Tanzania to lead effort to give women farmers land rights
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Tanzania will lead a continental mission to ensure rural women in Sub-Saharan Africa own at least 30 percent of the region’s arable land.
The East African Community nominated Tanzanian Minister of Community Development, Gender, Women, and Special Groups, Dorothy Gwajima, to spearhead the campaign following a meeting in Arusha commemorating the ten-year anniversary of the Kilimanjaro Initiative Campaign.
The African Union’s Special Technical Committee on Gender and Women’s Empowerment initially set the 30 percent target for 2025, but has not yet achieved it. Oxfam International and ActionAid Tanzania are supporting the Kilimanjaro Initiative, which began in 2016 with the Rural Women Assembly and the Rural Women Farmers Forum, to protect women’s agricultural land from being taken for other uses.
Women from over 22 countries gathered in Tanzania to review progress and advocate for equal rights to land and natural resources, addressing historical inequalities. The Kilimanjaro Initiative Campaign seeks to bring local advocacy efforts into continental policy discussions, hoping to strengthen institutional frameworks and empower women politically.
