Women in Traditional Authority (T/A) Kasumbu in Dedza District are expected to get customary land easily following a training that has equipped them with knowledge to access legal registration, among other interventions.
The training, run with support from Women’s Legal Resources Centre (Wolrec), focused on how women and girls can demand accountability from duty-bearers on customary land allocation and registration.
Land clerk Allod Mayendayenda from T/A Kasumbu said the area recorded 35 disputes over customary land ownership this year.
| Brian Chigumula
He said 75 percent of the land cases involve women and orphans in conflict with men.
“These issues have a great impact on women and orphans as they get traumatised,” said Mayendayenda.
He said his office is doing its best to challenge negative cultural beliefs and practices that prevent women from owning land.
Senior Chief Kasumbu commended Wolrec and We Effect for implementing the project in his area, saying it will complement already established strategies to address customary land disputes.
He emphasised the importance of women owning and registering customary land, saying it is key to driving economic growth for their families.
“I am sending a strong warning to my junior chiefs to make sure women’s land rights are respected in their particular areas,” said Kasumbu.
One of the participants, Flora Temetsani from group village head Thundu, said the project has come at the right time.
“Women also need land just us men. We are practising commercial farming these days; hence, the need to own land,” she said.
Temetsani said registering land remains the only legal way to prevent land grabbing.
The women’s land rights intervention is expected to improve food security, strengthen land tenure security and enhance the agency and socio-economic well-being of marginalised women in the district.
