Global Convergence for Land, Water and Seed Struggles West Africa (CGLTE-OA) has raised concerns over discrimination in land tenure reforms in West Africa.
Development Diaries reports that the group, in collaboration with Coalition for Protection of African Genetics Heritage (COPAGEN) and Peasants Organisations and Producers of West Africa (ROPPA), urged Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to prioritise women and youths in land tenure reforms.
They also called for a compulsory conflict conciliation procedure and recognition of customary and legitimate land rights.
In line with Sustainable Development Goal Five, policies and legal reforms are needed to give women equal rights and access to ownership and control over land and other economic resources in order to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
According to the United Nations, women account for 70 percent of Africa’s food production but often do not have secure access to land.
In order to tackle this, activists are fighting to introduce or strengthen laws intended to give women more secure access to land and are combating social norms and practices that stand in their way.
The convener of the aforementioned nonprofits, Zainab Mohammed, said the recommendations were influenced by the findings of an African forum on the roles of women and young people in land tenure in 2019 in Mali and by the outcomes of workshops held at the national and sub-regional levels in 2020 in Abidjan.
‘Grant 15 percent of land developed by public or semi-public institutions, as in Mali, to women and young farmers interested in agriculture’, they said.
‘Support multi-actor (local, national) information, awareness-raising and training, including consultations for better appropriation of land policies and laws as well as their application texts’.
The CSOs also urged states to recognise local conventions for management of natural resources as well as legitimate social agreements adopted by community members, including farmers, herders and fishermen, for better collective and shared use of agro-sylvo-pastoralism and fisheries land.
Photo source: World Bank
