In many countries, traditional structures* remain very important in organizing the life of people at the local level. Although many roles and functions of traditional authorities have changed during the era of colonization and in the post-colonial period, traditional local governance continues in many parts of the world. Traditional authorities, for example, regulate village life, control access to land and settle disputes, among others.

For a long time, the study of traditional structures has been primarily the object of anthropologists. In recent years, however, the interest has broadened. Lawyers have examined the parallel existence of traditional and modern legal systems and researchers in development studies have started to take a closer look at traditional structures in the context of community driven development and decentralization.

In 2004, the World Bank Institute's Community Empowerment and Social Inclusion Learning Program (CESI) launched what is expected to become a major initiative on this topic under the partnership of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and the World Bank Institute. This project, entitled "Traditional Structures in Local Governance", constitutes an important first step of this continuing effort and its objectives are described in detail in the next section called "Project Objectives".

(*) There is a challenge of naming the various local institutional types that exist. Some use the term "traditional" as interchangeable with indigenous or informal. Instead of labeling, many prefer to develop strategies to understand and to engage with local systems/paradigms. "Traditional" structure in this context is used to distinguish from modern structure and refers to pre-industrial family or lineage structure.

This project is funded by: 1) the Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation, and 2) the Bank Netherlands Partnership Program.