Kisantu, the administrative centre of Madimba Territory in Kongo Central Province, is part of a predominantly rural region where farming remains the backbone of local livelihoods. Yet despite its remarkable agricultural potential, much of the province remains underused: of its 2.05 million hectares of agricultural and pastoral land, only 10% is currently cultivated.
Women are at the heart of this rural economy. They grow food, raise livestock and sustain household food security, while preserving the knowledge and practices that keep farming systems productive. Yet their central role is rarely matched by secure rights to the land they cultivate.
Across much of Kongo Central, land ownership and inheritance continue to follow predominantly male family lines. Women cultivate the fields, maintain them and ensure their productivity, but often lack formal ownership or legal recognition. This structural inequality undermines both their economic independence and their ability to invest in long-term, sustainable land management.
For Marie José Mandiangu, this is more than a legal issue—it is a deeply rooted social system that governs access to land and opportunity. Through her advocacy, she has denounced what she calls “sexually transmitted land”: situations in which women’s access to land is conditioned by unequal power relations, coercion or abuse.
Without secure land tenure, women are less able to restore degraded soils, invest in climate-resilient farming or establish long-term agroforestry systems. They also remain highly vulnerable following widowhood, separation or family disputes, when access to land can be challenged or withdrawn altogether.
In a region where customary land governance remains highly influential and pressure on agricultural land continues to grow, strengthening women’s land rights is not only a matter of social justice—it is a prerequisite for restoring landscapes, protecting biodiversity and building more resilient rural communities.
Levain des Masses advocates for rural women’s rights to land, property and economic opportunity through community mediation, legal awareness and policy advocacy. By helping women secure land tenure, the organisation strengthens more equitable governance of natural resources while laying the foundation for long-term environmental stewardship.
The organisation supports women farmers in adopting climate-resilient agricultural practices that respond to local environmental and land tenure challenges. Agroforestry lies at the heart of this approach, combining native tree species, soil restoration and sustainable farming techniques to regenerate agricultural landscapes. Beekeeping complements these systems by generating income while supporting pollination, biodiversity and healthier ecosystems.
Kongo Central’s forests provide far more than timber. Fruits, medicinal plants, mushrooms and honey can all be harvested without cutting down trees. Levain des Masses helps rural women process and market these non-timber forest products (NTFPs), creating new sources of income while demonstrating that healthy forests are often worth more standing than cleared.
Since founding Levain des Masses in 1994, Marie José Mandiangu Kandomba has championed the rights of rural women across Kongo Central. Her work connects women’s land rights, inheritance and recognition of agricultural labour with broader issues of environmental justice and sustainable rural development.
Through both advocacy and community engagement, she challenges the structural inequalities that limit women’s access to land and natural resources, while promoting governance models that recognise women as essential stewards of landscapes and drivers of resilient agricultural systems.
