Food security in Uganda relies mainly on access to land and security of tenure. Land governance is marked by the contradiction between relatively progressive legislation and only partial implementation. Institutions that have to deal with land administration and land disputes, such as customary authority systems, local government, and special courts for land justice, have weakened in the last years. Women’s position with respect to land and inheritance also remains weak, both legally and in practice, undermining their livelihoods and status in society. Tenure insecurity in Uganda is a source of conflict: within families, between groups and between communities. Overall, land issues are increasingly politically sensitive. Specific issues are the landlord-tenant relations on mailo land; land tenure insecurity in post-conflict Northern Uganda; disputes over land expropriation by government; the implications of oil exploration and mining for local land tenure systems and rights, in particularly for pastoral livestock systems; and accusations of land grabbing in rural and urban areas. To tackle these issues, a new land policy was adopted in 2013.
Authors and Publishers
Esther Obaikol and Gemma Betsema
LANDac, the Netherlands Academie on Land Governance for Equitable and Sustainable Development, is a partnership between Dutch organizations working on land governance. The partners are the International Development Studies (IDS) group at Utrecht University (leading partner), African Studies Centre, Agriterra, the Sociology of Development and Change (SDC) group at Wageningen University, the Land Portal Foundation, HIVOS, the Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Enclude Solutions.
Data provider
Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment (ACODE) is an independent public policy research and advocacy think tank based in Uganda working in East and Southern Africa. ACODE was first registered in 1999 as a Non-governmental organization (NGO). In 2004, the organization was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and without having a share capital. ACODE is one of the most dynamic and robust regional leaders in cutting-edge public policy research and analysis in a range of areas including governance, trade, environment, and science and technology.