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Senekane Council is situated in Maqhaka in the Berea district.
The workplace is highly gender sensitive in that when writing lists for catchment labourers, the chiefs and councillors work together and it is council policy to give 50\50 chances for both men and women equally. The same list is also used for the Waste Management project casual labourers.
Both women and men participate equally during council meetings, even though the chairperson and deputy are both men three committees that are within the council two are chaired by woman. There are 18 councillors members and seven are women while 11 are men.
Projects running within the Council are mostly if not all women angled and 76%-100% of women participate in all the public meetings and are part of any decisions taken.
Of the total workforce, the council has 75% women, which 50% are youth, 5% people living with the disabilities and 20% middle aged women. The council secretary is a woman and she is an overseer of the council. The accounts clerks and physical planners are also women.
The council provides the three months maternity leave and nursing hours for three months after the maternity leave. Also as provided for in the Labour Code of Lesotho all staff members are awarded leave on issues of health as well as compassionate leave to attend the funeral of close relatives.
The council works in line with the sexual harassment Act of 2000, but most of the time if issues arises are referred to the police station for further investigations. The council is accessible to people and people living with the disability as there trails of wheelchairs on entrance.
Senekane Community Council allocated budget to gender-related projects for 2017 to 2018.
Category | Budget 2017 | Budget 2018 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality in decision-making and public participation | $10 000 | $20 000 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality/family friendly/ youth and disability friendly policies and practices | $40 000 | $40 000 |
Resources allocated to gender-responsive local economic development | $50 000 | $50 000 |
Resources allocated to promoting gender/youth/PWD responsive projects on climate change | $50 000 | $50 000 |
The council has lists that show the number of males and females allocated land. More women have land based on the number of letters received form the community requesting land. In terms of the Local Economic Development plan/policy the council has collaborated with”Ja usa phela” society that deals with rearing of chicken for egg sale in order to aid women financially. And also there is a market space that by provided by the council to allow women to sell their fruits and vegetables along the main road.
The council has a policy on climate change which outlines the challenges and the plans that the council have in place to combat climate change. The activities include planting trees, water dialogues and recycling. The council encourages the community to have a clean environment even though there is no waste management plan in place. There are catchment projects all over the council where people engage in planting trees and filling dongas. They also get financial benefit from these projects.
The council participate in preventative campaigns and the members feel that they still have a lot of work to do. The council faces challenges, for example, there are no street lights in the area, and the roads that lead between houses are not marked and is gravel posing challenges when there are emergencies, the biggest challenge is the budget cuts that the council faces as the cuts negatively affect the fight against Gender Based Violence. For as long as there are budget cuts the levels of GBV will remain unchanged. The council does not have running water in the council yard nor do they have functional ablution facilities and the council building is being rented as the permanent government provided one is built. There is small water pumps in the village been looked after by women. The water committees have women as their chairs.
Click here to read more about the Senekane Community Council.
Comment on Summit 2017- Senekane Council COE