Gender-responsive good practices in documenting customary and statutory land in Mozambique

Abstract

Sustainable growth and development in Africa will continue to depend mainly on how land and land-related resources are secured, used, and managed, which is extremely important for the socio-economic development of women and men. Equitable land rights support the eradication of poverty, increase food security, and respond to climate change. However, women's land rights are strongly gendered across many regions of the globe, especially in Africa, where access to and control over land and productive resources is affected by customary norms, usually discriminatory against women. Additionally, women face legal and institutional constraints to access and protect their land. These barriers place women in a fragile position and constitute a social rights problem and a severe violation of human rights. Recognizing the need to change this scenario, countries engaged in reforms to comply with international best practices and promote equitable access, secure tenure, and sustainable use of land and its natural resources for all. This paper focuses on Mozambique's legal reform and institutional capacity-building efforts, with special attention to social institutions, in order to promote equitable land rights and enhance land tenure security. It is based on specific practices in documenting customary and statutory access, control, and ownership of land, considering both the ongoing legal reform and the systematic land registration program the country has been promoting over the past decade. This paper intends to document these efforts and good practices so that they can be used as a reference and others can benefit from them.

Keywords

• Access to land
• Gender equality
• land tenure security
• Mozambique
• FFPLA