The raw realities facing women whose land is the only means of survival seems far removed from the dry jargon beloved by some NGOs and donors, filled with ‘and women’, and ‘gender mainstreaming’. This was vividly evident at the Pan African Land Hearings, held on 15 August 2013 at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, where representatives of rural communities affected by ‘land grabs’ in 9 African countries presented testimony to a panel of experts, including the Pan African Parliament.
The hearings were co-hosted by Oxfam, ActionAid, Future Agricultures and the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS), to provide a high-profile public platform for those directly affected by large-scale land acquisitions to present their own experiences in a forum of academics, politicians, lawyers and activists.
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