Summit 2016-Tsoelikana Council COE

Tsoelikana Community Council is found in the rural area called Tsoelike in the Qacha’s Nek district. The council joined the COE in 2010. When the COE process was first introduced to the councilors in Tsoelikana gender as a concept was foreign to the. To date the council has worked very hard to mainstream gender in their policies and overall council and community activities.

The council has put in place a number of gender-related policies to guide its work. The district council consist of 7 male councilors and 20 female councilors. The council aims to expand its percentage of female councilors from 74%. The Mayor of the council is a man and his Deputy Mayor is a female.

The council is made up of four committees, three of which are chaired by woman. 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 51 and 75 percent, women participate in public consultations.

The total workforce of the council employees consist of 61 percent women, 35 percent youth and one percent people with disabilities. 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 Management of the council consists of one male in management position being the CCS or CEO and the other being the clerical assistant and three being the security guards; in total there are five males while females are 12. One female is in Administration of the council, two are the physical planners, two are in Finance, another two are the messengers and three are the office assistants.

There are provisions for maternity leave but none for paternity leave. The council does not have a sexual harassment policy. Cases related to Sexual harassment, disciplinary hearings are held, but in bigger cases state institutions are consulted.

The Tsoelikana 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 market is being piloted at Sehlaba-thebe and the building is in process under the supervision of the independent monitor.  There are 430 beneficiaries benefiting from jobs created by the council, 260 women and 170 men.

Women, men, PWD, and youth are involved in the planning, management, and maintenance of water and sanitation. There is a total of 35 water and sanitation committees. There is 20 women and 15 men on the committees, 20 of which are chaired by a woman.

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