Does the Canadian government support women's rights to land in sub-Saharan Africa?

ABSTRACT

Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) commits Canada to promote the land rights of women, and to provide at least 50 per cent of bilateral funding to sub-Saharan African countries by 2021. This article seeks to answer the question: What is the Government of Canada (GAC) currently doing to strengthen women's land rights in Africa? We identified GAC-funded projects which include components to support women's rights to land in Angola, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda, South Africa, and Tanzania. However, not all of these have yet implemented land rights-related activities.

RÉSUMÉ

La Politique d’aide internationale féministe du Canada engage le Canada à promouvoir les droits fonciers des femmes, et à offrir au moins 50 pour cent du financement bilatéral aux pays d’Afrique Sub-Saharienne avant 2021. Le but de cet article est de répondre à la question suivante: Quelles mesures ont été prises par le Gouvernement du Canada pour soutenir les droits fonciers des femmes en Afrique? Nous identifions les projets financés par le Gouvernement du Canada, et qui incluent des formes de soutien aux droits des femmes en Angola, au Cameroun, en Éthiopie, au Ghana, au Nigeria, en Uganda, en Afrique du Sud et en Tanzanie. Cependant, tous ces pays n’ont pas encore pris des mesures actives en lien avec les droits fonciers.

KEYWORDS:

• Land rights
• gender
• women's rights
• Canadian ODA
• Feminist International Assistance Policy

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank all those who participated in the research interviews, as well as CELADA Board members for their comments and support. Thanks also to Snit Abrha, Sophie Furtado, and Lindsay Kuch for their contributions to the research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 The project browser is available at https://w05.international.gc.ca/projectbrowser-banqueprojets/?Lang=eng.

2 The interviews were conducted under uOttawa ethics certificate # S-02-22-7776.

3 The identifies of those interviewed are being kept confidential as per research ethics guidelines.

4 These are “Equal Spaces: Social Housing to End Spatial Apartheid in South Africa” implemented by Rooftops Canada, 2016–2020; and The Cooperative Model: Building Inclusive and Sustainable Communities in Côte d’Ivoire Senegal and Ghana, implemented by Cooperation Canada (formerly Canadian Cooperation Society for International Development, 2018–2024). Online resources about these projects do not mention land rights.

5 The only other mention of land rights programming is in relation to the Inclusive Democratic Development in Burma/Myanmar project. None of the projects in SSA identified here are mentioned.

6 The authors were unable to access information on the amount of funding provided.

Additional information

Funding

This report has been funded through the Research Support Programme of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa.

Notes on contributors

Chris Huggins

Chris Huggins’ research focuses on agricultural development, rural livelihoods, and natural resource management in Africa; particularly in post-conflict situations. He has consulted for major UN agencies and international non-governmental organizations, worked with Human Rights Watch, and was for several years a Research Fellow at the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS), Nairobi. He has a PhD in Geography (specialization in political economy) from Carleton University, Ottawa; and a Master's Degree in Environmental Studies from Strathclyde University in the UK. He is co-editor of two multi-volume books, guest-edited a special collection of Third World Thematics (on artisanal mining in Africa) and has published several journal articles in high-impact journals. His book, Agricultural Reform in Rwanda: Authoritarianism, Markets and Zones of Governance was published by Zed Books in 2017.

Ogochukwu Udenigwe

Ogochukwu Udenigwe is a global health researcher and doctoral candidate in International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests are in maternal health inequities, gender and inclusion, knowledge use, and health policy. Her research also focuses on knowledge practices in the development and implementation of global maternal health policies. Ogochukwu works as a research assistant with the Coalition for Equitable Land Acquisitions and Development in Africa where she addresses the role of Canada's Feminist International Assistance Policy in enhancing women's rights to land in sub-Saharan Africa. She also serves as a guest editor for Reproductive Health's special issue on digital health equity.