In many developing countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), women are unable to own the land they work on due to male land inheritance. Women make up almost half of the global agricultural workforce but are only a fifth of landowners. Women who don’t have access to land in the Congo remain marginalised and poor. Women for Women International (WfWi) has been working over the past five years in Nyangezi, near Bukavu in south Kivu, to teach women and male community leaders about women’s land rights and gender-based violence in an effort to change customary laws and practices. WfWi believes this is the real challenge rather than changing the national laws and land policies.
In 2020, WfWi selected 20 influential men along with a group of women to be “agents of change”. They were grassroots advocates who were given education and training on women’s land rights and gender-based violence. The advocates have shared what they learned with their families and the larger community through dialogue, workshops, and radio programs. Women who previously worked on other people’s fields can now own land themselves. Already 145 women have obtained land certificates via the scheme, and around 300 more applications are pending. The project is now over due to lack of funds from the organisation.
Mwa Namupopa, a woman who was given land via the scheme, has cleared her land and is now able to plant maize, beans, and manioc. She has a good harvest every three months now which is enough to feed her family. Mwa Namupopa’s husband attended a men’s discussion group where he learned that women are human beings just like men and have the same rights. Ownership of land provides women with economic independence which decreases the risk of domestic violence. The land will generate income for women’s families for the rest of their lives, be inherited by their children, and women will invest their proceeds in their families paying for school fees, health, and household needs.
While the DRC’s 2005 constitution grants equal rights to men and women, gender-based violence still happens frequently in the Congo due to traditions that have prevailed for centuries. Men are supreme chiefs in the family, and women often labor in the fields, but when it’s harvest time, the men come back, often drink the proceeds and beat their wives. Women for Women International has passed on the knowledge of women’s land rights and gender-based violence to the residents of Nyangezi, which has led to positive changes for women, and WfWi still receives requests to continue and expand the scheme to other villages
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