state of disorder where chaos reigns and even dangerous to the general populace. These ventures have to have to work within parameters set by the elders. For example, in the rural areas young people have to seek permission from their traditional leader to use a specific piece of land for their income-generating activities, and, in the same way, young people in the urban areas need to follow council by-laws for their ventures or risk continuous running battles with the police. However, engaging the local authority is not easy for young people. It is important to understand this engagement process as 47.5% of the male respondents and 25% of the female respondents indicated that they own their businesses. Formalising the business is important to avoid losses as council embark of clean-up campaigns for illegal businesses. 57.5% of the male respondents and 45% of the female respondents are self-employed and as such need to understand how they can engage with their local authorities in their bid to establish economic initiatives that help them. Participation The hallmark of any democracy is centred on citizen participation and that they participate freely without fear or threats. Participation, it is envisaged, will ensure that leaders are responsive to needs of the communities they serve and will promote accountability by engaging the duty bearers by raising pertinent questions to the leaders, especially when it comes to the provision of goods and services in the case of the urban areas. Table 11: Participation in the neighbourhood, Mean scores.26 Male Female Power to make a difference 3.5 2.8 Interested in what the leaders do in the neighbourhood 3.4 2.8 Participating in activities to improve my neighbourhood 4 3.1 3.9 3 4.3 2.7 Individuals responsibility to solve problems 2.9 2.9 Young people/women can‘t do anything about problems 3.6 3.2 Local government engagement 3.4 2.8 Informed about news and decisions Plan to become actively neighbourhood issues 26 people involved welcome in my There is more willingness to participate in activities that would improve their neighbourhood for male compared with female respondents (4 & 3.1 respectively) The male respondents also show more interest in what the leaders do in the neighbourhood compared to female respondents (2.8) These responses are not surprising given the gender roles that are normally attached to women and where they feel only safe in their home. Males were significantly more likely to participate than female (See Table 2). 16