In October 2021, we organized a two-day session for representatives of 9 municipalities from Tong district, Issyk-Kul oblast on Land and Water Codes, land rights of women and land issues that often arise at the level of local municipalities. Within the two-day seminar, the head of municipalities, local deputies and land officers had the opportunity to learn about the ways to resolve disputes on land issues, gender equality in access to natural resources and general mechanisms to strengthen the activity of municipalities, such as how to hold sessions according to the rules, and how to work with official documents properly.
Note: The goal of the seminar was to inform the duty bearers on the changing legislation caused by the change of President, adoption of new Constitution, and change of local municipalities after the elections. Representatives of municipalities also learnt about gender inequality regarding access to natural resources (land, water, pasture), as well frequently asked questions and issues at the local municipality levels regarding the above-mentioned issues.
Issues discussed during the training:
- Gender discrimination in the sphere of property relations, in particular women’s property rights to land and their access to natural resources.
- The legal role of local municipalities and local councils, as well as local communities in land and water management.
- The involvement of interested women in decision-making processes in land management (through Land Commissions, Water Users Associations (WUAs), Rural Public Associations of Drinking Water Consumers (RWUUs) and Pasture User Associations).
- The use of natural resources at the local level.
Almost all the participants who took part in the seminar confirmed that:
• Gender inequality is observed in the management and use of natural resources at the local level. Thus, there are no women in the composition of land commissions, management bodies of WUAs, RWUUs and the Association of Pasture Users.
• Documents for houses, land shares and household plots (vegetable gardens) in most cases are issued for men (father/father-in-law, husband, brother).
• Only in one local municipality in Kyrgyzstan in the court of aksakals there is one woman. For information: The Court of Aksakal is a non-governmental community elected alternative judgement system that may solve local issues, including land, water and pasture use issues.
Most participants found the training useful in demonstrating the frequently changed legislation and the role of local municipalities and asked for the learning materials to be distributed among their colleagues.