Promoting the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS

Within Tanzania, HIV/AIDS has spread rapidly to rural areas, with disastrous consequences for rural communities. There is an average national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of 6.5% of the sexually active adult population and the disease has severely affected women in poor communities and in areas where access to HIV/AIDS education is particularly poor. In the project area, the HIV prevalence rate is high, peaking at 30% in parts of Simanjiro district.

A major cause of poverty for families affected by HIV/AIDS is a lack of knowledge of their rights of inheritance, and a lack of support mechanisms which will help people retain what is rightfully theirs. Many widows who have lost their husband to the disease have been stripped of all assets and left homeless.

Although current law allows women to inherit land from their husbands, it stipulates that where land is communally owned, inheritance is governed by the tribal customs of the community. This commonly leads to the exclusion of women who are traditionally cared for by their husband’s family and are not considered to have any need for land. However, the inclusion of HIV/AIDS into this scenario means that the husband’s family often rejects the widow and her children, who are left with no land and no assets.

This project will address the inheritance rights issue and will also tackle the more immediate food security needs for people affected by HIV/AIDS by promoting labour - saving agricultural methods suited to households with limited resources.

Project activities:

• Support groups of people living with HIV/AIDS in identification of appropriate food security strategies (eg communal nursery cultivation and husbandry of small stock).
• Provide support to communities in recognizing land inheritance rights.
• Work with district government and local organizations to increase the awareness of rights of people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Establish and provide training and support for the operation of village community banks, giving local people access to loan facilities in order to set up small businesses.