“When you are able to empower a woman, you are able to have a developed household, a developed community, a developed society, a developed country.” With the help of Habitat for Humanity Zambia, Yoanna has written a will to secure her family’s future. “I feel good knowing that my house will go to my family, that they will have a place to live if I die,” says Yoanna, who cares for her 10 children and grandchildren. Through Habitat’s Solid Ground global advocacy…

“Women & children should never find themselves marginalized and exploited at the hands of a failed system.”  Bohlokoa Mokhotho , advocacy specialist in Habitat for Humanity Lesotho, shared her personal story of disinheritance, which, speaking from her experience, can affect any widow regardless of her background. It can also affect widows from all spectrums of life, despite legislation aimed at protecting the marginalized. For example, some of the major legislation changes in Lesotho are the amendment of the 1992 Inheritance Act, the…

“Chitra is happy that she can give her children a chance to improve their future.” Chitra lives with her husband Masilamani in the village of Keezahinjipattu, Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, India. They belong to the Irula tribal community.Chitra and her husband have worked as sugar cane cutters for as long as they can remember and have never owned land. During the off season, they sell fish that they catch in the backwaters to add to their income.Chitra and Masilamani have three young boys…

“When the children have it good, the parents have it good,” Edik says. “When they are happy, we are happy.” “The toys will go over here! Over on the window sill,” Esita says. The little girl flits, sometimes twirls, from room to room, scoping out what is soon to be her new home. Nothing captures her imagination more than the room overlooking a park and playground, the one she will share with her brother, Edvard.Their mom and dad, Asia and Edik, also…

Women inspiring others to come up and fight for rights ... JamibenRaghubhai is a resident of Lekhambha village. She has three daughters and her husband died 25 years ago. She has three brother-in-laws and the land is in combined name of all. She associated herself with Sanand Mahila Vikas Sangathan after the death of her husband. Land of area 2.5 acre was on the name of his husband in which she wasn’t even allowed to farm and later by the way…

Forest rights in forest village ... “I always felt that, I would never ever have rights on these lands, though I have been cultivating them for more than three decades. Forest lands, as people say, can never have a secure individual tenure. I felt like any moment these land could be taken over by forest department or others and my children will be landless” says Panchami. Panchami Jani 55, a tribal woman of and mother of two, lives in a remote…

Women Land Rights gaining Strength among Hill Tribes...It was a balmy afternoon in B Taudaijang, a sleepy Rongmei Naga village in Tamenglong district in Manipur hills, cradled on a hilltop, flanking the beautiful khopum valley. In the village meeting inside the make-shift Church, men and women, about hundred in number, quite excitedly were raising their hands to endorse the proposal of joint-titling their land-certificates.Village community was surprisingly open to this new idea of women land rights, which was unheard of in…

I have an identity of my own...Fate has not been kind to Gomati Harijan, a 40 year old childless widow. Along with poverty, she has partial blindness that restricts her physical movement. As if that is not enough, she has also been suffering from a chronic skin disease.With her adverse physical condition, she has no option but to fend for herself. Loneliness and insecurity compelled her to adopt her eight year old nephew. “If I work, I get to eat. If…

Patta has given me the courage to fight all odds...Kali’s life is an untold story of misery and deprivation. Undeterred by the challenges, Kali continues to fend for her seven member family.Her husband, Ashram Harijan, is thirty five; but cannot walk properly or lift even moderate weights. He limps due to deformity in his right limb caused by lack of medical attention which, in turn, was the result of his poverty. His handicap ruled him out of working as a wage labourer,…

Can the technological revolution prompt a land rights revolution: Mozambican land rights defenders are ready to find out In Mozambique, like in so many other parts of the world, a quiet land rights revolution is brewing, ready as ever to emerge.  The end of a brutal civil war, which lasted sixteen years and ended in 1992, brought about a period of national reconstruction, with progressive reforms taking place to protect land rights and encourage rural investment. By the late 1990s, the…