Still on the road : decentralisation and women's citizenship in Kenya - Occcasional paper no.6/2007

Abstract

In Africa, the 1960s witnessed a strong desire by the new governments to replace colonial administrative arrangements. This led to many countries introducing different forms of decentralisation. Many argued that transferring legal, administrative and political authority from the central government to the lower units would foster efficient management of public resources and by that enable the states to meet the huge post-colonial expectations. But actual implementation revealed that governments were much concerned with deconcentration or transfer of administrative responsibilities to the lower units. There were generally very few attempts at giving autonomous powers to lower units and regions - devolution. Many were concerned about retaining control powers at the centre and giving the regions only administrative responsibilities....This concept paper is an attempt to outline key issues concerning decentralisation and women's citizenship in Kenya. It seeks to find out the implications of decentralisation for women's citizenship and in particular what decentralisation implies for women's social and economic rights. This concept paper provides an overview of gender and development, and further spells out whether decentralisation provides opportunities for women's participation in local decision making and access to justice. The paper further attempts to examine politics of ethnicity in relation to decentralisation and women's citizenship. For each of these issues, we have identified key research questions.