Summit 2018 – Kwekwe City Council
Date: July 12, 2018
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Kwekwe City Council is situated in the Industrial hub of the Midlands province. It is also a vibrant mining town synonymously known for its gold mining activities.
Kwekwe City Council has had a draft Gender Policy since 2015 that is being finalized and awaiting adoption. The council has 14 councillors (11 male councillors and 3 female). Kwekwe City Council has 5 committees, and 3 are chaired by women. The council Mayor and Deputy Mayor are both male. Council has a junior council through which young people participate and air their concerns. The junior council is composed of more girls than boys and the mayor is male.
City of Kwekwe is an inclusive organisation in that all people’s views including the disabled and the youth are taken on board. Through the junior Council program the youths’ views are taken on board. The disabled are also consulted and involved in decision making mostly during budget consultation and by law making processes. Between 76 and 100 percent, women participate at these consultations and meetings.
Kwekwe has a total workforce of 579, of whom 123 are women. In terms of decision making at managerial level women account for only 5 of the 19 managers. The Director of Finance, Assistant City Planner, Environmental Health Practitioners, Mechanics and Water and sewer attendants are some of the women employed in non-traditional jobs in council.
Zimbabwe by law prescribes for 3 months paid maternity leave thus Kwekwe provisions for it. However, there is no paternity leave. The council has a sexual harassment policy and all cases are treated on merit and with the strictest confidentiality as there are water tight reporting structures that protect the victims and witnesses. Management has an open door policy that encourages victims of sexual harassment to come forward with their grievances. Council hold regular and frequent training on sexual harassment as a way of curbing such future incidents. The council has ensured Disability-friendly access through constructing ramps and have an elevator to ensure ease of access for people with disability.
Kwekwe City Council allocates a substantial budget to gender-related projects, these amounts have in most cases remained constant between 2016 to 2017.
| Category | Budget 2016 | Budget 2017 |
| Resources allocated to gender policy process and action planning | $6 000 | $8 000 |
| Resources allocated to promoting gender equality in decision-making and public participation | $4 500 | $6 000 |
| Resources allocated to promoting gender equality/family friendly/ youth and disability friendly policies and practices | $6 500 | $4 500 |
| Resources allocated to gender-responsive local economic development | $90 000 | $30 000 |
| Resources allocated to promoting gender/youth/PWD responsive projects on climate change |
$2 000 |
$2 000 |
| Resources allocated to promoting gender/ youth and disability friendly infrastructure and social development policies and practices | $2 355 | $1 200 |
| Resources allocated to promoting gender/ youth and disability friendly SRHR, HIV and AIDS programmes | $2 000 | $1 5 00 |
| Resources allocated to ending gender violence | $1 200 | $500 |
| Resources allocated to visibility for the Council’s Gender Action Plan | $1 000 | $800 |
| Resources allocated to Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning for the Council’s Gender Action Plan |
$1 000 |
$1 200 |
Kwekwe City Council has a Local Economic Development policy which states that development initiatives like
allocation of market stalls should consider women, youth and the PWD as they were previously disadvantaged. Allocation of industrial stands and home industrial stands should be done in consideration of women, youths and people with disability.
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