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Makhoarane council is situated in Morija area in the Maseru districts. When the council started with the COE process the councillors were blind to gender mainstreaming. To date the council has worked very hard to mainstream gender in their policies and overall council and community activities.
Makhoarane council has 13 councillors; 11 are women and two men, this is quite amazing for this council to have such high representation of women as compared to last term where women were seven and men six. The chairperson of the council is a woman and council has three committees and two are chaired by women.
Women participate fully in the council meetings and influence most of the decisions.Youth and PWD get involve in public gatherings as attendance and participation, the decision taken are joint. Both women and men participate equally in the council and during council meetings all decisions taken are on the basis of issues that affect both men and women. However women participate more on issues of development water and sanitation, economic development, aids and Support groups.
Total workforce of the council is seven, five are women and the top managers are also women.
The council gives three months paid maternity leave for women and after the maternity leave there is also a provision of three months of nursing hours when the mother has come back to work. The council does not have sexual harassment policy, but cases of such are dealt at the police stations. The council is well accessible to people and is disability friendly user.
The 2017/2018 gender budget allocations for Makhoarane Community Council.
Category | Budget 2017 | Budget 2018 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality in decision-making and public participation | $3 500 | $4 000 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality/family friendly/ youth and disability friendly policies and practices | $4 500 | $5 500 |
Resources allocated to gender-responsive local economic development | $4 500 | $5 000 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender/youth/PWD responsive projects on climate change | $15 000 | $30 000 |
There is existence of entrepreneurship finance schemes linked to council that benefit women, men, people living with disability, and youth and the main partner of the council is Caritas Lesotho, also there is market place selected for people to sell their product at the taxi rank and 75% of the stalls are occupied by women.
The council in its attempt to overcome climate change and ensure sustainable development has engaged women, PWD, and youth in projects that prevent climate change such as waste management, sustainable energy and recycling.80 men,120 women and 400 youth have benefited from economic opportunities arising from this, they are also engaging in planting of trees and grass in catchment areas.
The council has sex disaggregated data of land allocation where 20 women and 35 men have been allocated sites. The council also has water tanks, stand pipes and spring protections as its water and sanitation projects. These water and sanitation facilities are gender responsive as they are closer to the people, as such women no longer have to travel long and dangerous distances to get water.
The council promotes SRHR by coordinating the community with CBOs such as Caritas. The council also ensures that women, youth and PWD get equal access and treatment. The council also support community care givers and encourage men to join as to help women. They work with Ministry of Health and those women get necessary trainings.
Click here to read more about the Makhoarane Community Council.
Comment on Summit 2017- Makhoarane Council COE