NGO trains women, youth, PWDs on property ownership
DAR ES SALAAM: IN efforts to build awareness about the right to housing, land and properties a non -profit organization- MyLegacy has conducted an inclusive training to women, youth and people living with disabilities to help understand their rights.
The training held in Dar es Salaam recently the aims at building awareness of marginalized groups to know the right of owning land, houses or other properties following misconception about the ownership of such properties by the groups.
MyLegacy Executive Director Fortunata Temu said that the aim is to help the marginalized group to secure the right to own land, properties and houses regardless of their status.
“The aim is to engage stakeholders to reform or strengthen the laws and policies governing land, housing and property ownership to the marginalized groups, looking at the customs and traditions that lead to the problem, education, capacity building and effective participation and inclusion of the group,” said Temu.
Temu said that they expect to make changes and help youth, women and people living with disabilities to have that right to land ownership and the society should also understand that ownership of land, properties and houses is the basic right of all people.
She added, “there are areas that must be scrutinized to help the marginalized group, especially in capacity building so that they can know how to deal with the challenges by educating them and the society in general.”
Temu said the key intervention will be on customary and inheritance rights, social and cultural transformation, safety of their rights and legal protection, participation in decision making and awareness campaign.
The expected result of the intervention is the reformation of the laws and policies so that they include the rights of women, youth and people living with disabilities, the society to be well informed to understand and stand with the rights of the marginalized group.
Amina Mtengeti, Coordinator (Partnerships, Reporting & Resource Mobilization) at MyLegacy said that they had conducted research in three regions namely Kilimanjaro, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam and the findings show that women, youth and people living with disabilities are forgotten and struggle in the issues related to land, housing and property ownership.
“The findings show that there are large groups of women and youth and people with disabilities who have no access to land or housing and for those who own have inherited from their parents or partners but still in a minimal number,” Mtengeti said.
She added that the report shows that women, youth and people living with disabilities are not included in making decisions, especially in matters concerning land, housing and property ownership due to the way societies define them and group them.
