The participation of female-headed households in the community based rural land development project

Land is an asset of great importance to the Malawi economy as a source of income, food, employment and export earnings. It also has great social value as it provides a location within which people live and will be buried at the end of their lives. Through a combination of rapid population growth and state policies that facilitated the transfer of customary land to private ownership some parts of the country, especially in the southern region, are experiencing serious land shortages which easily translate into food insecurity and household poverty.

The Government of Malawi, with financial support from the International Development Agency (IDA), is implementing a Community Based Rural Land Development Project (CBRLDP) in four pilot districts of Mulanje, Thyolo, Mangochi and Machinga over a period of five years from 2004 to 2009.

The aims of this study are to:

• identify key factors hampering the participation of female-headed households in the project prior to relocation
• document major problems faced by female-headed households which have already relocated to new areas and how they have resolved them
• document solutions to problems found by female-headed households which have already relocated to new areas and how they have resolved them
• document solutions found by female-headed households to some of their problems; problems for which female-headed households have not found solutions; and propose how they could be addressed
• make recommendations of best practice to enhance the participation of female-headed households in the remaining period of the project.

• whenever land has become available in a locality, eligible local female-headed households should be given priority over their male counterparts
• where land is not available locally and relocation to distant places becomes the only option, efforts should be made to encourage the formation of kinship-based beneficiary groups
• increased efforts should be made to counter the misrepresentations and rumours about the project through radio and community meetings
• as part of the deliberate effort to attract female-headed households into the project, heads of female-headed households who have relocated should be used as role models.