Summit 2016- Qacha’s Nek Urban Council COE

Qacha’s Nek urban council is located in Qacha’s Nek Lesotho. It capital town is Qacha’s Nek and is the only town in this region. Qacha’s Nek borders on the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and is the only practical entry point from this province.

The council has put in place a number of gender-related policies to guide its work. The district council consist of 8 male councillors and 6 female councillors. The council aims to expand its percentage of female councillors from 43%. The Mayor of the council is a male, and the Deputy Mayor is a female.

The council is made up of four committees, two of which are chaired by women. 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 76 and 100 percent, women participate in public consultations.

The total workforce of the council employees consist of 67 percent women, and 29 percent youth. 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 Council has increased the number of female employed on temporary basis as compared to previous years because the Council used to employ equal number of men and women which was unfair on women as the district population statistics show that women are more than men.

There are provisions for maternity and paternity leave. The council does have a sexual harassment policy. Cases related to Sexual harassment, the Human Resource Officer takes disciplinary case against the offender and also involves police.

The Qacha’s Nek 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, The Council has 20 market stalls and sixteen are allocated to women. There are 180 beneficiaries benefiting from jobs created by the council, 100 women and 80 men.

Women, men, PWD, and youth are involved in the planning, management, and maintenance of water and sanitation. There is a total of 65 water and sanitation committees. There is 43 women and 22 men on the committees, seven of which are chaired by a women.

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