There are no female chiefs or heads of wards across the 40 villages that make up the Walungu territory in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Statutory laws ensure women’s rights are often ignored, and, in practice, women and girls do not inherit land mainly due to cultural norms. Men control decision-making in households, and polygamous practices can present additional challenges as a woman’s status within the household may become a source of tension. This type of gender-based power imbalance prevents women’s empowerment and threatens sustainable agricultural productivity, investment and food security. With no representation at the leadership level, women face an uphill battle when it comes to accessing land rights, which are proven to increase incomes and productivity while also making families and communities happier, healthier and more food secure.

The lack of or failure to enforce land rights is also a form of economic gender-based violence (GBV) — an act or behavior through which economic harm is exacted on an individual through coercion or control. When it comes to land, economic GBV causes women to depend on male relatives for land security, giving them limited ability to leave violent situations. Opportunities to alleviate economic GBV, such as having access to credit, livestock and more, require the possession of a land title.

USAID’s global grant challenge, Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Environments (RISE), supports organizations as they innovatively adapt and implement approaches to address GBV in environmental programming. In South Kivu, USAID works with Women for Women International (WfWI) and Innovation and Training for Development and Peace (IFDP) on the RISE Change Agent program. Together, they are working on expanding existing GBV interventions to address the forms of economic GBV that limit women’s access to land rights. They also work to address forms of retaliatory violence that can emerge when women make claims to land.

To shed light on how GBV and land rights impact women’s rights and identify ways forward, WfWI and IFDP surveyed 138 women and engaged 20 men and 36 women in focus group discussions. The results were illuminating: 22% of women have access to land, while only 11% have control over or rights to that land and just 14% have decision-making power around household finances. Respondents also reported that men make 91% of all household decisions, from when household and land purchases are made, to spending income from crop and livestock sales.

Still, despite the challenges to land title rights and decision-making, women in South Kivu are challenging harmful norms to help close this gender gap. Naluhondo, a program participant, was a pioneer who as an unmarried woman saved money from selling livestock and produce to purchase land. Participating in the RISE program empowered her to take charge of her land — she built a house and supervised the entire process, from paying workers to purchasing construction materials. Now, she is building a second structure that will become a small store. 

Furaha, a mother of five and, like Naluhondo, a RISE Change Agent participant, was determined to become a landowner. By combining one year’s savings from her village savings loan association (VSLA), a loan from a friend and profits from her business, she was able to buy land from a neighbor, who also provided a legally binding bill of sale that proves Furaha’s land ownership — critical documentation that protects her land and secures her future.

“In the community, they say that ‘women cannot buy or own land,’ but I bought it, and women see me as a strong woman,” Furaha said.

Furaha has already purchased land for her eldest child and plans to do so for all her children to ensure they each “have a land... for their own with their name on the documents.”

With RISE support, the Change Agent program helps ensure that women like Furaha and Naluhondo continue to secure equal land rights and are more economically secure in the DRC and beyond.

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This story was adapted and shortened from its original length. The story was developed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with inputs from WfWI. Quotes were shared by household participants engaged in the project who have provided consent for publishing and were collected by WfWI. For more on RISE, please visit competitions4dev.org/risechallenge and you can visit the GBV-Environment Linkages Center hosted by IUCN under its Advancing Gender in the Environment (AGENT) partnership at genderandenvironment.org/agent-gbv-env/.