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Gender perspectives on decentralisation and service users’ participation in rural Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2014

Zacharia S. Masanyiwa ,
Anke Niehof  and
Catrien J.A.M. Termeer
Zacharia S. Masanyiwa*
Affiliation:
Sociology of Consumption and Households Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8060, 6700 DA Wageningen, the Netherlands
Anke Niehof*
Affiliation:
Sociology of Consumption and Households Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8060, 6700 DA Wageningen, the Netherlands
Catrien J.A.M. Termeer*
Affiliation:
Public Administration and Policy Group, Wageningen University, P.O. Box 8060, 6700 DA Wageningen, the Netherlands
*
Email: zacharia.masanyiwa@wur.nl or zsmasanyiwa@irdp.ac.tz
Email: anke.niehof@wur.nl
Email: katrien.termeer@wur.nl
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Abstract

Increasing participation in decision-making processes by service users is one of the objectives of decentralisation reforms in Tanzania. The argument is that decentralisation enhances participation by all sections of the community, and by women in particular, and results in decisions that better reflect local needs. This paper examines the impact of decentralisation reforms on service users' participation for delivery of water and health services in rural Tanzania, using a gender perspective and principal-agent theory. The paper investigates how decentralisation has fostered spaces for participation and how men and women use these spaces, and identifies factors that constrain or encourage women's participation. It shows that decentralisation reforms have created spaces for service users' participation at the local level. Participation in these spaces, however, differs between men and women, and is influenced by the socio-cultural norms within the household and community. Men have gained more leverage than women to exercise their agency as principals. Women's participation is contributing to addressing practical gender needs, but strategic gender needs have been less adequately addressed because gendered power relations have been largely untouched by the reforms.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , March 2014 , pp. 95 - 122
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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