Between October 2014 and October 2015, Radio Ishingiro with the support of USAID
Land Project implemented a Communications Campaign focused on influencing the
attitudes and mindsets of men and boys about gender-equal land rights to overcome

Before 1999, land rights in Rwanda were governed by three regimes: customary
(traditional) law, colonial laws still in effect, and laws enacted after independence. In each of
these, men were privileged in ownership and control of land whereas women were excluded

In Africa, land has an emotional and mystical value beyond the economic consideration and
represents the social security and the continuity and independence of a family. In much of rural
Africa, land constitutes the primary source from which millions of people derive their daily

To say that access to land is one of the most important conditions for the
empowerment of African women, would be an understatement. The cultivation of land is one
of the main sources of income and economic wealth depends strongly on a well-elaborated

This brief discusses a pilot intervention in Rwanda led by the Belgian
NGO, RCN Justice & Démocratie, with support from the International
Development Law Organization (IDLO) and the Belgian Government. A
more detailed and complete discussion of the pilot is given in Lankhorst