Details

The Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung in cooperation with the Centre for Enhancing Democracy and Good Governance (CEDGG) and Kenya Land Alliance held a two day lasting workshop in Kabarnet in Baringo County on 27th and 28th May 2016. The training targeted 30 key stakeholders in land rights, including various government officials and members of land management institutions as well as representatives from Civil Society Organizations, Faith Based Organizations and youth leaders. The objective of the workshop was to discuss the status of the progress of land right implementation in Baringo, strengthen the existing knowledge on land rights as well as social and political implications with a special focus on conflict potential and the situation of women. Conclusively, the participants developed a common strategy for further improvements on land rights in Baringo County.

Non-compliance with land rights and poor land governance as well as land injustice are some of the most important and challenging unresolved problems within the Kenyan society. Because of its tremendous social and political implications, the importance of land rights, their enforcement and implementation in line with the new constitution is crucial. Especially in a region like Baringo County whose population is predominantly rural and depends on pastoralism as their main source of livelihoods, raising awareness of land right issues and encouraging dialogue among certain political actors is of great significance.

KAS strengthens existing knowledge with follow-up workshop

The KAS-workshop was a follow-up on trainings from the year 2015 that KAS and CEDGG implemented together. One of those workshops had the objective to create awareness of the social and political implications of land rights in general. Participants of that previous activity in Baringo brought up the need for County officials to be better informed on land rights in order to effectively facilitate the implementation process and to distribute the information to the citizens. Therefore, this training in May 2016, focused on implementing a sustainable strategy to strengthen the cooperation with Baringo County leaders and developing solutions to conflicts related to land right issues. Moreover, the workshop also sought to build on the knowledge gained during last year’s training on the role of women in politics and their political rights. Therefore the content of the training also especially focussed on addressing the situation of women with regard to land rights in order to facilitate an increase in women’s access to land and control over household level decision-making around land.

Forum facilitates close cooperation of State actors and Non-State actors

With this workshop, KAS provided the participants with an important platform to discuss the issues regarding land rights and resulting conflicts with the various stake holders involved. As Hon. Grace Kiptui, County MP and Women representative of Baringo County, and the County Commissioner, Mr Peter Okwanyo, were present, the participants could benefit of this unique chance to transmit their matters of interest directly to the County officials. During the discussion on several aspects contributing to either strengthening or solving conflicts on land rights, the participants of the workshop not only identified the role of traditional authorities and county stakeholders in conflict prevention, main factors of discrimination such as, ethnicity, gender and generation were identified and intensely discussed. In order to provide an ongoing system of coordination, monitoring and reporting, an action plan was developed. The participants ensured to disseminate the information to the grassroots in order to guarantee that more sustainable land use systems and productive land tenue systems are implemented.