Right to Land and Property

“Thanks to Northlight Green Services’ work in our community, I once again have the opportunity to work my family’s land and grow food,” says Mary Okon* (name changed by the editors). “Without the use of this piece of land,… I don’t have the opportunity to feed myself.” Mary Okon lives in the village of Agonga B in Koch Goma district in northern Uganda. She is one of many “returnee girls”, young women who return to their parents’ home after the breakdown of a marriage, often due to domestic violence. These women are viewed as outcasts by the family and society and are often referred to as duc pacu, rebels . This is a name that was formerly de
This is a name given to former rebels of the Lord Resistant Army. Many of these girls return with children and are unable to access the land in their parents’ home, even though the land tenure system of the Acholi, the local population, actually protects their land rights. 70% of Ugandans live in subsistence farming, i.e. on what their country provides. The right to land is vitally necessary in order to be able to grow food – if this is not possible, women cannot feed themselves and their children. Uganda’s national laws do not explicitly discriminate against women in terms of land ownership and ownership, but in fact they rarely own land or have control over it due to the practice of customary ownership structures based on patriarchal structures and a lack of knowledge. The expropriation and eviction of widows from their deceased husband’s land remains common practice.

The Acholi region in northern Uganda, where Ms. Okon’s* village is located, is the part of Uganda with the highest poverty rate after the Karamoja region in the east – 68% of people live in poverty, according to official Ugandan statistics (UBOS, 2020). Insecure tenure conditions make it particularly difficult for women, children and other vulnerable groups in this situation to secure their food and livelihood. In addition, land conflicts between clans and within families are particularly common in the region.
Our partner organization Northlight Green Services (NGS) is responding to this situation in the joint project. The NGS organization, officially founded in 2021, aims to create a “peaceful, informed and economically empowered society in northern Uganda that effectively participates in and contributes to national development.”

Volunteer “land rights defenders” are in great demand
This goal is to be achieved, for example, through awareness-raising and sensitization workshops, cooperation with public administration and training of volunteer “land rights defenders” (LRDs, from the English expression Land Right Defenders), who act as competent contact persons and mediators in their communities. In the summer In 2024, the first LRDs were trained as part of a “pilot project” (note: a first project between a brother and sister in need and the partner organization). The NGS offer was very successful; the volunteer land rights defenders had their doors beaten down right from the start: at the follow-up meeting in September, they were able to report on various inquiries about land rights far beyond their own villages. Their assignments ranged from mediation in neighborhood conflicts to criminal offenses that were passed on to the police, right up to a sensitive dispute with a representative of the regional governmet

Goal: Combat poverty through access to resources
In addition to the land rights defenders as visible contacts on site, training and meetings with public and traditional leaders were held in the first few months. Radio broadcasts and appearances at public