News on Land

As the world marks International Women's Day on Wednesday, six women from different countries in Southeast Asia received recognition from advocacy group Amnesty International for their "heroism" in standing up for human rights despite the criminalization and violence they have faced.

The group recognizes the six women, who have long fought against injustice in each respective country, as figures that "inspire many in the region and whose contributions to society should be commended; not condemned".

Chengetai Zonke lost much of her maize crop to drought last year. When it came to planting again, she decided to reduce her stake in what has become a recurrent climate change gamble.

At her homestead in Chiware, in Zimbabwe’s northeastern Manicaland Province, the 52-year-old farmer explained why. “I’ve abandoned tilling the bigger fields to avoid the risk of putting more land under crops that may fail due to lack of rain or too much rain,” she told IRIN. “Replanting costs money, which is scarce.”

To celebrate International Women’s Day, Mokoro is pleased to share news of the successful completion of fieldwork in the fourth of six phases of our WOLTS pilot study in both Mongolia and Tanzania. WOLTS is a major multi-country strategic action-oriented research project in support of the land rights of women and vulnerable groups. The WOLTS team is well underway with preparing two major reports of our country research findings, to be launched, respectively, in May and June this year.

A facet of this problem arises from the nature of the land tenure system in the country over the decades.

As we celebrate the International Women’s day today, emphasis should be put to the extent to which some of the obligations have been achieved with regard to women’s basic needs including shelter, access to land and land security etc. The state of shelter development in Uganda shows that, with the bulk of its urban population in informal settlements, there is lack of security of tenure.

Empowerment of rural women is fundamental for achieving 2030 Agenda

FAO/IFAD/WFP Joint News Release

8 March 2017, Rome - Leaders from the three UN Rome-based agencies today marked International Women's Day  by reinforcing their commitments to step up efforts to invest in the capacities of rural women as key agents of change in building a world without hunger.

Across the wide world, women are rising up to protect the Earth, one another, and the common good

While development programming is increasingly politically savvy, and women and girls are high on the agenda, it’s bizarre how often gender is overlooked as one of the key determinants of who gets what in the world.

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to recognize the changing world of work, and the new challenges it throws up for women.

The Ministry of Land and Natural Resources is advocating the prioritisation of gender and land rights for equitable development.

In a speech read on his behalf at the opening of a two-day orientation workshop for gender officers involved in land administration and representatives of civil society organisations (CSO) with focus on women’s land right, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Mr John -Peter Amewu, said that was because gender incorporation had been on the development agenda of the country.

By: Monique Barbut

Date: 6 March 2017

Source: IPS

International Women’s Day this year focuses on economic empowerment in the changing world of work. The vision is to achieve gender equality and empowerment of women and girls by 2030. Girls’ aged three will become adults with a legal right to work in 2030. Together, with those aged up to 10, these girls are the prime target for gender equality by 2030.

Application Closing Date - 12 Mar 2017

Job Start Date - 05 Apr, 2017

Duration - 5 April to 27 April 2017

Location - Remote

Transparency International (TI) is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption. Through more than 100 chapters worldwide and an international secretariat in Berlin, Germany, TI raises awareness of the damaging effects of corruption and works with partners in government, business and civil society to develop and implement effective measures to tackle it.