Country Coalition
Tanzania
Coalition members at the national launch of the S4HL Tanzania campaign on November 21, 2019
GOAL
To promote and protect inclusive secure land tenure and create an enabling environment so that all Tanzanian women can access, own, control, inherit, use, make decisions about and benefit from land and its produce by 2030
MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS
FOUNDED
January 2019
NATIONAL LAUNCH
November 2019
OVERVIEW
Over the past 25 years, Tanzania has adopted several laws and policies that enshrine women’s equal rights to land. Civil society played an important role in this achievement through collaborative, coordinated advocacy.
Building on previous initiatives and campaigns, many of these same women’s and land rights advocates have come together to form Stand for Her Land Tanzania. Now 25 organizations strong – representing diverse issue areas that meet at the intersection of women’s land rights – the coalition is taking collective action to close the persistent gap between law and practice that prevents women from claiming their equal rights to land. Raising their collective voice, the coalition is working to bring down the structural, social and other implementation barriers that prevent Tanzanian women from claiming their equal rights to land.
Read the S4HL Tanzania strategy to learn more about what the Stand for Her Land Tanzania campaign coalition plans to achieve in the years to come – and what it will take to get there.
KEY FOCUS AREAS
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Women’s use of land for economic benefit
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Women’s participation in decision-making bodies and processes in land governance
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Women’s secure land rights in regions with land- based investments
My customary certificate of occupancy acts like a weapon. Nobody can take my land away now because I have full ownership rights.
There are several cultural practices that hinder women from owning land [and some cultures] believe women have nothing economic to contribute to the family but that’s not true. No-one has an agreement with God to live forever, so if you give women the chance to own land you will prepare for the family’s future. It’s important for both men and women to own land.
Sophia was married twice, abused twice and has divorced twice. With the help of a S4HL Tanzania coalition member, she now has land and property of her own, is safe from domestic violence and is running her own business.
ACTIVITIES: A SNAPSHOT
Know-Your-Rights Guide
TrustLaw, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s global pro-bono legal program, has teamed up with Stand for Her Land Tanzania to create a women’s land rights guide in order to simplify key legal issues into one succinct resource for the campaign and its awareness-raising and advocacy efforts. It is focusing on 6 thematic areas: Individual and joint ownership of land by women; women’s rights to communal lands; customs, traditions and values that discriminate against women; women’s economic empowerment; women’s participation in decision-making bodies; and women’s rights in relation to land investments.
Law On Your Palm
Sheria Kiganjani, which translates from Kiswahili as “Law On Your Palm,” is a new mobile application developed to provide legal aid in remote parts of the country. The eponymous social enterprise that created it joined forces with Stand for Her Land to design a dedicated feature on women’s land rights. The application enables users to access legal services directly from a cell phone or other mobile device, thereby reducing barriers to justice in rural areas where the nearest legal aid service could be a day’s journey away. It also serves as a data collection tool for legal aid volunteers working in remote communities. Stand for Her Land has rolled out a pilot with these volunteers and plans to scale its use through the course of the campaign.
Invisible Theater
Invisible theater is a form of theatrical performance that is enacted in a place not normally expected such as a street, shopping center, or market. Stand For Her Land campaign members collaborated with international experts in the art of this unique and innovative technique to train local volunteers and design a performance focused on the violation of widow’s land rights. Preliminary rehearsals have been carried out and local leaders have been briefed, but performances have been temporarily postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Member Organizations
Coordinator: Tanzania Women Lawyers Association (TAWLA)
ActionAid Tanzania
Bright Jamii Initiative (BJI)
CARE International TZ
Centre for Advancement of Women in Agriculture in Tanzania (CAWAT)
Equality for Growth (EfG)
Land Rights Research and Resources Institute (HAKIARDHI)
Landesa
Participatory Ecological Land Use Management (PELUM) Tanzania
Pastoral Women’s Council (PWC)
Sheria Kiganjani
Tanzania Federation of Disabled People’s Organisations – Shirikisho la Vyama Vya Watu Wenye Ulemavu Tanzania (SHIVYAWATA)
Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP)
Tanzania Land Alliance (TALA)
Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA)
Tanzania Natural Resources Forum (TNRF)
The Nature Conservancy Tanzania (TNC)
Ujamaa Community Resource Team (UCRT)
UN Women
UNICEF Tanzania
VP Alumni
WeEffect
Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF)
Women Legal Aid Centre (WLAC)
Women’s and Men’s for Destined Achievements (WOMEDA)