Women's Right to Land

Women are the first line of defence against hunger and yet remain at the back of the line when it comes to land.  
So, the rural women farmers from all across Africa trek to the peak of Mt. Kilimanjaro to demand their rights to land.

African Women represent major labor force in agriculture and make a significant contribution to rural development and to the achievement of food security, producing most of the continent’s food.

But behind these figures lie a cruel injustice. Rural women from Sub-Saharan Africa own an average of 15% of the land they cultivate, being relegated to mere labour force and have less freedom to enjoy the income generated from their production.

October 15, which is marked as International Rural Women’s Day, women from all across Africa are convening for a historic moment at the base of Kilimanjaro to formalise their request and claim their right to land and production resources. And some will climb to the peak as a symbol of their determination to make their demands heard all over the world.

The Kilimanjaro Initiative (October 3-17, 2016) is a rural women’s mobilisation from across Africa towards an iconic moment at the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. With access to and control over land and natural resources as an entry point, three regional caravans are expected to depart simultaneously from the South, East and West, culminating in a mass African rural women’s assembly and a symbolic ascent by a delegation of women.


In Southern Africa the caravan began in Zimbabwe with the road to 'Women to Kilimanjaro' starting in the four corners of Zimbabwe with women converging in Nyanga for a symbolic event that involved climbing Mount Inyangani and then the official event where Ministers of Women Affairs, Manicaland Provincial Affairs pledging their support with women with regards to their access, control and ownership of land and natural resources. 

In Zimbabwe the #women2kilimanjaro initiative culminated with a handover of the #Zimbabwe caravan to Zambia, which picked it up from there to Malawi which take it up to Arusha Tanzania where women from parts of Africa, South, East, and West will meet for the mass African rural women assembly.

The event presented their charter of demands on their rights to access, control and own land.



You can spread their voice. By signing this petition, you will be sending an email to the leaders of the main governmental organisations in West Africa who have the ability to formalise the demands for women’s land rights: 
https://act.oxfam.org/west-africa/my-land-my-life