Viviene Taylor has been teaching social policy, development planning and social development for many years/ As a member of the ANC’s National Liveration Movement in South Africa she has worked for social justice and gender equality. She served on the UNDP’s Human Development Report Advisory Panel in 1997. As the principal author and co-ordinator of the UNDP’s Human Development Reports for South Africa (1998 and 2000) she has been examining the links between South Africa’s Political Economy and Social Transformation. Viviene has written on Development Planning and Gender for the Commonwealth Secretariat, and published widely on related issues. She is the founder and director of SADEP, currenly based at the University of Cape Town. She served on South Africa’s Commission for Gender Equality and is currently the special adviser to South Africa’s Minister of Social Welfare.

“The DAWN project on PR & ST seeks, among other things, to critique or challenge mainstream ‘governance’ or political reform ideas which have arisen in the context of economic globalisation and expose the political dimensions of economic globalisation. It offers a path-breaking feminist analysis, drawn from the experience, insights and wisdom of feminists in the South. These analyses encompass the fundamental problems of existing and/or ‘reformed’ political systems and practices, the meaning and value for women of concepts such as democracy, citizenship, nationality, rights, accountability, political participation, representation and state responsibility. DAWN seeks to articulate a vision of genuine political restructuring to achieve the social transformation necessary for the realisation of equitable, environmentally-sustainable, and gender-just development.”

– Claire Slatter, DAWN General Co-ordinator (DAWN’s PRST Africa Region Report)