Inheritance, poverty and HIV/AIDS: Experiences of widows and orphaned youth heading households in Tanzania and Uganda
Day, Caroline|Evans, Ruth / 2011

This paper investigates inheritance practices and the intergenerational transmission of poverty for two particularly marginalised groups: 1) widows living with HIV and children caring for them; and 2) orphaned young people heading households without a co-resident adult relative. Qualitative interviews conducted with 85 participants (women with HIV, young people with caring responsibilities and non-governmental organisation workers) in rural and urban areas of Tanzania and Uganda provided in-depth insights into the ways HIV- and AIDS-related stigma is linked to gender and generational inequalities in access to assets. The research suggests that the HIV and AIDS epidemic has led to a fracturing of the intergenerational contract in severely affected communities in Tanzania and Uganda. Some young people are taking on caring responsibilities and gaining access to land and property at a younger age than usual. Access to land and/or property is crucial to the formation and viability of sibling-headed households. Stigma and discrimination, however, have negative impacts on women‟s and young people‟s health and emotional well-being, and in some instances leads to disinheritance and asset loss. This results in a lack of investment in children‟s education and care and the perpetuation of conditions of chronic poverty for younger generations. This research calls for a holistic approach to understanding women‟s and young people‟s access to resources and their present and future security. A complex range of factors influence their vulnerability and resilience to inheritance/disinheritance and chronic poverty. Key protective factors include social capital; written evidence of bequests, property ownership and land titles; awareness of gender and generational inequalities; and advocacy. Women‟s and children‟s capacities to safeguard their inheritance and avoid chronic poverty in the present and future can be enhanced through legal support, advocacy and education on inheritancerights; rights-based social protection measures; and opportunities for participation, peer support and collective mobilisation.