An Evaluation of young Women Participation in local Budgetary Processes in Chikomba Rural District, Mashonaland East, Zimbabwe

Abstract

This study was undertaken to examine the involvement of young women in Chikomba Rural District Council‘s participatory budgeting. This was done against the backdrop where young women have seriously remained behind in participation and therefore have not been at the centre of local governance. Women have had a tendency of leaving matters that are of concern to them to be decided upon by men. This has not only been detrimental to the development of communities and their well-being as a population but it has been a blow to transparency, accountability and ultimately to democracy. Democracy functions properly where all people participate and lack of participation therefore affects the efforts to democratise. A critical analysis of citizen participation, particularly that of young women was premised on the Liberal Feminist Theory that seeks to level the participatory field of men and women and the Ladder of Citizen Participation to illustrate different levels of participation by young women.The findings of the study revealed that while participation is largely supported by the Constitution, young women have not fully embraced this function. In carrying this study, data was collected using focus group discussions with Chikomba Rural District‘s Ward 24 and 25 women and Key Informants. A total of forty young women participated in the four group discussions, each with ten participants. Key Informants were purposively sampled to respond to issues raised through an interview guide. Twelve Key Informants participated in the study. The study reflects limited participation that emanates from the patriarchal society that Ward 24 and Ward 25 young women in Chikomba District reside. Further to this, young women lack an understanding of participatory budgeting and hence this has an impact on allocation of resources at local level. The gendered resource allocation becomes distorted because if women cannot speak for themselves then no one would stand up for their needs. Taking into cognisance of the above results it is therefore recommended that government and civil society organizations should invest in educating young women on the importance of participation as a constitutional