Conceptualising a gender evaluation framework for the leadership development of women in local government

Abstract

South Africa is held up internationally as a beacon of good practice in terms of its efforts to promote gender equality, the increased number of women in leadership positions in all spheres of government is testament to this. The representation of women in all spheres of government is advocated for and promoted by legislation and policies that aim to promote a gender focus in all government procedures and programmes. However, representation alone does not guarantee the promotion of gender equality; representation should be supplemented by a focus on gender in all aspects including training and development of councillors in local government. The research focus of this dissertation is the Municipal Leadership Development Programme (MLDP) offered by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, under the Local Government Leadership Academy. The MLDP is a leadership development programme offered to councillors in local government in order to improve their leadership skills. This study highlights the need and importance of incorporating a gender focus in leadership development programmes offered to women in local government by identifying the extent to which gender considerations have been built into the Programme evaluation. The study is conducted using qualitative research methodology. This is done in the form of individual and focus group interviews with the Programme developers, Programme participants, Programme coordinators and the Programme facilitators. The aim of these interviews being to gain an understanding of the perceptions, views and experiences of the stakeholders in the Programme regarding the current evaluation framework of the Municipal Leadership Development Programme. In line with the results of the interviews with the Programme stakeholders’ regarding the effectiveness of the MLDP evaluation framework in building gender considerations into the Programme evaluation the study proposes a gender evaluation framework. A gender evaluation framework is an evaluation framework that builds in gender considerations at every step in the evaluation framework to ensure that the effectiveness and impact of a Programme is not hampered by underlying gender barriers. This dissertation provides recommendations for the implementation of the proposed gender evaluation framework for leadership development of women in local government. This is done in order to ensure that the gender focus that has led to South Africa being held up as a beacon of good practice cascades to leadership development evaluation.