Graduate School of Development Studies
Top down or bottom up? District
Development planning in Mudzi District,
Zimbabwe
A Research Paper presented by:
LUCIA MANHOKWE
(Zimbabwe)
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for obtaining the degree of
MASTERS OF ARTS IN DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
Specialization:
LOCAL AND REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT
(LRD)
Members of the examining committee:
Supervisor: Dr Nicholas Awortwi
Reader: Dr Joao Guimaraes
The Hague, The Netherlands
November 2010
Disclaimer:
This document represents part of the author’s study programme while at the
Institute of Social Studies. The views stated therein are those of the author and
not necessarily those of the Institute.
Inquiries:
Postal address:
Location:
Telephone:
Fax:
Institute of Social Studies
P.O. Box 29776
2502 LT The Hague
The Netherlands
Kortenaerkade 12
2518 AX The Hague
The Netherlands
+31 70 426 0460
+31 70 426 0799
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Dedication
To Lucia 1 & 2
Manhokwe family
Dzidzai
Henry
Chirongoma family
Mutambara family
Motivator-Rufaro
Friends
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Acknowledgement
I would like to thank the almighty God for giving me the strength to
complete my study. Ndomurumbidza She.
I owe special thanks to Dr Nicholas Awortwi, my supervisor and Dr Joao
Guimaraes my second reader for their overwhelming support and constructive
criticisms, comments and guidance that kept the study going smoothly.
Special thanks to all the LRD 2009-10 lectures and the programme
administrator for the knowledge, skills, and the experience i acquired at the
institute. My LRD classmate you are so great.
I also have to express gratitude to Nuffic for offering me a scholarship
package that took me to another level of my academic qualifications.
Back home VamaMoyo; Mhofu makaita i owe you special thanks my
loving parents.
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Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Maps
Abstract
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Chapter 1: General Introduction
1. 1 Introduction
1.2 Research problem
1.3 Research Objective
1.4 Research question
1.5 Methodology
1.6 Limitations
1.7 Organisation of the research
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CHAPTER TWO: DECENTRALISATION AND
PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The concept of Decentralisation
2.2.1 The rationale for Decentralisation.
2.2.2 General Problems of Decentralisation
2.3 A link between decentralisation and participation
2.4 Community Participation
2.4.1 Nonparticipation level
2.4.2 Tokenism
2.4.3 Citizen control
2.5 A discussion on Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation
2.6 The structure of an effective participatory planning process
2.6.1 Stages of a bottom up planning process
2.7 Analytical framework
2.7.1 Indicators of effective community participatory planning.
2.7.2 Wide coverage of consultations
2.7.3 Good leadership
2.7.4 Women Representation and active involvement
2.7.5 Local Government attitude towards community participation
2.7.6 The Presence and awareness of the grassroots committees.
2.7.7 Community and local government personnel training.
2.8.8 Autonomy in decision making
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2.9 Conclusion
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CHAPTER THREE: STRUCTURE OF DECENTRALISED
PLANNING IN ZIMBABWE
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Decentralized planning in Zimbabwe
Background
3.2.1 District Councils Act of 1980 (DCA)
3.3 Participatory structures /Committees of the Rural District Councils
3.3.1 The Village Development Committee (VIDCO)
3.3.2 The Ward Development Committee (WADCO)
3.3.3 The District Development Committee (DDC)
3.3.4 THE VIDCOs and WADCOs as channels of community
participation
3.4 The Planning Process in Zimbabwe based on the LGAs.
3.4.1 Publicity in connection with the local plans
3.5 The Profile of Mudzi District
3.6 Analysis of the planning structure in Mudzi District
3.6.1 Role played by field officers in the planning process
3.6.2 Membership of the VIDCOs and WADCOs
3.6.3 Representatives of various groups and their roles.
3.6.4 Programme implementation and monitoring
CHAPTER FOUR: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION TOWARDS
DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING IN MUDZI’ S FIVE
WARDS 37
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Women representation and Resource Mobilisation
4.3 The District bureaucrats dominating the planning Process.
4.4 Meeting attendance and the stock piling of projects.
4.5 The coverage of consultation by the council bureaucrats
4.6 The existence and awareness of the community organisations
4.7 Lack of trainings in the community
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND
CONCLUSION
5. 1 Introduction
5.2 Summary of the findings
5.2.1 VIDCOs and WADCOs have few women representation.
5.2.2 Local Authorities over reliance on the CG transfers and
domination of the field technocrats
5.2.3 Lack of resources hindering consultations and inadequate time
for proposal plans publications.
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5.2.4 The VIDCOs and WADCOs creating a communication
channel.
5.3 Conclusion
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References 50
Appendices 53
List of Tables
Table 1: The total number of the respondents from the 5 wards
Table 2: Women representation in the five WADCOs
Table 3: Five meetings held in each of the 5 WADCOs in 2009
Table 4- Views of the community on the developmental roles of VIDCOs
and WADCOs
Table 5: Community participation ratings
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List of Figures
Figure 1: Structure of new decentralised local government.
Figure 2: The Ladder of Citizen Participation
FIG 3: The planning process
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21
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List of Maps
Map1: The location of Mudzi District in Zimbabwe
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List of pictures
Picture 1: Women representatives in the Goronga WADCO
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Picture 2: A certain NGO dominating at a VIDCO meeting
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List of Acronyms
DA
DCA
CG
CEO
DDC
DDP
HODs
MDC
MRDC
MLGURD
velpoment
NGO
LG
LGAs
PDC
RDCA
RDC
RTCPA
12)
TLA
VIDCO
WADCO
ZANU-PF
Front
District Administrator
District Councils Act (1980)
Central Government
Chief Executive Officer
District Development Committee
District Development Plans
Heads of Departments
Movement for Democratic Change
Mudzi Rural District Council
Ministry of Local Government Urban and Rural De
Non Governmental Organisation
Local Government
Local Government Acts
Provincial Development Committee
Rural District Councils Act (chapter 29; 13)
Rural Development Committee
Regional, Town and Country Planning Act (chapter 29;
Traditional Leaders Act (chapter 29; 17)
Village Development Committee
Ward Development Committee
Zimbabwe African National Union Political
viii
Abstract
In this paper an assessment is made on the level of community
participation towards the district development planning in the five wards of
Mudzi district, in Zimbabwe.
The paper discusses the concept of decentralisation, planning and
community participation. Decentralisation is argued to result in the
achievement of higher levels of participation in decision making, development
plans, and the implementation as well as the maintenance of political stability.
Decentralised planning is discussed in the Zimbabwean context, starting with a
clear outline of the policy reforms which led to the creation of the grassroot
participatory structures.
The paper uses wide coverage of consultations, good leadership qualities,
local government attitude towards community participation, women
involvement, awareness of the organisational structures, autonomy in decision
making and trained community and local government personnel as indicators
of effective participatory planning to analysis what is practiced on the ground.
The findings of what is practiced on the ground and what is stipulated by the
Local Government Acts and policy reforms contributes to the debate that the
VIDCOs and WADCOs are promoting Central Government programmes
rather than being channels for facilitating bottom up initiatives.
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Relevance to Development Studies
This study aimed on assessing the level of community participation
towards Rural District Development Planning. Community participation in
development planning is desirable since it makes plans more relevant to local
needs and also increases the sense of ownership of the programmes, which is
an essential ingredient of effective implementation. It also facilitates a wide
variety of groups in the allocation of national resources for development, thus
enhancing equity. Decentralised planning facilitates the acquisition of more
accurate information on conditions or situations at the peripheries, thereby
making development more relevant to the needs of the people in various
communities.
The VIDCOs and WADCOs main objective amongst others is to involve
local communities both horizontally and vertically in the process of planning
and effecting their own development, thus enabling government to assess the
development needs and priorities at all levels. This topic becomes relevant
since it contributes to the debate that VIDCOs and WADCOs appear to be
only receiving information and directives from the above rather than being
channels for bottom up initiatives, thereby raising questions on the functioning
of these structures as channels or instruments of community participation
towards district development planning. In short Brand (1991:79) also
contributed to the debate questioning whether decentralisation in Zimbabwe
enhanced local participation.
Keywords
Local Government, Central government, District development planning,
Community participation, Plans, VIDCO, WADCO and Community
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Chapter 1: General Introduction
1. 1 Introduction
Decentralisation has acquired a prominent place in the development policy debates but the
questions whether it enhances local participation still remains. Decentralisation is defined as a
process of state reform composed by a set of public policies that transfer responsibilities,
resources or authority from higher to lower levels of government in the context of a specific type
of state (Falleti 2005:328). The rational for the drive towards decentralised planning is based on
the two fold assumptions that implementation of development projects will be improved
through better coordination by decentralising government structures to a district administration
and the relevance and sustainability of the projects will be improved and self help contributions
towards peoples own development increases.
For the case of Zimbabwe, the colonial structures of local Government were never meant to
facilitate meaningful participation in development. They were largely created in order to improve
the colonial regimes ability to maintain law and order and to collect taxes (Makumbe1996:19).
Therefore after Independence the Central government of Zimbabwe introduced institutional
framework for local development in order to enhance participatory planning.
Decentralisation in Zimbabwe has two main aspects; first the central ministries are spatially
decentralised and now represented at Provincial and District level and secondly a local
government was created which is relatively autonomous from central government for a limited
range of functions. Local authorities are charged with the powers to prepare annual development
plans and monitor the implementation of the development plan and policies within the council
area (Rural District Councils Act (chapter 29:13) section 74. Community participation is the
direct involvement or engagement of ordinary people in the affairs of planning, governance and
overall development programmes at local or grassroots level (Williams 2006:197). Participation
of people in development in Zimbabwean rural communities is expected to be channelled
through the lower administrative structures (villages, wards, and district level) which in fact are
the lower local government structures.
Village development committees (VIDCOS) are designated as the fundamental planning
units and it envisages that each VIDCO would represent 1000 households and it is chaired by a
Village head in accordance with the Traditional Leaders Act (Chapter 29:17) section17. The
VIDCO submits plans annually to the Ward development committee (WADCO) representing
six villages. The WADCO would then coordinate the proposed plans from all VIDCOs in its
jurisdiction and submit these ward profiles to the District Development Committee (DDC)
which would incorporate ward plans together with government departments plans into an
integrated district plan for approval by the District Council and subsequent submission to the
Provincial Development Committee to the Ministry of Local government Urban and Rural
Development (MLGURD) for approval (Clayton et al 2003:41).The MLGURD is responsible
for the Management of Local Government. This process is illustrated by Fig 1below showing the
participatory planning structure of the new decentralised local government.
However, decentralised planning becomes successful when there is genuine participation or
citizens control (Collins and Ison 2009:2). This research assesses and reviews the level of
community participation towards the formation of the District Development plans drawing on
the findings of the research conducted in August 2010 in Mudzi District. The analysis of the
research will be used to classify the degree of the Mudzi community participation into the three
categories, non participation, tokenism, and citizen control as stated by Arnstein (1969:216-224).
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Figure 1: Structure of new decentralised local government.
Provincial Development
Committee (PDC)
Provincial Council
Rural District
Council (RDC)
District Development Committee
(DDC)
Ward Development
Committee (WADCO)
Village Development
Committee (VIDCO)
KEY
Formal top down and bottom up
Informal communication
Source: Mangiza et al, 2004:58
1.2 Research problem
Most of the decentralised District councils fail to have anticipated impact because they do
not have all the powers. On paper district development planning is bottom up but on practice it
appears top down. For instance, Districts in Zimbabwe are given the authority to plan (to decide
what they would like to do) but there is no guarantee that these plans will be implemented since
the allocation of resources and approval of plans remains the responsibility of the Central
Government. The district councils rely much on Central government transfers to their sectorial
ministries which in most cases are tied funds. The tied funds reduce the autonomy of the district
councils in decision making. This resulted in no meaningful positive change in the rural
communities since the creation of the VIDCOs and WADCOs. These structures were intended
to provide the grassroot in rural areas the opportunity to participate in the decision making
process for development planning and implementation in their areas but in reality people driven
development programmes have thus been largely rhetorical and not substantive.
The VIDCOs and WADCOs were expected to enable the local people to influence
development policies pertaining to their specific communities but as argued later there are too
many barriers that beset the proper functioning of the VIDCOs and WADCOs in the execution
of their development roles. This has resulted in many programmes and projects in many rural
districts in Zimbabwe failing as the community feel that in most cases, programmes were just
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imposed on them. The final district development plans are hurriedly produced. Therefore, the
process of consultation and sequence of submission from one committee to another is not
followed properly thereby reducing a sense of ownership of the programmes and projects by the
community. And even if community participation does occur, the planning bureaucracies do not
consider the participation with the requisite seriousness and respect as guaranteed in the local
government acts. Usually there is no clear documentation of the VIDCOs and WADCOs inputs
towards the final draft of plans.
1.3 Research Objective
The research objective is to assess and review the level of community participation towards
the formation of the DDPs in Mudzi District.
1.4 Research question
What is the level of community participation in DDP in Mudzi and how do the VIDCOs
and WADCOs promote the participatory process?
Sub questions
1. How useful are the VIDCOs and WADCOs towards the formation of the District
Development plans?
2. How is the general participation of both men and women in the community
during the formation of the Ward Profiles?
3. How wide are the consultations in the community for the approval and
implementation of the district development plans?
4. What mechanisms have been put in place to obtain views and feedback from
the community by the local authority?
5. To what extend do the three Local Government Acts (Traditional Leaders Act,
Rural District Councils Act, and Regional Town and Country Planners Act)
promote community participation towards district development planning.
1.5 Methodology
The field research was conducted in the 5 wards of Mudzi district namely Goronga, Musau,
Chikwizo, Mukota and Nyamukoho. Mudzi district was selected because it represents other rural
districts in Zimbabwe since all rural areas use the same participatory structures from the village
to the district level. Of importance to note is that out of the 59 districts in Zimbabwe more than
three quarters are rural districts. Mudzi is however unique in that it is one of the four poorest
districts in Zimbabwe and it always experiences some drought spells. The research seeks to
assess the level of community participation towards the district planning through these
participatory structures since their creation. The selection criteria for these 5 wards out of the 18
wards in the district were based on the need to verify that development is usually concentrated
near growth centres, towns and roads therefore selected one ward in which Kotwa growth centre
is located. The other 4 wards selected are far from the growth centre but have been led by the
councillors from different political factions since 2000 so as to verify if politics affect the
functioning of the WADCOs and VIDCOs.
Two senior citizens from each of the 5 VIDCOs and 5 WADCOs were interviewed
individually so as to get information of the operations of the structures since the 1990s. Ten
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central government field officials( Rural District Development Committee members), including
the District Administrator, Chief Executive Officer and Administrative Officer of the council
were interviewed. Individual interviews with the 30 committee members stated above were done
so as to get more diverse opinions than would have been possible from small groups. Two focus
group discussions were conducted in each of the 5 wards with 6 ordinary people per group. All
in all 90 respondents were interviewed as shown in table 1.
The researcher also made good use of the Rural District Councils Act, Traditional Leaders
Act, and Regional Town and Country Planning Act, the Ward profiles and the Mudzi District
Development Plans of 1995-1997 and 2008-2010.
Table 1: The total number of the respondents from the 5 wards
Interviwees
Vidcos
Wadcos
Rddc
5
5
1
5
5
9
titles
Chairpersons
Committee
members
Villagers
Total
Ordinary
people
60
10
10
10
60
90
1.6 Limitations
The most significant problem faced by the study was that it was undertaken concurrently
with the Constitution consultation process, therefore the District Administrator and the Chief
Executive Officer of the council scheduled less time for the interviews since they had to attend
all the consultations meetings in the district. The other problem was that the traditional leaders
who happens to be most of the VIDCO members some of them are very old that they tend to
forget some issues which took place some years back therefore much time was consumed
interviewing these village heads. Zimbabwe has undergone through phases of political transition
and the country is currently being run by an inclusive government with contracting ideologies
among the three parties, Zimbabwe African National Union Political Front, Movement for
Democratic Change Tsvangirai and Movement for Democratic Change Mutambara. However
this study’s focus is on assessing the level of community participation towards district
development planning and not primarily focusing on the political consequences of the transition.
1.7 Organisation of the research
This research paper is divided into five chapters. The first chapter introduces the
background of the study area, the problem statement, research objectives, research questions and
the methodology. Chapter two is the conceptual framework which forms the basis for discussion
for the other coming chapters and discusses the indicators for genuine participation. Chapter
three gives a thorough analysis of the process of the formation of the district development plans
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starting from the basic unit of organisation which is the VIDCO up to the DDC which is the
basic unit of devolved authority in Zimbabwe, where the plans are finally consolidated. It also
gives an analysis of Mudzi district planning process. Chapter four is an analysis of the findings of
the community participation towards the formation of the district development plans leading to
an insight of whether developmental planning is bottom up or top down approach. The last
chapter is the summary of the findings and conclusion.
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CHAPTER TWO: DECENTRALISATION AND
PARTICIPATION IN DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
2.1 Introduction
This research uses decentralization, planning and citizen participation as conceptualised by
Rondinelli and Cheema (1984), Conyers and Hills (1984) and Arnstein (1969). Citizen
participation will be discussed in detail using the three categories; non participation, tokenism
and citizen control since it is the basis of determining the level of participation in Mudzi District
after analysing the data gathered in this research. In this chapter the researcher outlines the
determinants used in this study leading to effective participation and planning which are, wider
coverage of consultations, effective leadership qualities, the local government attitude towards
community participation, women involvement, and awareness of the organisational structures,
autonomy in decision making and sustainability of participation.
2.2 The concept of Decentralisation
Decentralisation is defined as transfer of planning, decision making, or administrative
authority from the central government to its field organisations, local administrative units, semi
autonomous and parastatals organisation, local government or Non Governmental
Organisations (Rondinelli and Cheema 198:22). Chikula (1998:18) defined decentralisation as any
change in the organisation of the state which involves the transfer of power or functions from
the central level to any sub national levels or from sub national level to another lower level. The
key elements in the decentralisation process seem to be power and responsibilities which are
diffused in such a way that they flow from the centre to the periphery or to sections of the
periphery, in a manner deliberately decided upon by the centre (Mawhood 1983:9). Zimbabwe
has used all types of decentralisation namely deconcentration, delegation, devolution and
privatisation but of special importance to my study is Deconcentration and Devolution since
they are more related to the evolution of the participatory structures in Zimbabwe.
Deconcentration occurs when the central government redistributes some of its decision
making authority, finances and management responsibilities to field agencies which have some
discretion regarding the planning and implementation of developmental programmes and
projects (Rondinelli and Cheema 1984:23). The idea is that of shifting the work load from
officials who are centrally located to their colleagues located outside the capital city as a way of
allowing for adjustment to central directives to suit local conditions (Rondinelli et al 1983: 9).
However the district offices have very limited authority, independence, and the staff is
accountable to the central government. This half backed type decentralisation raises questions on
whether decentralised planning is top down or bottom up. Hyden (1983:85) deconcentration is
the transfer of adequate authority for carrying out of specified functions from central ministries
and their agencies to staff of the same ministries or agencies who are situated outside the
national headquarters.
Likewise, Devolution is when Central Government transfers not only responsibility but also
authority for decision making, resources, and accountability to an autonomous and legally
constituted Local Government. Crook and Manor (1991:22) devolution is the transfer of legally
defined elements of political power to local governments units or to specialised or functional
authorities. Local government are autonomous and clearly perceived as separate levels of
government over which Central government exercises little or no direct control of these
autonomous units and they have clear and legally recognised geographical boundaries within
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which they exercise authority and perform public functions. In Zimbabwe, Provincial, Rural
district council, town boards, and Municipalities are devolved institutions of local government.
They are independent from Central Government by virtue of their legal status which normally
sanctions their creation as corporate entities which have powers to sue and themselves liable to
be sued. Makumbe (1996:9) stated that the rural district council constitutes devolved authority at
district level. Its functions includes examining and approving the development plans for the
district which are prepared by the district development committee (DDC), reviewing and
monitoring the implementation of development plans prepared and executed by other ministries
and departments or agencies of government and implementing the district councils own plans,
once they have been approved at the National level.
Gasper (1991:9) delegation is the third type which is commonly used in developing
countries, pertains to transfer of managerial responsibilities, for functions that are specified, from
central government to public corporations or parastatals, which normally lay outside the regular
bureaucratic structure.
The fourth type of decentralisation privatisation occurs when central government diverts
itself of responsibility for certain functions or the provision of certain goods and services and
transfers them to or allows them to be performed or provided by voluntary, private or
nongovernmental organisations. The key factors in privatisation seem to be that the bodies to
which these functions or responsibilities are transferred are not necessarily subject to central
government control or supervision (Rondinelli et al 1983:28).
2.2.1 The rationale for Decentralisation.
Decentralisations empower local institutions and organisations to undertake more effective
self governance and development appropriate to local conditions. Local government institutions
such as the district councils are expected to facilitate social and economic development through
the provision of goods and services which will result in the improvement of the living standards
of the local people (Makumbe 1998:9). Decentralisation is argued to result in the achievement of
higher levels of participation in decision making, development plans, and the implementation as
well as the maintenance of political stability. It also establishes better communication and
relations between various levels of government, bureaucracy, and members of the public, thereby
making development more relevant to the needs of people in the communities. The subsidiary
principles indicates that matters affecting people ought to be handled by the smaller or lowest
component of organisation or institutions that are closer to them unless there is a convincing
case to assign to higher level authority(Makumbe 1998:9).
Furthermore, it facilitates the acquisition of more accurate information on conditions or
situations obtaining at the periphery which information can be used for planning of more
appropriate development and government activities. Public scrutiny of government operations
has increased as a result of decentralisation that the ordinary citizens can now question the civil
servants or council officials when the programmes are not implemented on time or as planned.
2.2.2 General Problems of Decentralisation
The first one is inequity due to unequal resources and inadequate central government
financial transfers. The central government is reluctant to decentralise the national budget, or
allow Local government units to raise local resources for development of their localities.
Through revenue collections the central government collect more money than local governments
and then make transfers to the local units. This has created a dependency mentality among the
local government bodies, has given the impression among people that local governments are
basically unimportant, and has no capacity to raise funds to sustain its functioning therefore a
waste of time for would be participants in local governance (Makumbe 1998:12). Thereby in the
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renewed interests for fiscal decentralisation local government leaders are demanding more
autonomy and want taxation powers that go along with their expenditure assignments.
There has tended to be excessive control of Local government units by the centre to the
effect that local government bodies fail to attract and stimulate local participation, thereby
negating both democratic governance and participative development (Makumbe 1998:12). The
other problem is the concentration of the skilled manpower at national levels and private sectors
than at sub national levels, mainly due to poor remunerations and poor living conditions
especially in rural districts where there are problems of electricity, water, transport,
communication among others. This has led to the provision of lower quality goods and services.
Local government systems are usually captured by the elites. Usually the central government
officials, bureaucrats, and committee leaders channel most of the decentralised programmes for
their own personal benefit as a result benefiting the already rich at the expense of the poor.
Makumbe (1998:13) concurred with this view and noted that decentralisation has become a mere
extension of the national elite’s resources and power base but dubious utility to the people.
Decentralisation can result in the creation of effective institutions of public control at the local
level.
2.3 A link between decentralisation and participation
Decentralisation is premised on the idea that by bringing governance, decision making,
provision of basic services closer to people, government can be made more efficient and
responsive based on more accurate information (Mohmand 2007:2).The proximity between
people and state can foster greater understanding and a better perception of the needs at the
local level. At the same time, the closer contact promises greater transparency of decision making
process and greater accountability of elected officials to general populace. Most importantly, it is
the potential to allow citizens to play a direct role in decision making and implementations at the
local level. However the relationship between decentralisation and participation is not that
simple, its not a story of the cause and effect (Mohmand 2007:3). There a lot of barriers to
participation, for example the phenomenon of capture of local government by local elites exist
and social force often work in ways that the limit citizens access to better and greater provision
of basic services Despite the stated above barriers decentralisation has came to be
characterised as an element of the process promoting community participation.
2.4 Community Participation
Community participation is a categorical term for citizen power. It is the redistribution of
power that enables the have-nots citizens, presently excluded from political and economic
process to be deliberately included in the future (Cahn and Passett 1971:71). Grass root
participation in development programmes tends to supply useful information of specific needs to
programme administrators and planners. Awortwi (1999:13) concurs with the above statement
by noting that the involvement of people at the community level at an early stage is likely to
improve design, and by giving the community a voice, better quality decisions and programmes
more closely tied to the local needs will result. This increases the effectiveness, efficiency, and
equity in development. The broad aim of participatory development is to increase the socially
and economically marginalised peoples in decision making over their lives Guijt (1998:41). The
World Bank (1994:73-75) similarly saw participatory development as a process through which
stakeholders influence and share control over development initiatives, decisions, and resources
that affect their lives.
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Of greater importance to note is that there is a critical difference between going through
the empty ritual of participation and having the real power needed to affect the outcome of the
process or that the existence of the local structures do not guarantee full participation. The
historical outline of community participation suggests that the nature of community participation
depends to a great extent on the nature of organisation and mobilisation at the grassroots level,
(Williams 2006:199). Arnstein (1969:216-224) therefore categorised the levels of participation
using a ladder with eight rungs- manipulation, therapy, information, consultation, placation,
partnership, delegated power, and citizen control. The two bottom rungs of Arnstein’s ladder
describe the level of window dressing/non-participation, three middle rungs describe tokenism,
and the final three rungs describe citizen control/genuine/full participation as shown on the
diagram below, Fig 2.
2.4.1 Nonparticipation level
This level is also called window dressing participation or a one way communication from
power holders/ experts to influence the citizens.
Manipulation
Many times this type of participation constitutes mere informing without actually allowing
the people and their representatives to discuss and make decisions. In the name of citizen
participation, people are placed on rubberstamp advisory committees or advisory boards for the
express purpose of educating, persuading, advising them or engineering their support not the
reverse. Instead of genuine citizen participation, the bottom rung signifies the distortion of
participation into a public relations vehicle by power holders (Arnstein 1969:216-224).
Therapy
On this assumption, under a masquerade of involving citizens in planning, the experts
subject citizens to group clinical therapy. In this form of participation citizens are engaged in
extensive activity but focus is on curing the problems faced in a uniform manner. Group therapy
masked as citizen participation should be on the lowest rung of the ladder because of its both
dishonest and arrogant (Gates and Stout 1996:6).
2.4.2 Tokenism
This level allows citizens to hear and have a voice hence no assurance that their voice will be
considered-no assurance of change of the status quo. Participation is viewed as a mirage, people
are tricked to believe that they do have a say and thus diverted for real struggles (Arnstein
1969:216-224).
Informing
It is informing citizens, for instance, of their rights, responsibilities, options, and opportunities
can be the most important step toward genuine citizen participation. However, too frequently it’s
a one way flow of information, from officials to citizens. Mostly information is provided lately
that the citizens will have little opportunity to influence the programme design. Most frequent
tools for such a one way type of communication are the news media, pamphlets, posters, and
public meetings.
Consultation
19
It involves inviting citizen opinions and informing them and can be legitimate steps towards
their full participation. Rather consultations are usually done and the input from the citizens is
not considered, they just seek the approval of the people on decisions that have already been
made elsewhere. The most frequent methods for surveys are attitude surveys, neighbourhood
meetings, and public hearings. Many surveys have been conducted about citizens’ problems and
nothing is being done about it except allowances that the surveyor gets (Cahn and Passett
1971:78).
Placation
It is at this level that citizens begin to get some influence and are allowed to advise and plan
but the right to judge the feasibility or legitimacy of the of the advice is retained by the power
holders (Arnstein 216-224).The degree to which citizens are actually placated depends largely on
two factors; the quality of technical assistance they have in articulating their priorities: and the
extent to which the community has been organized to press for those priorities.
2.4.3 Citizen control
Genuine participation is when citizen can govern their programme. It empowers people to
determine, decide, plan, implement, control, and evaluate all the actions that affect their lives.
This is where participation is real and productive, mutually satisfying and achieving a high sense
of ownership and belonging to the decision made. Participation is viewed as an instrument of
transformation; people are able to push through their own priorities even if this implies major
changes in quality and design of policies.
Partnership
At this rung of the ladder, the power is in fact redistributed through negotiations between
citizens and power holders. They agree to share planning and decision making responsibilities
through such structures as joint policy boards, planning committees and mechanism for
resolving impasses. After the ground rules have been established through some form of give and
take, they are not subject to unilateral change (Arnstein 216-224).
Delegated power
At this level, the ladder has been scaled to the point where citizens hold the significant cards
to assure accountability of the program to them. To resolve differences, power holders need to
start the bargaining process rather than respond to pressure from the other end (Gates and Stout
1996:12). Negotiations between citizens and public officials can also result in citizens achieving
dominant decision making authority over a particular plan or programme.
Citizen control
No one has in the nation has absolute control but the citizens here demand that degree of
power (control) which guarantees that participants or residents can govern a program or
institution. And be in full charge of policy and managerial aspects, and be able to negotiate the
conditions under which outsiders may change them (Cahn and Passett 1971:86).
20
Figure 2: The Ladder of Citizen Participation
8
7
6
5
Citizen Control
Citizen
Delegated Power
Power
Partnership
Placation
4
Consultation
3
Informing
2
Therapy
Tokenism
Non
Participation
1
Manipulation
Source: Arnstein 1969:216-224
2.5 A discussion on Arnstein’s ladder of citizen participation
Arnstein’s hierarchical ladder of citizen participation assumed citizen control as the goal of
participation and as the main reason why the community engage in the decision making process.
However the success or accomplishment of a project does not necessarily mean citizen control.
Choguill (1996:431-444) in reworking the ladder in a development context suggested that where
there are no governmental infrastructures or support the individuals revert to self management
as the only strategy open to them when neglected by the state. For Choguill, this self
management represents the bottom rungs of the Arnstein’s ladder. However this placing seems
to fall into the same trap that meaning full participation only occurs in relation to the decision,
activities and power of state organisations or similar authority (Collins and Ison 2009:4).
21
Another critic of Arnstein’s ladder is that it gives a linear relationship between non
participation and citizen control as if policy problems remain constant on all levels. Bishop and
Davis (2002:14-29) noted that a linear notion of participation implies that the policy problems
remains constant, only the approach of the actors vary from level to level. In their analysis they
suggested that the unique policy problems require different levels and types of participation.
Collins and Ison (2009:4) argued that Arnsteins ladder suggests that the roles and responsibilities
change only in relation to changing levels of power (in the dynamic of citizens taking control and
authorities ceding it). It overlooks that the roles are not easy to define and usually responsibilities
emerge during and as a consequence of the participation process itself. Instead roles and
responsibilities of individuals are based on the construction of their interest in the situation.
Despite the above critics Arnstein’s ladder remains, implicitly and explicitly at the core of many
approaches to participation.
2.6 The structure of an effective participatory planning process
Planning -There is much debate about the exact meaning of the word planning and how it
is defined. Waterson (1965:26) defined planning as an organised, conscious and continual
attempt to select the best available alternatives to achieve specific goals. Planning is concerned
with the scheduling of activities in terms of the sequence of events of what should be done to
achieve a particular goal. The definition of goals is an important part of the planning process
itself, as is the process of weighing up or evaluating the alternative ways of achieving the
objectives or meeting the goals. Planning therefore involves a continual process that involves
making decisions about which problems (out of a large array of problems) should be tackled and
in what order of priority. Consensus is required in making priorities because not all problems can
be met at once given that resources are always limited.
Conyers and Hills (1984:73-76) sees planning as an integral part of the overall process of
both making and implementing decisions. Planning is not just about the steps that are taken
prior to implementation. Rather, it is a process, which involves the whole spectrum of activities
that take place throughout the entire lifecycle of the plan, from initial conception through
formulation and implementation to monitoring and evaluation. When we think of what planning
means we also need to include all resources and budgeting activities needed for servicing those
plans, for on-going management and maintenance arrangements and for monitoring and
evaluating them. These considerations are especially important in regard to the annual planning
cycle that any local government authority has to go through.
Planning is not just concerned with the short term and the annual planning cycle. It has also
to look into the future, to develop a vision of what we want our communities to be like, and a
strategy for how to achieve development that is sustainable over the longer term. The planning
process involves drawing up a strategy as to how we get out of our present problems and move
step by step towards our vision of what we would like our cities, towns, wards and villages to
look like in the future. The various stages in the planning process as shown in figure 3 are
interrelated and no one stage can be considered in isolation from the other. In practice, it is
seldom possible to progress in a logical manner through all the stages of the cycle. The related
problems of inadequate time, data, and manpower are common reasons for the gap which
frequently exist between theory and practice as discussed by Conyers and Hills (1984:75-79)
below on the stages of the process.
FIG 3: The planning process
Key
22
Decision to adapt planning (DAP)
Establish organisational framework for planning (EOFP)
Specify planning goals (SPG)
Formulate objectives (FO)
Collect and Analyse data (CAD)
Identify alternative courses of action (IACA)
Appraise alternative courses of action (AACA)
Selection of alternative plan (SAP)
Plan implementation (PI)
Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
M&E
DAP
PI
EOFP
SAP
SPG
AACA
FO
IACA
CAD
Source: Conyers and Hills 1984:74
2.6.1 Stages of a bottom up planning process
Decision to adopt planning
The initial decision to adopt plans is the crucial process in the overall planning process as a
means of tackling development problems and achieving desired goals and objectives (Conyers
and Hills 1984:75). Once the basic political decision is made an organisational planning
23
framework is then established. This may be done by deploying field workers or setting up grass
root organisations which facilitate bottom up planning. It is necessary to make resources
available to ensure that these structures for management and control function properly.
Planning goals, objectives and targets
Goals and objectives are an expression of the priorities of planning and their formulation
represents the first main stage in the cycle of the planning process. The ultimate aims or societal
aspirations of the society should be included to this stage of the planning process (Griffin and
Enos 1970:32). Defining societal aspirations and goal setting are important dimensions of the
political process. Having the societal needs in mind the politicians and community
representatives must set explicit goals for planning. Politicians or community representatives
must play a major role in the formulation of objectives and setting targets as they will be
ultimately responsible for establishing priorities at all levels and making the necessary resources
available to pursue these.
Data collection
This stage involves the collection and analysing of data. It is necessary to analyse the existing
situation to determine the nature and extend of particular planning problems. This work is also
termed baseline study. It bridges the gap between the goals of planning and the formulation of
alternative course of action designed to achieve those goals and objectives. However availability
of data is one of the serious problems facing planners in the Third World countries since data
collection and analysis can require considerable financial resources, skilled manpower and access
to various kinds of facilities for example for data processing.
Identify alternative course of action
A rational approach to decision making involves identifying a number of alternatives rather
than simply accepting the first potential solution that comes to hand. It is generally preferable to
have a rich mix of alternatives to assess and to present to decision makers, although practically
there powerful constraints that limit the planners ability to generate a wide range of options.
Plan and project appraisals
Conyers and Hill (1984:79) appraisal basically means identifying the advantages and
disadvantages of different courses of action. The purpose of plan and project appraisal is to
derive information which can be presented to decision makers to help them on the process of
deciding which course of action to select, from those on offer.
Implementation
Implementation is often regarded as beyond the scope of the planning process or planners.
However planners must be concerned about implementation stage is because of the cyclical
nature of the planning process, therefore implementation cannot be seen in isolation from other
stages. It is important for the planners and community representatives to consider how to
operationalise plans or to plan the implementation process. This involves identifying the various
activities associated with a plan or project, preparing a time schedule which indicates when they
will be undertaken and mobilising of the resources required for implementation.
Monitoring and evaluation
It is necessary to monitor progress in order to ensure that the activities are being undertaken
in accordance to plan and indentify the problems which may be occurring, and monitoring
should be a continuous process which builds into the implementation of a plan or project. This
might be done through the use of reports from community leaders or field visits. . It is necessary
to also undertake a detailed evaluation of the plan or project either after it has been completed or
at appropriate points during the implementation process. Evaluation is designed to reveal the
extent to which plan objectives have been achieved, any unanticipated effects it may have had ,
so that lessons can be learned for future planning, the reasons for failures and successes.
24
2.7 Analytical framework
2.7.1 Indicators of effective community participatory planning.
In this study the main determinants of effective participation in the planning process are the
wide coverage of consultations, good leadership qualities, the local government attitude towards
community participation, women involvement, and awareness of the organisational structures,
autonomy in decision making and community and local government personnel trainning.
2.7.2 Wide coverage of consultations
The concept of full or genuine participation carries with it recognition that all have
something to contribute, that our social, political, economic problems are in part the product of
forced non contribution or barriers of participation ( Cahn and Passett 1971:34). The wider the
community involvement in making choices and decisions on matters of municipal interest and
pubic importance, the greater the interface and mutual confidence will be between the
government and the governed (UNDP 1997:2). The United Nations, in a report on community
development states that:
Implicit in theory that has been built up in relation to community development is an organic and physical
concept of community- a group in face to face contact, bound by common values and objectives, with a basic
harmony of interest and aspirations, (United Nations, 1971: 12).
In practice the task of indentifying communities which provides a basis for community
involvement in planning is much more difficult than the suggested definition above (Conyers
1982:127). The problems are that it is difficult for planners to determine the size and
composition of the communities to be involved in the planning process and also that
communities are not entirely homogeneous or free from external conflict and disunity. This
complicates planning since it means that not all members of the community share the same
views about the future development their area or are likely to benefit equally. The views or a
need varies according to different criteria like the age groups, youths, the elderly, the class, poor,
rich, or the middle class among others.
The concept of community itself needs to be used with caution, as communities contain
heterogeneous groups of people living together in an area, where possible divisions are those of
income, gender, religion, ethnicity, political affiliation, caste, and of such divisions increases with
levels of poverty and scarcity (de Wit 2006, Wood 2003).For effective participation in the
planning process to take place in the rural districts wider consultations should be carried out
among the different age groups above eighteen years which is the legal age of majority in
Zimbabwe before reaching a final decision, drafting of plans or the implementation thereof
(Masunungure 2000:70) .The Local government authorities should go down the remote areas and
avoid tarmac or road side biases. Tarmac and roadside biases also direct attention towards those
who are less poor and away from those who are poorer. Visible development in rural areas
usually follows the main roads and near town ship centres. Chambers (1983:10) termed this rural
development tourism, the phenomenon of the brief rural visit, the hazards of dirt roads, the
comfort of visitors, shortage of time and fuel dictate the preference for the tarmac roads and for
travel close to urban centres or growth points.
2.7.3 Good leadership
Good leadership is a condition that seem to contribute to full or effective community
participation (Cheema 1987, Rondinelli and Cheema 1985). Hakala (2008:1) stated that a good
25
leader has a clear vision but having a vision is not good enough; leaders must also share and act
upon the vision. A good leader is an effective listener and has to take the opportunity to hear all
sides and weigh the positions. He/she knows that people had a right to be different and take
different views from different people. A Good leader is an effective communicator who is able
to share her vision in terms that cause followers to buy into it. Hakala (2008:1) concurs with the
ideas noting that openness is one of the qualities of good leadership, meaning being able to listen
to new ideas even if they do not confirm to the usual way of thinking. Good leaders are able to
suspend judgment while listening to others’ ideas, as well as accept new ways of doing things that
someone else thought of. Openness builds mutual respect and trust between leaders and
followers, and it also keeps the team well supplied with new ideas that can further its vision. A
good leader is trustworthy and accountable to the people and in this case people are free to usher
their views or contribute freely and fearlessly during the meetings.
Awortwi (1999:47) also noted that communities with strong leadership are more likely to be
actively involved in decisions concerning the mobilisation of the community resources and also
their capacity to mobilise local people to put pressure from below and to negotiate with the
government officials. This will partly determine government decisions to provide services and
facilities in their communities. People’s representatives should be able to meaningfully represent
their constituencies by making the local council aware of the needs, requests, demands, and
suggestions of their people (Makumbe 1998:56). However the problem is that it is not always
that community leaders guarantee adequate representation of the people’s views as a whole or
even the majority of the people. This has led to the creation or sustenance of the existing
inequalities in the communities. The people who are usually selected to represent the
communities are those who are economically and socially better off, and they then use their
positions as community representatives to further their interests, thus merely increasing the
inequalities (Conyers 1982:129). The availability of the incentives especially considering the
economic difficulties in Zimbabwe also motivates the people in leadership positions.
2.7.4 Women Representation and active involvement
All men and women should have a voice in decision making, either directly or through
legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interest. The World Social summit in
Copenhagen recommended that civic organisations must ensure that women represent a
minimum of 30% of all the elected and recruited decision making positions (Hart 1997:17). It is
important to state that leadership is seen as a man‘s role and viewed as inconsistent with the
values of a good woman. Spouses are generally unsupportive and may even sabotage their wife‘s
leadership pursuits. Obligations to children and family roles hold sway thereby limiting
opportunities for women. There is also a distinctly masculine model of leadership in which
women have to work extra hard to gain respect or recognition given that feminine traits are
associated with weakness (NPI Africa 2008:4-5). Men are considered to be decision makers and
these patriarchal societies are still uncomfortable seeing women in political decision-making
positions. Even though women rise to higher positions, decisions may still be made by men.
On another hand it is believed that the presence of women in the committees or positions
of authority have a positive influence on women’s participation in community collective activities
(UNDP 1997:3). Women leaders boost the confidence of the other ordinary women since they
are more of role models, resulting to the higher attendance of meetings and also contributions
during the meeting by women. However some authors argues that the mere presence of women
in the committees or organisations will not make much of a difference to the quality of decision
making unless they actively engage themselves in organisational / committee processes (UNDP
1997:3). According to Hakala (2008:2) a sense of humour is vital to relieve tension and boredom,
as well as to defuse hostility. Women leaders usually know how to use humour to energize
26
followers. Humour is a form of power that provides some control over the work environment.
And simply put, humour fosters good camaraderie. Sullivan (2005:1) basing on a one year study
conducted by Caliper, a Princeton, New Jersey based management consulting firm, women
leaders are more assertive and persuasive especially on the mobilisation of resources in an
organisation, have a stronger need to get things done and are more willing to take risks than male
leaders. These women leaders are able to bring others around to their point of view....because
they genuinely understand and care about where others are coming from....so that the people
they are leading feel more understood, supported and valued.
2.7.5 Local Government attitude towards community participation
The prime purpose of local governance is to meet the needs of the local residents. A
government cannot be responsive unless it knows what to respond to. Therefore its good for
local authorities to ensure that they have at all times a complete and profound knowledge and
understanding of what the residents expect from the administration and what they feel about its
performance. Therefore to always keep in touch with the community the local authority
administration must develop and nurture effective mechanisms that enable it to feel the pulse of
the whole constitutuency (UNDP 1997:2). Periodic consultations, roundtables, community
meetings also help to understand the people’s needs, aspirations, obtain their views and
recommendations on major public issues. Unheard and unheeded voices have the potential to
breed public discontent and anger leading to political and administrative discomfort.
2.7.6 The Presence and awareness of the grassroots committees.
Grass root committee structures are designed to articulate the aspirations and demands of
the ordinary villagers to the programme administrators and planners (Makumbe 1998:28).
Therefore the presence of such structures is not only sufficient but also the awareness of the
existence and functions of the structures is of paramount importance. Awortwi (1999:8) noted
that community organisations endeavour to represent the inhabitants of the community in their
corporate relationships with the external world in general and with the authorities whose
decisions and actions affect their living conditions directly or indirectly. The problem with
planners of deciding which members of the community to be involved in the planning process is
exacerbated when participation is sought through the community development structures, which
are highly depended on the community leadership whose role is to mobilise the community and
act as channels of communication between the community and outside agencies (Conyers 1984:
128). It is almost impossible to involve everyone in the community directly that some people
have to be selected as community representatives. However, in case of the communities with
different ethnic groups, clans, it may be impossible for the leaders to represent the whole area,
only unless the leadership is selected on ethnic grounds or the committee composition is
representative of all the ethnic groups.
2.7.7 Community and local government personnel training.
The rural populace in Zimbabwe is lowly educated and poor therefore there is need for
capacity building of the communities and the committee members. The lack of confidence to
contribute towards developmental needs can be boosted through trainings and workshops which
can be provided by the Ministry of Local government training board, independent bodies and
non-governmental organisations. Najeebullah et al (2008:50) noted that the trainings to
capacitate the poor communities need not to be too short and should have more inputs and
27
enough time so as to change the whole fabric of the system. Educating the community and
community representatives is crucial especially when considering the question raised that- do the
communities really know what they want (Conyers 1982:132). This gives the people adequate
information so that they ask for realistic and attainable things which can be provided by planners
or programme administrators. This reduces the problem of unfulfilled expectations which is
usually a barrier to community participation as the people feel that their participation has little or
no effect to what actually happens (Conyers 1982:131). The grass root committees should also
have positions occupied by the youths thereby gaining experience and knowledge from the
elderly people Chombo (2006:15). This is very important since the youths are the future leaders.
Local government needs trained personnel skilled to meet the needs of the people as well as
turn the knowledge gained from the people into well packaged municipal actions. If the
personnel are untrained they will not be responsive to the people’s needs. UNDP (1997:12)
noted that the saddest part of local governance in most third world countries is its inability or
unwillingness to recognise the value of human resource development, particularly training staff.
2.8.8 Autonomy in decision making
The million dollar question is on whom does the autonomy in decision making rests? Is it
on the committee members, chairpersons/ leaders, the rich or the whole community? All the
concerned people over the legal age of majority in the community should take part in the
decision making including the poor. One of the most important roles of a developmental local
government is encouraging active involvement of citizens and empowering of their organisations
in matters of local government (Burki: 1999: 17-34) .Development practitioners in the rural areas
should do away with the elite bias (elite is used to describe those rural people who are less poor
and more influential for example the village heads, councillors, progressive farmers), male bias,
active bias, and present and living bias. The elderly, the poor and the sick lying in their huts
should also be involved (Chambers 1983:10-22). The community should be given the
opportunity to participate in developmental projects and programmes but as stated by Khan
(2007:77) mostly communities are not allowed to take independent decisions on one pretext or
the other.
The grassroot organisations should take part in the initial stage of the planning process, meaning
on the decision to adopt plans. This increases a sense of ownership to the programme by the
community leading to a greater achievement of the desired goals and sustainability of the
programmes (Conyers and Hill 1984:75).Community representatives with societal aspirations in
mind should take a leading role in the formation of the objectives and setting targets as they are
ultimately responsible for priorities establishment at all levels and making necessary resources
available to pursue these. Community representatives should also play a major role in the
implementation stage, through identifying various activities associated with the project, preparing
time schedule which indicates when certain activities will be undertaken (Conyers and Hills
1984:79).This greatly motivates the community representatives to mobilise resources required for
the implementation. District technocrats monitor the progress of the projects through field visits
and the community representatives should also take part in this stage through submission of the
reports to the district offices.
28
2.9 Conclusion
Basing on the analysis of the study, five of the above indicators are the main prerequisites
for effective participatory planning. These are women representation and active involvement,
autonomy in decision making, wide coverage of consultations, good leadership, existence and
awareness of the participatory structures.
Women representation is crucial since it motivates other women to contribute towards the
development of their areas to avoid gender blind policies. Conyers (1982:127) noted that
communities are not entirely homogeneous which complicates planning since not all members of
the community share the same views about the future development of their areas therefore wider
consultations are required so as to get diverse views of the citizens. Good leadership with a
vision is a condition contributing to effective participation since good leaders drives the
followers to move or act towards the achievement of the vision. There is also a need for the
people to feel that they belong to the existing structures for effective participation to prevail.
Helmsing (2002:323) noted that communities should take party in decision making... while
government facilitates community participation and management rather than intervening directly
and unilaterally.
29
CHAPTER THREE: STRUCTURE OF
DECENTRALISED PLANNING IN ZIMBABWE
3.1 Introduction
This chapter provides background information about the structure of development planning
in Zimbabwe. It goes further to give the details of decentralised planning at district level and also
the committees of the Rural districts Councils in Zimbabwe which facilitates citizen participation
era towards developmental planning. The policies on citizen participation towards developmental
planning will be discussed in accordance to the three basic legislations that regulate the
functioning of Local Government namely the Rural District Council Act, Traditional Leaders
Acts and Regional Town and Country Planner Act. The chapter finally gives an analysis of the
participatory planning process in Mudzi district.
3.2 Decentralized planning in Zimbabwe
Background
The district councils were established under the provision of the District Councils Act at
independence to replace the inherited racially divided and spatially fragmented system of Local
government. The rural areas during colonial era consisted of the Rural Councils responsible for
the European communities and on the other hand the African Councils responsible for the tribal
trust lands and African purchase areas (Mangiza 1999:51). The colonial local government system
was full of problems of racial discrimination and absence of meaningful participation. The
system of government was highly centralised and deeply authoritarian which ensured that
fundamental public services were not accessible to black people.
The government of Zimbabwe after independence started to reorganise the local
government system in order to resolve the above mentioned problems. One of the significant
changes which occurred after independence was the introduction of the policy of
decentralisation in 1984. The three government documents which ultimately outline the new
structures and their functions are the Prime Minister’s Directive (PMD) 1984, the Provincial
Councils and Administration Act 1985 and the structure of Village development committee
known as the second Prime Minister’s directive.
The first Prime Minister Directive deals essentially with the appointed and duties of the
Provincial Governors, the composition and functions of Provincial Councils, Provincial
Development Committee, District Councils and District Development Committees. It outlines
the entire new local government hierarchy that is the Provincial, District, Ward and Village
levels.
The second PMD 1985 focuses on the composition and functions of the representative
bodies below the district level namely the WADCOs and VIDCOs as well as the organisation of
central governments extension work at the sub district levels. According to Makumbe (1998:28),
they were intended to provide the grassroots level in the rural areas with an opportunity to
participate in decision making process for development planning and implementation for their
rural areas. This would not only enable them to have a say in the introduction and management
of change in their areas but would also facilitates their acquisition of relevant skills, knowledge,
and attitudes for the shouldering of responsibilities.
30
3.2.1 District Councils Act of 1980 (DCA)
The DCA made provisions for setting up an elected local authority with an executive staff to
support the powers of the council. On the representative side the Councils consists of elected
ward councillors, the policy makers of the district council who are advised and informed during
the decision making process by the executive staff of the Council and also by representatives of
other government departments ( Herlaar and Olthof 1994:11). Each councillor represents one
Ward. A ward is defined as consisting of an administrative unit of approximately 6000 to7000
people. The councillor is the chairperson of the WADCO and is the one who forwards the
WARD profiles from the community which will be incorporated into the DDC plans.
On the executive side, the Council is headed by the Chief Executive Officer who runs the
day to day business of the Council. A CEO is appointed by the Council subject to the approval
by the Minister, RDCA section 66 (1). The District Administrator (DA)is the overall coordinator
of the district and the functional linchpin/representative of the Central government. The DA is a
civil servant under the Ministry of Local Government Urban and Rural Development and he or
she is the chief advisor of the Council seeing that it is operating under the stipulated legal
framework of the local government Acts.
3.3 Participatory structures /Committees of the Rural District Councils
3.3.1 The Village Development Committee (VIDCO)
According to the Traditional Leaders Act (chapter 29.17) section14 (1), each village has an
assembly known as the Village assembly or dare or Inkudla and its composed of all the inhabitants
of the village concerned over the age of eighteen years. A Village assembly meet at least once in
every three months at such places and times as the Village head determines to consider
developmental matters of the village. Section 17(1); stipulate that every village assembly shall
elect the members of the VIDCO. Usually members from six village assemblies constitute a
VIDCO. The VIDCO is then accountable to the village assembly. A VIDCO also meets once
every month and forwards the village plans after the approval by the village assembly to the
WADCO. Gasper (1991:20) the VIDCOs were expected to promote grass root participation
through the following roles;






Identify and articulate village needs
Coordinate and forward village needs to the WADCO
link between the WADCO and the people
Coordinate and cooperate with government extension workers in the operations of
development and planning
Coordinate and supervise all activities relating to production and general development
of village area
Organise the people to undertake projects that require a considerable work force.
3.3.2 The Ward Development Committee (WADCO)
A Ward development Committee is established in terms of section 59 of the RDCA
(chapter 29:13). And it is chaired by the Councillor of the Ward concerned. The WADCO
consist of all the Secretaries and chairpersons of all the VIDCOs in the Ward. A Ward
Development Committee shall submit its Ward Development plans (profiles) to the Rural
31
District Development Committee of the council. Gasper (1991:20) the WADCOs were expected
to be


A central planning authority linking...6 villages;
An overall seer that coordinates development plans of the six villages, i.e.re-examining
and prioritising projects and programmes that come from the villages.
3.3.3 The District Development Committee (DDC)
The DDC takes a central position in district planning. The DDC is the main coordinating
committee for the different departments and non governmental agencies dealing with general
district development issues (Herlaar and Olthof 1994:13). This DDC consists mainly of central
government field representatives, NGO heads and is not functionally related to the District
Council. The MDDC is composed of four sub committees, the social services ,environment and
agricultural committees, planning ,roads chaired by the district head of Ministry of health,
Ministry of Agriculture, the CEO of the council, District development fund and Ministry of
Transport respectively. The DDC permit horizontal coordination of the activities of sectoral
ministries and the local authority. As mentioned above the District Administrator is the overall
chair of the Rural District Development Committee.
3.3.4 THE VIDCOs and WADCOs as channels of community participation
These grassroot organisations are designed to articulate the aspirations and demands of the
ordinary villagers, which are formally presented through the Ward and villagers, which are
formally presented into the District Development plans. The VIDCO and WADCO source of
planning information is meant to be bottom up, but there are barriers hindering the effective
functioning of these structures such as insufficient supervision by the District Council and by the
DA, lack of time, capacity, skills, resources among others to guarantee that this participation
actually occurs and to avoid that the contents of these plans merely reflects the views of the
Local leadership. Herlaar and Olthof (1994:14) pointed out that in practice the district plans
produced by each subcommittee are seldom a genuine reflection of the wishes of the grass root
agencies. Quite often they are still dominated by other source of planning information in this
case, by the central government field departments. The circumstances above necessitate looking
at general limits of decentralisation in general so as to find ways to curb them.
3.4 The Planning Process in Zimbabwe based on the LGAs.
The Regional, Town, and Country Planning Act (RTCPA) (Chapter 29:12) section 17-19
stipulates that a local planning authority shall formulate proposals for the coordinated and
harmonious development, redevelopment or improvement or other use of land in that area. The
Rural District Councils Act (Chapter 29:13) section 60, gives powers to the RDDC to prepare
the annual development plans for the district for approval by the council and assist in the
preparation of other long term plans. The VIDCO submit their proposal plans to the WADCO
then the RDDC considers the Ward development plans submitted to it in terms of section 59 of
the RDCA. The district development plans are supposed to be prepared and be presented to the
council before the 31st of May in every year. The DA, chairmen of the RDDC have the powers
to fix times and places for all the meetings of the committee.
32
3.4.1 Publicity in connection with the local plans
In terms of the RTCPA section 18-19, in formulating the plans and before finally
determining the contents of the plans the local authority should see or arrange that there is
adequate consultation in connection with the matters to be included in the local plan. The copy
of the draft plans then will be placed on public exhibition for two months with a statement
indicating the times within which objections to or representations in connection with the draft
local plans may be made to the council authority. The chairmen of the council then will call for a
joint meeting between the council and the RDDC for considering and approving the district
development plans. The CEO of the council before twenty one days to the joint meetings shall
send or display the notice starting the date, time and venue and the items on agenda of the joint
meeting. Only the councillors in the joint meeting may vote on the final approval of the annual
district development plans. The DDP are to be sent for the Ministers approval before the 1st of
August of every year and six weeks later if there is no communication form the Minister it means
the plans have been approved. Given the powers by the council the RDDC members who in this
case are central government field agencies monitors the implementation of the annual plans and
long term plans of the council area. The council plans financially rely on the central government
transfers and resources mobilised by the community as according to the PMDs 1984-5.
3.5 The Profile of Mudzi District
Mudzi District is situated in the North Eastern part of Mashonaland east province. It is
bordered by Mtoko district in the South East, Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe in the North West,
Nyanga in the South East and it shares a border with Mozambique in the North East. The
district covers an area of 4075 km and the land is all communal. The total population according
to the 2002 census of the district is 135 378. The illiteracy rate is very high among the rural
populace. The district is in region five thus receives marginal rainfall thus spells of drought are
often experienced. The district has sandy loam soils and poor vegetation, consisting mainly
thorny bushes. Zimbabwe is an agro based country meaning much of its wealth is derived from
farming. The conditions stated above in Mudzi district does not promote farming thereby the
district remains poor. The district has a total of 18 administrative wards therefore meaning there
18 WADCOs headed each by an elected councillor and 124 VIDCOs .It has 1 growth centre
named Kotwa. All the other 16 wards except Makaha and Nyakuchena rely much on communal
farming although yields are low due to the unfertile soils and low rainfall. Some community
members also provide cheap labour to Mozambique. The other 2 mentioned wards rely mostly
on illegal gold panning. Cattle constitute a symbol of wealth for the communal farmers in the
District. The district is under the chieftainship of 6 chiefs namely Chikwizo, Mukota,
Nyakuchena, Nyamukoho, Chimukoko and Goronga. Administratively the district is coordinated
by a District Administrator and it has three constituencies run by three elected members of
Parliament. The district has one council authority which is situated at Kotwa growth point.
Map1: The location of Mudzi District in Zimbabwe
33
KEY
Mudzi District
3.6 Analysis of the planning structure in Mudzi District
3.6.1 Role played by field officers in the planning process
The first two types of decentralisation given in chapter 2 deconcentration and devolution
are relevant in the local development context of Zimbabwe. Deconcentration gives relative
importance of CG field agencies. Devolution has led to territorial powers to primarily
administrative units defined within the framework of local government. The local council in
Mudzi is run by the council executives and the elected councillors who are the policy makers in
the district.
Mudzi district has a total of 23 ministries or field departments which includes the Ministry
of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Local Government and
Urban Development, Ministry of Justice and Ministry of home affairs among others. The
34
different ministries promote integrated planning at the district level. The different field ministries
share ideas and the few available resources. The example given was of the district education
officer who pick up officers from other ministries when getting into the field for the inspection
of schools promoting streamline development. The coordination of the government ministries
and the NGOs officers had worked towards solving the problem of transport shortages in the
district. This has led to the government technocrats and NGO officers accessing easily to the
VIDCOs and WADCO meetings therefore do attend most of these meetings.
The youth officers under the Ministry of Youth, agricultural extension officer under the
Ministry of Agriculture and ward coordinators under the Ministry of Women’s affairs work in
the villages together with the councillors to forward and feedback the community concerns.
These extension officers are intended also to facilitate bottom up planning and to provide
professional advice in the VIDCO and WADCO meetings. The VIDCOs identifies the village
needs and forward them to the WADCO level. The WADO then re-examines the needs or
proposals and prioritise projects that came from the villages before forwarding them to the
council.
3.6.2 Membership of the VIDCOs and WADCOs
All the VIDCOs in Mudzi district have a total of 8 committee members and are presided
over by an elected village head as according to the TLA (chapter 29:17) section 17. The
WADCOs has a total of 13 committee members. Of all the WADCOs the highest number of
women representatives in all the committees is 3 only. The district has only 4 women councillors
meaning that 4 women are WADCO chairpersons and 14 are male councillors. Besides these 4
women chairpersons most women in the committees do not hold any significant positions, most
of them are just women representatives. In case of no women voted in the committee, women
representatives are then co-opted into the committees. The males seem to dominate the
committees since the voting is not by secret ballot but by raising of hands and most people
culturally feel comfortable voting for men than women. The males hold significant positions like
the chairpersons, the secretariat, and treasury. Because of more men in the committees they end
up dominating the meetings and the women feel inferior because they are outnumbered. The
women representatives are usually given the duties of mobilising the community resources
needed in the carrying out of projects and programmes. However due to the fact that they’re still
few women representatives in the district their impact is less felt and most of them do not have
confidence to contribute much during the meetings.
The VIDCOs usually sit for meetings every month and the WADCOs once in every 2 to 3
months. As mentioned above these committees are mainly composed of the traditional leaders
except for the case of the Councillors, secretaries and co-opted women representatives therefore
the VIDCO and WADCO meetings are held in the local language which is Shona .However the
field officers invited have a tendency of mixing Shona and English that they end up dominating
the meetings since the community is lowly educated.
The WADCO chairpersons attend and submit the proposals to the council committees’
which will then be forwarded to the RDDC. Of interest to note is that the RDCA (Chapter
29:13) section 51 states that the meeting proceedings of the district council should be held in
English and minutes produced should be in English. This is a problem considering that 14
councillors in the district had not attained secondary level of education, therefore they incur
some problems of understanding the meeting proceedings and feed backing the community. In
trying to do away with the misunderstanding the CEO or DA sometimes does the translation to
the local language but not always because of time shortages.
35
3.6.3 Representatives of various groups and their roles.
According to the TLA (chapter 29:17) section 22 the WADCO and VIDCOs shall ensure
the adequate representation of women, youth, and other interest groups. In Mudzi district every
Ward is represented by a junior councillor who regularly visits schools in the wards, youth
information centres to get the concerns of the youths which will be forwarded to the council
committees. Every ward has a business representative who represents the business community
whom most of them are owners of small shops at townships centre. These business people are
considered as the elites of the district. The business people are usually found at township centres
situated along the roads and they are easily reached/accessible leading to roadside biases by the
development practionaires and directing attention away from the poor leaving in far areas
(Chambers 1983:10). The elites are the first to be informed in case of any new programme in the
district and most of the time they end up diverting the programmes together with the councillors
for personal benefits.
A church representative is only found at the district level. An elected chairperson from all
the church denominations holds the pastors fraternity position in the RDDC. The Pastor usually
represents the religious concerns and help in the sourcing of funds from the religious donor
community for tackling developmental programmes.
3.6.4 Programme implementation and monitoring
Councillors play an important role of scheduling activities and coordinating local resources
during the implementation of programmes. The business community in Mudzi district usually
contribute funds and transport. For example the research gathered that the business people
provides tractors for delivering maize supplied by the government under the drought relief
programme since the district always experiences some drought spells. The poor people
contribute with labour but it is rare that they receive any form of payment except enjoying the
benefits of the project in case it is completed. This usually drives away the poor in participating
in the programmes. Government field officers and NGOs field officers are expected to offer
trainings in the communities and they are also given powers by the council to monitor the
progress of the projects in the communities. The VIDCOs and WADCOs on the other hand
also help in the programme monitoring for they submit progress reports to the Council
authorities.
36
CHAPTER FOUR: COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION
TOWARDS DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT PLANNING
IN MUDZI’ S FIVE WARDS
4.1 Introduction
This chapter gives an analysis on the findings of the study carried in the five wards of
Mudzi district. In this study the level of community participation towards the formulation of the
district development plans was assessed using the following indicators - wide coverage of
consultations, effective leadership qualities, the local government attitude towards community
participation, women involvement, awareness of the organisational structures, autonomy in
decision making and trained community and skilled local government personnel.
4.2 Women representation and Resource Mobilisation
The findings of this study reveal that very few VIDCOs and WADCOs have women except
the one mandatory for the VIDCO and two for the WADCO.
Table 2: Women representation in the five WADCOs
Ward
name
Goronga
Number
of women out
of the whole
committee
3/13
Percentag
23%
Musau
Nyamuk
Chikwizo
Mukota
3/13
2/13
2/13
2/13
23%
15%
15%
15%
oho
e
The average women representation in the five wards is 18.2% which is very low compared
to men. It was revealed in the interviews that the voting of the committee members is not done
through a secret ballot but through the raising of hands. The people do not feel comfortable
voting for women in the public for they culturally believe that men are better leaders than
women. The above data shows that the women’s voices are less heard. Nyamukoho, Mukota and
Musau VIDCO interviewees confirmed that the women in their VIDCOs feel very inferior
among men at the meetings therefore rarely contribute at the meetings. UNDP (1997:3) genuine
participation calls for all voices of men and women in decision making, either directly or through
legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interest which is not the case in these
three wards since one would expect the committees to represent all people of the community.
However, three women in Goronga ward committee play an effective role in the mobilisation of
37
the local resources as pointed out by one VIDCO member of the ward. The interviewee noted
that the women were mobilising women to cook and fetch water for the builders constructing a
borehole in their ward. And another interesting point from the interviewee was that the builders
are actually members of the community mobilised to provide labour by the VIDCO and
WADCO committee members.
Picture 1: Women representatives in the Goronga WADCO
Source: MRDC files
4.3 The District bureaucrats dominating the planning Process.
The data gathered shows that the calling of the meetings is usually a directive from the local
government officials; the DA, CEO of the council and field extension officers who direct the
councillors and chiefs to go and discuss with the community on certain issues. The data also
shows that from the 4 WADCO meetings held in 2009, 48% were on request by the field
officers. The field agencies usually dominate at the meeting explaining the programmes they
want to start in the area and trying to convince the people to take up the initiative. This way of
just seeking the community approval of the decisions already made somewhere is called
consultative form of participation and classified as non participation (Cahn and Passett 1971:78).
One interviewed RDDC member, an Agricultural extension officer, confirmed that the
VIDCOs and WADCOs have created points of contact and organisation therefore easing their
job. Thereby we see that the decisions which end up in the final plans and being implemented
are mostly those decisions that are of interest to the central government since the field extension
officers are accountable to their head offices. The VIDCOs and WADCOs proposal plans in this
circumstance end up just rubberstamping decisions made somewhere above and in the end the
plans represent top down priorities.
38
Table 3: Five meetings held in each of the 5 WADCOs in 2009
Meeting Caller and Agenda setter Per Ward in 2009
Ward
Number of
Meeting
meetings
called by
Called per ward Community
Meeting
called by
Councillor
Meeting called
by field officers,
NGOs
,DA,CEO
Goronga
5
2
1
2
Musau
5
1
2
2
Nyamukoho
5
1
1
3
Mokota
5
1
2
2
Chikwizo
5
0
2
3
Totals
25
5
8
13
Percentage
100
20
32
48
The local government Acts –the Traditional Leaders Act (Chapter 29:17), Rural District
Councils Act (Chapter 29:13) and the Regional, Town and Country Planning Act (Chapter
29:12) provide powers for decentralised planning to local authorities. According to the
Traditional Leaders Act Chapter 29:17 Section 5(17) the VIDCO and the WADCO are
responsible for coming up with village and ward development plans and proposals. This is a way
of enhancing community participation in planning at the District level as well as at the village
level. The process of finding the needs of the grass root and what they think about the needs
make planning more relevant. However the information above shows that 48% of the meetings
were called by the bureaucrats not the community itself showing that much of the input of the
VIDCO and WADCO proposals in 2009 were not mainly the ideas of the community.
Considering that three quarters of the all the 5 WADCO members are uneducated and also
that the community has not received enough formal training on the functioning of the
WADCOs and VIDCOs towards district planning as shown by the data gathered, the experts
end up taking a lead on the discussions persuading the citizen to take up their views. This
contradicts with the concept of genuine participation since communication in this instance tends
to be a one-way process and the community would be just listening and taking what is being said
by the experts and not the reverse. Educating the community gives the people adequate
information so that they ask for realistic and attainable things which can be provided by planners
or programme administrators. This reduces the problem of unfulfilled expectations which is
usually a barrier to community participation as the people feel that their participation has little or
no effect to what actually happens (Conyers 1982:131).
Furthermore, one civil servant mentioned that the district development plans are plans
without budget. Government projects rely on funds allocated to sector by their head offices at
national level. This procedure of sector specific budgeting combined with the separation of
planning and budgeting result in the selection of projects by Ministries which fit their own
priorities therefore leading to a feeling that the VIDCOs and WADCOs role is to receive
information and directives from the above rather than being channels of bottom up initiatives.
The councillors and the community only called for 32% and 20% of the meetings respectively
39
the reason given being that they see no much need to call for a meeting since much funding
comes with the outsiders hence preferred to wait for outsiders to call for the meetings.
Picture 2: A certain NGO dominating at a VIDCO meeting
Source: MRDC files
4.4 Meeting attendance and the stock piling of projects.
The leadership in order to effectively manage the affairs of the institution as mentioned in
Chapter 2 must have certain attributes or qualities which are appropriate for the performance of
their management of their institutions (Makumbe 1998:70). The information received from the
eight VIDCO members of Musau, Goronga, Mukota and Chikwizo showed that their
councillors (WADCO Chairpersons) accepted divergent views from the committee members and
ordinary citizens except the councillor from Nyamukoho Ward who the interviewee said do not
allow people to differ with his ideas and always take a lead in all the discussions in the ward
meetings. The other 4 councillors were said to be always taking the concerns of the people to the
council committees and always give feedback to the community. The respondents noted that the
councillors are voted into office that they become accountable to the citizens in their
constituencies because of the fear of not being re-elected in the next election. Burki et al
(1999:17-34) states that one of the key determinants of local accountability is the electoral
process because local politicians owe their offices to the electorate hence they are increasingly
motivated to perform highly. The attendance of meetings in these four wards was very high and
viewed the WADCO as a very useful committee which links the community with the district
officers.
The problem mentioned by a VIDCO member from Nyamukoho was that the clinic
construction project they proposed was incorporated in the council Plans of 2008 but nothing
40
has been done up the day of the study. The ward councillor was consulted on this issue and he
mentioned that the financial crisis of the MRDC was hindering the implementation of the
planned projects to take off. He also mentioned that the NGO which was lobbied by the
councillor to come and operate in Mudzi and help build the clinic was disturbed when the
government in 2008 stopped all the operations of the NGOs. When the ban was lifted the NGO
did not come back to purse the registration of working in Mudzi district.
In trying to reinforce the participation towards development planning the committees use
the attendance registers to the meetings however you find that people have different
commitments and interests besides attending meetings. Conyers (1982:127) noted that other
people do not see the need even to be involved in decision making towards the development of
their areas. For example during the time of this study many people of Nyamukoho ward were
winter ploughing the fields not attending the development meetings. As noted earlier in the
profile of the district that its one of the poorest district in Zimbabwe you find out that in most
cases poor people do not have time on their disposal. The above concurs with the critics of
Arstein’s linear hierarchical model of involvement, the ladder fails to capture the dynamic and
evolutionary nature of user involvement nor does it recognise the agency of users who may seek
different methods of involvement in relation to different issues and at different times. Similarly
the model does not acknowledge the fact that some users may not wish to be involved Collins
and Ison (2009:5). One bold focus group member from Nyamukoho ward raised that their Chief
usually wants to overrule the decisions made by the committees (VIDCOs and WADCOs).This
is so because traditional leaders have ultimate powers to reign over their areas of jurisdiction and
there is no a clear demarcation of the duties of the traditional leaders and those of the
administrative leaders (VIDCO and WADCO members).
The researcher also had an opportunity to look at the 2008 to 2010 ward profiles seeing
which proposed projects from the five Wards from 2008 have been implemented. The
researcher noted quite a number of projects which are not implemented up to today for example
the dip tanks projects forwarded from Chikwizo and Goronga ward in 2007 started being built
this year. The council CEO stated that the economic situation in the last five years was not
permitting to carry out most of the projects. The council revenue base was very low and due to
the high inflation the building materials were too expensive. He also mentioned that the central
government this year disbursed the budgeted funds on time for the intergovernmental transfers
to the Local governments therefore most of the projects which were lying idle have kick started
and also appreciated the introduction of using the United States dollar as the legal currency
because most prices of goods stabilised and some are still going down.
In Zimbabwe the most striking feature of the current financial arrangements is
overwhelming dependence of District Councils upon Central government grants which are tied
to specific purposes (Moyo 2006:28).The councils raise only 15% of total revenue through the
taxes, rates, charges, development levies etc; the remainder comes in the form of transfers from
the centre all of which are tied to particular activities approved centrally. Helmsing et al (1994:6)
stated that what constitute an approved expenditure is determined by central ministerial
regulations and circulars. The lack of discretion in local expenditures is exemplified by the
extremely fragmented system of accounts kept by District councils which involve up to fifteen
separate accounts for different revenues and activities, with no flexibility of movements of funds
within the accounts.
The tied funds from the CG reduce the autonomy of the councils in decision making.
Gasper (1989:19) quoted Allen showing that the system of LGs stems back from the history of
its formation;
41
Allen 1987 sees “Two models of local government”. Some countries were formed by the coming together of
smaller communities for mutual support (for example Switzerland, Netherlands). Relatively independent local
government has been fundamental institution in them. Other countries, such as ex colonies, have a history of
dominant CG. Local government there has less tradition and is just one optional policy instrument for the centre.
Allen fails to demonstrate that countries in the second group can reinvent their history and enter the first group.
The pilling of projects and concerns not being attended to by the district council due to
lack of finances is another drawback on the functioning of the Nyamukoho WADCO and
VIDCOs as people views attending the meetings as a waste of time since nothing much on
ground is being implemented.
4.5 The coverage of consultation by the council bureaucrats
The findings of the study reveals that there are divergent views among villagers from
different wards on the coverage of consultations by the council authorities on issues affecting the
development of their areas, for example during the budget consultations and final consultations
of the draft plan by the RDDC before the approval by the full council meeting.
People from the same ward and village had almost the same responses since under normal
circumstances the consultations are done at a ward centre for all the people in that ward. The
chairperson of the VIDCO in Goronga ward stated that consultations are now rarely done at
least once a year only during the budget consultations compared to the past years in the 1990s
were we would meet with the council officers three times a year. The Goronga community had a
chance of meeting the council bureaucrats compared to the other four wards because it is where
the council offices are located therefore access is much easier. The invitations for the ward
meetings for consultations would sometimes not reach some of the villagers on time because the
Council sent the messages through the schools and the ward councillor. Therefore people with
no children going to school would not get the message most of the times and he noted that their
councillor had no any means of transport or mechanisms to make sure the invitation reaches
everyone especially if it’s on a short notice. The other 2 VIDCO members from Chikwizo noted
that for the past 2 years they did not meet with the council bureaucrats for the consultations, the
Council would only sent the Councillors with standard project proposals and with other issues
which need community approval. Councillors would give excuses of the financial constraints
faced by the council and the shortage of transport for the council officers to visit all the Wards in
the district. They also confirmed that the time given usually for the consultations in the
communities is very short that some proposals will be passed by the full council before the
community views and objections reach the council.
In formulating the local plans the local Authorities shall ensure that they conform generally
to the Regional and National plan Regional, Town and Country Act ( Chapter 29:12) section
5(17a) which states that the district plans should be sent to the Minister of local government
before the first of August of every year for approval. This we might say is a way of consolidating
the powers of Central government Officials “not of the citizens” for they retain all the powers
and rights to determine which plans to adopt in the districts. According to the National Plan
Regional, Town and Country Act (Chapter 29:12 )section 18-19, local Authorities have to
publicly exhibit the draft plans in time for the community to pass agreements or objections and
be forwarded to the council two months before the district plans are passed by the full council
and then forwarded for the Ministerial approval. One VIDCO respondent from Nyamukoho
alleged that the council sometimes delay the holding of their committee meetings due to the
42
shortage of funds for the transport allowances and sitting allowances for the committee
members that the drafting of the plans end up being hurriedly produced that some procedures
according to the planning act end up not being followed .The consultation period and public
exhibition time end up being very short for the community to comment on the draft plans and
send back to the council their recommendations or objections. Arnstein (1969:216-224) calls this
tokenism since the information is given lately to the community that they have little opportunity
to influence the designs.
4.6 The existence and awareness of the community organisations
Table 4- Views of the community on the developmental roles of VIDCOs and WADCOs
Ward focus
group 1
Goronga
Musau
Nyamukoho
Chikwizo
Mukota
Ward Focus
group 2
Goronga
Musau
Nyamukoho
Chikwizo
Mukota
Question 1
Question 2
Question3
Question4
Yes
y
y
y
y
y
Yes
y
y
Yes
y
Yes
y
No
No
No
No
n
n
n
n
n
y
y
y
Question 1
Question 2
Question3
Question4
Yes
y
y
y
y
y
Yes
y
y
Yes
y
y
Yes
y
y
No
y
n
No
n
y
y
No
n
n
n
n
No
n
n
y
Key
Y-Yes by ¾ of the group
N-No by ¾ of the group
Question 1 - Are you aware of the existence of the VIDCOs and WADCOs?
Question 2- Are you aware of the functions of the VIDCOs and WADCOs?
Question 3- Do you feel as you are part of these committees or that they are yours?
Question 4- Are you satisfied by the work of these committees basing on the past
experience?
The findings from the 60 ordinary people interviewed in ten focus groups showed that
many people know about the existence and functions of these local government institutions but
have divergent on the effective utility of these structures. The responses to the four items above
show that the respondents are aware of the organisations and the functions of these structures
towards local development. The DA of Mudzi district also confirmed that people now
understand the difference between these developmental institutions and the political structures
like cells and branches for these structures have been in existence for about 26 years. This
concurs with Gasper (1989:18) who stated that new structures or institutions created need many
43
years to consolidate and to start enjoying their fruits towards development. The clarity with
people led to the smooth functioning of the VIDCOs and the WADCOs without any political
disturbances nowadays.
However 60% of the group respondents as shown above feel that they are not part of these
organisations because of the allegations that they only serve the interests of the committee
members and the councillors and village heads only. The 2nd group from Chikwizo indicated that
when the maize from government is delivered under the drought relief programme the first to
benefit are Councillors and other WADCO members then the village heads, the VIDCO
members, and the last to benefit are the ordinary citizens of which in most cases their shortages.
The dangers of elite capture of decentralisation to reinforce their dominance were recognised by
various social scientists many years ago. Therefore, there is need for Central government
intervention to ensure progressive pro poor outcomes (Crook and Sverrisson 2003:19). The 1st
group of respondents in Mukota ward stated that out of the three projects we proposed since
2000 of construction of the youth centre, repairing of the bridge and irrigation laying near
Mukota dam none of the three has kick started. In all the wards most projects are lying idle
thereby ending up frustrating people to attend the VIDCO, WADCO meetings. Only few
projects financed by the NGOs are in progress and some have already been completed.
4.7 Lack of trainings in the community
The best representative function is sometimes in-born but mostly results from education
and skills training (Hammond1992:1-18). The 2nd group of respondent from Nyamukoho ward
complained that since the new VIDCO and WADCO members came into office in 2008 they
never got any form of training except for the Councillor who got induction training in Harare for
two weeks conducted by the Zimbabwe Local Government Association (ZILGA). The
councillors are the ones nowadays who are supposed to cascade the skills down the structures
and even educating the communities. As a result of lack of trainings he alleged that one of their
representatives from their ward assembly just go to the VIDCO meetings and sit without
influencing any deliberations but simply enjoy the benefits of being in the committee. Poor
performance in these committees (VIDCOs and WADCOs) is worsened because the procedures
for the removal of incompetent leaders do not allow before the completion of the term of office
(Masunungure 2007:20) .This is a critical weakness of the local government system in Zimbabwe,
which needs to be addressed if decentralisation is to have positive impact on development. As it
stands decentralisation cannot lead to the meaning full participation towards development
among the people of Zimbabwe.
Pertaining youth representation, the councillor of Goronga ward stated that they have a
position in all the WADCOs for the youths, a junior councillor who also sits in the council
chamber. This grooms the youths to be future leaders and also they bring up the concerns of the
youths from the community. He pointed out that all secondary schools in Mudzi were allocated
farming land by the council so as to boost the schools revenue base which was an initiative from
the junior councillor from Chikwizo ward. The LGA give powers to the DA to overally chair the
RDDC instead of a qualified regional and planning officer. This forms a bases of many planning
problems as alleged by one RDDC member saying that the DA has no any planning
qualifications but are expected to take a leading role in the district planning process and
supervising the committees from the village to district level. This compromises the quality of the
plans.
The table 5 below shows the final ratings of each ward as according to the data gathered on
assessing the level of community participation towards district development planning. The main
attributes of the indicators for effective participatory planning- the wide coverage of
consultations, good leadership qualities, the local government attitude towards community
44
participation, women involvement, and awareness of the organisational structures, autonomy in
decision making and community and local government personnel trainning were used to rate the
level of community participation in the 5 wards. The rating is from 1 which means poor to 4
meaning excellent level.
Table 5: Community participation ratings
Indicator for effective
participation per ward
Musau
Chikw
Women representation in
WADCO
2
1
1
1
2
Active involvement of womenresource mobilisation
2
1
1
1
3
Community and councillor
initiative to call for meetings
2
1
1
1
2
3
3
2
3
4
Leadership forwarding the needs
and feed backing to community
3
3
2
3
3
Coverage of consultation by the
council executives and councillor
2
1
1
1
3
Awareness of the WADCO and
VIDCOs
4
4
3
4
4
Skilled/educated WADCO
members
1
1
1
2
3
Active youth involvement in
committee decision makings
1
3
2
2
2
TOTAL
20/36
17/36
14/36
18/36
26\36
Percentage
55.5%
47%
38.8%
50%
72%
izo
Meeting attendance
Key
Rating
1=poor
2=fair
3=good
4=excellent
45
Nya
mukoho
Muko
ta
Goro
nga
CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY OF FINDINGS AND
CONCLUSION
5. 1 Introduction
The aim of the research was to assess and review the level of community participation
towards the formation of the DDPs in Mudzi. How do the VIDCOs and WADCOs promote
the DDP process? How useful are the VIDCOs and WADCOs towards the formation of the
District Development plans. How is the general participation of both men and women in the
community during the formation of the Ward Profiles? How wide are the consultations in the
community for the approval and implementation of the district development plan? It also
examined the three Local Government Acts (TLA, RDCA, and RTCPA) on how they promote
community participation towards district development planning. This chapter mainly contains
the findings of the study and the theoretical and policy reflection basing on the study conducted.
5.2 Summary of the findings
5.2.1 VIDCOs and WADCOs have few women representation.
The study revealed that all the VIDCOs and WADCOs under study have few women
representation except the mandatory ones. The average women representation in the five
WADCOs is only 18, 2%.However committees should represent all the people in the
community. Sullivan (2005:1) showed the importance of the women leaders saying that they are
able to bring others around to their point of view....because they genuinely understand and care
about where others are coming from...and also play an important role in the resource
mobilisation in organisation. The three women in Goronga WADCO played a major role in the
resource mobilisation .They mobilised the community to provide labour during the construction
of a dip tank showing a greater desire of seeing things being done or achieved in most women
leaders.
5.2.2 Local Authorities over reliance on the CG transfers and domination of the
field technocrats
Burki (1999: 17-34) stated that one of the most important roles of a developmental local
government is encouraging active involvement of citizens and empowering of their organisations
in matters of local government. Development practitioners in the rural areas should do away
with the elite bias as stated by Chambers (1983:10-22). However this study showed that 48% of
the WADCO meetings were called by the field officers not the community itself and they
dominate the meetings and as a result the input of the VIDCOs and WADCOs on the plans is
not entirely the ideas of the community purse. Also the local authorities in Zimbabwe rely on
over 80% CG tied transfers allocated to sector ministries. Tied funds reduce the autonomy of
the council in decision making since tied funds come with specific directives of how to spend the
money. The councils have limited powers of taxation; they only collect small revenue from
development levy, fees, licenses, small income generating projects and heavily rely on CG
transfers.
Brand (1991:80) argues that the policy of decentralisation in Zimbabwe is aimed at
generating a greater measure... of directed and controlled mobilisation of people, both politically
and administratively, in order to promote government programmes. The shortage of financial
46
resources in the MRDC due to the financial crisis faced in Zimbabwe has led to the stockpiling
of projects in all the five wards, also the problem and need areas identified by people themselves
remain unsolved, and when this happens citizens tend to shun away from the institutions
designed for participation. Makumbe (1996:53) concurs with the above arguing that the centre
continues to control all the development budgets through the sector ministries. For some time
now the CG has been urged to decentralise the national budget to facilitate more meaningful and
expeditious project planning and implementation. The CG has consistently resisted this and has
maintained overall allocative function in terms of development funding.
5.2.3 Lack of resources hindering consultations and inadequate time for proposal
plans publications.
Due to resources constraints faced by the MRDC consultations by the council bureaucrats
are now rarely being done compared to the 1990s when the economy was a bit stable. As
according to the findings most consultations are now carried out by Councillors who are sent on
behalf of the council bureaucrats with the project proposal forms. The problem of resources also
cascades to the councillors who also do not have any means of transport to reach all the people
in the all corners of the ward therefore the consultations are only done in closer or accessible
areas to the councillors. At the end not all the areas in the ward are reached for the consultation,
reducing the rational of consultations during the planning process. Conyers (1982:127) noted
that communities are not entirely homogeneous or free from external conflict and disunity. This
complicates planning since it means that not all members of the community share the same
views about the future development of their area or are likely to benefit equally. The research
shows that the citizens are given less time to comment on the draft plans than the stipulated two
months by the RTCPA. The community end up having little influence on the designs due to the
late disbursement of information.
5.2.4 The VIDCOs and WADCOs creating a communication channel.
The people from Chikwizo, Mukota, Goronga and Musau viewed the VIDCOs and
WADCOs as useful committees which links the community and the district officers. The elected
councillors of these wards were said to be accountable to the electorate hence the attendance to
the meetings and people’s contributions tend to be high. The councillors were said to be open
leaders meaning there able to listen to new ideas even if they do not confirm to the usual way of
thinking. Openness builds mutual respect and trust between leaders and followers, and it also
keeps the team well supplied with new ideas that can further its vision (Hakala 2008:1). The
councillors always forwarded the needs of the community to the district officers and also
feedback the community through these structures.
The study also revealed that the structures had now consolidated that the community now
knows about their existence since they have been in existence for about 26 years. The confusion
with the people during their first years of creation of the participatory structures on the
differences between the political structures and development structures was said to be a thing of
the past. The structures had a significant impact in bringing together members of the community
to deal with their problems for example mobilisation of labour required for the projects being
undertaken. The committees also had a position for grooming the youths as future leaders; every
ward has a junior councillor who forwards the needs or concerns of the youth to the committees
then to the district level. In this case the VIDCOs and WADCOs have been successful as
structures of beneficiary participation. However the problem of elite capturing the programmes
for the consolidation of their power was mentioned in the case of the Chikwizo committee
leaders.
47
5.3 Conclusion
After independence the government of Zimbabwe introduced some reforms of the local
government act to curb the problems brought by the colonial racist in nature type of system that
was in place. The Local Government Acts prescribed that the WADCOs and VIDCOs were
intended to facilitate bottom up planning, through citizen participation towards the development
of their areas (Mangiza 1991:57). These grassroots organisation were designed to articulate the
aspirations and demand of the community which are formally presented through the villages and
ward development plans, which intern feed into the district development plans.
Despite Arnstein’s ladder being published forty one years ago and receiving numerous
critics, it still remains at the core of approaches to community participation that this paper still
uses the ladder in categorising the levels of community participation in the 5 wards under study.
The findings of the study shows those 4 wards Mukota, Chikwizo, Musau and Nyamukoho
reveals more of a top down planning approach. The lack of resources especially the financial
constraints faced by the MRDC is a major drawback of the planning process. The consultations
of the community which should be done by the council bureaucrats are now delegated to
councillors who in most cases are not experts in consultations for the planning. The final plans
end up not a representative of the community but just of the few community members in
accessible areas, committee members and the field officers. Critics of the ladder of participation,
such as Tritter and McCallum’s (2006:156-168) argued that the ladder assumed participation to
be hierarchical in nature with citizen control held up as the ‘goal’ of participation – an
assumption that does not always align with participants’ own reasons for engaging in decisionmaking processes. As a measure of success, not achieving full citizen control implies some
automatic failure or delegitimisation Haywood et al (2005) of the participatory process, even
though those involved may be content with whatever level has been attained. This clearly shows
that the classification of levels of community participation which means success is not that
simple as given by Airstein.
Trainings of the community, committee members and the council authorities enhance
participation in the planning process. Participants are likely to acquire appropriate skills and
knowledge which enables them to understand their development problems as well as understand
the intricacies of project planning and implementation (Makumbe1996:56).However the
committees and the community since 2008 have not received adequate training except for the
councillors who got an induction training. The councillors are supposed to cascade the trainings
up to the village levels. However this depends on the skills and experience of the councillor
which actually is an obstacle considering that three quarters of the committee members of the
five wards are lowly educated and unskilled since it is their first term of office except those of
Goronga and Mukota ward.
The leadership in Goronga, Mukota, Musau and Chikwizo proved to be open and effective
resulting in the high turnout of people to the meetings therefore creating a good communication
link between the community and the district offices. For the Nyamukoho ward the case is
different due to the leadership who dominates in the meetings and the Chief who most of the
times was alleged of overruling the decisions made by the committees therefore the turnout to
the meetings is very low. However the efforts of the leaders are drawn backwards due to
financial constraints for the set plans which are exacerbated by the fact that the planning is done
separately with the budgeting. Makumbe (1996:48) noted the vagueness of the PMDs which
meant beneficiary participation in development planning and implementation has only been
possible at the pleasure of CG bureaucrats. This is most evident were CG is responsible for
funding most of the development projects and programmes. Goronga ward from the findings
showed to be an exception as it can be classified as moving towards citizen control. The
committee leaders especially the women in the committees play a major role in the mobilisation
of the resources needed for tackling of the development projects.
48
Decentralisation in Zimbabwe links the state and the community, but in an asymmetric
manner which ensures the former benefits from the relationship than the latter. In conclusion
the dominance of the CG field agencies in the committee meetings and overreliance on the CG
transfers lead to a thinking that the district development planning is top down. Basing on the
findings Goronga ward can be classified as moving towards genuine participation, Musau,
Chikwizo, Mukota as moving towards tokenism and Nyamukoho ward it’s more like non
participation.
49
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52
Appendices
Semi structured questionnaire
Introduction
I m Lucia Manhokwe a Masters student specializing in Local and Regional Development in the
Netherlands. I m carrying out my research entitled Top down or bottom up approach? District
development plans in Zimbabwe. A case of Mudzi District. This research is only for my
academic purpose thus a reassurance is given to all the participants with regards to the
confidentiality of the information.
Instructions
I) Tick the suitable answers in the boxes provided
II) Write your answers on the spaces provided below
WADCO and VIDCOs
1) Women representation
A) How many women are in your VIDCO and WADCO?
-1
[ ]
-5
[ ]
-2
[ ]
-6
[ ]
-3
[ ]
-7
[ ]
-4
[ ]
-8
[ ]
B) How did they get into their positions?
-elected
-nominated
-quarter system
-.
-
[
[
[
]
]
]
C) What positions do they hold and their roles in the committees?
-Chairperson
[ ]
-Treasury
[ ]
-Secretary etc
[ ]
-Women representatives
-
53
D) What is the general attendance of the women to the meetings?
-attend all meetings
[
-rarely attend
[
- do not attend at all
[
-
]
]
]
E) Are meetings held at a central place of the ward or village where everyone especially
women can reach?
-held at the leaders houses
[
]
- are held at the places which too far to reach
[
]
-central venue
[
]
-nearby
[
]
2) Leadership Quality
A) How are the leaders of the VIDCO and WADCO come into their positions?
-elected
[ ]
-appointed
[ ]
-hereditary or traditional positions
[ ]
B) Do committee members come with divergent views from those of the leaders and are
they tolerated?
-Yes
[ ]
-No (and why?)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------sometimes
[ ]
C) Do people have the capacity to change the leadership in case of non performance?
-Yes (and how?)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No
[ ]
-only after the completion of term of office
[ ]
-
54
D) Does political affiliation affect the leadership of VIDCOs and WADCOs committee
members?
-Yes (and how?)---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No
3) Decision making process.
A) Who initiates the agenda?
-The community
-the RDC authorities
-the VIDCO and WADCO leaders
- outsiders (NGOs ,donors ,technocrats)
-
[
[
[
[
b) What is the general attendance for the meetings?
-once a month
-twice a month
-once a year
- twice a year
c) Who speaks regularly or oftenly at the meetings?
- chairpersons
- outsiders (NGOs, donors, technocrats)
-committee members (men or women)
-the community (men or women)
d) Who makes the final decisions?
- Community
-RDC Authorities
-VIDCO and WADCO leaders
- Outsiders
-
]
]
]
]
[
[
[
[
]
]
]
]
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
[
[
[
[
4) Coverage of consultation.
55
]
]
]
]
A) How wide is the coverage of consultation on key decisions affecting the community?
- Only leaders are consulted
[ ]
-the rich
[ ]
-the poor and the rich
[ ]
-people living nearer the town ship centers’, schools, roads
[ ]
-
B) How often are the consultations?
- once a month
-twice a year
-once a year
-twice a year
-
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
C) Are there any effective means of information dissemination mechanism?
-through schools,
[ ]
-councilors
[ ]
- ward coordinators
[ ]
-posters or flyers on public places
[ ]
-No
5) Community organizations
A) Are members of the community aware of the existence of the of local government
structures (the WADCO and VIDCOs)?
-Yes
[ ]
-No
[ ]
B) Are you aware of the functions or goals of such structures VIDCO and WADCO?
-Yes give examples----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No
[
]
C) Do the community/ (you) feel they are part of these organizations?
-Yes and why?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------56
- No and why?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------D) Basing on the past experience, do you as the community view these structures as
effective?
-serves the committee members only
[ ]
-serves the rich only
[ ]
-serves the poor and the rich (all)
[ ]
-do not work at all
[ ]
6) Community and local government personnel training
A) Are there any existing training activities for such office bearers and the community on
various activities and functions of the VIDCO and WADCOs and importance of such
organizations?
-Yes
[ ]
-No
[ ]
-Rarely by the government and other independent bodies
B) Do the young people have positions in these organizations and what activities or
strategies are in place to groom them for effective participation in the local governance and
decision making?
-Yes and what are they? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No
[ ]
C) Are there any existing or planned long term training strategies?
- Yes and what are they? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No
[
]
D) Is there any motivation or promotion of self advancement of the committee members?
-salaries
[ ]
-transport reimbursements
[ ]
-sitting allowances and food after meetings
[ ]
-they don’t get anything
[ ]
57
-
7) Local government attitude towards grassroots participation.
A) Does the district have mechanisms for obtaining views and feedback from the
communities promptly?
-reports
[
-councilors
[
-traditional leaders
[
-others
[
]
]
]
]
B) Does the community views taken into the final RDDPlans?
-Yes and why?----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No
[
]
-
C) Are there any incentives given to the VIDCO and WADCO chairpersons?
-salaries
-allowances
-trainings/ workshops
- are not given anything
-
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
[ ]
D) Does the local authorities have enough resources for promoting effective community
participation?
-adequate personnel
[
]
-funds
[
]
-transport
[ ]
-no
[ ]
-
58
59