Summit 2016-Ngoajane Council COE

The Ngoajane community council is situated at 100 kilometres north of the Botha-Bothe town. It is within a rural area in the district where everything is a challenge as the council is very isolated. It is the fourth council in the district to be made a Centre of Excellence (COE).

Ngoajane council is in progress of trying to formulate a gender policy as the plan has just been reviewed. At present, there are 26 councillors with 14 being men and 12 being women. The proportion of women in the council is 46 percent.

Ngoajane Council has three committees, by which one of them is being chaired by a woman. The council is still working to increase the proportion of women, young people and people living with disabilities (PWD) to be involved in the committees.

Women, together with youth and PWD participate in community-based projects. Such projects include the action plan incorporates the erection of the Mini-Market at Koung, Sehlaba-Thebe, the procurement of water tanks and addition of spring catchment to avert the water shortages disaster. This is because there is a huge drought looming throughout the country of Lesotho and to promote good health by increasing the consumption of safe drinking water, the water tanks are used.

Of the total work force, the council has employed 43 percent men and 57 percent women. Women form 67 percent of the council’s management. Two top positions in the management are being led by women. With regards to the progress achieved, women are more involved in council decision making.

Maternity leave for three months is being provided and the council pays for it, and there is also provision for paternity leave. The council has not formulated any policies against sexual harassment, so in any case if sexual harassment is reported, they report the case directly to the state’s authorities (police).

Ngoajane Council does not allocate a substantial budget to gender-related projects. There has not been any budget line from 2015 and 2016 for promoting gender equality.

The Council recognises and supports care work. Social Development is engaged in support of care work for People Living with HIV and AIDS, the elderly, terminally ill, edu-care and child care. It has also provided the office space for public servants from the social development department, and the above mentioned people are paid both in cash and kind together with the mini projects within the villages that provide families with income. The Council also has the voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) section in its office building which supports people living with HIV and AIDS. However the HIV/AIDS committee needs to be revived.

The women, PWD and youth contribute in council work by working for their livelihood through projects which improve their lives. They do the tree planting (forest and fruit trees, bee keeping and husbandry) to combat climate change within their region. Communities are encouraged to apply for land for agricultural purposes, which they can perform commercial farming and gain income.

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