A group of 57 people, mainly women drawn from various civil society organisations in Gakenke District, yesterday completed training in implementing the national and international land laws

The three-day training organised by RCN Justice & Democracy, in partnership with Haguruka, was held under the theme "Beyond Raising Awareness: Improving Women’s Access to Land.”

Participants were tasked to carry out monitoring surveys on women access to and control of land resources in the district.

They were selected from civil society organisations including Avega, RRSP+, HAGURUKA and National Women Council-CNF.

According to, Madina Ndangiza, the RCN Project Officer, the training aims at empowering rural women to exercise and secure their land rights as guaranteed by the law.

"We know from our previous experience that many women in rural areas do not own land, do not inherit land and do not control land, which has in most cases, led to escalated cases of Gender Based Vilolence and poverty in our communities,” Ndangiza said.

The trainees will collect data from their sectors regarding women access to and control over land, and pass it on to the local authorities for advocacy.

Oliver Mukasengesho, from the National Women’s Council, challenged rural women to strive to understand their fundamental rights, have their land registered and make land-related decisions jointly with their husbands.

Ends