As seen on All Africa

LAND rights education has empowered women in the central zone where land ownership for them has been a far cry.

In various interviews with 'Daily News' on Wednesday evening on the sidelines of their meeting in Dar es Salaam” women from various parts of Dodoma” Singida and Tabora regions said they were in the past wallowing in poverty due to lack of land ownership.

One of them” Grace Bbayu (36)” a resident of Mvumi village in Dodoma” told the 'Daily News' that she lost her husband in 2002 and took it as one of the worst blows in her life.

She said just as she was reeling from her partner's loss” she had her property confiscated by in-laws” leading to many months during which she was almost driven to a point of despair.

But she said a moment of hope came when a neighbour” who had attended training on women's rights through a local non-governmental organization” told her to visit one of their offices. She said she went to the Women Wake Up (WOWAP) NGO” a voluntary NGO and non-profit organization” which has a paralegal unit that gives legal help for such cases.

She said many more widows were initially wallowing in poverty and became destitute as they had for a long time been culturally prohibited from inheriting land – a critical factor of production and source of wealth.

Fatuma Ali said there were many instances where women” having lost their husbands in the 1980s and 1990s were subsequently exposed to confiscation of property” including land” by their in-laws” leaving them to kind people's mercy.

“In many of our traditional settings” we were basically labourers who were not expected to lay any claim to property rights. In the long term” as it has shown for many of us” the woman suffered marginalization”” she said while resting her small frame on the table.

“Interestingly”” she added” “land activity was largely our preserve” the womenfolk” yet the rights to it were none of our business”” she said.

Burton Mwidowe (40)” one of the beneficiaries of the training and now a trainer of trainers at Mvumi” said the programme funded by the Foundation for Civil Society had largely helped his communities interpret the Land Act of 1999.

“People were engrossed in land conflicts” but after getting education about land laws conflicts were easily solved because people got to know that in some cases” they were confiscating people's land believing that they were entitled to it”” he said.

“People came to learn that if they are in a legal marriage” their rights are clear-cut”” he said. WOWAP's main aim is to educate the whole society at large on the aspects of human rights” women rights and children rights.

“The training offered to us by WOWAP has opened our eyes”” said one of the trainees. In fact” Chinangali II village executive officer has reported that a number of people have come to ask for customary marriage registration certificates.

Original Article – Tanzania: Education On Land Rights Empowers Women