Community Empowerment Facility Profile

BACKGROUND

Land is the single most important factor for production in Uganda and security of land tenure is a vital element. In 1998, the Government of Uganda passed the Land Act which decentralized the administration of land to the district, sub-county and parish levels. Since that time, the majority of the rural poor are still unaware of the existence of a new law, neither are they aware of the opportunities that the Act can offer, and the legal implications regarding registraton. Without secure access to land it is difficult for farmers to gain access to releated services such as credit. Moreover, without land titles, settlement of disputes becomes a long drawn out process.

Since 1992 when the Uganda National Farmers Association (UNFA) was established, its objective has been to alleviate poverty in Uganda through training and sensitization activities with farmers. Given the importance of land and its productive potential in a country where over half the population live in poverty (1992), UNFA has developed this project and negotiated to increase awareness and provide training to farmers about the Land Act so that they can demand their land rights through the appropriate legal structures. This is particularly important for women who represent over half the population.

Working in collaboration with another NGO, the Uganda Land Alliance (ULA) – concerned with advocacy and lobbying for fair land laws and in particular ensuring that the rights of the poor to land are guaranteed – International Land Coalition approved its support for the project under the Community Empowerment Facility.

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GOAL AND OBJECTIVES

Within the overall framework of poverty eradication and increased agricultural productio, the project aims to increase farmers’ awareness of the Land Act, and to train trainers to provide key information about the Act to the population. It will also help farmers understand how to ensure their rights to land by using the services of the Land Desks, set up to provide information on land law and policy, which, like other aspects of land policy and services, is not necessarily known to farmers.

Activities involve developing training materials such as manuals together with the provision of training to District Coordinators who are staff of UNFA, farmers’ leaders at the District level and Extension Link farmers at the sub-country and parish levels. The training activities will take place through farmers’ workshops organized with the participation of the Farmers’ Organizations and the Uganda Farmers’ Association all of which are affiliated to the UNFA. Nationally, activities involving training of trainers will be carried out at the sub-regional level in four different locations in the country and awareness-raising activities will be undergone in some 45 Districts selected by the project.

By working with the two nationwide umbrella organizations UNFA and ULA, the project, with a total funding of USD ….., will be able to utilize their existing technical structure through which farmers can most easily be reached. With the assistance of both UNFA and ULA who represent their interests, farmers should become familiar with issues such as basic land rights, land administration, land utilization and structures for resolving disputes over land. In teaching farmers about the Land Desks which provide basic information about land issues, they will also be told how to negotiate with, and gain access to, the Land Tribunals in cases of land disputes which were set up to be user friendly and relatively low-cost.

Between 1996 and 1998, UNFA implemented a nationwide project called Training Communication and Public Relations that trained tutors who worked with farmers in each District. As a result of the project, the membership of UNFA increased by 100, percent from 40 000 to 95 000 farm households. During the same period, the NGO also conducted a major training programme on gender issues in agricultural development. Given the successful record of UNFA in the important areas of sensitization about land and gender issues, the International Land Coalition has every confidence that significant results can be achieved over the 18 month project period (January to December 2002) in increasing farmers’ knowledge and negotiating power over the fundamental asset of land.

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WHO WILL BENEFIT?

With women providing some 70 to 80 percent of all labour in agriculture in Uganda, and 90 percent of food processing and production, women are the main focus of the project. Despite their de facto central role in agriculture and food production, women are not necessarily aware of their ownership rights. Without this knowledge, it is very difficult for them to exploit to the full the agricultural potential of their land, let alone use the asset to access credit and other services they might need to increase their incomes from enhanced productivity.

Further, raising awareness among women about land legislation is more than a human rights issue, it is also a means of overcoming a main constraint to economic development. Because of their lack of control over land, women’s contribution to agricultural production is invisible; ,qking them vulnerable to arbitrary and subjective decisions regarding returns on their labour. By providing information and training, the project aims to help women secure their rights to land and improve their level of productivity and incomes.

The project envisages a wide national coverage which will include farmers in nine Districts of Central Uganda and five Districts in the Northern Region, each District having one Coordinator who will be given full training as a trainer. Information about the project will be widely disseminated, including regular coverage in the local quarterly magazine published by UNFA, the Farmers Voice, which has a large readership of 6 000 farmers.

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CONCLUSIONS

An important aspect of this initiative involves sharing and exchanging information and experiences and in so doing increasing farmers’ knowledge and their ability to make informed decisions about land which is their principal asset and means of livelihood. UNFA will use its existing extension structure as well as Radio Listening Groups to reach farmers across the country and to discuss their experiences in detail to a wide audience. Through UNFA and ULA, farmers’ interests can also be served at the national level where UNFA and ULA are well represented. For example, 20 UNFA members are members of the national parliament. The project thus works at different levels to ensure that a fair chance is given to all to take advantage of the country’s land laws which were passed as part of a nation-wide Poverty Eradication Action Plan aiming to reduce poverty by 10 percent by 2017 by increasing the ability of the poor to raise their incomes. By working through the two influential groups representing farmers’ interests, UNFA and ULA, not only is outreach increased to farmers but the opportunity is provided to replicate similar awareness-raising on other fundamental issues both at the level of the community and among decision-makers through a process that seeks to benefit from mutual feedback.

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