Central Africa

Beyond the Hype? The Response to Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2011 and 2014

Citation:

Hilhorst, Dorothea, and Nynke Douma. 2018. “Beyond the Hype? The Response to Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2011 and 2014.” Disasters 42 (1): 79-98.

Authors: Dorothea Hilhorst, Nynke Douma

Abstract:

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has witnessed a high prevalence of sexual violence since the wars of the mid-1990s. The huge response to it commenced around the turn of the century, but turned to ‘hype’ towards 2010. The paper defines ‘hypes’ as phenomena characterised by a media frenzy, eagerness by non-governmental organisations, and pragmatic local responses. Interviews and analyses conducted in 2011 revealed misuse of services and misrepresentation at different levels. The paper goes on to review medical and legal assistance and to provide evidence of incremental improvements in the response since 2012. It has become better coordinated, with more engagement by the DRC government, more community-oriented, and has incorporated a broader notion of gender-based violence. Nonetheless, concern remains about its impact and its continued dependence on international resources. There is apprehension too about social reactions to the problems of corruption and impunity, seemingly adding to the confusion surrounding gender relations in the country.

Keywords: development hype, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), fight against impunity, Gender, sexual violence

Topics: Armed Conflict, Corruption, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Media, Governance, Justice, Impunity, NGOs, Sexual Violence Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2018

Situating Agency, Embodied Practices and Norm Implementation in Peacekeeping Training

Citation:

Holmes, Georgina. 2019. "Situating Agency, Embodied Practices and Norm Implementation in Peacekeeping Training." International Peacekeeping 26 (1): 55-84.

Author: Georgina Holmes

Abstract:

Applying a Bourdieusian feminist practice theory approach to the study of norm implementation, this article introduces a fourth level of analysis, the embodied subject who is expected to be governed by peacekeeping norms. It does so by examining the training experiences of Rwandan tactical-level female military peacekeepers deployed in mix-gender contingents to UNAMID. It is argued that the pre-deployment training space is a field of norm contestation and negotiation, wherein gendered peacekeeper subject positions and gendered peacekeeping labouring practices are constructed and performed. The research findings suggest that by partially complying with the UN’s gender mainstreaming norms, the Rwanda Defence Force strengthens the military’s gender protection norms and establishes the sexual division of labour of the mission area. Trained to perform a scripted Rwandan female subject position, some women find they are not adequately prepared for the more challenging situations they find themselves in when working in multi-dimensional peacekeeping operations and devise alternative, informal training practices to better equip themselves prior to deployment. The case study draws on 65 depth-interviews with Rwandan military personnel, trainers and external consultants and non-participatory observations of field exercises.

Keywords: peacekeeping, Gender, pre-deployment training, norms, international practice theory

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gender Mainstreaming, Livelihoods, Peacekeeping Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2019

"Catch-22": The Role of Development Institutions in Promoting Gender Equality in Land Law - Lessons Learned in Post-Conflict Pluralist Africa

Citation:

Kapur, Amrita. 2011. "'Catch-22': The Role of Development Institutions in Promoting Gender Equality in Land Law– Lessons Learned in Post-Conflict Pluralist Africa." Buffalo Human Rights Law Review 17: 75-116.

Author: Amrita Kapur

Abstract:

This article explores the contours of development policies as they have been applied to pluralistic legal systems, with a specific focus on their effects on women in post-conflict African countries. Drawing on research that firmly establishes the importance of women's social, economic and political participation in post-conflict development, it identifies the flaws in gender-neutral land titling initiatives introduced and encouraged by development institutions. It then describes the gender-sensitive laws enacted as a response to continuing gender discriminatory practices in Rwanda, Mozambique and Uganda. While taking into account the existence of customary law, these laws explicitly affirm women's rights with respect to land, property and inheritance.

However, the central government's reliance on local informal governance structures to apply and enforce these laws creates a "Catch-22" situation, whereby the local elites with the power to enforce the law are precisely the people who continue to apply gender-discriminatory customary norms, particularly with respect to land rights. The experiences of the three progressive societies mentioned above are analyzed to provide insight into how statutory and customary systems can develop from divergent conflicting legal orders into a more synthesized union of laws which protects women's land rights and is universally enforced.

Topics: Development, Conflict, Gender, Women, Governance, Post-Conflict, Political Participation, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Mozambique, Rwanda, Uganda

Year: 2011

Gender and Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining: Implications for Formalization

Citation:

Buss, Doris, Blair Rutherford, Jennifer Stewart, Gisèle Eva Côté, Abby Sebina-Zziwa, Richard Kibombo, Jennifer Hinton, and Joanne Lebert. 2019. “Gender and Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining: Implications for Formalization.” The Extractive Industries and Society 6 (4): 1101-12.

Authors: Doris Buss, Blair Rutherford, Jennifer Stewart, Gisèle Eva Côté, Abby Sebina-Zziwa, Richard Kibombo, Jennifer Hinton, Joanne Lebert

Abstract:

This paper explores the gendered contexts of artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa, and traces how women are likely to be excluded from current policy pushes to formally regulate the sector. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative research results from six artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sites, two in each of Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda, the paper traces how the gendered organization of mining roles, when viewed in relation to women’s disproportionate household and care work, and the gendered norms around what women should do, devalues and delimits women’s mining work. The result, we argue, is that most women will be unlikely to access mining licenses or join and effectively participate in decision-making in miners’ associations/cooperatives. Seemingly neutral interventions like licenses or grouping miners into cooperatives may thus incorporate while normalizing existing gendered exclusions. The paper argues for a recalibration of ASM formalization to ensure that gender is placed at the centre of design and implementation.

Keywords: Gender, ASM, formalization, social reproduction

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda

Year: 2019

Gendered Livelihoods in the Artisanal Mining Sector in the Great Lakes Region

Citation:

Stewart, Jennifer, Richard Kibombo, and L. Pauline Rankin. 2020. "Gendered Livelihoods in the Artisanal Mining sector in the Great Lakes Region." Canadian Journal of African Studies/Revue canadienne des études africaines 54 (1): 37-56.

Authors: Jennifer Stewart, Richard Kibombo, L. Pauline Rankin

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT
Using data collected from a survey administered at seven mine sites in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Rwanda, this paper examines differences in the livelihoods and economic well-being of women and men involved in artisanal and small-scale mining. To provide a deeper context, the results from the survey are combined with findings from other methodological approaches. The results provide evidence that men have more experience in the mining sector and that men earn more both at mine sites and at activities not conducted at mine sites. The evidence also highlights the need for research on the artisanal mining sector to be gender sensitive, to yield policies that improve the economic well-being of all those reliant on the sector.
 
FRENCH ABSTRACT:
En utilisant les données receuiillies dans le cadre d’une enquête conduite sur sept sites miniers en Ouganda, en République démocratique du Congo et au Rwanda, cet article examine les différences dans les moyens de subsistance et le bien-être économique des femmes et des hommes impliqués dans l’exploitation minière artisanale et à petite échelle. Afin de fournir un contexte plus approfondi, les résultats de l’enquête sont combinés avec les résultats obtenus grâce à d’autres approches méthodologiques. Les résultats montrent que les hommes ont plus d’expérience dans le secteur minier et qu’ils gagnent plus d’argent à la fois sur les sites miniers et dans les activités qu’ils n’y ont pas menées. Les résultats soulignent également la nécessité pour la recherche sur le secteur de l’exploitation minière artisanale d’être sensibilisée au genre en vue de l’élaboration de politiques d’amélioration du bien-être économique de tous ceux qui dépendent de ce secteur.

Keywords: Gender, livelihoods, work, economic well-being, artisanal small-scale mining, exploitation minière artisanale et à petite échelle, genre, moyens de subsistance, travail, bien-être économique

Topics: Extractive Industries, Gender, Women, Men, Gender Analysis, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda

Year: 2020

Land Tenure Dynamics in East Africa : Changing Practices and Rights to Land

Citation:

Otto, Opira, Aida Isinika, and Herman Musahara. 2019. Land Tenure Dynamics in East Africa : Changing Practices and Rights to Land. Current African Issues 65.

Authors: Opira Otto, Aida Isinika, Herman Musahara

Abstract:

Agriculture remains the main source of livelihood for most rural people in East Africa. Farming is dominated by smallholders, of whom the majority are women. Their tenure and access to land is important for reducing rural poverty, enhancing food security and stimulating agricultural development. Secure tenure represents one of the most critical challenges to the development of sustainable agriculture in the region. In an effort to understand the land question and its variation across the region, this book analyses the land reforms, their context and dynamics. The book presents recent studies on the dynamics of land tenure and land tenure reforms in East Africa with a focus on Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda. By selecting these five countries, the book is able to show the changing practices and variations in the land tenure dynamics and explain how they relate to historical and more contemporary issues. The chapters are written by researchers, policy makers and activists with a diverse background and experience/expertise in relation to the land question. Their contributions offer a multiperspective basis for critical rethinking and reflection on the future of the land question in East Africa. 

Keywords: land tenure, land ownership, land acquisition, farmers, women's rights, agricultural development, urbanization, East Africa

Annotation:

Table of Contents:
Preface

Kjell Havnevik
 
1. Introduction

Opira Otto
 
2. When customary land tenure meets land markets : Sustainability of customary land tenure in Tanzania

Aida C. Isinika, Yefred Myenzi and Elibariki Msuya
 
3. Securing peasants’ land rights through dispossession of the landed rich in Uganda

Fredrick Kisekka-Ntale
 
4. Land matters in South Sudan

Ole Frahm
 
5. Effects of large-scale land acquisitions by local elites on small-holder farmers’ access in Tanzania

Hosea Mpogol
 
6. From male to joint land ownership: The effect on women’s possibilities of using land titles as collateral in Rwanda

Jeannette Bayisenge
 
7. The benefits for women from land commodification – a critical reflection

Mary Ssonko Nabacwa
 
8. Is agriculture a generational problem?: The dynamics of youth engagement in agriculture in northern Uganda

David Ross Olanya
 
9. Legal pluralism and urban poverty in peri-urban Kisumu, Kenya

Leah Onyango
 
10. Crossroads at the Rural–Urban Interface : The Dilemma of Tenure Types and Land Use Controls in Housing provision and Urban Development in Kenyan Cities

Jack Abuya
 
11. Our Inheritance: Impacts of Land Distribution on Geita Communities in Tanzania

Godfrey T. Walalaze
 
12. Land use consolidation and water use in Rwanda: Qualitative reflections on environmental sustainability and inclusion

Theophile Niyonzima, Birasa Nyamulinda, Claude Bizimana and Herman Musahara
 

Topics: Agriculture, Economies, Poverty, Environment, Gender, Women, Land Tenure, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda

Year: 2019

Gender, Land Tenure and Agrarian Production Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa

Citation:

Tsikata, Dzodzi. 2016. “Gender, Land Tenure and Agrarian Production Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy 5 (1): 1–19.

Author: Dzodzi Tsikata

Abstract:

This article examines in historical perspective how gendered land tenure systems have contributed to shaping, and have in turn been shaped by, agrarian production and reproduction systems and how this has worked to the disadvantage of women in terms of their livelihood choices and outcomes and their position in agrarian societies. It is argued that contemporary challenges to the health of Africa’s agrarian production systems have gender implications which are not sufficiently recognized, either in the literature or in policymaking. This stems from the fact that the complexities of women’s positions and contributions to agrarian production and reproduction, since before the colonial period, are often not recognized and, therefore, their influence on longterm processes, such as capital accumulation and proletarianization of rural life, are not accounted for. The article provides a framing of the linkages between gendered land tenure and changing agrarian production and reproduction systems and examines two contemporary land tenure issues which illustrate the impacts of gender biases in land and agrarian policies.

Keywords: gender relations, land tenure, agrarian production systems, reproduction, policies, Africa

Annotation:

Topics: Agriculture, Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Livelihoods, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, Southern Africa, West Africa

Year: 2016

Institutional, Economic and Socio-Cultural Factors Accounting for Gender-based Inequalities in Land Title Procurement in Cameroon

Citation:

Njoh, Ambe J., Liora Bigon, Erick O.Ananga and Richard A. Ayuk-Etang. 2018. "Institutional, Economic and Socio-Cultural Factors Accounting for Gender-based Inequalities in Land Title Procurement in Cameroon." Land Use Policy 78: 116-25.

Authors: Ambe J. Njoh, Liora Bigon, Erick O.Ananga, Richard A. Ayuk-Etang

Abstract:

The study identifies and analyzes factors causing women to procure fewer land titles than men in Cameroon. It employs a qualitative approach, and an analytical framework grounded in feminist thought. The identified factors are analyzed under five broad categories as follows: institutional impediments, indigenous culture, received culture, productive and reproductive roles of women, and economic constraints. The analysis ends with a number of policy recommendations prominent among which are the following: drastically reducing the cost, number of agencies and steps involved in the land title application process; employing informal channels of communication to disseminate information on land; and maintaining office hours that take into account the tight schedules of women. The study holds lessons for land reform initiatives not only in Cameroon but other developing countries in general.

Keywords: Cameroon, gender- based inequality, land law, land titling, land policy, land tenure formalization

Topics: Gender, Gender Roles, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Indigenous, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Cameroon

Year: 2018

An Equal Right to Inherit? Women’s Land Rights, Customary Law and Constitutional Reform in Tanzania

Citation:

Dancer, Helen. 2017. “An Equal Right to Inherit? Women’s Land Rights, Customary Law and Constitutional Reform in Tanzania.” Social & Legal Studies 26 (3): 291–310.

Author: Helen Dancer

Abstract:

This article explores contemporary contestations surrounding women’s inheritance of land in Africa. Legal activism has gained momentum, both in agendas for law reform and in test case litigation, which reached the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women in ES and SC v. United Republic of Tanzania. Comparing the approach of Tanzania to that of its neighbours, Uganda, Kenya and Rwanda, this article explores patterns of resistance and omission towards enshrining an equal right to inherit in land and succession laws. It identifies two main reasons: neoliberal drivers for land law reform of the 1990s and sociopolitical sensitivity surrounding inheritance of land. It argues that a progressive approach to constitutional and law reform on women’s land rights requires understanding of the realities of claims to family land based on kinship relations. It calls for a holistic approach to land, marriage and inheritance law reform underpinned with constitutional rights to equality and progressive interpretations of living customary law.

Keywords: Africa, CEDAW, Constitution, customary law, Gender, inheritance, land, Tanzania, women

Annotation:

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Rights, Land Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda

Year: 2017

Women, Land and Empowerment in Rwanda

Citation:

Abbott, Pamela, Roger Mugisha and Roger Sapsford. 2018. “Women, Land and Empowerment in Rwanda.” Journal of International Development 30: 1006–22.

Authors: Pamela Abbott, Roger Mugisha, Roger Sapsford

Abstract:

Rwanda has recently registered all legal owners of land and has required spouses to be registered as co-owners of joint property; this is aimed at contributing to the empowerment of women, among many other things. A 2015 survey explored the impact of law and official practice on women’s empowerment—whether they knew their rights and whether they could claim them. The conclusion is that there has indeed been some impact. The problems of women’s subordination remain, however, given patriarchal attitudes, unequally shared decision-making and a tension between Rwanda’s espousal of the rule of law on the one hand and the principle of dialogue and consensus on the other. Moreover, the position of a substantial proportion of women in unregistered domestic partnerships has not changed.

Keywords: Land Tenure Regularisation, inheritance, women's empowerment, Rwanda, patriarchy, consensus governance

Annotation:

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Rights, Land Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2018

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