App that helps women report land injustices launched

Women facing land injustices can now report their grievances through a mobile application.

Haki Ardhi App, a women land rights reporting tool, was launched during the International Women’s Day in Nairobi on Friday.

The App, which was piloted in Kakamega and Taita Taveta counties last year, is an initiative of the Kenya Land Alliance (KLA) and other partners.

It has been instrumental in documenting land rights injustices faced by women in the two counties including succession problems, evictions, land grabbing and denial of access to their property among others.

The tool also has a toll-free text function which has been effective in helping women report land rights injustices in a timely manner.

KLA chief executive Faith Alubbe said the effectiveness of the App and the data collected has made it possible for the courts to accelerate the prosecution of some of the stalled land rights violation cases where women are victims.

“It was important for us to launch the App because we noticed that there is a big gap in terms of access to remedy for most women, most women face a lot of challenges yet they do not understand or they do not know where to get their justice,” Alubbe said.

The App was launched together with TMG Think Tank, Rainforest Foundation UK (RFUK) and local based organisations who are members of the Kenya Land Alliance such as Human Rights Watch, Sauti ya Wanawake and Shibuye Community Health Workers.

Alubbe said so far, at least 166 cases have been documented out of which 12 have been successfully concluded in the last two months.

This is done in collaboration with the Environment and Land Courts, the chiefs and the elders.

“We appreciate that at times some of these systems can be patriarchal so there is a need to educate women on terms of what is patriarchal and what is not, what the law says and what is excessive,” she said.

She noted that while favourable laws have been passed in recent years to protect women’s rights to own, use and manage land in Kenya, they still face challenges.

This, she said, is because of deeply ingrained patriarchal norms and a general lack of awareness of those rights.

It therefore means that in practice, women are often still evicted from their land once their husbands die or leave.

They also face difficulties claiming inherited land and are unlawfully left out of property titles as well. 

“There are some officers in the pipeline that have given themselves mandates that are not part of their terms of reference," Alubbe said.

"You can get in an area where a public officer becomes a land selling or buying agent or frustrates widows and denies them letters that would enable them get the succession process going,”  she added.

Alubbe said the App documents women’s land grievances in order to catalyse response while avoiding risks associated with in-person complaints.

With Haki Ardhi, women will be able to report abuses and violations in a safe way that will also enable faster access to support and local organisations supporting them will be able to digitise the case files that are currently on paper.

This will in turn enable a close follow-up on cases and the centralisation and display of data to identify trends and push for systemic policy change.