Summit 2018 – Manyame Rural District Council COE

Manyame is one of the few local authorities in Zimbabwe that is led by a female Chief Executive Officer. Situated in Mashonaland East, Manyame has been a pioneering council to the Gender Links Entrepreneurship programme.

Manyame Rural District Council has a gender policy which is also aligned to the council’s strategic plan. The council has 21 councillors (18 male councillors and 3 female). The deputy chairperson of council is female. Of the 10 committees in the council only 20% are chaired by women. The council also has a junior council whose composition is female-dominated though the leader of the junior council is male. Women and youth participate in various campaigns, clean up campaigns, Gender-Based Violence campaigns, the International Women’s Day, commemorations of the Day of the African Child, National Tree Planting and are involved in commissioning of Council projects. Approximately 76-100% of participants at these events are women.

Manyame has a total workforce of 69 employees, of whom 9 are women. There are more men than women in management (2 women and 4 men). The Chief Executive Officer is female. Only 1 of 6 female Chief Executive Officers in Zimbabwe’s rural councils. Zimbabwe by law prescribes a paid maternity leave of 3 months, thus Manyame provisions for it. The council also has provisions for paternity leave of less than 1 month. The council has a sexual harassment policy whose cases are dealt with once there has been a written or verbal complaint to a superior in council or any other Head of Department. However, the council has not experienced any reported cases of sexual harassment in the workplace. Regards disability-friendly access in all council buildings the council has ensured that access to the main council building is disability friendly.

Manyame Rural District Council allocates a substantial budget to gender-related projects, these amounts have largely remained the same, with a few exceptions between the 2016 and 2017 budgets.

Manyame Rural District Council has a community policing forum where women are represented but not on the basis of equality with men. There is a Crime Consultative Committee, the WARDCOs, VIDCOs and Chief’s court.

As part of its action on Climate Change Manyame RDC has established a Tree Cutting Policy to control the destruction of forests, Council has by laws controlling sand extraction to prevent gulley and land degradation. Council has by-laws to ensure that farm owners have set up fireguards with stiff penalties for non-compliance and for those who are caught on the wrong side of the law.

Council ensures that fishing permits are being given to people after they get licensed by the Parks and Wild life to control the depletion of the resource. The youth and people with disabilities are given opportunities to run fishery projects, sand extraction projects and mining. There are by-laws to stop people from practising streambank cultivation and allocation of land through planned procedures according to the Stands Allocation Policy.

Click here to read more about Manyame Rural District Council.