Between justice and mediation: Women’s grassroots leadership in responding to sexual violence in Uganda

Sexual violence (SV) is widespread in Uganda, although community pathways to redress are under-described. We explored how Local Council Secretaries for Women's Affairs ('Women Secretaries') mediate cases within local governance structures, with implications for survivor-centered responses. We conducted semi-structured interviews with Women Secretaries from 37 villages in Greater Masaka identified as hotspots for SV. Interviews were thematically analyzed using inductive and deductive coding informed by theories of Street-Level Bureaucracy, Intersectionality, Gender and Power, and the Social Ecological Model. Women Secretaries were first contacts, reflecting survivors' preference for approachable, proximate female leaders. Their core practices included family counselling, arbitration, and moral guidance for youth. Informal justice predominated, including monetary compensation or arranged marriage between the victim and perpetrator, and occasionally vigilante responses. Referrals to police and health facilities were common but mostly procedural. Requirements for police letters for medical care, corruption, and short detentions undermined accountability. Justice was equated with family reconciliation; only a minority supported punishment as deterrence. Women Secretaries connect survivors with state systems but operate with limited mandate and resources. There is a need to strengthen survivor-centered documentation and referral, clarify police and health protocols, curb coerced settlement, and combine accountability reform with norm change and social protection.