Land tenure in Tigray : how large is the gender bias?

This study finds that female-headed households have 23% smaller owned landholdings and 54% smaller operational landholdings. Differences in characteristics such as age, labor, oxen and previous divorce explain less than half the differences in landholding sizes, while the remaining can be attributed to differences in returns to these characteristics. This indicates that there is a gender bias in access to land, even after land reforms that intended to strengthen women’s rights. The main policy recommendation is to further gender-sensitize the land certification process, strengthen women’s opportunities to cultivate their land and continue the process of securing women’s tenure rights

Land tenure in Tigray : how large is the gender bias?

This study finds that female-headed households have 23% smaller owned landholdings and 54% smaller operational landholdings. Differences in characteristics such as age, labor, oxen and previous divorce explain less than half the differences in landholding sizes, while the remaining can be attributed to differences in returns to these characteristics. This indicates that there is a gender bias in access to land, even after land reforms that intended to strengthen women’s rights. The main policy recommendation is to further gender-sensitize the land certification process, strengthen women’s opportunities to cultivate their land and continue the process of securing women’s tenure rights.NORA

Tenure, forest use and policies for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+)

The objectives of the thesis is to improve our understanding of what determine differences in access to and use of land and forest resources across households, introduce new methods to analyze this, and identify policy measures that can improve management of forest resources. The decomposition method used in paper 1 is widely used in the labor market literature to explain wage differences, but it can also provide insight into why access to land differs across groups. The smaller landholdings by female-headed households’ cannot be explained by differences in household endowments and characteristics alone, but also returns to these endowments and characteristics. Such differences in indicate discrimination gender bias in access to land. In paper 2, we identify a mismatch between statutory and customary rights. Forests within village boundaries are not necessarily recognized as village lands by the state, while the village claims communal rights and also perceive their rights as secure. We find that factors internal to the village, such as low rule compliance and enforcement among households, are challenges to achieve collective action and reduce deforestation and forest degradation. In paper 3 and 4 we look at which households are more dependent on forest and why some households are more dependent than others. In paper 3 we propose a new method to classify households when studying the forest-poverty nexus. We argue that the stock of productive, human and liquid assets should be considered when assessing households’ poverty status, and that predicted income is a better measure of long-term income than the observed one-year income. We apply a two dimensional categorization of households, based on both observed and predicted incomes. The new classification changes a major conclusion in the forest-poverty literature for our case. One group stands out in terms of having both the highest forest reliance and absolute forest income, namely the stochastically rich. These asset-poor households have enjoyed a high income in the survey year, and have significantly higher forest income. These high forest-users are not classified as poor when using observed income, but are when using predicted income. While we fully realize that nothing can replace observing the same households over time, we believe a method combining observed and predicted income can be used to discuss some aspects of poverty, normally confined to analysis of poverty dynamics with long-running panel data. In paper 4, I go more into depth to look at why some households are more forest reliant. I estimate the household specific shadow wages and find a negative correlation between forest reliance and the estimated shadow wage, indicating that forests at least to some groups serve as an employer of last resort. Although forest activities are characterized by low returns, poor households have few other options for income generating activities

Forest reliance across poverty groups in Tanzania

Abstract An emerging body of knowledge has established that poorer households in forest adjacent communities in developing countries are generally more forest reliant (higher forest income share) while richer households tend to extract more and generate higher absolute forest income. These studies commonly categorize households based on observed income in cross-section data, presenting a snap-shot reflecting both inter-household and inter-annual income variation. In this paper we introduce a new approach to categorize households based on a combination of the observed one-year income and predicted income by an augmented asset approach. Applying this approach on household data from Tanzania, we find forest reliance to be high among structurally poor households (low observed income and assets). The highest forest reliance is, however, found among the stochastically non-poor households (high observed income and low assets), and this group also has the highest absolute forest income

Sosial og digital deltagelse. Skole og internett som integreringsarena for barn og unge med fysiske funksjonsnedsettelser

Vår studie viser at barn og unge med fysiske funksjonsnedsettelser er mindre sosialt aktive, har færre nære vennskap, og er mindre deltagende på sosiale medier enn jevnaldrende. Elever som går på spesialskoler eller har spesialundervisning i form av segregerte undervisningsopplegg, har en særlig risiko for lav sosial deltagelse. Samtidig vet vi at det å være en del av et fellesskap med jevnaldrende er viktig for psykisk helse, læringsevne og for å bygge nettverk som voksen

Evaluering av Los-ordningen for ungdom

Denne rapporten er en evaluering av Barne-, ungdoms- og familiedirektoratets tilskuddsordning «Støtte til oppfølgings- og losfunksjoner for ungdom». Målsettingen har vært å undersøke i hvilken grad og hvordan losfunksjonen bidrar i kommuner og bydelers arbeid med å få til tett oppfølging av ungdom som står i fare for å falle ut av ordinær skolegang, og til bedre samordning av kommunale tjenester rettet mot målgruppen. Evalueringen bygger på intervjuer med loser, deres ledere, samarbeidspartnere og ungdom, og spørreundersøkelse til loser og deres ledere i kommuner og bydeler

Tenure Issues in REDD+ Pilot Project Sites in Tanzania

REDD+ has been proposed as a viable option for addressing climate change in the near term, and at relatively low cost. There is a broad consensus that clearly defined tenure rights are important for the implementation and success of REDD+, both to manage forests effectively and to protect local communities’ livelihoods. We use primary data from 23 villages in six REDD+ pilot sites in Tanzania to identify causes of deforestation and forest degradation, and tenure rights issues, at the village level prior to project implementation. Further, interviews with project proponents and examination of project documents yields insights into how the proponents plan to address tenure issues. Most villages perceive their tenure as secure and have exclusion rights, while collective action challenges are prevalent in villages experiencing deforestation and forest degradation. These findings suggest that the main tenure issues are related to internal institutional arrangements. While we find that tenure is high on the agenda for all the project proponents, they are mainly focusing on formalization and securing tenure rights from state to community level. Though we do find this to be a precondition for reducing deforestation and degradation, some of their focus should be shifted to strengthening village institutions and enhancing internal compliance

Gender lessons for climate initiatives: A comparative study of REDD+ impacts on subjective wellbeing", World Development

Although REDD+ is primarily a mechanism for reducing carbon emissions from forests, concerns regarding social benefits, wellbeing and gender are increasingly part of its mandate. This is consistent with the Paris Declaration as well as SDG 5 on gender equality and women’s empowerment. Critics have argued, however, that REDD+ design, both in policy and projects, does not take gender into account effectively, rather marginalizing women from decision making processes and exacerbating inequalities. Most of that research has been site specific or on single countries. This article uses data from a longitudinal study of subnational REDD+ initiatives in six countries to analyze their gendered impact on perceived wellbeing. Comparative research on subjective wellbeing was conducted at 62 villages participating in 16 REDD+ initiatives and 61 control villages at two periods in time, using a before-after-control-intervention (BACI) design. Focus groups with villagers (68% male) and women (100% female) permit a gendered comparison of definitions of wellbeing and outcomes of initiatives. The results highlight that while definitions of wellbeing overlapped between the two groups, almost half of the women’s focus groups thought that having their own source of income was important. Outcomes regarding wellbeing change suggest that perceived wellbeing decreased in REDD+ villages both for villagers as a whole and for women, relative to control villages, but the decrease was much worse for women – a decrease that is significantly associated with living in a REDD+ village. These declines may be due to unrealized expectations for REDD+, combined with little attention to gender in REDD+ initiatives, in spite of an important portion (46%) of specific interventions that women view positively. These interventions provide insights into potential ways forward. Overall, however, REDD+ initiatives appear to be repeating past mistakes, with insufficient attention to gender equality and safeguarding women’s rights. More effort needs to be paid to ensuring that gender is an integral part of future initiatives to combat climate change in rural communities.The funding partners that supported this research include the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the European Union (EU), the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), the Department for International Development (UKAID), and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CRP-FTA), with financial support from the donors contributing to the CGIAR Fund