Welcome to the United Nations

June 2022 - You are accessing an old version of our website. The SDGs Voluntary Commitments have been migrated here: https://sdgs.un.org/partnerships

You will be redirected to the new Partnership Platform in 10 seconds.

#SDGAction21644
Using Data to Support Womens Rights: Property Markets and Housing Rights through a Gender Equity Lens
Description/achievement of initiative

The objective of this project is to support womens property rights and asset building by providing transparency to real property transactions. It presents an innovative application of the International Property Market Scorecard (IPMS) developed by IRPF approximately ten years ago. This pilot initiative will diagnose and disseminate results of an assessment of property markets in selected diverse economic areas in Kampala and Jinja using the IPMS with a gender lens. The larger goal is to enhance awareness, provide a tested tool to advance gender equity, and enable equitable participation of women in acquiring property and building wealth and assets.

Implementation methodologies

The IPMS is a diagnostic tool that has been utilized in over 30 countries to analyze property market conditions and identify areas for reform. This initiative tests its diagnostic strength to provide a systematic understanding of how women at all income levels are participating in the property market, which in turn provides a lens on gender equity, property rights for women, and access to finance and asset building. IHC Global is partnering with AREA-Uganda, a long-standing partner with which it has a formal MOU, to carry out this pilot initiative. This private sector-civil society partnership and the innovative application of this tested tool have the potential to have a transformative effect for women in Uganda, contributing to SDG 5 specifically through empowering gender-inclusive property markets, and to SDG 1 more generally by enabling functioning and equitable property markets, which are building blocks for economic growth and prosperity. The partnership initiative will have three main phases: a knowledge exchange, the scorecard assessment, and an advocacy, awareness, and education campaign. Phase 1: Knowledge Exchange A knowledge exchange will be organized at AREA-Ugandas Annual Conference to bring together AREA members, Womens Council leaders, IHC Global staff, and representatives from local communities to discuss the economic, legal, and social experiences women and other vulnerable groups have with property rights and housing markets. The goal of the Knowledge Exchange will be to bring the actual experiences of women to bear so that they can be included in the scorecard assessment. Phase 2: Scorecard Assessment Utilizing professional expertise, publically available data on Ugandan property markets, and insight gleaned from the knowledge exchange, an IHC Global representative and a woman leader from AREA-Uganda will co-lead an assessment of property markets in Uganda, specifically through a gender lens, utilizing the International Property Market Scorecard. The assessment will look at six core elements necessary for sustainable property market development: property rights laws and enforcement, access to credit, efficiency of governance, rational dispute resolution, financial transparency, and appropriate regulations. Phase 3: Advocacy, Awareness, and Education Campaign Once the scorecard assessment has been completed, an advocacy and awareness campaign will be carried out to 1) advocate for specific reforms within the Ugandan property market system that could make property markets more effective and inclusive of women, and 2) raise awareness and spread information to communities in Ugandaspecifically womenregarding their rights and opportunities when it comes to property and housing.

Arrangements for Capacity-Building and Technology Transfer

During Phase 3 of the initiative, a training will be carried out to help strengthen the capacity of the Womens Council and enable them to carry out sustained efforts to train women to become leaders in the real estate industry and advocates for inclusive property rights in Uganda. A housing and property rights primer event will be planned to roll out the findings from the scorecard and train local communities in how they can use the scorecard to advocate for important reforms. The intent of the partnership, following a successful pilot, is to bring it to scale in other countries to provide a practical tool for supporting womens property rights and economic position. At the conclusion of the Uganda pilot project, an evaluation will be carried out by project implementers, which will be taken into account for further refinement and development of projects in other countries.

Coordination mechanisms/governance structure

The initiative has been co-designed and will be co-implemented by IHC Global and AREA-Uganda. It will be implemented under IHC Global and AREA-Ugandas MOU, and each will assign key staff to manage and participate. Country level coordination will be led by AREA and global coordination will be led by IHC Global. At all stages however, the two organizations and their memberships will work in close collaboration. AREA-Uganda is an association that works to strengthen the real estate sector in Uganda by advancing professional standards, transparent practices and a code of professional ethics. In 2015, AREA-Uganda formed a Womens Council to empower women to exercise their potential as entrepreneurs and industry leaders. The implementation of this project will also include full involvement from the Womens Council and other on-the-ground actors in Uganda to conduct the scorecard assessment. The initiative will also seek out active input and involvement from the Ugandan Ministry for Lands, Housing, and Urban Development as well as regional and local governmental bodies, which potentially expands the multi-stakeholder initiative into a powerful public private partnership. A detailed work plan will be mutually agreed upon by all partners at the outset of the project and will lay out performance measures. At each key stage of the project, there will be mutual reporting and CEO-level virtual meetings to monitor progress on the performance measures and address any issues. To ensure accountability and transparency, feedback surveys will be given to participants in all trainings and events to evaluate programs and provide suggestions at each phase of the project. This feedback will be continuously taken into account throughout the remaining project phases. At the conclusion of the pilot project, an evaluation will be carried out by project implementers to assess the projects strengths and weaknesses.

Partner(s)

- IHC Global, a coalition of 50 nonprofit, private sector and individual members from around the world committed to equitable urban development. Recently, the International Real Property Foundation (IRPF) which developed the Scorecard to be used in this initiative, was merged with the International Housing Coalition to form IHC Global - Association of Real Estate Agents in Uganda (AREA-Uganda) an association of Ugandan realtors that works to strengthen the real estate sector in Uganda, - The Women's Council, a sub-group of AREA-Uganda that works to encourage Ugandan women to engage in real estate
Progress reports
Goal 1
1.1 - By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
1.2 - By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions
1.4 - By 2030, ensure that all men and women, in particular the poor and the vulnerable, have equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to basic services, ownership and control over land and other forms of property, inheritance, natural resources, appropriate new technology and financial services, including microfinance
1.a - Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions
1.b - Create sound policy frameworks at the national, regional and international levels, based on pro-poor and gender-sensitive development strategies, to support accelerated investment in poverty eradication actions
Goal 5
5.1 - End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere
5.5 - Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life
5.a - Undertake reforms to give women equal rights to economic resources, as well as access to ownership and control over land and other forms of property, financial services, inheritance and natural resources, in accordance with national laws
5.b - Enhance the use of enabling technology, in particular information and communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women
5.c - Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels
Goal 9
9.3 - Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services, including affordable credit, and their integration into value chains and markets
9.a - Facilitate sustainable and resilient infrastructure development in developing countries through enhanced financial, technological and technical support to African countries, least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing States
Goal 11
11.1 - By 2030, ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums
11.3 - By 2030, enhance inclusive and sustainable urbanization and capacity for participatory, integrated and sustainable human settlement planning and management in all countries
11.a - Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning
11.b - By 2020, substantially increase the number of cities and human settlements adopting and implementing integrated policies and plans towards inclusion, resource efficiency, mitigation and adaptation to climate change, resilience to disasters, and develop and implement, in line with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, holistic disaster risk management at all levels
Goal 16
16.3 - Promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all
16.6 - Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels
16.7 - Ensure responsive, inclusive, participatory and representative decision-making at all levels
16.10 - Ensure public access to information and protect fundamental freedoms, in accordance with national legislation and international agreements
16.b - Promote and enforce non-discriminatory laws and policies for sustainable development
Goal 17
17.16 - Enhance the global partnership for sustainable development, complemented by multi-stakeholder partnerships that mobilize and share knowledge, expertise, technology and financial resources, to support the achievement of the sustainable development goals in all countries, in particular developing countries
17.17 - Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships

Data, monitoring and accountability
17.18 - By 2020, enhance capacity-building support to developing countries, including for least developed countries and small island developing States, to increase significantly the availability of high-quality, timely and reliable data disaggregated by income, gender, age, race, ethnicity, migratory status, disability, geographic location and other characteristics relevant in national contexts
17.19 - By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support statistical capacity-building in developing countries
April 2018
Housing and Property Markets Primer event rolls out the scorecard findings to relevant stakeholders and initiates campaign to advocate for specific opportunities for reform through engagement with housing and legal authorities.
June 2018
Training held with Uganda Womens Council to build local capacity for continued outreach to women interested in real estate and advocacy for gender-inclusive property markets.
March 2018
Property Markets Scorecard for Uganda completed that assesses the ecosystem of property markets for women, including data on the representation of women and minorities in property markets and the formal or customary laws that either protect or inhibit their property rights, access to credit, and representation.
November 2017
Knowledge Exchange held in conjunction with AREA-Ugandas Annual Conference where AREA members, Womens Council leaders, and local communities will share their experiences as women in accessing, navigating, and operating property and housing markets in Uganda.
Financing (in USD)
15,000 USD
Staff / Technical expertise
This initiative will be enabled through the technical expertise of IHC Global and AREA-Uganda. Professional staff time will be contributed by both organizations.

Basic information
Time-frame: June 2017 - August 2018
Website
Partners
- IHC Global, a coalition of 50 nonprofit, private sector and individual members from around the world committed to equitable urban development. Recently, the International Real Property Foundation (IRPF) which developed the Scorecard to be used in this initiative, was merged with the International Housing Coalition to form IHC Global - Association of Real Estate Agents in Uganda (AREA-Uganda) an association of Ugandan realtors that works to strengthen the real estate sector in Uganda, - The Women's Council, a sub-group of AREA-Uganda that works to encourage Ugandan women to engage in real estate
Countries
Contact information
Karly Kiefer, Assistant Director for Global Programs, kkiefer@ihcglobal.org
United Nations