8th JPO Workshop - Dakar, 23-27 January 2006
Decentralised Governance and Development
e-discussion, week 2
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Question for week 2 (Monday, 5 December 2005):
Although elections to local government are intended to lead to a fair representation of the constituents in any given community, this has not been a consistent outcome. In your experience, are there systems in place that increase representation of women, minorities, the youth and disadvantaged? If not, can you elaborate on what the obstacles are and make specific suggestions as to how UNDP can support community empowerment, citizen participation and the promotion of human rights?
Synthesis of contributions:
From Jochem Ramakers, Programme Officer
UNDP Timor Leste:
- At the institutional level, representation of vulnerable groups (the elderly, women and children, the handicapped, etc.) can be guaranteed through affirmative action, e.g. by assigning a certain number of seats for the marginalized citizens identified. This may help, but does not guarantee equal representation.
- In Uganda, each sub-county can elect one female representative and one representative on a "general ticket" to represent the sub-county in the district council. Not surprisingly, the male- female ratio in the district council is almost 50-50, even though technically women can run on the general ticket as well. Such a system of affirmative action may actually lead to the perception that 50% of the seats are reserved for women, ignoring the fact that women can also run for the other seats). Although this leads to exposure of women to local politics, what is the actual effect on women's empowerment? And, a controversial question, does it really lead to the best possible overall representation?
- In multi-party systems, there is always the likelihood that political parties will advocate for equal representation for vulnerable groups. A progressive party congress can ensure that a certain mix of people, representing cultural minorities, women, the elderly and the handicapped,etc. are part of their party list (in positions that are likely to get elected).
- At a systemic level, another possible solutions is to make available additional resources and facilities to those representing vulnerable groups, This could potentially be done in any system, regardless of the competition between parties.
- The above measures may be helpful on a short-term basis, but in the long run, other solutions should be sought to change mindsets and perceptions in society that reduce the inequalities in access to education and information often suffered by women and other vulnerable groups.
From Eriko Yamashita, Governance Research Assistant
UNDP SURF Panama:
- There should be a focus on the quality of representation and participatory scheme. Increasing representation by quantity does not necessarily mean incorporating the voices of those vulnerable groups in the policy-making process. Two issues need to be addressed: (1) the capacity development of those vulnerable people; and (2) the creation of an environment that allows open debate and in which local governments could offer profound analysis on the issues concerning marginalized groups.
- To increase effective representation of vulnerable groups, capacity development to make the mechanism function is necessary. It can be enhanced in several possible modality options, depending on country- settings such as political environment, cultural diversity, institutional capacity and available resources. For UNDP, in addition to the effort on upstream framework, partnerships with CSOs need to be sought; or intermediate commissions/agencies, which ensure inclusion of vulnerable people, established.
- UNDP should take a leading role in enhancing the availability and use of disaggregated data and position itself as a promoter of including social and economic data that address human rights issues of vulnerable groups in local policy-making process.
Contributions in full:
From Jochem Ramakers, Programme Officer
UNDP Timor Leste
Dear colleagues,
I just like letting my thoughts go over these matters... The representativeness
of local elections is influenced by many factors. At a very basic, logistical
level, access to polling booths is determinant of which communities get
to have more influence in the elections than others. (Local) cultural
patterns in relation to the possibility, for example, to travel as well
as factors such as the opening times of the polling booths, will determine
the access of women to the booths and therewith their participation and
representation. The possibility to make an informed decision for all
voters, but in particular vulnerable groups such as elders, youth, handicapped
etc. will depend on the accessibility of civic education campaigns in
terms of timing, location, combination with other themes etc.
At the institutional level, representation of vulnerable groups can be
guaranteed through affirmative action, e.g. by making a certain number
of seats available for before-mentioned vulnerable groups. This can help,
however may not guarantee equal representation. For example in Uganda,
each sub-county can elect one female representative and one representative
on a "general ticket" to represent the sub-county in the district
council. It may not be surprising that the number of males and females
in the district council is almost precisely 50-50, even though technically
women can run on the general ticket as well. Such a system of affirmative
action (which may apply to all vulnerable groups, but for the sake of
the example I will keep it limited to the case of women representatives)
may actually lead to the perception that 50% of the seats are reserved
for women... (ignoring the fact that women can also run for the other
seats) ...because they are a vulnerable, otherwise underrepresented group.
Although this leads to exposure of women to local politics, what is the
actual effect on women's empowerment? And, a controversial question,
does it really lead to the best possible overall representation?
Uganda is officially a one-party state (the "Movement"). In
a multi-party system, an interesting opportunity exists for political
parties (making this an interesting system) to do something about the
effectiveness of representation of vulnerable groups. A progressive party
congress can ensure that a certain mix of people, representing cultural
minorities, women, handicapped etc. are part of their party list (in
positions that are likely to get elected). Other solutions, at a systemic
level, could be to make available additional resources an facilities
to those representing vulnerable groups, or for the purpose of facilitating
the representation of vulnerable groups (e.g. to make resources available
specifically for outreach to (and access by) vulnerable groups). This
could potentially be done in any system, regardless of the competition
between parties.
Personally I think that such measures of affirmative action as described above can help solve
short term representational problems, but in the long run, I think other solutions should be
sought that aim to change perceptions in society, that reduce the unequal access to education of
women and other vulnerable groups, in general that aim to provide equal opportunities
("choices" in HD terminology) for all groups in a society. When we reach a sustainable,
equitable level of human development and societal acceptance and understanding, we may no longer
need such imperfect measures to facilitate political representation of all groupings
in society. However, until we reach this ideal situation, we may not
have any alternatives but to compromise and try to come up with what
works in the situation that we find ourselves in.
Cheers,
From Eriko Yamashita, Governance Research Assistant
UNDP SURF Panama
I agree with Jochem’s opinion. Although the ‘affirmative action’ might be an option meanwhile to open space for vulnerable groups in local government, I think it is important to focus on the quality of representation and participatory scheme. Increasing representation by quantity does not necessarily mean incorporating voices of those vulnerable groups in policy-making process. Rather, setting a quota or rules without qualitative concern might lead in a sham formation of political structure, which could cause skepticism on its significance. In order to seek effective representation of those vulnerable groups, two issues should be addressed in line with the effort to increase the quantity. One is capacity development of those vulnerable people and the other is creation of a appropriate political debate environment in which local government should have profound analysis on issues of vulnerable people as needs for a more prospered society for all the community population, regardless the composition of the constituents.
To increase effective representation of vulnerable groups, capacity development to make the mechanism function is necessary. It can be enhanced in several possible modality options, depending on country-settings such as political environment, cultural diversity, institutional capacity and available resources. For UNDP, however, in addition to the effort on upstream framework, I think it should be effective and efficient to seek the right partnerships with CSOs or to establish intermediate commissions/agencies which ensure that the capacity development to be implemented to reach all those vulnerable people.
As for the political debate environment, local government sometimes fails to lead the community into the right direction, lacking indicators for analysis and comprehensive discussion. UNDP should take a leading role to enhance the availability and the use of disaggregated data and position itself as a promoter to include social and economical data that further address human rights issues of vulnerable groups in local policy-making process. By exposing them to local government, representation of those vulnerable people become fundamental and more meaningful to improve the local community as a whole.
This is my opinion and I thought it would worth discussing on the effective
representation as well on reading the discussion topic. Any comments
and feedback would be very appreciated. Thank you very much and hope
to see you in January.