HIV

1. HIV/AIDS and Land: Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi & South Africa Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS Research Alliance Conference1 – 4 September, Pretoria, South Africa 2002 Scott Drimie Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria Dan Mullins Oxfam GB Regional Management Centre, Pretoria

2. Background to the Study Empirical data on links between land and AIDS FAO: Kenya, Lesotho, South Africa HSRC: coordination; South Africa Oxfam GB: Malawi

3. Land policy encompasses three main dimensions Land use Land rights Land administration

4. Two-Way Influence: HIV/AIDS and Land

5. HIV/AIDS and Land: Profound Challenge Management challenge for those involved in land reform and rural development Affects both: people whom land policy is intended to benefit people staffing the institutions that support the policy implementation

6. The effect of HIV/AIDS on households/livelihood strategies

7. Findings from the Studies

8. Impacts on Land Use

9. Impacts on Land Use: Examples Gender and age: key influences everywhere Most sites: reduced agricultural yields Reduced labour due to illness, shift to increased caring demands Sale of productive assets: seeds, cattle Responsibility shifts to young and old Less experience and skills ? multi-generational impacts Changing amounts of land under use ? Kenya: significant reduction in cultivated land but Southern Malawi: high density, so land taken by new users

10. Land Use affects HIV/AIDS

11. Impacts on Land Rights

12. Impacts on Land Rights: Examples Land-grabbing from widows in general: common but usually illegal Widows in KwaZulu Natal: increasingly resisted pressure to either relinquish their land or marry back into the husband's family Affected HHs in Lesotho: customary & formal law differ on fallow land Some chiefs allow affected households to retain fallow land for future Formal law seeks to keep land productive Children in Kenya: most affected through dispossession by ‘guardians’ Youth-headed HHs in South Africa: vulnerable, not qualified to hold communal land

13. Impacts on Land Administration Increasing illness & death of extension and land officials Productivity declines: staff absenteeism, illness, low morale, growing inefficiency Human resources affected: staff turnover, increasing competition for new staff, multiple recruitments declining levels of experience and quality Financial costs increase: medical care, funerals, induction and training actual survival of some organisations in question

14. Impacts on Land Administration: Examples Malawi: deaths of key personnel, recurrent illnesses of others have increased absenteeism, decreased performance Kenya: illness and death of land officials and chiefs stalled adjudication processes, and resulted in loss of institutional memory

15. Current Land Policy Framework All 4 countries are reviewing land policy None are actively considering current and future impacts of AIDS, on either: potential users implementing agencies  

16. Recommendations Put two-way links at centre of land policy and programmes: HIV/AIDS ?? land use, land rights, and land administration Collaboration between land and HIV/AIDS specialists: build on complementary skills to minimise HIV transmission and impacts Understand heterogeneity: Seek to support diverse household types that result from HIV/AIDS impacts – influences of gender and age Galvanise research, policy and implementation: to understand links between land and AIDS in a co-ordinated manner

17. Recommendations Facilitate wider land use options: for both agricultural and non-farm activities, to be relevant to particularly vulnerable people (widows, orphans, youth and children, elderly); eg: develop land rental markets increase access to water for gardening purposes Support rights of vulnerable people: Ensure needs of weaker individuals and households (gender, age, social situation) are addressed in land administration; eg land registration systems Protect institutional capacity: Evaluate long-term capacity of land administration systems in light of HIV/AIDS among staff