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

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

Agency (philosophy) · Argument (complex analysis) · Business · Decentralization · Economic growth · Economics · Leverage (statistics) · Political science · Service (business) · Service delivery framework · Social science · Socioeconomics · Sociology · Tanzania · Global Maternal and Child Health · Marketing · Medicine · Microfinance and Financial Inclusion · Poverty, Education, and Child Welfare

• Operationalising a toolkit for gender-equitable co-design

  Ronja Walther, Nelly John Babere et al.•CoDesign•2026

  Incluir item

• Gender dynamics of community-led total sanitation interventions in Mpwapwa District, Tanzania

  Open Access•Hannah Tough, Ally-Kebby Abdallah et al.•Global Public Health•2022

  Incluir item

• Systems on the edge

  Open Access•Kate Ramsey•Health Policy and Planning•2022

  Incluir item

• Towards a participatory framework for improving water & health outcomes

  Open Access•Robbie A Venis, Virginia Taylor et al.•Social Science & Medicine•2022

  Incluir item

• Inclusive participation, self-governance, and sustainability

  Open Access•Laura Imburgia, Henny Osbahr et al.•Environment and Planning E Nature…•2021

  Incluir item

• Mixed Method Data Collection Strategies

  Open Access•William G Axinn, Lisa Pearce et al.•Mixed Method Data Collection…•2006

  Incluir item

• Gender Planning and Development

  Caroline Moser•Gender Planning and Development•2012

  Incluir item

• Local government decision‐making—citizen participation and local accountability

  Open Access•Nick Devas, Ursula Grant•Public Administration and…•2003

  Incluir item

• Decentralization and Community Empowerment

  Derick W Brinkerhoff, Omar Azfar•Making Decentralization Work•2010

  Incluir item

• Including Women? (Dis)junctures Between Voice, Policy and Implementation in Integrated Development Planning

  Open Access•Alison Todes, Pearl Sithole et al.•Urban Forum•2010

  Incluir item

• Global Shifts, Sedimentations, and Imaginaries

  C Sachs, Margaret Alston•Signs: Journal of Women in…•2010

  Incluir item

• Decentralization of health systems in Ghana, Zambia, Uganda and the Philippines

  Open Access•Thomas Bossert, T J Bossert•Health Policy and Planning•2002

  Incluir item

• Democratic decentralisation and local participation

  Sylvia I Bergh, Sylvia Bergh•Development in Practice•2004

  Incluir item

• Engendering local government in post-apartheid South Africa ? Experiences of female councillors in Durban (1996?2000)

  Open Access•Nuthan Maharaj, Brij Maharaj•GeoJournal•2004

  Incluir item

• Does Women’s Proportional Strength Affect their Participation? Governing Local Forests in South Asia

  Open Access•Bina Agarwal•World Development•2009

  Incluir item

• Participatory Exclusions, Community Forestry, and Gender

  Open Access•Bina Agarwal•World Development•2001

  Incluir item

• Balancing Rural Poverty Reduction and Citizen Participation

  Open Access•Paul Francis, Robert James et al.•World Development•2003

  Incluir item

• Decentralisation and Service Delivery

  Open Access•Diana Conyers•IDS Bulletin•2007

  Incluir item

• Gender and integrated area development projects

  Open Access•Jo Beall, Alison Todes•Cities•2004

  Incluir item

• Increasing Participation in Democratic Institutions Through Decentralization

  Erik Bryld•Democratization•2001

  Incluir item

• Analyzing the decentralization of health systems in developing countries

  Open Access•Thomas Bossert•Social Science & Medicine•1998

  Incluir item

• Tokenism or Agency? The Impact of Women's Reservations on Village Democracies in South India

  Radu Ban, Vyjayanthi Rao et al.•Economic Development and Cultural…•2008

  Incluir item

• Decentralisation

  Open Access•William Tordoff•The Journal of Modern African…•1994

  Incluir item

• Gender Planning and Development

  Open Access•Devaki Jain, Caroline O N Moser et al.•Feminist Review•1995

  Incluir item

• Political Cleaners

  Open Access•Anne Marie Goetz•Development and Change•2007

  Incluir item

• Decentralizing Government and Decentering Gender

  Open Access•Jo Beall•Latin American Politics and Society•2005

  Incluir item