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Session ID 4751, Paper# 19126

Land is an important asset for people's livelihoods and for economic development in Uganda, where the majority of people live in rural areas. This working paper reviews the literature on Uganda's tenure systems and their relationship with economic activities, focusing primarily on rural agricultural land. The review illustrates that these relationships are complex and context-dependent. Uganda's land reform was introduced with the 1998 Land Act which aims at enhancing tenure security by recognising existing rights to land. It also aims at bringing land onto the market. However, the reform's implementation has been slow and partial so far. The division of labour between land administration institutions is unclear and often institutions, for instance dispute settlement institutions, are inaccessible at the local level. Furthermore, the evidence of any links between the formalisation of land rights, investment and productivity under different tenure systems is inconclusive. Land markets exist irrespective of the tenure systems. Access to credit is quite limited, and not primarily linked to titled land as some scholars suggest. Regional differences, the urban/rural divide and social and gender characteristics are equally important. This review shows, however, that tenure insecurity, in particular in the postconflict context of northern Uganda, discourages investment and leads to lower productivity. A likely path to strengthening agricultural production would be the reinforcement of dispute settlement institutions. Furthermore, despite a gender-sensitive legal framework, women have been discriminated against in both the customary and statutory settings. Improving women's access to land would also seem important. Overall, more systematic research on these issues is required.

Tropical forests are characterised by stakeholders with multiple and often conflicting interests. This paper identifies and analyses local stakeholders in the Participatory Envitonmental Management (PEMA) programme in the Kasyoha-Kitomi forest landscape in Uganda and the South Nguru forest landscape in Tanzania. The overall objective of the PEMA programme is to pilot and promote an approach to the management of natural resources in two high-biodiversity Forest Reserves and surrounding landscapes that reconciles the conservation and development interests of multiple stakeholders at local, national and international levels. The Danish Institute for International Studies had as one of its task to carry out an analysis of local stakeholders i.e. the rural people in the forest landscapes, who directly or indirectly benefit from services provided by the forests. The image of stakeholders and interests in forest management is complex and stakeholder analysis prmides a means to start understanding it. Based on the stakeholder identification methodology (Ravnborg and Westerrnann 2002) the paper investigates stakeholders and the interdependencies among them with regard to the management of natural resources. Point of departure is taken in individuals' interests, and previous and current uses of semces prmided by the Kasyoha-Kitomi Forest Reserve and Nguru South Forest Reserve are documented. These senoices are for instance the provision of agricultural land, wood products, NTFP, hunting, fishing, grazing and the less tangible senices such as climate regulation, water quantity and quality. Where possible, interests are distinguished according to social groups. It is concluded that local inhabitants' stakes in the forest reserves are determined by their access to technology, capital, markets, skills, as well as their locality, gender, age, ethnicity and (lack of) alternative livelihood strategies. In addition, the context of inter-related demographic and socio-economic processes that influence parterns of resource use and determine (and change) local inhabitants' interests in and use of the forests are described and conflicting interests and interdependencies identified. The stakeholder analysis provides a start to understanding the complex picture of interests attached to the forests and the potential for involving local stakeholders in the PEMA programme. The paper concludes, among other things, that activities such as cultivation within the forest reserves, labouring in logging activities, collection of material for thatch and sambu oil seeds are mainly the interests of the poor local inhabitants. Findings from both forest landscapes show that NTFP such as weaving and thatch material constitute important sources of income for the local inhabitants including the poor and should thus be considered when negotiating use rights to resources in the forest reserve. In general, it is recommended that profound attention is given in the PEMA programme to improving the local stakeholders' access rights to the forest reserves and not just meet the interests of more powerful non-local stakeholders

An ordered logistic regression model was used to empirically establish the quantitative effects of community identified (local) determinants of wellbeing on the level of household wellbeing. The model was fitted to data for a sample of 200 households collected in the last quarter of 2002. The dependent variable, poverty category, has three levels namely poorest =1, Less poor =2, and Better off =3. Fourteen independent variables are used. Results show that households that own less than 5 acreage of land, that are male headed, have a nonagricultural source of income and are actively involved in agricultural development activities have a higher probability (odds) of enjoying wellbeing above any given level. Land ownership seems to be the most important determinant of wellbeing in Adjumani district. Furthermore, owning livestock and having a household head with an education level of secondary school and above are also important determinants of household wellbeing in Adjumani district. We find household wellbeing to be negatively affected by household size, age of the household head and whether any family member has had any long illness although only the age of the household is significant. We recommend deepening of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and initiation of Universal Secondary Education to increase the education levels of the rural people. We also recommend continued and expansion of community level agricultural development activities, strengthening of the land tenure provisions to enhance access to land and initiation of programs to enhance animal ownership among small holder farmers in Adjumani.

The overall objective of the Danida supported Agricultural Sector Programme Support (ASPS) in Uganda is to improve the conditions for the poorest part of the population and contribute to reduce gender-based inequalities in Uganda in general and in the pilot focus districts in particular. Late in 2000, Danida asked Department of Agricultural Economics, Makerere University, Kampala, and Centre for Development Research, Copenhagen, to form an external task group with the purpose of monitoring the gender and poverty impact of the ASPS. The present Working Paper presents a slightly revised version of one of the reports that have been the response to this task.1 The Paper presents gendered district poverty profiles for the five ASPS pilot districts, i.e. Kabarole, Masaka, Pallisa, Rakai and Tororo districts, as well as the methodology for developing these profiles. It depicts and compares the situation of the ‘betteroff’, the ‘less poor’ and the ‘poorest’ households in the five districts according to a number of dimensions, which local people themselves have identified as important when describing poverty and well-being in their communities. In addition, the report analyses the aspect of equality and inequality in gender relations within the household. Based on women’s own perceptions of female well-being, three levels of equality in gender relations are distinguished and related to household poverty. These profiles are the district baselines against which the gender and poverty impact of the ASPS can be monitored in the future. Finally, the report makes a very preliminary attempt at analysing the outcomes, including both the households reached and the resulting behavioural changes achieved through the various interventions supported by the ASPS components. This is related both to poverty levels, gender relations and differences between districts. The Paper concludes by outlining how the analysis should be undertaken when the exercise of developing gendered district poverty profiles is repeated three to four years later as part of ASPS impact monitoring.