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Semonkong urban Council is situated deep in the mountains of Lesotho in the district of Maseru. It is about 100km from the capital city. It is a peri-urban and has been made the urban council after the 2011 Local Government Elections. It is the area which attracts many tourists because of its beautiful scenery and the famous Maletsunyana falls which is one of the biggest falls in Lesotho. Though Semonkong is the urban council it has a lot of challenges in comparison with other urban councils that are normally found in town as it is in the rural area.
The council has 11 councillors; eight men and three women. The mayor and deputy of the councillor are both men. The council also have three committees; one chaired by woman while two chaired by the people living with the disability(PWD).
The community members participate equally in public gatherings that the council hold. All the decisions taken are joint ones.
The council has 23 employees of which only seven are women. The top management of the council consists of the town clerk who is a woman and Assistant Administration officer being a man.
The council has a provision for three months maternity leave and three months again after maternity called nursing hours. The council does not have a sexual harassment policy, but the cases of sexual harassment are reported at the police station. The council is accessible to everybody and is disability-friendly.
The Semonkong Urban Council gender budget for the 2017-2018
Category | Budget 2017 | Budget 2018 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality in decision-making and public participation | $8666 | $12000 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality/family friendly/ youth and disability friendly policies and practices | $72215 | $86658 |
Resources allocated to gender-responsive local economic development | $56789 | $73827 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender/youth/PWD responsive projects on climate change | $5855 | $7332 |
The council has provided with market stalls at the bus stop where 85% of them are used by women, this is another way of the council to see that is empowering women. And this makes council work very easy to follow up as it’s just in the middle of the bus stop. There are also public toilets where only women are working there. The council has also hired 56 casual labourers; 34 women and 22 men.
Click here to read more about the Semonkong Urban Council.
📝Read the emotional article by @nokwe_mnomiya, with a personal plea: 🇿🇦Breaking the cycle of violence!https://t.co/6kPcu2Whwm pic.twitter.com/d60tsBqJwx
— Gender Links (@GenderLinks) December 17, 2024
Comment on Summit 2017-Semonkong Urban Council COE