Women, Awareness and Land Conflicts: Evidence from Makete Tanzania

This paper examines the awareness and information access linkages that could be improved to enhance women access to appropriate conflict resolution mechanisms in rural Tanzania. The awareness and access to information indices were constructed and combined with women satisfaction levels based on survey data from 112 women in Makete district. The results suggest that public awareness programmes have the potentials to increasing knowledge on conflict resolution options available to women and enhances the chances that they would report land cases to relevant authorities. Furthermore, the mismatch between land right information delivery through public meetings and village leaders and the need to reduce land conflict in rural areas have caused women to report cases to irrelevant authorities. There is therefore a need for Government, NGOs and international donor community to empower local land tribunals in terms of their capacity to deliver public awareness education among rural communities

Land Resource Conflicts in Tanzania: Is there a way out?

The nature of land resource conflict and potential resolution mechanisms has been pervasive in many communities in Tanzania.  Based on practices among professionals working in the land and land related sectors i.e. fisheries and forest resources, this study suggests that since many conflicts emanate from farmers or pastoralists intersection with either farmland or conservation areas i.e. forests, game parks or/and natural ecosystems, these spatial units need to be delineated with proper community participation. Haphazard attempt to exclude one resource user from the other have often turned futile due to corruption and detection inability within government authorities.  Local communities seem to argue for reducing these conservation areas in favour of expanded agriculture and/or grazing land.  It seems however, there is no recipe for land resource conflicts resolution in Tanzania, the cost and benefit of the different approaches need to be evaluated before one can adopt any

Women, Awareness and Land Conflicts: Evidence from Makete Tanzania

This paper examines the awareness and information access linkages that could be improved to enhance women access to appropriate conflict resolution mechanisms in rural Tanzania. The awareness and access to information indices were constructed and combined with women satisfaction levels based on survey data from 112 women in Makete district. The results suggest that public awareness programmes have the potentials to increasing knowledge on conflict resolution options available to women and enhances the chances that they would report land cases to relevant authorities. Furthermore, the mismatch between land right information delivery through public meetings and village leaders and the need to reduce land conflict in rural areas have caused women to report cases to irrelevant authorities. There is therefore a need for Government, NGOs and international donor community to empower local land tribunals in terms of their capacity to deliver public awareness education among rural communities

Land Resource Conflicts in Tanzania: Is there a way out?

The nature of land resource conflict and potential resolution mechanisms has been pervasive in many communities in Tanzania. Based on practices among professionals working in the land and land related sectors i.e. fisheries and forest resources, this study suggests that since many conflicts emanate from farmers or pastoralists intersection with either farmland or conservation areas i.e. forests, game parks or/and natural ecosystems, these spatial units need to be delineated with proper community participation. Haphazard attempt to exclude one resource user from the other have often turned futile due to corruption and detection inability within government authorities. Local communities seem to argue for reducing these conservation areas in favour of expanded agriculture and/or grazing land. It seems however, there is no recipe for land resource conflicts resolution in Tanzania, the cost and benefit of the different approaches need to be evaluated before one can adopt any