The effectiveness of governance structures in managing land conflicts: Insights from the Southern Highlands of Tanzania

This study examined the effectiveness of local land governance structures in managing land conflicts in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The study employed embedded design, whereby quantitative data were collected from 363 respondents using structured interviews while qualitative data were collected through key informant interviews and focus group discussions. The findings revealed that 66.9 % of the respondents had experienced land conflicts that were mainly triggered by fraudulent multiple land sales by deceitful sellers and lack of formal land documentation. The results further revealed other forms of land-related conflicts arising from disputes between investors and villagers due to top-down transfer of village land without community members’ consent, and intra-family or clan conflicts caused by gender-based exclusion from land ownership, control, and inheritance. The effectiveness of governance structures varied whereby the Village Land Councils (VLC) were moderately effective in Matembwe but weak in Isaula due to poor composition of the councils, limited legal awareness, and corruption. The study recommends land policy reforms to enhance the efficacy of legal frameworks in handling existing land-related conflicts, training of villagers and their leaders on land legal frameworks and tackling the vice of corruption.