School of Real Estate Studies

ARDHI UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF REAL ESTATE STUDIES

2201 – 2014 ACCESS TO LAND RESOURCES VULNERABILITY AND HIV/AIDS IN TANZANIA

Tanzania: Main Coordinator Sweden: Main Coordinator

1

SUMMARY

The proposed program falls under the thematic area that is aimed at strengthening capacity on Training and Research in Gender and Empowerment. The program intends to assess the contribution of the existing policies, instruments and legal frameworks on access, use and ownership rights on land resources by people living with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania. It targets to; first, evaluate policies, legal and institutional responses in addressing HIV/AIDS related vulnerabilities in accessing land resources and map HIV/AIDS status progression vis-a-vis the abilities and desire to access or own property. The program will train two Local PhD Students; under double degree model (the PhD award will be jointly offered by the collaborating Universities in Sweden and Tanzania). The Program will develop a taught PhD and MSc. curricula in Land Administration jointly with Program 2203: Developing Capacity to address Challenges of Commercial Pressure over Land for Large Scale Investment in Agriculture, Energy and Minerals Exploitation in collaboration with our partners in Sweden. Development of the program curricula is budgeted under program 2203. The partnership will be strengthened by conducting one major research project. At the program level the expected outcomes are (1) increased capacity to research, train and apply knowledge on land related ‘HIV/AIDS vulnerability issues’ (2) Increased awareness and advocacy campaign on PLWHIV/AIDS vulnerabilities in accessing and holding on land resources (3) Formulation or amendments of the policies addressing PLWHIV/AIDS vulnerabilities in accessing and holding on land (4) Increased number of staff with a capacity to analyse, map and develop appropriate interventions (5) Adoption of a tool to identify the pattern and intervene the cycle of behaviour of the PLWHIV/ AIDS towards land ownership and (6) Reduced cases of PLWHIV-AIDS vulnerabilities on land resources. The program has the potential for creation of capacity to inform, influence and advocate for policies aimed to ensure access to land by people living with HIV/AIDS.

POPULAR SCIENCE DESCRIPTION

HIV/AIDS has brought an adverse impact to human kind in both developed and developing countries. However, developing countries, especially those in the Sub-Saharan Africa including Tanzania have been severely affected. The pandemic has exposed individuals and families to destitution, loss of manpower and vulnerability. In many instances, the efforts are directed towards containing the spread of the disease and little has been done in empowering and protecting the rights of the people who are already affected. This has led to silent or self induced exclusion of people living with HIV/AIDS and their dependants in accessing and/or owning land resources. This situation calls for intervention by stakeholders. One of the ways to address vulnerabilities and exclusions is by developing a knowledge base that will help in the protection and empowerment of people living with HIV/AIDS. This program aims at addressing three questions: (i) How are policies and legal instruments in place useful in protecting and empowering people living with HIV/AIDS in accessing and/or owning land resources? (ii) How can the patterns of land ownership behaviour of people living with HIV/AIDS be classified? This research will explore these questions with an intention of identifying predicaments faced by people living with HIV/AIDS and propose policy options intended to empower and safeguard the interest of this group of people and their dependants. Also, it will develop skills necessary to improve research and training capacity on access to land resource, vulnerability and HIV/AIDS pandemic in Tanzania.

1

ENCLOSURE 1

1. Introduction

This program has been developed by the School of Real Estate Studies (SRES) of the Ardhi University (ARU) in collaboration with the Centre for Finance (CeFiN), Division of Real Estate Planning and Land Law and the Division of Urban and Regional Studies (URS) at KTH. The program aims at addressing a research theme in the ARU concept note on thematic area 2.4.7; which is intended to strengthen capacity on Training and Research in Gender and Empowerment of which the output will improve the capacity of the people living with HIV/AIDS in accessing and holding on land resources in Tanzania. Under the proposed program, two PhD students will be trained through a double degree model for four years (48 months). The two students will be enrolled straight into a PhD program to be supervised jointly between KTH and ARU and PhD awarded by the two institutions. The program will be carried out through three sub-components, where two will result into PhD dissertations and one is a major research project. The major research project will jointly be carried out by researchers at ARU and partners in Sweden. The Program in collaboration with program 2203 will develop a taught PhD and MSc. curricula in Land Administration. Our partners at KTH will be fully involved in the curriculum development process. The taught PhD and MSc. courses are expected to continue beyond a 5 years program life. The details and budgets for this curriculum development are found in the submission of program 2203.

2. Background

Access to land resources in Tanzania is a process governed by a number of instruments and policies (Kessy et.al, 2008). These tools are mainly silent or do not provide for an exclusive stance on the rights of the people affected by HIV/AIDS and their dependants (Kessy et.al, 2008; Manji, 1996; Mbaya, 2002). Stigma, misunderstandings and misconceptions on the part of the society have further aggravated the silent and self exclusion of the people living with the HIV/AIDS and their dependants from equally sharing land resources (Manji, 1996; Ezer, 2006). Government efforts have been mainly directed into dealing with issues prior to infection such as containing the spread of the infection through advocacy campaigns (Kessy, et.al, 2008) and provision of life prolonging medication after the infection (URT, 2013).

HIV/AIDS pandemic has caused the death of many Tanzania’s workforce. At the moment the rate of HIV infection is estimated to be at 5.1% (URT, 2013). The dependants of the deceased often women (widows - it is considered that way but there could also be men) and children have been exposed to a number of set-backs including losing their matrimonial homes and family houses (Ezer, 2006; Strickland, 2004). At the heart of this, are inadequate legal frameworks, policies, customs, norms and rituals which place men as the head of the family and bread winner (Kessy et.al, 2008; Ezer, 2006, Aliber et. al, 2004). In other incidences people living with HIV/AIDS have been involved in the sale of the matrimonial or family land resources such as houses or farms before they become critically-ill and squander the proceeds leaving behind their dependants without any land based resource. These occurrences have been in the rise and require an intervention. At the moment however, it is difficult to qualify or quantify the depth of occurrence of the mentioned issues. This justifies the need to carry out research in order to understand the challenges facing people living with the HIV/AIDS and their dependants in order to inform policy makers on the need to promulgate policies and laws which directly address access to land resources by this group of people.

2.1. The Context of the Program in Relation to the University Concept Note

The program intends to address a research theme under the ARU concept paper on gender and empowerment. The relegation of people living with the HIV/AIDS into a vulnerable status and lack of support instrument in ensuring their access and ownership of land resources is a priority issue at the University and national levels. People living with HIV/AIDS and their dependants have been subjected to economic and social hardships due lack of or inadequate implementation of the existing land instruments. The need to have experts, skills and knowledge related to issues of land resource access and ownership by people living with the HIV/AIDS cannot be overemphasized. Similarly, policy options developed through the project will enable policy makers to make informed decisions when it comes to land ownership question by the people living with the HIV/AIDS. Furthermore, the proposed research will provide insights to be used by financial institutions in advancing loans to people living with HIV/AIDS. It is within the interest of this program to enhance the capacity of the University, central government and all responsible authorities dealing with land administration and HIV/AIDS pandemic to understand, appreciate and put in place policies and plans intended to deal with the rights of the people living with HIV/AIDS. This proposed program draws together expected results as put forward by the Ardhi University concept note and the Government of Tanzania through the National Research Agenda (2014-2019) as the main objective is linked to access to land resources by all groups in the society in both rural and urban areas focusing on people affected with HIV/AIDS.

2.2. The Problem(s) to be addressed

HIV/AIDS is still a national calamity in Tanzania albeit decline in infection levels to a single digit (URT, 2013). The government in Tanzania through various land related policies, laws and regulations is emphasizing equity in access to land resources by all citizens (Kessy et.al, 2008; Ezer, 2006). However, vulnerable groups such as people living HIV/AIDS, their immediate dependants and relatives have been affected by traditions, norms, customs, taboos, rituals, perception and the societal and own attitudes. Likewise, lack of policies and legal instruments which explicitly defend these groups’ rights has fuelled their silent exclusion from accessing this noble resource and finances intended for the capital intensive, long term land development projects (Mbaya, 2002; Remtullah, 1999; Rugalema et.al, 1999; Mutangadura et.al, 2005; Yamano, 2002). From the continuing outcry of vulnerable groups it is vivid that the enforcement of the existing mechanism is still weak. The legal, policy and institutional interventions related to access to land resources have crucial impact on improving the livelihoods, food security and investment to people affected with HIV/AIDS and their dependants (Strickland, 2004).

The research training as well as other research works in this program will be focused on two issues:

(1) Policy, legal and institutional responses in addressing HIV/AIDS related vulnerability in access to land; taking into consideration the impact of customs and traditions. The research on policy, legal and institutional responses in addressing HIV/AIDS related vulnerability in access to land will lead to new knowledge with diverse future applications that could respond to the needs of the society; specifically people affected by HIV/AIDS and their dependants. The research will look at the availability and adequacy of the existing policies in ensuring access to land resources by the people living with HIV/AIDS and protection of their dependants’ rights on land upon demise of the land holder. The research will also look at the impact of customs, traditions, rituals and taboos in land ownership in rural and urban areas. The outcomes will contribute in the formulation of policies which will contribute to fighting and eliminating stigma and exclusion of people living with HIV/AIDS in accessing land resources in Tanzania. It is also expected that the research results will inform policy makers in further developing policies and legal instruments to protect the rights of the dependants.

(2) Mapping of HIV/AIDS infection progression and the decision or ability to hold on or dispose-of rights over land resource. In relation to this, the research intends to look at the attitude of people living with HIV/AIDS throughout the infection cycle (asymptomatic, early illness, chronic illness, critical illness) and in the case of eventuality-death which lead to survivors. Mapping HIV/AIDS status progression in relation to land resources is intended to open a new area of knowledge on the relationship between the depth of the infection and the decision to hold on or own land resources. The idea is that due to shock, despair or fear of not living longer some of the people affected by HIV/AIDS tend to sell their land based resources at the earlier stages of the infection through distress sale i.e. forced sale which may lead to low prices of the landed resource. In case they live longer, these people become a burden to the government and their immediate family members. On the other hand immediate family members may decide to sell victim’s land at the chronicle stage of the disease in order to be able to cater for much needed medical care. In both situations the dependants will suffer; in some situation this has been the cause of street children and sex workers (Ezer, 2006). The understanding of the attitude of the people living with HIV/AIDS in different stages of the infection will be of help in planning for assistance in the management of the land resources considering good practice and confidentiality.