Civil Society Organizations and Support for Women’s Access to Land Ownership: Approach and Constraints
Abstract
In Cameroon and Fako in particular, a majority of women enjoy very limited rights to land and still struggle to secure their rights to land, whereas, land remains an important source of livelihood for a majority of them. To address this difficulty, some pro-woman organizations elaborate and implement strategies to support women own land. However, their action is slowed down as a result of the constraints they encounter. This paper examines the different approaches implemented by CSOs in supporting women have access to land ownership. It goes ahead to highlight the constraints these organizations encounter in carrying out this support mission. Qualitative data were collected in Fako division through the theoretical lens of the Functionalism theory. The methods used to collect our data were direct observation, semi-structured interviews, casestudy, life stories and casual discussions. Findings reveal three main approaches implemented by CSOs in Fako division to facilitating women's access to land ownership. In spite of this, the actions of CSOs are considerably slowed down as they encounter obstacles connected to legislative framework and customary practices, the reticent behavior of women, collaboration and lobbying for policy reforms and, the financing of their activities. Empirical investigation to the study also reveals the reluctance of women to publicly denounce acts of land injustices to which they are victim, and financial constraints which make CSOs more vulnerable, as the priority constraints to facilitating a greater access to land ownership by women.
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