Women in Climate Change, Land & Natural Resources Governance

Indigenous communities have been subjected to devastating impacts of climate change, conflicts, droughts and threats for displacements from their ancestral lands by government agencies to pave way for development projects.

SWT focuses on mechanisms driven by indigenous people to address inclusive communal land ownership and management, climate justice, and sustainable solutions.

 

To enhance the participation and inclusion of indigenous women in key decision-making processes on land, climate change and natural resource governance, we employ several strategies. These include conducting structured community awareness forums on the Community Land Act 2016, targeting elders, women, people with disabilities, and youth. we also hold community meetings on governance and natural resource management, organize and facilitate forums on membership rights and development, train Community Land Management Committees (CLMCs), demonstrate community boundaries through sketch maps, update community membership registers, hold final by-laws review meetings, and conduct by-laws adoption meetings and elections for interim Community Land Management Committees.

 

Samburu Women Trust has been directly working with indigenous communities for nearly a decade to promote community land protection and safeguard land tenure in indigenous communities. We have successfully supported fifteen communities in these counties to file historical land injustice claims in collaboration with the National Land Commission (NLC). These claims have met the eligibility requirements set by the NLC, and investigations have begun into the historical land injustices inflicted upon these communities by successive government regimes. In the case of Kirimon, a final judgment and ruling have been made through a presidential decree, granting land ownership to the community. Other cases, such as those in Isiolo, are still pending. SWT plays a critical facilitating role by organizing communities, covering legal fees, organizing information-sharing sessions, catering to litigation costs, and supporting communities in submitting applications for land registration. We also strengthen community land management and governance structures, with several communities in the process of registering their land and securing title deeds.

 

 

Our Approach

Security of Tenure & Community Land Protection

Advocating for indigenous women effective participation, governance, inclusion in decision making processes, management, ownership and control of land and natural resources. We also support community land registration processes and engage key actors.

Traditional Knowledge

We promote traditional knowledge in mitigating and providing solutions to climate change. This is through encouraging adaptation of traditional early warning mechanisms.

Innovative Mechanisms

Enhancing innovative strategies to blend both traditional and modern methods to combat climate change eg establishing community owned cooperatives, encourage insurance of livestock, strengthening water harvesting mechanisms, promoting drylands restoration and enhancing livestock product market linkages.

Women Friendly Approaches

SWT advocates for women friendly approaches to mitigate the impacts of climate change that include; keeping drought resilient livestock, conduct drylands restoration, establish sand dams and improve on traditional water harvesting methods.
This is geared towards safeguarding food security among the indigenous communities to combat the effects of climate change.

Natural Resource Based Conflict Resolution

Due to persistent droughts, natural resource-based conflicts are rampantly experienced among indigenous communities. In addressing these challenges SWT engages the following methods to enhance conflict transformation and enhance peaceful coexistence among communities; organizing community peace dialogues, promote ADR mechanisms in peace building, strengthen existing local governance structures and work closely with other CSOs, opinion leaders, Faith based organizations and relevant government security departments.

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+254 755 555 211