Summit 2016: North East District Council

The North East District Council is in the Masunga North East of Botswana. The Masunga village is the Headquarters of the North East District. The language spoken in the North East Region is Kalanga.

The council has exercised a number of gender-related policies to guide its work. The district council consist of 19 male councillors and 4 female councillors. The council aims to expand its percentage of female councillors from 17%. The Deputy Mayor of the council is a female.

The council is made up of five committees of which are chaired by men. There are more women than men in their Workforce of the council. Therefore, more women hold management positions and posts at middle or senior management which makes them more independent.

Young people, people living with disabilities (PWD) and community members participate in community-based planning projects and meetings. Between 0 and 25 percent, women participate in public consultations.

The total workforce of the council employees consist of 60 percent women, 16 percent youth and one percent people with disabilities. Women are only 10 of management. The accounting and revenue officers are women. The recruitment, selection and promotion policies are put in place to make sure that women, men, people living with disability, and youth are employed in equal numbers across jobs, grades and in management positions and are equally remunerated for equal work. There is an affirmative action policy for ensuring 50 percent by 2030.

There are provisions for maternity leave but none for paternity leave. The council does have a sexual harassment policy. Cases of sexual harassment are referred to Police for intervention. The council has made physical environment user friendly to people living with disabilities. There is also a visual impaired switchboard operator who has been provided with braille compliant facilities

The North East District Council allocates a substantial budget to gender-related projects, these amounts have increased from 2015 to 2016.

As part of the of the Council’s local economic development plan, There are 24 market stalls; 2 reserved for youth, 2 received for People living with disabilities. The council arranges 4 market days in a financial year for beneficiaries to showcase and sell products. The Social and Community development is mandated to train communities on entrepreneurship through collaboration with funding agencies and organizations (CEDA, LEA, Banks).There are 196 beneficiaries benefiting from jobs created by the council, 109 women and 87 men.

Women, PWD, and youth are equally involved in projects that contribute to positive climate change management such as waste management, sustainable energy and recycling and benefit from economic opportunities arising from this. There is a total of 5682 people employed in climate change projects, of which there are 2558 women and 3124.

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