Abstract

Although the African Youth Charter emphasizes the role of the youth as prerequisites for sustainable development’, there remains an existential marginalisation of youth from most policy making and governance structures. In response to such exclusion, young Africans across the continent have been at the fore of protests and similar movements. In effecting inclusivity, decentralisation in Zimbabwe has meant that equitable participation is regulated by the Rural District Councils Act and the Traditional Leaders Act. However, the effectiveness of such frameworks and institutions in facilitating for the full participation of youth in policy making and governance has not been interrogated. In doing so, this study examined the degree of child and youth involvement in Village Development Committees (VIDCOs) and Ward Development Committees (WADCOs). This involved a case study-based exploratory inquiry of Masvingo in rural Zimbabwe. Through a purposive sampling technique, there were three FGDs held with youth and four face to face in-depth interviews with relevant civil society representatives as well as youth ward coordinators. The findings revealed how, despite available legislation on youth participation at village level, and the presence of VIDCOs and WADCOs as participatory structures, youth participation has been limited due to patriarchy, gerontocracy and partisan actors within the governance architecture. In ensuring that young people have maximum utility of VIDCOs and WADCOs, the study encourages government to invest more resources towards inclusive policy development as well as the capacity building of community leaders and elected officials who oversee participatory structures.

摘要

尽管《非洲青年宪章》强调了青年作为可持续发展的先决条件的作用”，但在大多数决策和治理结构中，青年仍然存在边缘化。为了应对这种排斥，整个非洲大陆的非洲年轻人都在抗议和类似运动中脱颖而出。在包容性方面，津巴布韦的权力下放意味着公平参与受《农村地区议会法》和《传统领导人法》的约束。但是，这种框架和机构在促进青年人充分参与政策制定和治理方面的效力并未受到质疑。在此过程中，本研究调查了儿童和青年在乡村发展委员会（VIDCO）和病房发展委员会（WADCO）中的参与程度。这涉及基于案例研究的津巴布韦农村的Masvingo探索性探究。通过有针对性的抽样技术，与青年人举行了三场烟气脱硫专家会议，并与相关民间社会代表以及青年病房协调员进行了四次面对面的深入访谈。调查结果表明，尽管有关于村级青年参与的现行法律，并且存在VIDCO和WADCO作为参与结构，但由于治理架构中的父权制，老年统治和党派行为者，青年的参与受到了限制。为了确保青年人充分利用VIDCO和WADCO，研究鼓励政府投入更多资源用于包容性政策制定以及监督参与结构的社区领导人和民选官员的能力建设。