Her Royal Majesty Toto Iteso Akaliait Juliet Among Atomeileng has officially launched the dissemination of the Iteso Family Principles and Gender Relations Guidelines in Kumi Municipality, as the Iteso Cultural Union (ICU) intensifies efforts to promote peaceful families and combat gender-based violence (GBV).
The guidelines, developed through a collaborative effort between the Iteso Cultural Union and Cross-Cultural Foundation Uganda (CCFU), are intended to provide families and cultural leaders with a framework for strengthening relationships, promoting mutual respect and protecting women and children.
The dissemination exercise follows the earlier official launch of the guidelines by His Highness Papa Emorimor Paul Sande Emolot Etomeileng. The initiative seeks to use culture as a practical tool for addressing social challenges affecting families and communities.
Addressing clan heads and cultural leaders in Kumi District, Toto Akaliait urged families to embrace mutual respect, love and responsibility as the foundation for peaceful homes.
She emphasized that culture has a critical role to play in shaping society and guiding relationships, particularly within families.
“We want to ensure that culture takes the lead in marriages and the day-to-day running of families,” Toto Akaliait said.
She called upon clan heads to use the guidelines when administering and guiding their communities, noting that strong families are essential to building peaceful and economically resilient communities.
“I urge all the clan heads to administer their people using this guide as the tool. We need peace in families; we need to see love and respect for each other. This, we believe, will strengthen our families, and we hope that a united family will overcome economic challenges,” she said.
The guidelines place particular emphasis on preventing gender-based violence and promoting healthy relations between men, women and children.
ICU Prime Minister Andrew Ocole praised the clan leaders for embracing the guidelines, saying their involvement would be critical in ensuring that the principles reach families at the grassroots.
Ocole said the cultural institution considers the family a fundamental institution that must be strengthened if society is to address wider social challenges.
“ICU is the custodian of our Iteso culture, and the family is the first institution that we focus on building. Our emphasis is to fight gender-based violence and bring sanity to our society,” he said.
The Prime Minister also thanked the Cross-Cultural Foundation Uganda for partnering with ICU in the development and dissemination of the guidelines, describing the partnership as an important step towards using cultural structures to address contemporary family challenges.
Stephen Okiror, the ICU Deputy Prime Minister for the Central Region, said the guidelines had come at an important time, given the continued reports of gender-based violence in communities.
“This book has arrived in time. Our communities are still grappling with several cases of GBV,” Okiror said.
He encouraged cultural leaders to actively use the guidelines in community engagements and family mediation, particularly where conflicts arise within marriages.
The dissemination in Kumi marks another step in ICU’s broader effort to strengthen the family institution through cultural leadership, with clan heads expected to play a central role in translating the principles into practical guidance for families across Teso.
The initiative also seeks to reinforce the protection of women and children while promoting marriages and households founded on dignity, responsibility, love and mutual respect.
