Robert Wayumba is Landesa’s Senior Land Tenure Specialist based in Nairobi, Kenya. Robert began working for Landesa in 2022.
What brought you to Landesa?
I came to Landesa due to my passion for improving land rights as a means of enabling poverty reduction and economic growth. In the year 2002, the World Bank published a report in which it was stated that only about 10 percent of land in Africa is registered. Since then, I made it a personal ambition towards increasing the extent to which land is registered in Africa, as a means of enabling women and men in rural areas to break out of poverty.
What are your core responsibilities?
My core responsibilities are to work as part of a team that aims at improving land tenure security for both women and men smallholder farmers in Kenya. I carry out research and analysis on factors that hinder smallholder farmers from feeling tenure secure. I carry out sensitization and training for farmers and duty-bearers on different aspects of tenure security. I also assist in convening a Multi-Stakeholder Platform (MSP) that enables State and non-State actors to come together and agree on interventions that can improve land rights for all the people in Kenya.
What is the most rewarding part of your work at Landesa?
The most rewarding part of my work is when a widow who had lost her rights to land is reinstated back on her land and granted legal ownership rights over the land. It also very rewarding to see a glimmer in the eyes of duty-bearers during training, when they realize that their efforts and work contribute towards a greater goal of enabling women and other vulnerable members of society to acquire secure rights to land.
How do you spend your time when you’re not working?
When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with my family. I enjoy taking my kids out for a walk in nature or a place where they can play. That gives me joy.
Describe your vision for a better world.
My vision for a better world is one in which poverty is eradicated through enhanced land tenure security. I look forward to a world in which all women and men smallholder farmers in Kenya and Africa as a whole have secure rights to land and are able to leverage their land for economic growth and development.