Namibia – Tses Village Council

Tses is a village in Karas Region in southern Namibia, with a population of approximately 1000. It is situated one kilometre off the main B1 highway from Windhoek to Cape Town and Johannesburg, opposite the turn to Berseba and Brukaros Mountain.

The Council is not having a gender specific policy but the Council is aware of the Post 2015 SADC Gender Protocol as well as the Sustainable Development Goals. The Council is guided by the Local Authority Act, and the Personnel Rules. There are five councillors. Four of those are women and the other one is a man. The Deputy Mayor is a female.

The council has three committees, and one of those is chaired by a woman. The council is working to involve more women, young people and people with disabilities within Tses. There is no Junior Council.

Women participate in community-based projects and meetings. Most of the decision making is done by women because they are the majority within the Council. There are also departments within the Council whereby two women who are staff members are the heads of those departments. Women are well represented in Tses Council. Between 51% and 75% women participate in the public consultations. Almost all meetings held, women are mostly represented.

The council has employed 45% men, 23% women and 32% youth. Women are only two out of four people in the council’s management. The Council does have women in non-traditional areas like the Human Resource and the Accountant (Finance Division). These two women are tremendously making and bringing change and are partaking in decision-making activities of the Council, including in the departments.

There are provisions for maternal leave, but none for paternal leave. Women who are due for maternity leave are given three months to stay at home. There is no policy against sexual harassment. The sexual harassment cases are treated fairly just like other cases. If a person commits such a fallacy she/he will face the consequences, following the staff personnel rules. The council does not have any upstairs building, hence the Council office is user friendly to all men, women, but mostly to PWD to be able to move freely around the area.

Tses Village Council has not allocated budget to mainstream gender-related projects from 2015 and 2016. There is no budget line to support gender and governance projects.

The Council has designed and provided Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) stalls which are equally used by women, men and the youth equally on renting basis. Financial scheme of the entrepreneurs do exists whereby the local business owners are being given small funds monthly for the sustainability of Namibian post account as well as for the growth of their small businesses. The Council is striving towards the empowerment of women and other disadvantaged individuals by giving opportunities to part of the local contract works that is tendered in the village.

Women, men, PWD, and youth are involved in the planning, management and maintenance of water and sanitation. There are 50 men and 70 women on the water and sanitation committees. All these committees, however, are chaired by men.

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