Gendered tenurial niches and access to the informal irrigation in - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Gendered tenurial niches and access to the informal irrigation in the Kandeu area of Malawi: Policy Implications for SDGs attainment in Africa

Everisto Mapedza Senior Researcher, IWMI, Ghana. Presented at the Stockholm World Water Week (SWWW), 25-30 August 2019

Organization

• Introduction
• Study Area
• Methods
• Findings
• Conclusion

Introduction

• “Tenure is not about land, it is about people (men,

women and youths). It is about land only as far as land can serve the needs of people (men, women and youths)” (à la Westoby 1967)

Study Area

• Kaziputa Irrigation Scheme (Kandeu EPA)
• 75 irrigators (22 men and 53 women)
• Clubs: Gobeke, Chikamba, Chimwalira, Namichimba and Lithethe
• Ntcheu District in Malawi
• Central Region
• 155-184 people/km²
• 70-90% poverty levels – 52% at national level

Methods

Research Findings

• Matrilineal and matri-local society (75-80%)– Ngoni (70%)! –

customary recognition of women land ownership

• Land inherited through women
• Tenure – tenurial niches (Fortmann 1992; 1996 – going beyond De

Soto security of tenure through titling

• Avoid binary of male and female ownership – gradient from female to

male – multiple stories “I was given a piece of land by my grandparents from my father’s side since I had come to stay with my father after I separated with my wife long ago”

Research Findings (cont’d)

• Land and Water – nexus – right to use water is linked

to land ownership

• Paradox of land ownership - not translating into control
• f benefits
• Women in matrilineal ‘better than’ patrilineal – land
• wnership

Research Findings (cont’d)

• Governance – WUA – male decision making

i. Rule making ii. Rule enforcement iii. Rule compliance iv. Rule adjudication v. Accountability mechanisms

• Markets – gender roles – ‘its not safe for women to travel overnight across the

mountain range to the market’ – land tenure within the broader cultural spectrum

• Men are involved in marketing – some say prices were ‘not good’ most of the time

Research Findings (cont’d)

• Divorce your husband – torch (gendered access and

control over land)

• Role of uncles in decision making – men in key

decision making

Whose Labour?

Conclusion

• Land and water nexus – gendered tenure needs to be

strengthened

• Move away from the binary – gradient
• Centrality of legal and customary land-water nexus tenure
• WUA representation ‘I participate. You participate. He
• participates. She participate. We participate. They rule’

Thank You, Merci, Tatenda, Medase

Acknowledging the support of the study partner communities in Malawi