 Uganda's Forest Policy of 2001 expresses government's commitment to gender equality. The policy is aimed at ensuring that gender concerns are integrated into the development of the forest sector. This includes increasing women's security of tenure over forest resources and their active participation of women in the decision-making, resource management and sharing of benefits. The rights and responsibilities of women in the implementation of forest tenure reforms in Uganda have taken shape in different ways in the country. This access is based on the fact that either you are married or you are behaving well. And the person who defines good manners is not her herself. In terms of ownership then it is not easy to define ownership and it is worse for women whereby they base on the character of that woman compared to a man who is in that household. We have a global paradigm shift in the way we manage resources of forestry in terms of making sure that issues of gender are taken care of. The Forest Policy looks at women and other vulnerable groups as groups which require to be given an affirmative action in the management of these forest resources. For example, under Collaborative Forest Management it is a policy requirement that at least 30% of the people that are engaged in Collaborative Forest Management should be women. Under the various forest tenure reform arrangements and in line with the Forest Policy women have been brought on board, supported and encouraged to actively participate in the use, holding and management of forest lands. Maldren is among the women taking lead roles in the running of the Mugarama Private Forest Owners Association in Kibale. The Mugarama Private Forest Owners Association in Kibale is one of the most important communities in Kibale. As provided for in Part 2 of the National Forestry and Tree Planting Act, communities in different parts of the country are now managing forests as responsible bodies. Akwero Juli is a member of the Land War Environmental Protection Association, a local community-based organization tasked with managing the customary forest lands in the area. Membership in the organization has secured various rights for women in accessing, holding and managing the forest lands. The Mugarama Private Forest Owners Association in Kibale is one of the most important communities in Kibale. The Mugarama Private Forest Owners Association is one of the most important communities in Kibale. What is on paper is very clear. Actually our constitution is gender-sensitive, but when it comes to operation now on ground, especially within Uganda and just Lamor here, when you go to our clan meetings, if you just sample them, you find that women can be allowed to sit and then they talk on other matters like maybe domestic violence and what, but when it comes to a topic called land, they actually tell them to get out because that is now not a woman's matter to discuss. And the percentage of women owning land is very, very small. Ignorance of the law is also there in some of these women. They don't know what is there for them. Some of them also have inferiority complex. They even just decide to shy away and say, I'm just a mere woman. If I start talking about this, won't they chase me away from this compound? Things are very tricky. When a woman stays with a man, not married and doesn't have a child, the clan tends to drive the woman out of that land. That is a practice we have and it's very unfortunate. So in such a situation, there is no equal bargain. In light of these challenges, the government continues to conduct gender analysis and put various strategies in place in district development plans. It has also worked on strengthening its partnerships with the various non-state actors and communities in the country. C4 and AWOOPWARE, in collaboration with local communities, both men and women, NGOs and district and central government officials, piloted an approach that strengthened women's rights to forests and trees. The adaptive collaborative management, ACM, which aims to level the playing field, resolve conflict, foster collaboration and negotiation, and build skills and capacities is a viable way to promote gender equality, even among communities that are strongly patriarchal and characterised by cultural practices that exclude women from tree planting and land ownership.