Current Issues in Comparative Education - Volume 20 - Issue 1 - Unpacking Community Participation: A Gendered Perspective

Oct 15, 2026

Current Issues in Comparative Education Volume 20, Issue 1 presents a gendered analysis of how community participation in school management functions in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper argues that community participation often reproduces local power hierarchies and therefore has limited effects on gender equality. Drawing on case studies from West Africa, it outlines how participation is structured by community-level power relations that shape girls’ and women’s involvement. It also reviews prevailing participation concepts, including key participation channels, and analyzes alternative approaches.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages14

Reading Time35 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Notions of community participation

Unpacking Community Participation

Power hierarchies and gendered effects

Context

Girls’ education, access, and equality

Current Issues in Comparative Education (CICE) Volume 20, Issue 1, Fall 2017 Unpacking Community Participation: A Gendered Perspective Leva Rouhani University of Ottawa In recent years heightened attention has been directed towards the connections between schooling and local communities in sub-Saharan Africa. While community participation in school management has been emphasized as a strategy to promote sustainable development and improve quality education in sub-Saharan Africa, in practice this strategy has reproduced power hierarchies atthe community-level. Furthermore, it has had limited impact for advancing gender equality because community participation in sub-Saharan Africa is not framed to encompass the dynamics of power that exist at the community level and how societal structures govern how community members participate: specifically girls and women. In this paper, I outline the gendered effects of community participation in schooling and alternative methods of participation using specific case studies from West Africa. Introduction Notions of community participation have been prevalent in development discourse, but particularly in the field of education-for-development (Edwards, 2017) . Community participation has taken on different forms and meanings depending on the context. Within the context of education in sub-Saharan Africa, community participation has been framed as the involvement of the whole community (families, parents, school institutions, community members) in the education of the child. While there are various ways of participating in education, Heneveld and Craig (1996) have identified five channels in which communities can participate in education throughout sub-Saharan Africa: (1) children come to school prepared to learn; (2) the community provides financial and material support to the school; (3) communication between the school, parents, and community is frequent; (4) the community has a meaningful role in school governance; and (5) community members and parents assist with instruction. Understanding the complexities of community participation in education throughout sub-Saharan Africa is critical because it is one of the most effective strategies that determine school effectiveness (Fitriah, 2010) . As such, community participation in education has been promoted in multiple ways by influential international organizations working on issues related to education —including the World Bank, UNESCO, think tanks, non-governmental organizations, and regional development banks (Edwards, 2017; UNESCO, 2009; World Bank, 2004) . More recently, as a strategy to improve education quality, community participation has been embedded both in the framing of Sustainable Development Goals and in their implementation. This new trend has received immense attention from education and development researchers, who highlight the importance of community participation in improving school quality and © 2017, Current Issues in Comparative Education, Teachers College, Columbia University. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Current Issues in Comparative Education 20(1), 31-44. Unpacking Community Participation ensuring sustainable development (Cheung & Pomerantz, 2012; Nkansah & Chapman, 2006) . While community participation in the management of school affairs has been emphasized as a strategy to promote sustainable development and improve quality education, in practice this strategy has reproduced power hierarchies at the communitylevel. Furthermore, it has had limited impact for advancing gender equality because community participation is not framed to encompass the dynamics of power that exist atthe community level and how societal structures govern how community members participate: specifically, girls and women. To further elaborate on this argument, this paper will provide the context of education in sub-Saharan African, a brief history of community participation, the various notions of community participation, and t

FAQs

Why does the paper question the impact of community participation on gender equality?

It argues that community participation is not framed to reflect community-level power dynamics and how social structures govern who participates, specifically girls and women.

What are the five channels of community participation in education identified for sub-Saharan Africa?

They include: children arriving prepared to learn; community financial/material support; frequent communication among school, parents, and community; meaningful roles in governance; and community members and parents assisting with instruction.

How does the paper approach its gendered analysis?

It outlines gendered effects of community participation in schooling and discusses alternative participation methods, using specific case studies from West Africa.

Oct 15, 2026

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