Customary Rules and Practices Strengthen Women’s Land Tenure in Rural Mozambique | Land Portal
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Resource information

Date of publication: 
January 2015
Resource Language: 
Pages: 
8
License of the resource: 

Under Mozambique’s Constitution and Land Law (1997), communities may legally govern their lands and natural resources according to customary norms and practices, so long as local customs do not contradict national law. However, rising land scarcity and associated increases in land value are leading some families to “reinterpret” custom as sanctioning the dispossession of widows from their marital lands. This Lesson from the Field describes how Centro Terra Viva (CTV) and Namati support communities to strengthen women’s land rights within customary systems and harmonize local practices with national and human rights law. The publication also describes CTV’s efforts to involve Customary Tribunals and local dispute-resolution authorities in efforts to ensure the implementation and enforcement of community rules designed to protect women’s land rights.

Authors and Publishers

Author(s), editor(s), contributor(s): 

Alfredo, N.

Publisher(s): 
Centro Terra Viva (CTV)

Missão 
Uma gestão dos recursos naturais baseada em conhecimentos científicos, ambientalmente sã, economicamente viável e institucionalmente responsável.

Visão 
Contribuir para uma melhor fundamentação técnico-científica das decisões ambientais, para que os apelos à participação pública na gestão ambiental, incluídos nas políticas, estratégias e na legislação ambiental nacional sejam respondidos, positivamente, por uma sociedade civil com capacidade de dar contribuições informadas e relevantes nesta área.

Namati: Innovations in Legal Empowerment

Namati is an international organization that tests the potential of legal empowerment through innovative interventions and research. Through our work, we seek a better understanding of the impacts of legal empowerment and the most effective mechanisms for achieving them. 

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