Summit 2016-Hlotse Urban Council COE

Hlotse Urban council is located in the Leribe district and is a very important market town in Lesotho. It is situated on the Hlotse River, near the South African border. The town was founded in 1876 by a British missionary, Reverend John Widdicombe. It was a colonial center until Lesotho gained its independence.

The council has put in place a number of gender-related policies to guide its work. The district council consist of 9 male councillors and 4 female councillors. The council aims to expand its percentage of female councillors from 30%. The Mayor of the council is a male, and the Deputy Mayor is a female.

The council is made up of three committees, one of which is chaired by woman. There are more women employed than men in their Workforce of the council.

Young people, people living with disabilities (PWD) and community members participate in community-based planning projects and meetings. Between 51 and 75 percent, women participate in public consultations.

The total workforce of the council employees consist of 71 percent women. Women are only five of management. The accounting and revenue officers are women. The Council amended the recruitment, selection and promotion policies to increase the proportion of women in the workforce. The recruitment in the council is not done at the council level, however there is great participation of women in council’s decision making given the great percentage on the number of women who are in key positions in management of the council. In the previous council, a chairperson and the vice were all men but at the moment the chairperson is a man and the vice chairperson a woman and this is a mark of positive progress.

There are provisions for maternity leave but none for paternity leave. The council does not have a sexual harassment policy. In cases related to Sexual harassment, there are structures through which such matters can be dealt with. There is the office of the Human Resource Manager to institute disciplinary action and also the Child and Gender Protection Unit to deal with issues of harassment.

The Hlotse Urban 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 is a market place whereby allocation is not necessarily based on Gender but whoever requires to use a stand is allowed without discrimination according to Gender. There are 2 beneficiaries benefiting from jobs created by the council, 1 women and 1 men.

Women, men, PWD, and youth are involved in the planning, management, and maintenance of water and sanitation. There is a total of 56 water and sanitation committees. There is 29 women and 27 men on the committees.

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