Paper short abstract:

The research shows how Rwandan women access to land has contributed to their engagement in food production, enhanced food security, increased household income, basic assets accumulation, and decreased financial reliance to their husbands’ incomes.

Paper long abstract:

From the 1980s many African countries have undertaken the land reforms through institutionalisation of statutory systems of land tenure that promote gender equality in land ownership and use, propel land-based investments, and boost the socioeconomic development. Promoting access to land for women has been acclaimed to reduce household vulnerability to hunger and poverty, and contribute to the achievement of some SDGs. In Rwanda, the land reform was introduced in 2004 in order to grant both men and women equal rights in access, ownership and use of land and reduce poverty. The research applied a livelihood framework to investigate the extent to which Rwandan women whose livelihood depends on land resource have been engaged in its use as a collateral to finance resources required for investment in farming and other income generating activities that contribute to household development. Qualitative data analysis was applied to analyse the data which were collected through questionnaire survey and interviews with men and women who jointly own land. Findings reveal that the use of land for food production and as collateral has enabled women to contribute to the increase in household income, enhanced food security, basic assets accumulation, and decrease of financial reliance to their husbands’ incomes. Yet, the lack of confidence about achieving the expectations from using land as collateral prevents some women from full engagement in household development. Their training on the use of land as collateral for household development is recommended.

Keywords: land reform, gender equality, collateral, household development.