About Responsible Land Policy in Uganda

With an average of 213 inhabitants per km2, the population density in Uganda is very high in comparison with other African countries. The population is growing by more than 3.3% per year. Land in Uganda is increasingly fragmented due to inheritance rules.

As a result, land ownership is being split up and competition between different user groups is on the rise. This situation is exacerbated both by the presence of more than 1.4 million refugees from neighboring countries (as of March 2020) and by the large-scale land investment by national and international investors.

The project Responsible Land Policy in Uganda (RELAPU) has been documenting traditional land ownership rights for rural smallholder farm households of the Teso sub-region in Uganda since 2017. The short film shares the experiences of selected households whose lands have been documented.

A Case Story of two Widows

Margaret Anyait (47 years) and Angela Asekenye (40 years) live in Aboborei village (Soroti district). Their late husband left them with four children. Traditional customs often deny land rights to women and so with the death of their husbands, Margaret and Angela began to struggle to secure their land. Other family members complained about the boundaries and tried to take a portion of the women’s land.

After the sensitization through the GIZ-RELAPU project, the family clan invited the team to map their land. Today, thanks to GIZ-RELAPU, Margaret and Angela have secured land boundaries and feel safe about the future of themselves and their children.

Learn more about Responsible Land Policy in Uganda