House of Chiefs Gender Guidelines for Traditional Leaders in Natural Resource Management in the Chiefdoms (Zambia)

Traditional leaders hold political, social, and cultural power in Zambia, and as such, can play a key role in shifting harmful gender norms and advancing gender equality. In November, the House of Chiefs launched the Gender Guidelines for Traditional Leaders in the Management of Natural Resources in their Chiefdoms. The guidelines are a set of practices for strengthening women’s land and resource rights within Zambia’s 288 chiefdoms and provide traditional leaders with tools to encourage gender equality in policies and activities at the local level. The guidelines are the result of a multi-year partnership between the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Integrated Land and Resource Governance (ILRG) program and the Zambia House of Chiefs to promote women’s land rights, address harmful gender norms, and increase women’s participation in natural resource management.