Summit 2017-Quthing Urban Council COE

Quthing Urban council   is located in the town of Quthing which is well known as Moyeni and also as the camp town or capital of the district. There are two of the most important sets of dinosaur footprints in the region. Domestically, it borders Mohale’s Hoek district in the north and Qacha’s Nek district in the northeast.

The council has not done so much in terms of reviewing gender policy and their action plan, but it is so much aware of gender agenda and is trying to do a bit on gender-related policies to guide its work. The council has 14 councillors; nine male councillors and five female councillors; chaired and deputized by both men.

The council has three committees, two of which are chaired by men and one by woman. The council is dominated by men and mostly decision taken are theirs.

Young people, people living with disabilities (PWD) and community members participate in public gatherings and decisions are taken by all of them through those meetings. Between 26%-50%, women participate in meetings that talk about water and sanitation, HIV/AIDS and aids.

In terms of workforce the council employed 40 people of which 45% are women (youth, PWD) and 55% are men.

There is provision of three months maternity leave women and three months of nursing hours after maternity leave. The council does not have a sexual harassment policy and report their case straight at the police station. The council is accessible to every as it is located in town.

Quthing Urban council allocated the following amounts for the gender budget projects for the 2017 to 2018.

As part of the of the Council’s local economic development plan, the council has designed and allocated stalls to both women and men. So far only 70 men and 87 women have benefited from the jobs created by the council.

In terms of  the council recognizing and supporting the  care work;10 men managed to join support groups with the influence of male councillors and 22 are women.Eventhough the  council does not provide remuneration to care givers but the government provides small stipend after every three months.

Click here to read more about the Quthing Urban Council.