CO-Strengthening nexus in land rights&pe This proposal intends to directly contribute to the fulfilment of Agenda 2030 targets 1.4 on equal rights to economic resources andbasic services including land ownership; 2.2 on doubling agricultural productivity through secure and equal access and other productive resources and 5.a on undertaking reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources. It also contributes to Principle 4 of the VGGT on gender equality as well as the AU Declaration on land issues and challenges in Africa that promote WLRs. The proposal also intends to fulfil Aspiration 4 for a peaceful and secure Africa under Agenda 2063. At the national level, the Constitution and Land Act provide for equality and property rights, the National Land policy and the strategy for its implementation, National genderpolicy. All these national frameworks work towards the fulfilment of the aspirations of the regional and international frameworks. The periodic reporting is usually conducted at the local level on the country’s adherence to international standards.
Land is an unlimited resource that has attracted the attention of the government, individuals, and private sectors causing land disputes.  Economic interests of private sectors and government, boundary confusion, and discrepancies within the land registry, laws, and policies onland. Discriminative cultural practices among women and men are still highly practiced in various parts of the country. Most of these happen as a result of limited land awareness and capacity building in transformational leadership of the communities. These have accelerated several livelihood concerns among the project-affected persons which calls for continuous awareness and sensitization ofpeople on their land rights, and advocacy for review and passing into law the Land Acquisition Bill.

Loss of livelihood and food insecurity: Uganda’s economy is greatly agricultural-oriented, employing about 80% of the rural population and about 64.3% of the working population  ((UBOS), 2020). Most of the project-affected persons as a result of large-scale land-based investment have lost their only source of livelihood which was agriculture thus increasing cases of food insecurity that has led to malnutrition and violentland disputes. A case in study is the Apaa Landwhich is currently under dispute leading to the deaths of several people in the area. This has drastically reduced people’s livelihoods who have desisted from cultivating within the area in fear for their lives. A recently concluded fact-finding mission conducted by Oxfam shows that the Karamoja region, Busia District, Kiryandongo District, and Gulu District have been greatly affected.

The inability of women to own, adequately utilize, and develop land in Uganda: In Uganda, most of the land is not titled and is owned customarily. The land is male-dominated and patriarchal impeding women from ownership ofland yet, they are the biggest percentage involved in agriculture. Although women are allowed in some cases to attend meetings, as a result of discriminative cultural practices are barred from speaking in meetings neither are they allowed to make decisions that directly affect them. Their views are represented by the men. This has led to food insecurity with regions like Karamoja having poverty rates of 66%   section of the population cannot own and utilize land has led to food insecurity, increased poverty levels, negative climate impacts, and dependence on the male gender. The overgrazing practice within the region has greatly contributed to climatechange negatively. This financial dependence is the reason we have many issues of gender-based violence to start with. Many injustices have arisen from the inability of women to access and utilize land. With the ongoing registration of customary land, the majorityof the women are still left out mainly because they are not aware of their land rights. With cases of widow inheritance in existence, women prefer to abandon the lands acquired from their previous marriages.

The increasing mining activities inUganda due to massive discovery of minerals has led to lots of tenure insecurity and has affected most parts in Uganda but particularly the eastern part of Busia where Gold had been discovered.