In much of sub-Saharan Africa, women have little say in decisions over land. Unless proactive steps are taken to enable women to have a stronger voice, large-scale agribusiness projects will leave them even more marginalised. Though there has been little research in this area, an emerging body of thinking and practice provides clear pointers as to how governments, NGOs and investors might mitigate such risks in future, particularly by explicitly addressing gender issues head-on from the very outset.
This briefing starts filling the knowledge gap by presenting some initial findings from IIED’s Gender, Land and Accountability Project, which includes four local partners in sub-Saharan Africa — particularly research and experience shared at an international workshop held in December 2015.
