By Br. John Cornel Sulle OFMCap | Executive Director
LAND RIGHTS FOR WOMEN 3RD QUARTER PROJECT REPORT OCTOBER 2024
Influencing Land Rights for women Karatu District - #57643
In rural Tanzania, particularly in Karatu District, land is a crucial asset that supports livelihoods and enables individuals and households to expand their economic opportunities. Most Tanzanians living in Karatu are farmers who obtained their land through long-standing customary norms. However, weak land rights protections and a lack of documented ownership or use rights have long been seen as a source of local disputes, a constraint to how farmers use and invest in their land, and a barrier to household economic growth. A lack of land documentation in these communities limits the participation of women and other vulnerable groups in agribusiness, and women often face higher risk of disenfranchisement of their land rights.
We still depend on our finding (Assessment of Land Ownership to Women, Karatu, TAJPI 2019) which indicates that the majority of women within villages are illiterate; unaware of any existing entitlements and lacking in sufficient assets to fight for their rights, and that their involvement in land administration institutions is limited. At the family level, daughters and women are deprived of any right to possess land either through inheritance or whatever because relatives believe they will be married to other.
As a local pioneer in fighting against violation of human rights in general and peace justice and integrity in particular TAJPI designed this initiative that aims to facilitate land formalization and acquisition of Title Deeds to 100 women from Karatu District. Since its launching, the project has achieved some milestones, regardless of financial inability we encounter. Most of the contribution we received to attain these milestone was in-kind basis.
For this quarter, we have managed to facilitate the provision of the title deeds to Odilia Joseph is the widow of Cornel Fabiano, she was born in 1937. After her husband death, land and other properties asset were under her control. This act displeased her husband’s brothers due to their traditions and customs which does not allow a woman to own land and other properties.
The brothers on her husband’s side filed a lawsuit against her in court with the aim of confiscating the title deed of those properties and land.
The A’ray Justice and Peace Initiatives (TAJPI) as a non-governmental organization that defends the rights of women and widows decides to help widow Odilia, by giving her a legal assistance on probates and administration of the estate. TAJPI successfully presented her on the court where decisions were made and gave Odilia the right to own the assets left by her husband. Now Odilia is free and able to use the land for production activities such as agriculture etc.
We would like to take this platform to ask our kind supporters to support us reach more widows so that we change their lives.
Thank you.
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