With funding support from TrustAfrica, ALIGN and Cargill, COLANDEF successfully held the maiden national forum on the ‘Status of Women’s Land, Property and Natural Resource Rights’. The national forum which was held on the 19th of March 2025 was under the theme ‘Accelerate Action for Advancing Land, Property and Natural Resource Rights for All Women’.  
The forum brought together over 80 key stakeholders and actors in land, property and natural resource governance in Ghana. Participants included Policy Actors, State Institutions, Traditional Leaders, Private Sector Actors, Development Partners, Queen Mothers, Civil Society Actors and the Media. We appreciate all the support we got from stakeholders, collaborators and partners. 
This forum marks the beginning of a national movement for sustained advocacy for women’s land, property and natural resource rights! This means that between now and the forum in March 2026, there will be actions taken to assess, document, dialogue and act towards improving the status of women’s land, property and natural resource rights.  

 
COLANDEF decided to take up this initiative in Ghana based on the following reasons:  
1. The debate on whether there are truly challenges with women’s land, property and natural resource rights has been outstanding for far too long.  
2. There’s been a lot of research on women’s land rights. Most of the research are project focused and therefore respond to specific project interest in selected geography. 
3. Research done so far focuses on access, ownership and control of land and landed resources. They do not analyse the critical underlying issues within the land tenure system.  
4. Competing uses of land and emerging trends in customary land areas increases the threats to women’s land, property and natural resource rights.  
 
This has resulted in a situation where discussions on women’s land, property and natural resource rights have focused on individual perspectives and experiences. Not the wholistic picture evolving from the land tenure system.  
 
The National Forum therefore sought to build consensus on: 

The women’s land, property and natural resource rights challenges embedded in Ghana’s land tenure system and how these affect women. 

The key indicators for tracking and measuring progress in advancing women’s land, property and natural resource rights. 

Required Actions. 

COLANDEF extends a heartfelt appreciation to all partners, stakeholders, and participants for making this event a success!