Stand for Her Land leads the conversation ahead of CLPA 2025
As Africa prepares for the 2025 Conference on Land Policy in Africa (CLPA) under the theme “Land Governance, Justice and Reparations for Africans and Descendants of People of the African Diaspora,” one truth stands out: Africa’s sustainable development begins with secure land rights for women.
The Stand for Her Land (S4HL) Campaign, in collaboration with the International Land Coalition (ILC) Africa, will host a side event at CLPA titled “Accelerating Sustainable Development in Africa through Secure Women’s Land Rights.” The session will spotlight women’s leadership, grassroots solutions, and gender-transformative approaches to make land governance more inclusive and equitable.
Why women’s land rights matter now
Across Africa, women’s hands have tilled the soil, nurtured families, and sustained communities for generations. Yet, their contributions often go uncompensated and unrecognised. Women remain underrepresented in land ownership and decision-making, a disparity that perpetuates poverty, weakens food security, and limits climate resilience.
As droughts, land degradation, and extreme weather intensify, women bear the heaviest burdens of the climate crisis. Securing women’s tenure rights is therefore not just a gender equality issue; it is essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on poverty eradication, hunger reduction, and gender equality.
From policy to power: Bridging the gap between laws and reality
Over the decades, Africa has adopted firm commitments to gender equality in land governance; from the Beijing Declaration and the Kilimanjaro Initiative to the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGT).
Yet, as the Stand for Her Land campaign underscores, policy commitments must translate into lived change. Too often, legal gains fail to reach women in rural and indigenous communities who face social, cultural, and financial barriers to owning and controlling land.
At CLPA 2025, ILC Africa and S4HL’s side event will explore how structured advocacy, sustainable financing, and cross-sector partnerships can close this gap, therefore making land rights real for women on the ground.
Collective action for change
The Stand for Her Land Campaign champions a transformative but straightforward idea: when women have secure land rights, everyone benefits. Equal access to land strengthens economic justice, environmental restoration, and community resilience.
The upcoming session brings together a diverse panel, from grassroots women leaders in Uganda and Senegal to representatives of IGAD, UN Women, and GIZ, to unpack practical solutions for gender-responsive land governance. Through shared stories, data, and innovation, participants will co-create pathways to secure women’s land rights across Africa.
A call to action at CLPA 2025
The CLPA side event will go beyond dialogue to serve as a launchpad for coordinated advocacy. It will amplify the call for inclusive financing, stronger partnerships, and policy reforms that empower women to shape the future of Africa’s land systems.
