Role of Women in Local Government often Marginal

Development Plans (IDPs), produced as a statutory requirement by all municipalities, are local planning processes that are intended to give strategic direction to the work of municipalities. Increasingly, they are being seen as a forum for achieving links between spheres of government and facilitating co-ordinated planning, budgeting and implementation. But are national gender policy directives and guidelines adhered to within local government, in IDP processes and outcomes, and in implementation, and do they benefit women? These are some of the research questions the Human Sciences Research Council aims to address in a study by analysing national and provincial (KwaZulu-Natal) support to local government on gender and integrated development planning. National guidelines and targets are helping to ensure that women benefit from local projects even where local politics and governance processes marginalise women’s voices, ALISON TODES, PEARL SITHOLE and AMANDA WILLIAMSON found during this research project that formed part of an international initiative by the International Development and Research Centre, Canada (IDRC).