Rwandan Succession Law Presentation for USAID LAND Project

Eric Adebayo MA IDEC Candidate University Of San Francisco May, 2013 Kigali, Rwanda

Land as a Resource
90% of the population relies on land as means of subsistence/income Rural poor especially Having secure title to land leads to more optimal investment in land, and increased yields (Kairaba, A., & Simons, J. D.) (Burnet, n.d.)

Traditional Rwandan Land Succession

Land generally passed from fathers to sons Women expected to be taken care of by/ benefit from landholdings of their fathers/husbands (Lankhorst and Veldman, 2011) (Burnet, n.d.)

Female Land Ownership

It has been shown that female access to income/land;
Increases their education/health, and investment in children Has significant positive effects on childrens education, health, early and later-life outcomes

(Gosh, 2007)

1999 Succession Law

The Law on Matrimonial Regimes and Inheritance of 1999, has become known as the Succession or Inheritance Law. Provisions: Daughters have equal inheritance rights to their parents' land Wives have equal rights to common matrimonial property Widows have the right to inherit marital property. (UN, 2000)

De Jure VS De Facto Implementation

All land inheritances since the 1999 law are covered However, many dont have knowledge of the law, or if they do, dont believe it applies to many land transactions which it does Much parochial resistance to new ideas about female land/asset ownership, so many outright disregard the law (Matthias, 2011)

De Jure VS De Facto Implementation

Many women are met with resistance by family members and communities Lack of support from government bodies and courts, and corruption in legal processes. Women who face harassment and discrimination in legal proceedings might accrue more benefit living and working on another person' s land, rather than attempting to gain her own title to land (Matthias, 2011)

Determinants Of Compliance
There have been instances of successful claims filed to land, and of women inheriting land since the 1999 law. Research Question:
What are the factors which influence whether or not a woman inherits land under the law?

1994 Hindu Succession Act Amendments

Deininger et al. 2010 paper on similar law passed in India, which guaranteed equal inheritance of land by male and female children Authors looked at effects of law on inheritances of land by female children
Found it had a positive effect on land inheritances, female educational attainment, and female health.

Used a linear probability model Regressed indicator variable about whether or not a daughter inherited land, on year of death of father, and many household characteristics (Deninger et al., 2010)

Using similar analysis

I seek to examine effects of the year of fathers death, as well as other household, and regional characteristics on whether or not a woman who was eligible for land transfer under the 1999 Succession Law did in fact inherit land.

Hypotheses
H0: There is no significance of household or regional characteristics in determining whether or not a woman inherits land. H1: Certain characteristics increase likelihood that a woman will inherit land.
From relatively rich family From in a richer and/or less densely-populated state Child of monogamous marriage Has lower number of siblings Has correct knowledge of 1999 Succession Law Etc

Linear Probability Model

Yik = 1 + 2Dj + 3Xik * Dj + i + k + gkj Dj is an indicator for whether the father died after the 1999 Succession Law was promulgated. Xik is a vector of variables which account for regional/ parental/ familial characteristics like population density, average income in the area, education, religion, number of siblings, amount of landholdings, etc i is household fixed effects to control for household characteristics which don't change over time. k is year fixed effects to account for anything else which might affect inheritance levels of females. - Yik is an indicator variable for if an individual from household i born in year k, did in fact inherit any land.

Linear Probability Model

Example Independent Variables contained in the vector Xik:
Head of household before 1994 (0, 1) Religion (Christian, Muslim, Other) # of siblings # of older siblings # of younger siblings # of older brothers # of younger brothers # of older sisters # of younger sisters Knowledge of Succession Law (0, 1) Belief that the law guarantees female children right to inherit land.(0, 1) Age of Marriage Age of marriage (Indicator Variables [0, 1]) Amount of family landholdings Etc.

Effects of LTRP on female landholdings

Annie Kairaba & James Daale Simons wrote a paper for the Rwanda Initiative for Sustainable Development, the authors examined the implications for women, on the implementation of the Land Tenure Regularisation Process (LTRP) in Rwanda Rwandan Government started in 2008 to formally title and register land across the country. Didnt find very significant impacts at the time, as the program was still in early stages. Most significant part of research seemed to be the focus groups, during which, the researchers learned about stakeholder attitudes towards the program, and potential avenues of future research.

Focus Groups In Rwanda

Ideally we would convene male, and female focus groups in areas in-which the surveys will be administered. Example Focus group questions
Do you believe that a woman's family and/or community should help her to inherit land? Do you believe that women should be legally entitled to inherit land equally with men?
If so, why? If not, why not?

What are the main barriers to women inheriting land currently? Do you think that if a woman, who is legally entitled to land, tries to take her land claim to court, will she be successful in getting the land that she is entitled to?
If so, why? If not, why not?

Focus Groups In Rwanda

Example Focus Group Questions, Contd:
Have you heard of the Law on Matrimonial Regimes and Inheritance of 1999, or Succession, or Inheritance law?
If so, what do you believe the law mandates? If so, do you believe that it guarantees that females in a family should inherit land equally with males?

Do you believe that women will ever be equally able to inherit land?
If so, how do you think that will come about?

If not, why do you believe it won't come about?

Sampling Frame
Women whos father have passed away after the law was promulgated Fathers landholdings were large enough to be legally transferred. (>1 ha) Parents legally married All other qualifications have been met, for the law to apply How to find this list of individuals?
Obituaries? DHS Data? Other Household Surveys? LTRP Database?

Research Plan Ideas

- Early Summer (June 1-15)
- Plan/advertise focus groups in areas similar to those which will be covered by the main survey - Begin developing main survey which will be used to gather data

- Early Summer (June 16-30)

- Convene focus groups in areas similar to those which will be covered by the main survey - Gather qualitative data to inform the final survey - Begin training enumerators

- Mid Summer (July 1-15)

- Finalize the main survey - Finalize enumerator training - Begin main data collection/entry

Does this seem reasonable?

Focus group/ survey questions Timing Sampling frame

Thank you for your time!