KIGEZI – In its bid to implement a project in Uganda to improve land and natural resources tenure security for rural poor smallholder farmers, the United Nations Habitat has asked for nonprofit proposals from rural civil society organizations that wish to participate in the operation.
The project will also include women, youth and vulnerable groups in select areas in West Nile and South Western Uganda.
The Global Land Tool Network, as facilitated by UN-Habitat, is an alliance of international, regional and national partners working together to “securing land and property rights for all” through the development of pro-poor and gender responsive land tools and approaches within the continuum of land rights framework. It supports the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Forests and Fisheries (VGGTs), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda.
Recently, the Global Land Tool Network has received funding from the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) to implement a Project called “Secure Access to Land and Resources (SALaR). The Project aims to improve land and natural resources tenure security for rural poor smallholder farmers, including women, youth and vulnerable groups, in Uganda, the Philippines, and Laos.
The Programme has three Outcome Statements as indicated below:
Outcome 1: Increased uptake of land tools, approaches, frameworks and policy guidelines that are pro-poor, fit-for-purpose, and gender responsive.
Outcome 2: Strengthened capacity of change agents including rural poor women, men and vulnerable groups to implement pro-poor, fit-for-purpose and gender responsive land tools and approaches.
Outcome 3: Improved awareness among stakeholders on issues and measures for improving land and natural resource tenure security for poor women, men and vulnerable groups.
The scope of work aims to implement a project in Uganda to improve land and natural resources tenure security for about 5,000 rural poor smallholder farmers, including women, youth and vulnerable groups. The interventions are focused on strengthening customary land administration in line with the Land Act and the National Land Policy.
A combination of situations or project areas is preferred. This specific project aims to customize and implement GLTN’s pro-poor and gender-sensitive land tools to improve tenure security of the smallholder farmers. As per above, the Project also aims to strengthen the capacity of change agents and influence policy changes as appropriate towards achieving the objective.
For the geographical scope, the Project aims to prioritize potential project areas in West-Nile and South Western Uganda given the inherent land issues and potential to contribute to economic growth particularly in agriculture.
West-Nile is a refugee-hosting sub-region and therefore presents some unique issues related to refugees’ situation. Kigezi region is one of the most densely populated regions of Uganda, as a result, there is high fragmentation of land. Both sub-regions are predominantly customary tenure areas.