Zambia – Livingstone City Council

Livingstone was, until 2012, the capital of the Southern Province of Zambia. Lying 10 km (6.2 mi) to the north of the Zambezi River, it is a tourism centre for the Victoria Falls and a border town with road and rail connections to Zimbabwe on the other side of the Victoria Falls.

The gender policy has been reviewed and the Gender Action Plan has been realigned to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s). Several Focus Groups were created to ensure that the process run smoothly. The council has 17 councillors, 16 of which are male and only one councillor is a female.

Out of all the five committees within Livingstone Council, none of them is being chaired by women. Men dominate in this council. The council opts to increase women’s participation, including young people and people with disabilities.

Council endeavours to employee the youth and less privileged and vulnerable in society. To this effect public health (solid waste) and engineering services (fire section) have been pro women during their selection and recruitment process.

Of the total workforce, the council has employed 158 women, 308 men, 224 youth and one person living with a disability. The council’s management has 13 women. The Town Clerk, Chief Accountant, and the Director Housing and Social Services, to name a few, are all women.

The Council continuously advocates for the employment of women to decision making positions. There has been a steady increase in the number of women involved in decision making positions and those that have benefited from being employed to do council work. For example, ladies hired under solid waste management.

There are provisions for maternity and paternity leave. The council has a policy against sexual harassment. Cases of Sexual harassment are to be reported via the Office of the Director. There is a sign language interpreter to accommodate deaf people, and the interpreter also teaches the staff how to communicate using sign language.

Livingstone City Council allocates a substantial budget to gender-related projects from 2015 to 2016.

Council has not yet allocated market stands for the newly constructed Ultra-Modern market, however Council is committed to allocating a minimum of 30% of stands directly to women as per LCC gender policy.

Currently the Council does not have a policy on climate change but it is an important component that has been captured in the formulation of the strategic plan.