A project for women’s collective land security in the rural areas of Burkina Faso

Project Overview

The traditional land tenure system in Burkina Faso disadvantages certain population groups, such as women, migrants and youth, and hampers their long-term access to land. This situation of insecurity often makes it difficult for those groups to become self-reliant. Additionally, these groups are often not sufficiently informed of the need to register and legalise their lands, exacerbating their vulnerable position.  

This project, based on findings of a pilot project managed by Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), places gender equality at its core, as the project strives to grant women greater decision-making power on collective lands. This project will therefore contribute to legally secure collective land rights of women in rural areas in Burkina Faso, through promoting the acquisition of certificates of rural land holding (CRLH) for women’s organisations, whilst maintaining and protecting women’s rights through local land charters (LLC). 

By helping women’s organisations obtain certificates of rural land holdings (CLRH) the project will help overcome gender constraints. This will guarantee women’s organisations long-term collective land rights within local communities, break down the barriers that limit women’s secure access to land and contribute to advancing gender equality in the country.   

Women’s collective land rights are promoted in the project as they prove to be more secure compared to individual land rights, which have been misused by external actors, resulting in cases where women lost their lands. Moreover, when women gain securer rights to their lands, they have more freedom to invest in improving the productive capacities of these lands by implementing actions to conserve water and soil and land defence and restoration.  

Upon its completion women’s associations in Burkina Faso will have made important advances in obtaining land certificates.