2nd April 2015 A Ugandan traditional and cultural leader Sylvia Nagginda, has announced as part of her goals, the intention to encourage and mobilize communities to enhance social and economic development. The ruler who bears the title of the Nabagereka of Buganda, defended the role of traditional institutions in land reform issues saying that ‘‘women must be at the heart and leadership of these reforms. They cannot be on the sidelines.”
Speaking at a World Bank conference on land and poverty in Washington DC, the Nabagereka
also told those present that traditional systems have a great chance to drive reforms on the land agenda as they are closer to the people, trusted by them, and legitimate. When she was asked what the role of women would be in the land reform process, the Nabagereka asserted that women’s lands rights can be enforced by cultural institutions. She added that the Buganda kingdom has created space for the growth of women’s leadership in advancing women’s land rights.
She is quoted as saying “As we move to build modern democratic states, we must recognize this duality and devise ways of progressively working with it, by recognizing that the best forms of land governance are those grounded on indigenous social values and contexts, while adapting to changing realities in the modern times. This is because indigenous actors play a central role in sustaining or transforming the practices of the communities that they guide. And more than often, land governance begins from smaller units such as families, clans and traditional forms of organizing.”