3. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - All submissions
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Item The role of social dialogue (civil society participation) in policy decision-making in South Africa: the case study of NEDLAC(2016-04-06) Ngxabi, SiziphiweSouth Africa enshrines itself as a democratic developing country that adheres to the principles of good governance and acknowledges the role that civil society participation in state affairs can have. The purpose of this study was to establish the role and effectiveness of NEDLAC’s social dialogue process through evaluating the contribution of civil society participation in the Development Chamber; and to understand the relationship between NEDLAC’s social dialogue model and the World Bank ideology on civil society participation in policy making. The study highlights that NEDLAC remains one of the key vehicles for social dialogue in South Africa and there have been positive contributions by civil society participation in the NEDLAC process. It takes its premise from the ILO model of social dialogue, whilst it also adapts from the World Bank ideology of civil society participation by including civil society in the process, through the Development Chamber. However, the effectiveness of civil society participation in policy making through NEDLAC is at risk due to the impact of the changing socioeconomic environment. In many ways this study highlights contradictions in South Africa’s social dialogue process. The Development Chamber is not being optimally used for its intended purposes as representativity and accountability of the community organisations are a concern; whilst there is an increasingly active civil society, demonstrated by civil unrest, which is not part of this social dialogue process.Item Citizen participation in local policy making in Malawi(2013-06-03) Malamulo, Terence CraylIn the last two decades, a number of discourses on democratic governance and development in the developing countries position citizen participation as a public accountability mechanism. Most countries have adopted decentralization governance reforms to enable local citizens to influence government policies and services. Literature on decentralization shows weak coherence on how public accountability works to achieve local development and democracy consolidation. Hence, the research study proposes a citizen participation model that should be used in investigating citizen based public accountability in policy making. The evaluation study intends to measure the extent to which citizen participation influences public accountability in local policy making in Malawi; using an evaluation framework based on the suggested citizen participation model. The evaluation investigated the influence of citizen participation in the making of the Lilongwe City Development Strategy (2009). It used qualitative research design and a case study of Ngwenya, a peri-urban area in Lilongwe City. The study used a clarificative evaluation approach. The study found that there is poor citizen participation to influence public accountability in local policy making in Malawi. The findings depict that the conceptualization of citizen participation model should underpin policy principles and associate laws to frame contextual base that helps decentralization benefits reach the local citizens. The report suggests that to improve public accountability through citizen participation primarily there should be: i) clear social, constitutional or political contracts between local government and citizens; ii) adherence to democratic governance; and iii) consistent alignment of programme implementation to assumed contexts in their design.Item The participation of women in the HIV & AIDS policy process in Swaziland(2011-11-08) Mlangeni, BongiweThis research examines the participation of women in the HIV and AIDS policy process between 2003 and 2009. Participation has been an integral part of Swaziland‘s HIV and AIDS policy since the country adopted a multi-sectoral response to the pandemic in the late 1990s. As a concept and practice, participation is highly contested and political. The study sought to find out what type and quality of involvement Swaziland offers to women in its status as the last absolute monarchy in the African continent. The thesis relies on interviews and documentary research to establish its findings. It tracks the role women played at each stage of policy making, from agenda setting, policy formulation, policy adoption, policy implementation to policy assessment. The study also interrogates the shape of the participation space as well as power relations that define it. Women‘s advocacy and collaborative efforts are investigated to determine the type of strategies women used to increase their influence in the process. The study will argue that women‘s participation in the HIV and AIDS policy process or any other development process in Swaziland is in vain if their inferior legal status and other forms of discrimination are not fully addressed. While women can have increased access to political and policy making processes in government, their chances of bringing about change are severely undermined by the entrenchment of their subordination at every level of society. Instead of shying away from feminism, women should consider and adopt a vigorous, conscious, and unrelenting feminist agenda, which will challenge unfair gender laws and cultural norms.