Land is a highly important and contested resource in developing countries, and despite measures taken to ensure gender equality in land-ownership, women experience more land-related conflicts than men. The purpose of this paper is to explore women's experiences of land-related conflicts in the context of the Land Tenure Reform Program in Rwanda. Theoretically, a bargaining approach to land conflicts guides the understanding of the findings and their analysis. Empirical data are mainly collected from 480 women in the Musanze District, using survey interviews, semi-structured interviews and Focus Group Discussions. Findings indicate that only a small number of women reported having encountered land conflicts, which may be related to the culture of not exposing family issues to the public. Land conflicts that women face are mostly related to inheritance, polygamy and the daily management of land and its produce. Women reported that challenges such as lack of legal knowledge, as well as rejection of their claims by their husbands, families and community affect their willingness to pursue claims for their rights. The challenges that women are confronted with while claiming their rights are mainly influenced by the power structure that are based on male supremacy. Consequently, reforms aiming at strengthening women's land rights must be based on a good understanding of social and cultural norms.
More than one billion people are affected by neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) and many of these diseases are preventable. While the grouping of these conditions as NTDs has generated vast mapping, mass drug administration and surveillance programmes, there is growing evidence of gaps and weaknesses in purely biomedical approaches, and the need for responses that also recognise the social determinants of health. In order to unpack the social and political determinants of NTDs, it is important to view the problem from a social science perspective. Given this background, the Social Sciences for Severe Stigmatizing Skin Diseases (5S) Foundation has recently been established by the Centre for Global Health Research at Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The broad aim of the 5S Foundation is to incorporate social science perspectives in understanding and addressing the problems around three NTDs, namely, podoconiosis, mycetoma and scabies. This protocol paper sets out the aims and approaches of the 5S Foundation while activities such as research, public engagement, training and capacity building get underway.
During the post-genocide period, the Government of Rwanda embarked on a land tenure reform programme that culminated in a land registration and titling process in 2009. This paper intends to capture women's experiences in relation to this programme. The empirical data were collected in Musanze District using a household survey, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions. The main findings reveal that there is support of the general idea that women should benefit from the land tenure reform in Rwanda. However, there is some criticism towards parts of the land laws, and women have limited actual knowledge about land-related laws. With land titles, women mostly have a say on the land use decisions requiring each of the spounses' legal consents but not on the daily management of land and its produce. Finally, the paper reports the persistence of social norms and culturally biased gender ideologies affecting the effective implementation of land-related laws and policies. Therefore, the paper underscores the need to build the implementation of new laws and policies on a good understanding of customary practices to strengthen women's land rights in Rwanda.
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