ group) Participation household 4 to members participates up community community adult who (List per the #1 #3 following . Among household, the activities? members NAME NAME Community TION WITH T QUESTIONNAIRE ORGANIZA OF CONSUL Y CONFIRM/PROBE) NAME (MA COMMUNITY TO group group TION committee association group group management community ORGANIZA business group/cooperative group group or group savings waste OF production union or group or ter `5 TYPE Farmers' Other radersT Labor Neighborhood/village Religious Political Credit Education Health Wa Ethnic-based Other 68 (specify) earn HOUR­1 WEEK­2 MONTH­3 YEAR­4 UNIT PER PER PER PER OTHER _________­5 TIME he/she did work? much this 7. How for AMOUNT did these how do hours week work? WEEK 2. 6. During weeks, many per he/she this HOURS PER column do in many the in months how 12 he/she work? YEAR listed 5. For weeks last did this WEEKS PER member is CODE Module business or household trade with? each of for kind connected row 4. What it DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION by CODE person Employment questions this did occupation) work y of remaining kind the (primar 3. What do? DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION Nonfarm Complete have y CODE those HOUSEHOLD ID of who salar or . names year INTERVIEWER: wage the members a ON last list for the 2. Please household worked during DESCRIPTI NAME year y? the last of salar the any or work household module) enterprises) during have this wage next a of include to time for (continue) (go months) not any household 1. At (12 members worked (Do in YES­1 NO­2 69 (specify) eaern HOUR­1 WEEK­2 MONTH­3 YEAR­4 UNIT PER PER PER PER OTHER _________­5 TIME he/she did work? much this 13. How for AMOUNT per do weeks, hours he/she these many did work? WEEK 12. During how week this HOURS PER weeks months this 12 do many R last how he/she YEA the 11. For in did work? WEEKS PER Module CODE this is business or trade of with? Employment kind 10. What connected DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION CODE do? Nonfarm person this did work occupation) of y kind 9. What (secondar DESCRIPTION DESCRIPTION did y you other salar months? work or module) any 12 the described, next to do wage past to a the (continue) already for (go person addition 8. In have this work during YES­1 NO­2 70 CODE ID day-to-day of hargec in or about enterprise? informed the of most is 3. Who operations NAME CODE Module Enterprise operate? DESCRIPTION household your does Household 1 2 3 4 enterprise(s) ID of kind 2. What ENTERPRISE in anyone has any module) this examples) module) months, with operated enterprise? 12 local next to past (continue the household relevant (skip 1. Over your nonagricultural (Give YES­1 NO­2 71 you rental, purchase materials, have "average the awr, transport, fuel,, on with much owh" total (labor resale, water, forth)? in for month so a inputs In sales, spent of items electricity and AMOUNT month, sales of sales" level your "average is month? an In what per AMOUNT the that month operation, usually per in Module months days was the business many this YS During business how did operate? DA was months, 12 operation? months in Enterprise past the many how business During for the MONTHS CODE HOUSEHOLD ID Household household enterprise all this of in names worked months. the me have 12 for who past list the Please members during NAME ID 1 2 3 4 ENTERPRISE 72 ITEM? THIS ON SPEND YOU roster) the DID from MUCH Module--Food code s HOW e YES, IF member' household foods? (Enter NO­2 following YES­1 Expenditur shopping? the of food any the doing purchase for household responsibility your y did primar week), has (one member days 7 EXPENDITURES past FOOD household the Y Which During WEEKL 1. 2. TEM Maize Beans Sugar Bananas Coffee Pasta Fruit egetablesV Potatoes Eggs Chicken Fish Meat Milk 73 THE ROSTER) PURCHASED MEMBER HOUSEHOLD FROM HOUSEHOLD CODE WHICH (ENTER YES, IF ITEM? YOU DID ITEM? MUCH THIS HOW ON Module--Non-Food YES, IF SPEND items? e following the of NO­2 any YES­1 purchased Expenditur household machine) your in sewing player) charges) anyone clock) machine, music hospital or has fees, watch, tools) video year), mixer), washing, doctor radio, (one alkman, truck), buckets, W car (e.g., blender refrigerator pans, radio, months television, vices (e.g., stove, 12 ser pots, (e.g., (e.g., motorcycle, (e.g., EXPENDITURES past (e.g., health items appliances bicycle, the clothing clothing footwear footwear and s s s s utensils clothing footwear (e.g., kitchen electrical appliances entertainment s s During omen' omen' NON-FOOD 1. ITEM W Men' Children' W Men' Children' Medicines Small Kitchen Small Large Home ehicleV 74 Community-Level Data--Community and Informant Information COMMUNITY INFORMATION Community name Community code Municipality name Municipality code Department name Department code INFORMANT INFORMATION MALE­1 ELECTED/APPOINTED LEADER­1 FEMALE­2 TEACHER/SCHOOL PRINCIPAL­2 HEALTH CARE PROVIDER­3 OTHER (specify) _____________­4 NAME AGE SEX POSITION IN COMMUNITY 1 2 3 4 5 Appendixes 75 Community-Level Data--Demography and Land Use 1. How large is the land area of this community? HECTARES 2. How would you describe the topography of this community? TOPOGRAPHY CODE COASTAL PLAINS­1 MOUNTAINS­4 INLAND PLAINS­2 DESERT­5 HILLS­3 OTHER (specify) _________­6 3. Does this community contain land that is owned by the community itself, rather than by individual owners? YES­1 NO­2 INDIVIDUALS 4. How many people live in this community? HOUSEHOLDS 5. How many households are found in this community? 1ST 6. What are the principal ethnic groups found in this community? 2ND DEFINE COUNTRY-SPECIFIC ETHNIC GROUP CODES HERE 3RD 1ST 7. What are the major religions practiced by residents of this community? 2ND DEFINE COUNTRY-SPECIFIC RELIGION CODES HERE 3RD 1ST 8. What are the major languages spoken by residents of this community? 2ND DEFINE COUNTRY-SPECIFIC LANGUAGE CODES HERE 3RD CODE 9. Do individuals in this community trace their descent through their fathers, their mothers, or both? CODES FOR QUESTIONS 9­11: FATHER­1 MOTHER­2 BOTH­3 OTHER (specify) _______________­4 CODE 10. Do individuals in this community receive inheritance from their fathers, their mothers, or both? CODE 11. When a man from this community gets married, does he go to live with his wife, or does she come to live with him? YES­1 NO­2 12. In thie community, can women . . . YES­1 NO­2 . . . purchase land? . . . inherit land? YES­1 NO­2 . . . sell land? YES­1 NO­2 . . . leave land as a bequest when they die? 76 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Commuity-Level Data--Services and Infrastructure 1. 2. 3. 4. Does this community have the following services and facilities? How far is the nearest [ . . . ] What is the most common How long does it take to from the community, in mode of transportation from travel from the community kilometers? the community to the [ . . . ]? to the [ . . . ], using that mode of transportation? YES­1 NO­2 (continue with questions 2­4) COUNTRY-SPECIFIC TRANSPORTATION CODE HOURS MINUTES Electricity Telephone lines Piped drinking water A paved road A primary school A secondary school A health clinic A hospital A marketplace A store A post office A public telephone Appendixes 77 Community-Level Data--Employment and Migration MALE FEMALE 1. Which activities are the most important sources of employment for 1ST individuals in this community? ENTER COUNTRY-SPECIFIC EMPLOYMENT CODES HERE 2ND 3RD 2. Are there any small businesses in this community, with few employees and perhaps run out of people's homes? 3. What types of products/services do these small businesses produce/sell? 1ST 2ND ENTER COUNTRY-SPECIFIC PRODUCT/SERVICE CODES HERE 3RD 4. On average, how many employees do these businesses have? AVERAGE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES MALE FEMALE YES­1 5. Do some people in this community leave temporarily during certain NO­2 times of the year to look for work elsewhere? 6. Where do most of them go? ENTER COUNTRY-SPECIFIC MIGRATION DESTINATION CODES HERE DESTINATION CODE 7. What type of work do they most commonly look for? ENTER COUNTRY-SPECIFIC EMPLOYMENT CODES HERE EMPLOYMENT CODE 78 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Community-Level Data--Agriculture YES­1 1. Is agriculture an important source of income for some households in this NO­2 community? 2A. What are the three most important crops cultivated by residents of this community? (List in order of importance) 2B. Do some farmers hire laborers to work in this crop? 2C. For which tasks are they most likely to hire laborers? 2D. Are the laborers hired more likely to be men, women, or both? 2A: 2B: 2C: 2D: COUNTRY-SPECIFIC CROP CODE YES­1 NO­2 TASK CODE MEN­1 WOMEN­2 BOTH­3 1ST 2ND 3RD YES­1 3. In this community, is there any system of irrigation? NO­2 4. In this community, how common is it for families to . . . VERY COMMON­1 . . . farm land that they own? SOMETIMES HAPPENS­2 RARE­3 . . . farm land that they rent from someone at a fixed price? EXTREMELY RARE­4 . . . farm land that others own in return for a portion of the crop (sharecropping)? Appendixes 79 Community-Level Data--Community Organizations Please tell us if any of the following types of organizations exist in this community. APPROXIMATE NUMBER OF ACTIVE TYPE OF ORGANIZATION NAME OF ORGANIZATION ACTIVITIES OF ORGANIZATION (POST-CODE) MEMBERS Farmers' group/cooperative Other production group Traders or business association Labor union Neighborhood/village committee Religious group Political group Credit or savings group Education group Health group Water or waste management group Ethnic-based community group Other (specify): 80 Gender Issues and Best Practices in Land Administration Projects Commuity-Level Data--Credit 1. 2. 3. 4. If someone in the community needed to borrow money, either for For what kinds of activities does What interest rate might a What type of guarantee personal use or for their farm or business, from what sources might this source most often lend borrower expect to pay for does this source usually he or she get a loan? money? a loan from this source? ask for? (For example: land, crops, wages) FARM INPUTS OR EQUIPMENT­1 NONFARM BUSINES­2 CONSUMPTION­3 MEDICAL OR OTHER EMERGENCY­4 OTHER (specify) _________________­5 MONTHLY COUNTRY-SPECIFIC LENDER CATEGORY NAMES OF LOCAL INSTITUTIONS PERCENTAGE RATE CODE Family/friend Moneylender Community group/cooperative/NGO Private bank Government bank Appendixes 81 Endnotes 1Although in fiscal years 1990 to 1994 only 3 stand-alone issued to legally married couples or to couples in consen- land projects were approved, this number increased to 19 sual unions who formally register their domestic partner- ($0.7 billion commitment) and to 25 ($1.0 billion commit- ships. However, the costs involved in formalizing consen- ment) in the 1995­99 and 2000­4 periods, respectively. FY sual unions are often prohibitive--or, at least, they act as a 2004 commitments on land-related projects (that is, stand- significant disincentive--for couples who might otherwise alones and those with a land component, but excluding ad- be willing to register their property in both spouses' names. justment operations) alone amount to $1 billion (http:// 12Article 6 of the constitution protects citizens' rights and lnweb18.worldbank.org/ESSD/ardext.nsf/11ByDocName/To freedoms without distinction of sex, origin, economic or picsLandPolicy andAdministration). social condition, or any other condition. 2The World Bank Land Policy and Administration Themat- 13CEDAW, adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, ic Group maintains a project database at http://lnweb18.world is often described as an international bill of rights for bank.org/ESSD/ardext.nsf/11ByDocName/TopicsLandPolicy women, defining what constitutes discrimination against andAdministrationProjects. women and setting up an agenda for national action to end 3United Nations 1999, p. 90. such discrimination. 14 4Lastarria-Cornhiel 1997, p. 1321. India is another country where land reform implementa- tion is done at the state/province level within the parame- 5Izumi 1999, p. 14. ters of the national land reform program. 6Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions 2004, p. 56. 15For example, until 2000, the agrarian reform registration 7Available at http://www.db.idbproject.org/Sites/IdpProject form (cadastro) did not have space for writing in the Db/idpSurvey.nsf/wViewCountries. names of two people. INCRA also insisted on naming men 8This law has not yet been fully implemented, and in some as beneficiaries--if a woman applied, INCRA officials cases readjustments are still occurring. Field research indi- would ask the whereabouts of the spouse, and in the ab- cated that women in areas where land was scarce did not fa- sence of a spouse they would try to grant beneficiary sta- vor this new law. tus to a son. 9The Law on the Administration of Agricultural Land 16These constraints include higher levels of illiteracy, low- (2001, Kyrgyz Republic). er Spanish-language skills, and lack of personal identifica- 10Dirven (2001) argued that insofar as inheritance remains tion documents. the principal form of land access in the region, significant 17The Red Nacional de la Mujer Rural (National Network amounts of land remain inaccessible to younger, potential- of Rural Women) is a program of the feminist NGO, Cen- ly more innovative farmers until the deaths of their parents. tro de la Mujer Peruana Flora Tristán. In this context, inheritance to widows, which serves as a 18Deere and León (2001) reported that between September kind of "bridge" in a largely patrilineal inheritance system, 1995 and May 1997 (21 months) only 26 titles for 689 hec- further delays the passage of productive resources into the tares were jointly titled. hands of rural youth. 19The Guayape Valley Agricultural Development Project 11One example of a legal impediment to women's land covers 220,000 hectares, of which 93,000 hectares make rights comes from Honduras, where joint titles can only be up the broad valley of the Guayape River. 83 20Information on titles issued at the national scale shows tion teams during the day because women could not partic- that between 1996 and 2000, 25 percent of total titles were ipate and men were away working. issued to women (Secretaría de Agricultura y Ganadería, 27Efforts to increase the productivity within the survey of- Honduras 2000). fice by using computerized parcel mapping did not extend 21We are using the term ownership to broadly include own- to the land titles office, where the drafting of the parcel in- ership-like rights. These would include long-term-use dex maps was reproduced again by hand rights, as in Lao PDR, or the long-term right to ancestral 28It is important that benchmarks are given at the start. land that is held by a tribe, as in Ghana. There are many instances of projects (for example, Mo- 22For example, in rural Peru, 40 percent of women report zambique land titling, land administration reform in the living in consensual unions. In rural El Salvador, 63 per- Baltic States) in which the gender-related expectations cent of couples report living in consensual unions (Deere were imposed toward the end of the project. and León 2001). 29Ley INRA (1996), article 3, paragraph V. 23The three major ethnic groups are Lao Lum (68 percent 30Other tribes include the Dagoma, Ewe, Ga, Gonja, Kase- of the population), Lao Theung (22 percent), and Lao Sung na, Konkomba, Lobi, Marmprusi, Nzema, and Sisala. (10 percent). The major patrilineal ethnic groups are the 31Law 152, section 88. 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