Summit 2019: Chobe District Council

The council’s gender champion is Mr. Lesang Leloba, who is the Deputy Council Secretary under Technical Services, and the gender focal person is Ms. Reginah Lesedinyana Mojaphoko. The council scored 82% in the previous year.

Gender Policy

The council has a gender policy and action plan that incorporates the Post 2015 SADC Gender and has a high-profile gender champion who is the Deputy Council Secretary (Technical).

Governance

The council has 8 male councillors and only one female councillor. Women represent 41.2 % of the council management, which is a 5.9% growth from 2018.Women also make up 48.6% of the overall staff. Women in the council occupy positions of architect, physical planner, electrical engineer, roads engineer. Moreover women, youth and PWDs within the Chobe District are involved in decision-making processes through forums like Kgotla meetings, workshops and seminars.

Workplace Policy and Practice

In order to foster inclusiveness within the work place, the Chobe District Council has structural design elements within its premises in consideration of PWDs.PWD s have for instance reserved parking, toilets specifically designed and reserved for them, ramps to accommodate wheelchair users. The District also has within it, the only school that caters for children living with disabilities, that has boarding facilities and so it has hired caretakers for PWD’s under the council’s care, one male for boys and 8 women for the girls.

Local Economic Development

The council has 8 market stalls located by the bus rank .3 of the stalls have been allocated to PWDs ,2 to youth and 3 to women. At its new stalls located next to the mall, the council has given 6 of them to women and 2 to men. Council through the S&CD organizes workshops for PWDs, women and youth to acquire skills to start their own business

. The council allows the women, youth, PWDs to enter into CESSION agreements in order to assist them with funds to fulfill tenders awarded to them. In terms of LED funds, the council has awarded P165 190.00 to youth, women and men to supply eggs, vegetables, agriculture produce and firewood. It has thus far since April 2018 also awarded P693 888.00 to womens’ groups supplying bread to primary schools and as of May 2019, the expenditure stands at P115 648.00.

Climate Change and Sustainable Development

Within the district there are women who produce flower pots from paper mâché, a woman who does landscaping and sells ornamental trees. There are also people within the community who salvage metal at the landfill. The Council also supports the Kachikau special unit where children and people living with disability use paper mâché to make artifacts and beads from papers.

Infrastructure and Social Development

The council has allocated land to 1167 people in total. 367 of the sum were male and 800 of the sum were female. In its effort for social development, the council has established reception classes at 9 of the 10 primary schools that are within the Chobe District. One of the reception classes was a donation by the Japanese embassy and is meant for low income parents who cannot afford to take their children to private paid prep schools.

The council has an Education, Health and Social Services Committee which deals with various issues, including water and sanitation. It also has a water reticulation project along Nyunge road for new plots and a sanitation project which has utilized as labour, persons from low income groups to empty cages in 8 villages. The tender for the latter project was awarded to a woman.

Sexual and Reproductive Health, HIV & AIDS

The council has wellness meetings held every Wednesday morning where issues relating to sexual reproductive health and HIV /AIDS are discussed. Condoms are placed in all the toilets within the council premises. When the council hosts Wellness and Sports Days, they invite Tebelopele and DHMT to mount HIV testing booths to encourage people to test.

Ending Violence

The council’s efforts towards fighting GBV are through morning discussions with staff about such issues. The council also uses platforms such as Kgotla meetings and school addresses to raise awareness on GBV issues and also participates in public awareness initiatives by other entities such as 1 billion rising. The council has also held candle lighting activities and a stiletto walk event to bring awareness on gender issues. The council assists GBV survivors within the district with their business funded under LED financing. They also support them organizing market days and purchasing the products made through these businesses.

Communication and Visibility

The council’s gender committee sets a stall whenever there are public awareness activities within the district.

Gender Management System

The council has a gender committee made up of a Chairperson, Secretary, Focal person, Gender champion and 8 members. The committee utilizes the gender action plan for monitoring and evaluation.

Resource Allocation

Resources allocated for the processes around gender mainstreaming amounted to P165 690.00 for 2018.Resources to promote employment equity were the sum of P2050.00 for 2018 and resources allocated to gender responsive mainstream activities were the sum of P422 386.00 for the same year.

Challenges

The council faces resistance by community to openly discuss sexual and reproductive health issues, this resistance extends to the care givers of PWDs who are also hesitant to discuss sexual and reproductive health issues relating to their dependents. There is still minimal involvement of the PWDs in consultation process within the community. To overcome some of these challenges the council cconsults with the community through Kgotla meetings to encourage them to actively participate in forums to gain knowledge.  The council also held a workshop for PWDS in November 2018 to involve them in consultation forums and another in January 2019 for caregivers to discuss sexual reproductive issues.

Lessons Learned and Innovation

The council has learned that stakeholder consultation and collaboration is key in any activity or intervention that the council seeks to achieve within the community. It is also important that monitoring and evaluation of programs be carried out as planned/scheduled in order to keep track of progress or lack thereof.

Chobe District council’s innovations as a centre of excellence include hosting their second consultation with the PWDs in November 2018, to make the council’s processes more inclusive. It has also invited other stakeholders outside of council staff, like NGOS, to be part of the Chobe District Gender Committee.

Sustainability and Replication

To ensure sustainability of the gender committees efforts progress reporting occurs quarterly at management meetings. The committee also believes that for sustainability purposes departmental focal persons of the committee should mainly be youth. The objectives of gender mainstreaming are included in the performance development plan of the gender committee members. Information sharing with other councils at summits is also a means for facilitating replicas of best practices from the council.