The questionnaire focused on participation especially at the local level, with special emphasis on understanding the differences in the response between male and female respondents. The questionnaire was administered to 56 individual respondents. In the end a total of 80 participants completed the questionnaire, but only 67 were youths between the ages of 18 and 35, who formed the sample for this analysis. The questionnaire was divided into the following sections:     demographics – employment, education, etc.; civic capabilities and competencies; understanding of perceptions about gender; kinds of civic engagements they participate in. The questionnaire generated an enormous number of fields (207), and, since many of these formed logical subsets, a number of indices were created to summarise key sections of the responses. Eight indices were created as follows:3        3 Public Debate – five questions dealing with aspects of speaking in public (speaking in public; speaking to leaders; expressing opinions; discussing politics with friends; discussing politics with family); Competencies - Eleven questions dealing with kinds of competencies that youth might possess (happy to lead in peer group; chat with unfamiliar person; confident to express oneself; leadership among friends; initiatives to improve youth; help resolve disagreements; provide advice; build bridges between rich & poor; build bridges about politics; discussing family finances; influence on spending); Attitudes about gender equality – Seven of the thirteen questions on views about gender equality (everyone has right to be listened to in group; happy to speak in mixed sex group; accepting regardless of gender; man & woman equal voice in home; man & woman share household chores; same pay for same work); Neighbourhood relationships - Four of the five questions on aspects of social relationships (people get along; positive attitude by other residents; positive attitude by other residents; accept others regardless of political party); Confidence in social engagement - Seven questions dealing with selfconfidence (confident to visit other members; confident to express opinions; confident to lead discussion; confident to take leadership; confident to initiate a project; confident to question things); Confidence with duty bearers – Four of the five questions about confidence in being in groups (important that politicians do not interfere; Ok to approach politicians; adults value this kind of group; council should support a group like this; know how to approach); Participation in neighbourhood – Nine of the ten questions about various forms of participation (power to make a difference; interested in what the leaders do in the neighbourhood; participating in activities to improve my Not all questions were used in the construction of the indices as the question did not fully fit within the general tenor of the category. For example, under attitudes about gender equality, two questions were concerned with male opinions about women or female opinions about men, and four questions were about economic power in which it would not be possible to disaggregate males from females. Hence, the index was reduced from 13 questions to seven. 5