Africa-Press – Tanzania. THE Minister of Lands, Housing and Human Settlements, Dr Angeline Mabula has encouraged women in Ikungi district, Singida region to ensure that they leverage on the land they own for greater economic benefits.
The minister made the statement at a ceremony held here yesterday where the ministry and the Ikungi District Commissioner’s office issued over 5,058 Certificates of Customary Rights of Occupancy (CCROs).
“It is an indisputable fact that most of the women in our society are left behind in various social and economic spheres. Through this initiative, I believe that women of Ikungi have opened doors for the entire Singida region and will show the public that your rights to own land have been realised and I urge you all to use this land to uplift yourselves economically and socially for your benefit and the benefit of your children, families and the nation as a whole,” she said.
The initiative to issue CCROs is being implemented through a three-year UN Women and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) joint programme on ‘Realising Gender Equality Through Empowering Women and Adolescent Girls’ which is funded by the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
On behalf of the UN Women Representative, the UN Women Head of Women’s Economic Empowerment, Ms Lilian Mwamdanga said the issuance of CCROs will ensure that comprehensive services and support systems are in place.
“This will help create a more enabling environment for women to hold land titles and enable smallholder farmers, including young women, to increase their productivity in the agricultural sector,” she said.
The KOICA Country Director, Mr Kyucheol Eo, said that women in Tanzania make up 70 per cent of the agricultural labour force, yet female farmers own a lesser share when it comes to land.
“These CCROs will therefore play a vital role in empowering women farmers both economically and socially,” Mr Eo said.
Through the KOICA-funded joint programme, UN Women has been working with the Ministry of Lands and the Ikungi District for over a year now to facilitate four villages and the Ikungi district administration to draft village land use plans and subsequently deliver CCROs to villagers.
The land use plans were developed using participatory land use management processes which involved demarcating and mapping land parcels, resolving disputes over land use and occupancy, and establishing village registry cabinets or offices before issuing CCROs.
The programme also trained village governance land institutions and villagers in the selected villages in Ikungi district, strengthening the capacities of representatives from the village council, village assembly, hamlet, women farmer groups and youth on registering land use planning and CCROs.
“As a result of this initiative, over 2,000 women and girls from the villages of Mnang’ana, Munyu, Kipumbwiko and Irisya have issued the CCROs, which is a proportion of about 40 per cent of the CCROs issued,” she said.
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