Access to land is crucial for combating discrimination. Women who are denied such access tend to be disadvantaged, a pattern that results in economic powerlessness. Tanzana is among the most undeveloped nations in the world, where gender inequalities with respect to accessing land are central problems. This study consequently aims at investigating women's access to land through customary land tenure in the Makete district in Tanzania. A case study strategy was adopted to address the research problem, whereby interviews, focus group discussions and documentary reviews were the main data collection methods. The findings indicate that the majority of women within villages are illiterate; unaware of any existing entitlements and lacking insufficient assets to fight for their rights, and that their involvement in land administration institutions is limited. At the familiy level, daughters and women are deprived of any right to possess land through inheritance because relatives believe they will be married to other families from which they will then gain access to land. This generally has been proven not to be the case. After marriage, women commonly are apportioned land strictly for crop cultivation (usufruct rights). Consequently, there are many challenges in realising women's property rights in Tanzania. These challenges include the dualisim of the property rights system: customary tenure operates alongside statutory tenure; inadequate knowledge about women's property rights by both women and men; negative attitudes towards women's influence, position, capability and reputation; outdated customs; archaic and conflicting interests in laws; and lack of legal capacity (empowerment) as to property rights. The most important tools for meeting these challenges include education and awareness campaigns that are designed to build the capacity of citizens as to the necessity of equity in access to property rights (land) using various legal tools at varying levels. Other measures include amending and repealing outdated laws, including provisons dicriminating against women's property rights and contradicting constitutional provisons and other international instruments. Other avenues are advocacy and working for behavioural chages can also be invoked by empowering individuals at all stages of life, supporting their involvement in productive activities and creating group networks, and facilitating the formation of community-based organisations as well as building capacity by mainstreaming land adminstration institutions. / <p>QC 20170315</p>

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / This research examines the ways in which the rapid commoditisation of land in Ghana’s peri-urban areas is transforming local customary tenure systems. The research focuses on two selected research sites in Ghana’s peri-urban Kumasi, namely Aburaso and Kromoase. Rapid urbanisation has resulted in an increase in demand for housing land. Consequently, wealthy migrants are moving to peri-urban areas in search of relatively affordable residential land. This has accelerated the commoditisation of customary land in most peri-urban areas of Ghana. Customary forms of tenure are increasingly being converted into individual or private systems of land ownership. Evidence from this study shows that traditional authorities are increasingly alienating customary land without the consent of their subjects. The commoditisation of customary land in Aburaso and Kromoase has resulted in the decline of agrarian production as agricultural land is parcelled out to wealthy outsiders.

A global land rush developed during the last decade, spared primiarly by the sharp rise inglobal food prices between 2007 and 2008. The inceased international food prices resulted inincreased interest from foreign actors to invest in agricultural land in developing countries inthe global south. The “global land rush” or “land grabs” is driven by the increased demandfor primarily food and biofuels. The phenomenon refers to foreign direct investment inagricultural land in developing countries that has escalated in recent years, with Sub-SaharanAfrica as the most targeted. This study examines foreign land investment in Ghana focusingon the regions of Brong-Ahafo, Ashanti and Volta through a qualitative literature study. Thepurpose of the study is to analyze to what extent these investments can be explained asneo-colonial or as development opportunities. Based on analyzing economic, political,cultural and power relations, the study concludes that all cases are in line with neo-colonialtheory according to Nkrumah. The economic effects show temporary job creation and loss oflivelihood, which indicates economic exploitation. The cultural effects include disruption oftraditional practices and loss of cultural identity, suggesting cultural imperialism. The aspectof political power shows the marginalization of local interests and political dominance. Noneof the three cases fulfills the principles of a win-win situation and therefore can't beconsidered development opportunities either. The legal frameworks in the regions prioritizeforeign actors over the rights and welfare of affected communities, leading to an unbalanceddistribution of power. The job opportunities that the projects bring often hide the long-termeffects and loss of livelihoods for the local population. In conclusion, this study contributes tothe understanding of Land Grabbing in Ghana as a neo-colonial phenomenon rather than adevelopment opportunity.

Le déferlement urbain des grandes agglomérations sur leur périphérie est remarquable au Bénin, ces dernières décennies suite à l’évolution croissante de leurs populations. Cette nouvelle dynamique spatiale amène un changement des pratiques foncières et à un étalement urbain dans presque toutes les communes périurbaines. La production foncière aujourd’hui est basée sur les règles modernes. Mais le statut des terres dans certaines de ces communes périurbaines notamment celles qui sont à forte tradition Vodoun comme Adjarra et Avrankou suscite une interrogation quant à l’influence de la production foncière urbaine sur le patrimoine socio-cultuel. L’intérêt de cette recherche porte sur la problématique de la cohabitation entre les pratiques foncières endogènes qui cherchent à se maintenir et les exigences d’un foncier moderne qui a quelques difficultés à être généralisé. Les résultats de nos recherches nous permettent de constater l’existence, non seulement d’une certaine complicité entre les deux pratiques, mais aussi parfois de tension voire de confrontation entre la tradition et la modernité. Les réalités foncières modernes ont pu investir la région d’Adjarra et d’Avrankou à forte pratique foncière coutumière à travers l’instauration d’un marché foncier résultant des faits d’immatriculation et surtout des lotissements administratifs sans cependant réussir à s’y imposer. La présence des pratiques foncières modernes dans cette région a été surtout facilitée par sa position géographique qui fait d’elle le réceptacle des déferlements urbains de Porto-Novo, engendrant un espace mi-rural, mi-périurbain voire urbain à l’ombre de cette métropole. Parallèlement, les pratiques foncières coutumières bien que résistantes face à la modernité ont connu d’énormes mutations amenant parfois à la disparition de certaines représentations foncières. Si par le passé ‘‘la terre’’ (la terre entière) et ‘‘les terres’’ (les espaces abritant les divinités) sont perçues comme sacrées, ce caractère semble être aujourd’hui réduit au profit des ‘‘terres sacrées’’ qui se sont maintenues grâce à l’existence encore de la croyance à la religion traditionnelle. Les ‘‘terres sacrées’’ n’ont pas été emportées par la pression urbaine même si leur emprise spatiale s’est fortement réduite. Au contraire, elles ont contribué à freiner à plusieurs endroits l’urbanisation dans sa course à la consommation de l’espace, créant un paysage mixte où s’interfèrent la tradition et la modernité dans le tissu urbain. Cet espace périurbain qui présente l’intérêt d’associer les influences de la modernité et de la tradition révèle à contre-courant de la pensée dominante, qu’au lieu de s’opposer, les régimes fonciers coutumiers et modernes ont tendance à s’associer pour créer une situation nouvelle. / In Benin, the urban development of large cities on the periphery is a notorious phenomenon in recent decades, due in particular to increasing their changing populations. This new spatial dynamics results in a change of land use practices and urban sprawl in almost all the suburban municipalities. The land is now producing based on modern rules. But the status of the land in some of these suburban towns, including those with strong traditions Vodoun like Adjarra and Avrankou, raises a question about the influence of urban land production on the socio-cultic heritage. The interest of this research focuses on the issue of coexistence between indigenous land practices, looking to maintain itself, and the requirements of a modern land, which has some difficulties to be generalized. The results of our research allow us to determine the existence not only of a certain complicity between the two practices but also sometimes tensions and even confrontations between tradition and modernity. Modern land realities have been able to invest Avrankou and Adjarra area, high customary land practice, through the introduction of a land market arising from registration made especially administrative subdivisions, without managing to win in this locality. The presence of modern land tenure practices in this area was mainly facilitated by its geographical position, which makes it the receptacle of urban Porto Novo surges , resulting in a half countryside , half suburban (or urban ) next to this metropolis. Meanwhile, customary land tenure practices, although resistant face of modernity, experienced enormous changes, sometimes leading to the disappearance of certain land representations. While in the past, '' land '' (whole earth) and '' lands '' (space housing the gods) are perceived as sacred, this character seems now reduced in favor only "sacred lands", which are maintained thanks to the existence still of the belief in traditional religion. The "sacred lands" were not swept away by urban pressure, even if their spatial extent is strongly affected. Instead, they helped to slow, in many places, urbanization in its race to the consumption of space, creating a mixed landscape with interfering in the urban fabric tradition and modernity. This suburban area, which has the benefit of combining the influences of modernity and tradition, reveals, against the grain of mainstream thinking, instead of opposing, customary and modern land tenure systems tend to combine, creating a new situation.