A Study of Local Government in Africa through Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Abstract

Studies on local governments suggest a need for reforms on the management of such units (see Warremn 1986; Max 1991; Brans 1992; Watt 2006; Faguet 2009; Booth 2011; Kim 2018). Globally, there are shortfalls that cause local government structures to fail in adequately providing public services in line with the needs and aspirations of local communities. Although autonomous local governments can improve the well-being of their citizens by widening opportunities, increasing administrative and economic efficiency (Erlingsson and Ödalen 2013), reducing poverty (Boex and Martinez-Vazquez 2006), increasing democratic control and accountability (Wollmann 2004), and improving efficiency and equity in service distribution (Kubal 2006), critics contend that local governments have failed to provide public services effectively and efficiently. Ebinger, Grohs, and Reiter (2011) point out that local governments tend to favor special interest groups and local executives, not marginalized people. Similar views are shared by Kessy and McCourt (2010), who argue that the autonomy of local governments may serve the interests of the ruling elites and well-off people instead of the interests of the general public. In the same vein, the literature suggests that although Tanzania has crafted one of the most creative models of local government, it has not attained efficiency and effectiveness (defined below) in the provision of public services (Boex and Martinez-Vazquez 2006; Graham 2008; Max 1991; Kessy and McCourt 2010; Jiménez and Pérez-Foguet 2010; Pedersen 2012; Hulst, Mafuru, and Mpenzi et al. 2015).Overall, the Tanzanian government has been establishing new local governments in an attempt to build an effective and efficient local government system to deliver public services (see Article 5(2) of the Local Government Act of 1982 and the Local Government Laws Act No. 6 of 1999). However, Madaha (2012, 2018) has highlighted the presence of a well-established ruling regime at the local and central government levels that tends to ignore some of the pertinent needs of marginalized people in Tanzania. Using Tanzania as a case study, other studies on local government highlight similar concerns (see Boex and Martinez-Vazquez 2006; Eckert 2007; Graham 2008; Jiménez and Pérez-Foguet 2010), but these studies have not focused on an in-depth participatory action study that involves local community members as co-researchers. Participatory action is needed to have a thorough understanding of how local government can increase efficiency and effectiveness in the provision of public services and associated challenges.Here, “effectiveness” refers to an outcome or output of an effort that accomplishes its intended objective (Ridley and Simon 1938, 21) or achieves its specific desired end (Barnard 1938, 60). “Efficiency” refers to the optimum relationship between input and output (Anthony 1965, 28) that is measured by the effects obtained compared to the maximum effects possible with the available resources (Ridley and Simon 1938, 23). That is, efficiency is the process of making the best use of available resources to attain effectiveness. According to Røge and Lennon (2018, 3), efficiency implies that “the more units of output obtained from a given input, the more efficient the process.” In this regard, efficiency is a process and effectiveness is an outcome. Ideally, the two phenomena are intertwined.Along these lines, the objective of this study was to conduct a participatory exploration of the role of local governments and associated gender implications in delivering effective and efficient agricultural services to marginalized smallholder farmers and to propose bottom-up solutions to existing challenges. The specific question that the study sought to answer: How do the existing structural challenges hinder local governments from providing reliable, effective, and efficient public services in the agricultural sector? The ancillary objective of the study was to empower local communities to participate in the decentralization process through Participatory Action Research effectively and efficiently. In this way, the study is qualitative, aimed at exploring decentralization and associated challenges within a Tanzanian context. Although quantitative studies focus on specific set of variables, qualitative studies focus on a major issue or a central phenomenon (see Creswell 2013). That is, the study is exploratory—investigating social life—and also descriptive—describing social life (Hesse-Biber and Leavy 2011).In this context, the study has used Participatory Action Research. There has never been a similar documented attempt in the past, at least within the Tanzanian context. According to Kemmis and McTaggart (2005), Participatory Action Research allows co-researchers (the participants) to collaboratively explore to attain accurate and useful knowledge that is required to take appropriate action at the local level. Specifically, this author facilitated the Participatory Action Research exercise with local communities, acting as co-researchers, to help them learn about the challenges associated with accessing public services in the agriculture sector and to take action to rectify some of the challenges. Foster and Glass (2017) assert that engaging impacted communities as co-researchers in all phases of the research process can yield more reasonable findings and more responsive and equitable policy solutions. This article goes beyond the usual practice of Participatory Action Research on co-learning (see Reason and Bradbury 2008; Bradbury 2010) to one that fosters both co-learning and transformative dialogue (see Cerecer, Cahill, and Bradley 2013; Kemmis, McTaggart, and Nixon 2014) between local governments and local communities. The article further shows the emancipatory role of Participatory Action Research by giving voice to marginalized people through the creation of community-based social structures to sustain the outcomes (see Friedman, Gray, and Aragon 2018).Within this context, the article has focused on marginalized people who predominantly rely on agriculture for their livelihood. Those are the majority in many sub-Saharan countries, including Tanzania. Jafry and Sulaiman (2013, 433) acknowledge that climate change and a shifting global economy have caused some of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities to rely on agriculture as their main source of food and as a means of livelihood and income generation.With regard to the provision of public services in the sector also known as agricultural extension services, the article has adopted a definition by Laurent, Cerf, and Labarthe (2007, 9), who state that agricultural extension services refer to relations that bring into play a service provider (such as a government or private firm) and a beneficiary (a farmer) for the purpose of transforming the state of a medium that does not belong to the service provider. An example of a medium includes the farm enterprise, its production tools, its territory, and its work collective. Wings of local governments in Tanzania that are responsible for overseeing the provision of agricultural extension services at the local government level are agricultural departments such as the “District Agriculture Irrigation and Cooperative Office” and “District Livestock and Fisheries.” These provide services to people in their jurisdictions.The major theory informing this article is the theory of decentralization. Local governments are social structures that operationalize the decentralization process. The promise of the theory of decentralization is that the devolution of power to the people at the local level makes local governments more accountable and fosters community participation. Grindle (2009) points out that decentralization leads to better governance and a stronger democracy because the process enables local communities to participate in their development and hold public officials more accountable for their actions. The argument stems from classic political philosophy (see Grindle 2009; Pedersen 2012; Hulst et al. 2015) and Smith’s (1985) work on decentralization. Despite the many benefits of decentralization, critics contend (see Kessy and McCourt 2010) that decentralization is in fact recentralization in disguise because central governments continue to maintain control of local governments.The analysis of the findings also drew important insights from gender and development (GAD) theory. GAD theory, a strand of socialist feminism, synthesizes differences, which enable alternative class, gender, sexual, and racial ways of being among men and women (Biewener 2006; Brenner 2014). GAD synthesizes the oppression of women and men by capitalism and patriarchy and calls for inclusive movements by the oppressed to transform power relations in favor of a more just society (Mohanty 2002; Biewener 2006). Further, GAD synthesizes the shortcomings of neoliberalism by clearly highlighting the marginalization of women in such contexts (Madaha 2014b, 2018). GAD, as shown by Connelly et al. (2000, 62), synthesizes issues of “materialist political economy” such as neoliberalism, “and the radical-feminist issues of patriarchy and patriarchal ideology,” to highlight that men’s and “women’s status in society is deeply affected by their material conditions of life and by their position in the national, regional, and global economies [and] that women [and men] are deeply affected by the nature of patriarchal power in their societies at the national, community, and household levels.” The accepted norms and values of societies define women’s and men’s roles and duties in a particular society. GAD pays special attention to the relationships between women and men, not to women alone. Gender relations determine women’s position in society, not as immutable reflections of the natural order but as socially constructed patterns of behavior. A gender-sensitive action research tends to overcome social exclusion based on gender or other forms of oppression by giving marginalized women and men a voice in research (Connelly et al. 2000; Coghlan and Brydon-Miller 2014).Unlike conventional studies on local governments, this article employed PAR to empower the local communities as much as possible. Research on decentralization falls into single-country qualitative work and cross-countries quantitative work. In this regard, a single-country qualitative study involves the use of a small sample, whereas a cross-countries quantitative study involves the use of a large sample (see Faguet 2009). Qualitative research relies primarily on descriptive and qualitative evidence. Although this study has taken a qualitative path in line with the study objective, the emphasis was on empowering the marginalized groups to take action on identified challenges of local governments.Within the mentioned milieu, the local communities participated, as co-researchers, in identifying local challenges as well as proposing solutions to such challenges. The author selected four local government councils in Tanzania: Mbeya District Council, Morogoro District Council, Kishapu District Council, and Kasulu Town Council (hereafter, “DC” for District Council and “TC” for Town Council). The local governments were selected because they had organized community groups that could participate in the study as co-researchers.Given the large geographical area of the above-mentioned districts, the author purposively selected one administrative ward from each of the councils for the PAR exercise. The selected wards were Itewe, Mngazi, and Bunambiyu—parts of Mbeya, Morogoro, and Kishapu DCs, respectively—as well as Nyansha ward, associated with Kasulu TC. The criteria that guided the selection of the wards were as follows:The study uniquely merged PAR and Triple A techniques. The Triple A process involves cycles of joint Assessment (A), Analysis (A), and Action (A) to identify context-specific communal challenges and associated action as solutions to the challenges. In this context, the community members were systematically empowered to conduct an assessment of their challenges, analyze such challenges, and take action to address the challenges. The empowering part of the study was that the community members acquired skills on conducting PAR systematically. They also managed to address some challenges. Urban (2003) highlights that the Triple A process is based on the premise that community members constantly engage in some sort of Assessment, Analysis, and Action as they address challenges. According to Urban (2003), the Triple A process simply means “learning-by-doing” or “self-evaluation.” The process is also in line with PAR (see Reason and Bradbury 2008; Kemmis et al. 2014). Relying on the Triple A framework, the PAR exercise involved developing the capabilities of the co-researchers to assess and analyze a situation to make informed decisions for action, and to learn from the results of the action. If the Triple A process takes place successfully (as was the case in this study), the capacity of community members to address their problems increases. The details on the process are provided in the following paragraphs.Thirty local community members from each of the selected wards participated in the PAR exercise as co-researchers, for a total of 120 PAR co-researchers. PAR researchers are required to step down from their authoritative and expert role. Instead, they use their knowledge and skills to facilitate the PAR exercise. That is, a PAR researcher becomes either a co-researcher or a traditional researcher collaborating with actors within their social setting to understand and transform it (see Coghlan and Brydon-Miller 2014). The co-researchers jointly examined the community challenges of their communities and arrived at compromises. The compromises were recorded as findings for the study. The community members had an opportunity to interview local government officials on the identified findings to seek further clarifications. The clarifications were also recorded. Approximately 83 percent of all PAR co-researchers at each of the selected four wards (i.e., twenty-five out of thirty community members) were women. The priority was given to women because they were more marginalized and provided agricultural labor across the four districts. The PAR sessions lasted for twenty-one days at each of the selected four wards.The PAR exercise involved in-depth interviews of the experienced members of the local communities (three men and three women from each of the wards; the experienced members were among the 120 local co-researchers), community mapping, and focus group discussions (FGDs). The PAR exercise also involved feedback sessions with local government officials. In-depth interviews were conducted to enable the author to effectively facilitate the FGDs and feedback sessions with the co-researchers. The PAR was also complemented by key informant interviews of local government officials. Five local government officials from each of the districts served as key informants. The FGDs were further facilitated through PAR techniques including community mapping, power walk, workload analysis, Venn diagrams, historical line, and storytelling. The community members had limited skills in the mentioned PAR techniques. For that reason, the author trained them on PAR techniques before they engaged in the exercise. The training enabled them to serve as co-researchers in the PAR exercise.The PAR exercise was stopped upon the attainment of data saturation. Data saturation is a qualitative data collection technique originating from grounded theory, referring to a practice of collecting qualitative data until there is no new information being obtained (see Charmaz 2006). Having reached the saturation point, the author and co-researchers engaged in feedback sessions targeting local government officials. Past research shows that feedback sessions are useful in helping stakeholders in a PAR study arrive at a consensus. Feedback sessions were useful in the city of Cincinnati, which managed to reform police-community relations in favor of the black community (Coghlan and Brydon-Miller 2014). Rothman (2014) asserts that feedback sessions among different stakeholders lead to dynamism, creativity, and growth, enabling the attainment of community empowerment.The first step in preparing for the feedback sessions involved training the community representatives on presentation skills. The sessions were facilitated by the author. The skills were essential for them to be able to present to local government officials the challenges that had been raised. The community representatives received training in the preparation of songs, poems, role-plays, speech, and the displaying of handmade posters. According to George (2014) arts-based activities help generate different and deeper insights into an issue. The second step involved rehearsing for the presentation. The author gave useful feedback to the community representatives that enabled them to improve their presentation skills. The third step involved traveling to local government officials at the ward level to present the raised issues. The PAR participants, also serving as co-researchers, then traveled to district capitals to present the findings to district local government officials. There were 128 local government officials who participated in the feedback sessions (sixteen officials at each of the four wards and sixteen district officials at each of the four district capitals). Plenary discussions followed the presentations, during which government officials responded to the various issues raised during the presentations. Likewise, the officials had an opportunity to ask for clarifications about the raised issues. This step was useful in attaining consensus among all participants as to the way forward. The fourth step involved making commitments to address the raised issues. Overall, apart from attaining consensus as to the way forward, the feedback exercises enabled the author and community representatives to jointly gain clarifications on the gathered PAR findings. The community representatives were also empowered and managed to present issues raised during the PAR exercise to the local government officials. Although the PAR exercise produced significant qualitative data, content analysis was used to analyze the data in line with the study objective. Literature on content analysis is readily available (see Drisko and Moschi 2015).This article presents findings on the views of the community members and local government officials who participated in the PAR exercise. Further, the views of the community members provide tips for collecting additional data from other sources in relation to the study objectives. The additional data and scholarly discussion only serve to complement the views of the community members. The next section covers the actual PAR findings on the challenges experienced by local governments in the delivery of public services to marginalized people.This section presents PAR findings on the challenges experienced by local governments in the efficient and effective delivery of public services to marginalized smallholder farmers in the selected districts. Overall, the findings indicate that Tanzania has managed to create an innovative model of local government capable of improving the delivery of social services to the public. The model needs to be strengthened through improving the efficiency and effectiveness of such structures. However, the central government continues to engage in the creation of new local government councils in an attempt to improve and increase services to citizens as opposed to improving the efficiency and effectiveness of existing local governments. A unique explanation of the finding is that the government relies on the market to fund the local government. However, past research highlights that the market is not a silver-bullet solution to the provision of public services at the local level. The reliance on the market disproportionately affects marginalized people (see Harvey 2005, 2011, 2014; Madaha 2014a/b, 2018). There is also a vast literature highlighting the role of the market in disempowering women (see Brenner 2014; Madaha 2014b; Miles 1998; Mohanty 2002; Ng 2016). A unique explanation of the finding is that a poorly implemented decentralization process can further reinforce gender oppression.Another explanation of the finding is that the local governments would have been successful in the delivery of social services if the focus was on improving efficiency and effectiveness of existing structures as well as on ensuring gender mainstreaming. The findings revealed that the creation of new local governments increases operational expenses. Increased operational expenses result in the underfunding of local governments. Consequently, the local governments have not managed to provide reliable, efficient, and effective public services as per the needs and aspirations of local communities. Some past research indicates that underfunding of local governments seriously interferes with their ability to deliver public services (see Jiménez and Pérez-Foguet 2010). The disadvantaged position of women makes them rely on public services (Madaha 2014b; Miles 1998; Mohanty 2002; Ng 2016). In this context, women and other marginalized people are disproportionately affected.The findings imply that decentralization does not always accommodate the local context (Kjellberg 1988) in the absence of a focus on the efficiency and effectiveness of the local government structure. The findings further contradict those of Warremn (1986), who argues that a central government, with the power to coordinate the activities of the local government, is necessary for the attainment of good performance in the delivery of public services. The findings of the study have showcased that the Tanzanian central government, with significant coordinating power, is the main reason for the poor performance of local governments. That is, the central government has decentralized but without the devolution of powers to local governments and communities. The finding is consistent with other past research on the Tanzanian decentralization model (see Hulst et al. 2015). The following paragraphs present additional explanations on the key challenges as revealed by this study.First, the findings show that the local governments have failed to ensure the rule of law, leading to grave cases of GBV in their jurisdictions. An explanation of the finding is that the previously mentioned challenges have weakened the capacity of the institutions to ensure the rule of law. Tanzanian women are major producers in the agriculture sector (Tripp et al. 2009; Madaha 2018). In that regard, GBV severely interferes with agricultural production. Women from across the four districts are oftentimes involved in demanding and burdensome farming activities. A key informant at Bunambiyu ward said:No one cares whenever women get killed. They are also subjected to GBV, if they return home late due to farming exercise. (Martha, Butuyu group chairperson, Bunambiyu ward, Kishapu DC, March 2018)Based on the findings, women who oppose oppressive systems are subjected to the worst forms of GBV, including death. Consistent with past research, the present study highlights that the presence of patriarchal culture severely affects women (see Mohanty 2002; Jafry and Sulaiman 2013; Madaha 2012, 2014a/b; Tripp et al. 2009). Women across the remaining districts also lose ownership of their properties because of similar challenges. The finding is in line with past research (see Tripp et al. 2009). For instance, a husband in Morogoro district refused to live in a house that was built by his wife. A widow with four children had her properties seized by her late husband’s male relatives. Whenever men die, women and children are subjected to the worst form of patriarchal exploitation, as shared by one of the community representatives:A husband of one of the ladies in our village passed away. The lady had four children. However, all of the wealth that she acquired with her deceased husband was taken by her husband’s male relatives. (Swalehe Kapila, community member, Mngazi ward, Morogoro DC, March 15, 2018)An important explanation of the finding is that although Tanzania has created a legal framework at the local government level to ensure gender equality, the influence of patriarchal culture remains strong. This finding, however, is in contrast to a study by Medie (2013), showcasing poor implementation of anti-GBV laws as the sole reason for escalating levels of GBV in African states. The influence of culture is also supported by past research that found GBV is perpetrated on women because of institutionalized and systemic social inequalities between men and women (see Khan 2016). The finding implies that the government and other stakeholders need to address institutionalized and systemic social inequalities between men and women to pave the way for the effective and efficient implementation of decentralization.The findings provide further insights into why patriarchal culture hinders agricultural production. One of the community representatives said:Although women produce major labor force in agricultural production, they lack support from their male spouses. For instance, men do not go to their farms. Instead, they spend their time at town centers. Besides, women who engage in such demanding manual labor are not allowed to take bath for the whole day to ensure their husbands that they are not seeing other men. There is belief that a woman, who frequently takes bath, does so to seduce other men. Consequently, they spend up to two days washing faces and private parts only. Finally, children neglect their right to education by neglecting going to school to assist their mothers in the farm. (Eve Mayu, secretary, Maendeleo group, Bunambiyu ward, Kishapu DC, March 22, 2018)The situation is reflected across the selected districts. Women and children are the ones who spend a lot of time working on the farm as men engage in recreational activities. Based on the findings of this research and past research (see Carvalho and Schia 2011), patriarchy needs to be addressed for women to fully participate in developmental interventions. The findings imply that patriarchy hinders the decentralization process.The situation at Nyansha ward in Kasulu TC is somewhat unique due to the presence of refugees from Burundi. Some Tanzanian women have been raped and robbed of their personal belongings. Some men have been raped too. The situation is summarized by one of the community representatives:Many women have been raped in the farm by Burundian refugees. Although the incidences have been reported, there are no legal measures that have been taken against the perpetrators. The rapists rob other belongings such as phones, bicycles, and food. Men are also frequently being raped but they do not report such incidences to protect their manhood. (E. Ntumi, community representative, Nyansha ward, Kasulu TC, March 17, 2018)An important explanation of the finding is that the local governments are also incapable of dealing with disaster situations. Based on this research and past research, disaster and emergency situations affect women disproportionately (see Enarson and Chakrabarti 2009; Hilhorst, Porter, and Gordon 2018). The findings imply that there is a need to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of local governments through gender mainstreaming to help them protect the welfare of marginalized populations.Overall, the findings imply that the weaknesses of the local governments allow only those with adequate capital to benefit. Although GBV is a major obstacle to the provision of public services, decentralization within the market economy context ignores gender mainstreaming. That is, decentralization is blind to a major obstacle that afflicts half of the people it seeks to serve. This is tantamount to introducing a policy that offers free gas for people to get to work when half of the population does not even own a car. An important explanation of the findings is that insights from GAD are important because they call for alternative class, gender, sexual, and racial ways of being among men and women (Biewener 2006; Brenner 2014). GAD, a strand of socialist feminism, calls for inclusive movements by the oppressed to transform power relations in favor of a more just society (Mohanty 2002; Biewener 2006). GAD synthesizes the shortcomings of neoliberalism by clearly highlighting the marginalization of women in such contexts (Madaha 2014b, 2018). The findings are in line with those of Kessy and McCourt (2010), who argue that local governments tend to serve the interests of those who are well-off as opposed to those who are marginalized. Similar views are also shared by Ebinger, Grohs, and Reiter (2011).Second, the findings from across the selected district councils highlighted that the local government authorities are aware of the community challenges presented to them. However, there was a general consensus across all councils that they receive inadequate funds from the central government to boost the effective and efficient provision of public service for agricultural development in their respective jurisdictions. The challenge hinders the ability of such authorities to provide agricultural extension services to the marginalized local communities and smallholder farmers in particular. The findings suggest that adequate funding from the central government is necessary to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of local governments in the provision of public services. The finding is consistent with past research, which highlights that the underfunding of local governments affects their performance (see Ji