Summit 2017-Hleoheng Council COE

Hleoheng Community Council is situated in the Leribe district and has joined COE process in 2015.

The council has worked hard with no budget to see that council gender action plan incorporates the Post 2015 SADC Gender Protocol, SDGs and other relevant targets. There are 13 councillors in total of which seven are men and six are women which is not so bad. However the chairperson and deputy chair of the councillors are both men. The council has four committees and only one chaired by woman which is  social services committee and she is very vocal.

Between 26-50% women participate in public gatherings and this amount does not give them enough power to be part of the decision making as few that attend the meetings are scared to table their issues and still relay to men to make decisions for them.

In terms of council workforce the total number of employees is seven and four are men while three are women, but the council secretary is a woman and is a top management post.

The council provides three months maternity leave for women and there is also nursing hours for three months after the maternity. The council also provide flexi time where staff members are allowed to take time off if they have emergencies at their families.

Hleoheng Community Council gender budget for the 2017-2018

As part of the local economic development the council has worked with World vision Lesotho and Likhetlane Fruit Farmers as external sources of finance to promote access to finance for local entrepreneurs, especially women, PWD and the youth. Also the council has allocated a place for people where majority of them are women and is used as a market place. About 65% of women are working at the market and their lives have changed.

The council has engaged with 55 people where 25 are women as casual labourers and cleaning campaigns. There was also an equal allocation of land to both males and females where out of 86 people allocated land 41 were women.

In terms of SRHR the council is working with NEW START to distribute both female and male condoms and people are encourage to go for volunteering counselling and testing especially men as they are still reluctant to test.The council through village health workers  also make sure that women, men, people living with disability, and youth have equal access to treatment. The council has also managed and increased the number of men support group members from two to 10 and their target is at least five per village.

Click here to read more about the Hleoheng Community Council.