“Things are changing,” said a young man from Litiangolo, northern Côte d’Ivoire, during a recent social dialogue session on women’s participation in land-based decision-making.
“The women who negotiated their new agricultural site, they did so directly with the chief,” he explained. “Before they would have had to find a man intermediary to advocate for them. But I think it’s better that they can negotiate directly.”
Indeed, women’s agricultural groups supported by the USAID Improving Land Access for Women (ILAW) in northern and western Côte d’Ivoire are key to helping reduce land inequality and discrimination.
The project’s baseline political economy analysis found that restrictive social norms made it difficult for women to speak up for their land rights. However, when organized as agricultural groups—that produce food for the benefit of the whole community—they feel “safety in numbers” and are viewed more positively by male community leaders.
USAID ILAW has been supporting women’s agricultural groups to develop vision maps using the Gender Action Learning System (GALS) that include specific objectives related to land. Combined with other communication activities, many groups are now successfully negotiating more land.