-After having acquired the land title I am sure that I am the real owner. I no longer need to fear that someone will grab my land, says Sada Juma Mafazi, who has benefited from the project.
Also Amina Bakari has been to the training and is now in the process of claiming her rights to a piece of land.
-The Village Land Act is there to solve problems arising. I now try to assist other people in the village who have land issues, in claiming their rights, explains Bakari.
The members of Lindi Support Organization for Welfare (LISAWE) believe that the best way to ensure that the women’s rights are acknowledged is to also include men in the training. 300 people have benefited from training about land laws, half of them men, half of them women. Among the people participating were also politicians and civil servants.
-They all have to learn that everyone has equal rights to owning land according to the laws of our country, explains Asha Fundi, chairperson of LISAWE.
Support to Civil Society
LISAWE is only one of more than 700 civil society organizations in Tanzania receiving support from the Foundation of Civil Society, and is indeed one of the most successful ones, having received prizes for being ‘The emerging Civil Society Organization of the year 2009’ and ‘The best grantee in the zone’.
The Foundation of Civil Society has provided the enthusiastic members of LISAWE with grants and training in how to run an organization, good governance, financial management and proposal writing.
The Embassy visited LISAWE as part of a field trip with the Foundation of Civil Society. During the visit we also met with Patronage in Environmental Management and Health Care Warriors (PEMWA), an organization which has provided people living with HIV/AIDS with home care and food, and Wafanyabiashara Soko Kuu Mtwara (WABISOCO), a network of business people providing training in business and in good governance.
Wants change
The Foundation’s goal is to make citizens actively engaged in democratic processes and to strengthen the civil society in Tanzania. The organization receives support from several development partners, including the Embassy of Norway, and is responsible for disbursing the money to the many small civil society organizations across the country, and for providing training and support to these organizations.
‘The role of the Foundation is to inform Tanzanians about their rights and to work towards change’, is the message from the organization’s president, Alais Morindat.
For Mafazi and Bakari in Lindi the training they received through the LISAWE project means that they are now aware of their legal rights.