Securing Maasai Women's Rights to Rangeland and Leadership

The Pastoral Women's Council (PWC) works across Tanzania's Ngorongoro, Longido and Monduli Districts, organizing Maasai pastoralist women to claim a voice in how their community's grazing lands are governed. PWC helped pastoralist women demarcate land parcels and process formal Certificates of Customary Right of Occupancy, and has trained community paralegals and built dozens of women's rights forums to defend those land claims against encroachment from farming, tourism and conservation interests. Beyond land tenure, PWC's VICOBA savings groups and scholarship program have expanded girls' access to secondary and tertiary education. The organization now reaches over 7,000 Maasai women across its three home districts.