Statement by the Executive Director
Uganda Land Alliance (ULA)
Rita Aciro Lakor

I would like to share our experiences in lobbying and advocacy for fair land laws. Uganda Land Alliance is a NGO established in 1995 and we advocate and lobby for fair land laws for the poor women, men and children. Our main objective is to increase the awareness of land rights of the poor and their obligations. We also advocate for fair land law and policies for the protection and promotion of land rights of the poor. We also provide effective participation of Land Alliance members and we efficiently and effectively manage the implementation of the programme. I would just like to give a brief on Uganda .

Uganda is a country with a population of almost 24 million. 51.7% female, 49.3% males, 80% live in the rural areas and depend on agriculture. Women contribute 80% of the agriculture products. Only 13% of women in Uganda own titled land. Because of the AIDS scourge, Uganda is one of those countries with very prevalence of AIDS in the world. ULA is now considering looking at the effects of HIV/ AIDS on the land rights of the poor. Studies conducted by stakeholders have shown that when spouses discover that they are HIV positive, they begin selling the land at the expense of their families' members. A challenges that the Alliance is facing in addressing the land rights of the poor.

ULA experience in advocating for fair land laws in Uganda .

ULA was established at a time when Uganda was going through a law reform process of enacting the land Act. ULA was formed when a number of civil society organizations, local and international, realized that the voices of the poor and the marginalized were not included in the draft land law. The formation of ULA was basically to get the views of the poor included in the Land Act.

What did the Uganda Land Alliance do?

As you may all be aware, in order to back up your lobbying and advocacy, the first thing that Uganda Land Alliance had to do was carry out research of the land situation in Uganda . Then went ahead and consulted the people on the draft land law. They made their input and ULA took that up on their behalf and presented it to legislators for inclusion in the land Act. One of the things we realized in lobbying and advocacy we assumed that the legislators knew what they are supposed to be doing, in actual fact many of them did not know. So most of them relied on the information provided by ULA on land the situation in Uganda and that is what they went by.

Lumumba had correctly alluded that ULA is known for the co-ownership clause there are a number of recommendations that were made as ULA from the studies that were conducted and the recommendations ULA got from the communities. One of them is the inclusion of the communal tenure systems in the land act. In Uganda communal ownership is one of the tenure systems and that was one of our major contributions included in the land act as a system of land ownership in Uganda . We also proposed to the legislators then that women should comprise a third of the land committees which was included in the land Act.

Although we lost the co-ownership in 1998, and Lumumba has rightly put it, the majority of the legislators were men and I am sure that at that time they were wearing their hats as men and imagining themselves sharing the property with their wives. Although it had been agreed, it was technically left out at the last minute. ULA did not give up the fight and continued with the advocacy and in 2004 the land act was amended and it now includes security for occupancy for family land rights. One of the things that we also experienced during our lobbying and advocacy is that you have to be very clear about your target group. You need to know who is the primary target, and secondary target. Who is the decision-maker in this type of decision making? Some of the strategies included were public dialogue with the legislators and executives, lobby meetings, media campaigns, workshops, drama. I would like to say that, despite all this, there are a number of challenges to be faced in lobbying and advocacy. One of these is that Lands being a member organization of over 40 organizations and 17 individuals, it is not always easy to build consensus. One of the major challenges faced at that time was backlash. At times when you are achieving something people draw back, especially when it came to co-ownership of property by Spouses.

Political interference also took a role in the lobby and advocacy for the land rights of the poor and the marginalized. Due to the different views and interests, many times different forces including political ones tend be to used to divide the consortium. The most difficult thing that we experienced was keeping the momentum. You have all the strategies in place, you meet the legislators, you go and meet people in individually, you have all sorts of meetings in place, but keeping that momentum until the law is in place is quite a big challenge. Ladies and Gentlemen that is what I can say about some of our experiences on lobby and advocay; there are quite a lot which we hope to share with you during our two days here. Thank you very much.