Abstract:
In recent years, governments in Africa have been under increasing pressure to
demonstrate their relevance as citizens demand delivery of better public services.
To respond to the numerous calls for efficiency improvements in service delivery
governments design and implement a number of public policies that address service
delivery problems. The question of how gender dynamics is used to shape public policy
management is, though, less understood and has not been subject to enough scholarly
attention among policy analysts. The challenges faced by different gender categories
differ and ought to be considered in public policy formulation, implementation and
review. While a significant amount of scholarly work has been directed at the broad
subject of gender in Africa, there remains a dearth of research on gender dynamics
specifically relating to public policy management. Also, studies that take a comparative
angle on the subject are not a common feature on the continent. In this article, the
authors interrogate through a comparative approach the gender dynamics in the
public policy management of the water sector policies in South Africa and Uganda. It
addresses certain policy and management implications, aiming at bringing to the fore
issues of gender as specifically applied to the subject of public policy.
