Transition to community land empowering more women

A few years ago, Janet Larpei, 22, was an ordinary Maasai woman going about her daily chores in Musul, Laikipia county.

In her oblong-shaped, grass-thatched Manyatta, Larpei could only be seen either at work, tending animals, carrying a baby while breastfeeding, fetching fuelwood from the surrounding thicket, carrying water containers, or building and repairing her Manyatta.

For many years, the Maasai culture has bogged Larpei down as it has been characterised by patriarchy.

Under the patriarchal system, Larpei, just like any other ordinary Maasai woman, could only allow men the monopoly of making all the decisions.

This is, however, changing one step at a time.

"Men listen to women nowadays," Larpei, who now sits at the decision making table with men, says.

She is now a member of the community land management committee, a crucial decision-making agency brought about as a result of the successful transition of group ranches to community land as provided for under the Community Land Act of 2016.

The Act gives effect to Article 63(5) of the Constitution and provides for the recognition, protection and registration of community land rights; the management and administration of community land; the role of county governments in relation to unregistered community land and other connected purposes.

In Kenya, more than 60 per cent of all land is communal.

Laikipia county has 13 community lands, most of which have been registered as per the Community Land Act, 2016.

The Act states that customary land rights, including those held in common, shall have equal force and effect in law with freehold or leasehold rights acquired through allocation, registration, or transfer.

Community land may be compulsorily acquired by the state only in accordance with the law and for a public purpose.

Some of the outputs of the programme are enhanced, efficient and effective land governance through digitisation and digitalisation, improved conflict and dispute resolution mechanisms on land and natural resources, as well as an improved and inclusive policy, legal and institutional framework.

Larpei says women were not recognised when the land was under group ranch.

“Men used to dominate all the discussions and just inform us what they had decided on,” she says.

Larpei says men, on many occasions, would dictate all that they were doing.

Today, however, the leadership opportunity has provided women with the platform to face men before telling them the realities of life.

It has also provided them with a platform where their leadership and governance skills are honed.

Larpei said there were no women in the register, a crucial document showing the stake each member had in the land.

Musul community land manager Jackson Nkaidari, 28, admits that there were no women in the register.

“We thought women couldn’t own land. We had a register with men alone,” he said.

The Musul community has 700 members and a land area of 2,646 acres.

Today, however, women can stand and face men without blinking.

Years ago, this was an abomination.

The number of women in the register has also increased. 

Today, there are 400 women in the register.

Further, more women are at the top of leadership.

Interestingly, nearly all the top leadership is composed of youth.

Nkaidari revealed that the provisions of the Community Land Act, 2016 were alien to the community.

To unpack the contents of the new law, the Food and Agriculture Organization provided capacity building to the top leadership.

With the help of FAO, the community developed the necessary structures, such as bylaws and a land register, among others.

Nkaidari said before the transition into community land, the chairman was hell-bent on making decisions alone.

“The community now has a voice on how to utilise their land,” he said.

Today, the community, with the help of partners, is in the process of developing a land use plan.

It has also started rehabilitating degraded areas by planting grass.

Nkaidari said plans are in place to develop a land use plan with the help of FAO.

He said some partners have committed to helping the community develop a sand dam as well as a hay bank.

Musul grazing chairman Elijah Ruso, 22, said they have zoned the land into four according to the four villages with a view to managing it well.

“We all decide on areas where we have restrictions,” Ruso said.

He said the zoning has helped tame conflicts.

Ruso said plans are in place to put up a resource centre on 50 acres that have been set aside.

FAO Natural Resources' Governance Sub-Programme leader Husna Mbarak decried that less than two per cent of land in the country is owned by women individually or co-owned.

Mbarak said the transition to community land has helped empower women, who are now leading in decision-making.

She said securing community land rights is central to the achievement of sustainable human-environment interactions and fundamental to the achievement of sustainable development goals.

FAO has supported a GIS lab in Laikipia county through the digital land governance programme.

The digital land governance programme that runs from April 1, 2022, to March 30, 2027, at a cost of 20,848,805 euros plus co-financing from partners, seeks to help address some of the challenges in the land sector.

It seeks to improve food and nutrition security, livelihoods and sustainable development in the country.

But even as Larpei gets a space at the decision-making table, a recent study showed that only 46 group ranches have successfully transitioned into community land nationally, representing 14.6 per cent.

The study monitoring ‘the transition of group ranches to community land in Kenya’ shows that there were 315 undissolved group ranches at the time of enacting the Community Land Act 2016.

The study was started by the National Land Commission in collaboration with Namati in 2021 and concluded in May last year.

NLC collaborated with Namati to monitor the transition of group ranches to community land.

The research targeted county executive members, land officers from the state department of land, members of the community and community land management committees.

Sixteen heterogeneous focused group discussions representing 16 undissolved group ranches were conducted, and 149 participants were sampled from both community members and community land management committees.