Participation of Village Council and Street Committee Members in Local Government Health and Education Service Delivery: Evidence from Selected Councils in Dodoma Region, Tanzania
Keywords:
participation, stakeholders, service delivery, local government authoritiesAbstract
Village council and street committee members have diverse interests in service delivery in Lower Level Local Government Authorities’ (LLLGA). This paper aims at assessing their participation in local government authorities’ service delivery. Specifically, the study assessed the extent to which members consider stakeholder contribution, gender participation, integrated voice of marginalized, and use of forums in health and education service delivery. The study employed a cross-sectional research design, and the respondents were 399 village council and street members. Interviews were conducted with 15 key informants who were sampled purposively. The study employed both primary data and Secondary data. The quantitative data was analyzed using the stereotype logistic regression model, while the qualitative data was analyzed by content analysis. Overall findings revealed that each aspect was indicated by the observed negative significance of village council and street members’ participation in relation to the LGA service delivery. However, gender had an insignificant relationship with services delivery as the study discovered that, in Tanzania, women are unequally provided opportunities in land, agriculture, and public leadership participation, and some of the street committees do not have any women. This results in the fact that women’s needs being denied in education and health services provision. The authors conclude that there is a negative relationship between village council and street members’ participation and services delivery. The authors recommend that, in order village council and street committee members to enhance their participation, the engagement plans should be designed to ensure sustainable service delivery in the LGA, unlike the traditional approaches used in LGA, e.g., mainly village and street assemblies. The preponderant fact is village council and street committee members’ participation strengthens and improves service delivery through acquisition of diverse ideas and resources.
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