Chongwe District Council Institutional profile

“I have not attended a Gender Links COE workshop but when I saw on the internet the council secretary and other people; that (Chongwe) is doing much better as a centre I saw that this thing is real.”

Councillor Charles Kabinah Mumena is proud that Chongwe received the best practice award for Centres of Excellence in gender mainstreaming in Local Government and Gender Justice Summit in 2011. He said “those who won gave us a boost. Since then we have been encouraging women to take part in our governance structures in the district”.

Mumena expressed his gratitude to the COE process because it has made a difference to Chongwe council. Though he has not participated directly in the COE workshops he has received reports of progress through the council meetings and especially through the Constituency Development Fund meetings. He said: “the interventions have touched on important real life issues”.

According to Brian Musonda the focal point for the COE process, because of the 2011 award the gender committee has received a dedicated budget which was shown as evidence to the Gender Links verification team. They now have leeway to be creative in mainstreaming gender in all the work of the council. Change of course is not going to come overnight. It has been incremental at the Chongwe council but the signs are so visible one cannot ignore that the COE work is contributing to strengthening of institutional practice as well as improving the lives of women and men in the community.

When the GL verification team arrived at the meeting venue, a cross sectional team from the Chongwe welcomed us including a traditional Chief, district planner, two councillors, a clerk from the subordinate court, council officials from various departments – some of whom are representatives of the Chongwe District Gender Committee. Piles of evidence including minutes also greeted the team though unfortunately the large compendium of minutes (of not just on gender mainstreaming but all council meetings) could not be taken away from the premises. Working as a multi-sector team while tracking progress through keeping sex disaggregated data and records is definitely part of the winning recipe for Chongwe.

Chongwe district council has a gender action plan but no gender policy. A budget for developing the gender policy has been set aside in 2013 and procurement process will be starting in the first quarter of the year. The budget for consultant that has been approved is 6,092,000 Kwacha (approximately US$1,200).

The council has made efforts to raise awareness on the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development by giving all staff copies of the abridged version to help them familiarise with the 28 targets to be achieved by 2015. Village level workshops have also taken place to raise community awareness.

Like many other councils in Zambia, politically Chongwe has not made any gains in terms of political decision-making. There are no women councillors out of the 11 that were elected in the district. The only two women councillors are no longer part of Chongwe following a rezoning exercise reducing total councillors from 17 to 11. This is no surprise as Zambia has 6% women councillors at national level. As a result, the council chair and deputy chairpersons as well as heads of the four committees are male.

Mumena expressed concern over this gap. “We have to intensify training to encourage women to take up decision making positions… For me that is the starting point, that…that…that should be the beginning. We may talk about GBV, economy and so on but as long as they are not in governance we wont make much of a difference”. He was quick to point out that some of Chongwe’s progress in advancing gender equality could be attributed to the fact that they have had a female member of parliament from 2001 who has been passionate about this.

On a positive note on the administrative side, there is evidence that women have made inroads at all levels of decision making in line with SADC Gender Protocol 50/50 target. Chongwe could be leading the pack compared to other councils in Zambia. There is a female chief executive officer. There is almost a 50/50 distribution of women and men at middle level management with 5 men (56%) and 4 women (44%). At lower level, the council employs more women (70%) than men (30%). Even traditionally there 1 male chief and 1 female chief representing chiefs in the council committee ensuring a 50/50 distribution of power.

In line with the government quota, the council implements a land policy that aspires to meet a 30% quota for women and the remaining 70% of land is open to both women and men. Council minutes made available to the verification team show that the council keeps sex disaggregated statistics on land allocations. Of the five houses constructed by the council for renting three have been allocated to women for renting.

The council keeps other forms of sex disaggregated data. Of the applicants for road construction, two were women with the council adverts including a motivation to women by stating that ‘women are encouraged to apply’. A sample of this was however not made available.

The council facilitates the participation of women in the Area Development Committees (ADCs); Community Access Improvement Programme while in the D-WASHE programme a woman chairs the committee.

There are visible efforts to empower women from the community with the majority of the recipients of the Community Development Fund are women from the Development Women Associations. In providing these grants, Chongwe used the guidelines developed through the COE gender training in 2012. Women benefit by getting improved road work, money for self-help projects and school fees being paid for vulnerable children. Just this year (2013) two pupils, a girl and a boy are benefiting from the fund and this helps relieve overburdened female headed households. Farmers who are mostly women, can hire the council tractor at a nominal fee. Women have formed clubs or cooperatives which has assisted them in controlling profits.

Kufeya described some of the benefits that the community development fund has done for women empowerment. The revolving fund has boosted their business, they are better able to feed their children and send them to school. Their clubs are growing.

A visit by Loveness Jambaya Nyakujarah, Gender Links’ Alliance and Partnerships Manager as part of verification, to a nearby women’s club – Kanjonjoli which means a stream – proved that the council is making a difference in the women’s lives.

Royce Chimpekete thanked that she and her fellow club members had benefited from the Community Development Fund. They initially used the revolving fund grant that they received to start a chicken raring business. While the business grew they realised that there were too many people in the same business and so the profits were marginal so they reinvested the money to begin piggery project.

Chimpekete said “We really want to thank (Chongwe) for this project. Now we do not need to borrow money to send our children to school or buy food”.

Martha Yona, a member of the club with six children said they are now supplying pork to a company in the capital, Lusaka after looking for buyers in the newspaper.

The club has ten members. Another of the women in the club, Elizabeth Chale highlighted the challenge that they now have three male employees who assist with cleaning and other chores who they have to pay. This is getting expensive so they are appealing to the council to give them more funding to boost the business.

Before that their husbands who are employed elsewhere and children most of who go to school were assisting but this was not sustainable hence they hired three employees. The women are all involved in the piggery project and take turns in taking care of the pigs.

Eneless Mundyongo showed how resourceful they are should the council fail to give them another tranche. They will each bring five bags of grain and sell off to other coorperatives and use the money to expand the business. Mundyongo believes they are doing well because they are women

There is no environmental policy but there is a subcommittee on Environment. There are a number of campaigns to ensure environmental sustainability and curb degradation such as discouraging charcoal vending and burning. Rather there are campaigns afforestation within the community and schools and the use of energy saver household equipment such as solar power.

A video clip shown to the verification team shows that women do take part in waste management decision making as council workers and those involved in community-based enterprises. Women are seen in the video clip cleaning up the city with trucks and wheelbarrows wearing the appropriate protective clothing.

Urban water supply is controlled by corporate companies but borehole water supply is managed by community committees through D-WASHE & V-WASHE with 50/50 gender representation. V-WASHE is chaired by a woman while D-WASHE by Council Gender Focal Point.

There are several community campaigns such as the Keep Chongwe Clean Campaign; World Toilet Day; Kick Out Malaria with the spraying of homes and surroundings by women.

Chongwe facilitates public engagement on gender issues and provided evidence of commemorations. Photographs of women and men dressed in beautiful regalia provided through the council budget show how they participate in the council’s official International Women’s Day every 8th March which is declared a public holiday in Zambia. Other key dates observed in the calendar that provide opportunity to talk about gender issues are: Youth Day 12 March; 16 Days against GBV Activism (25 November -10 December; World AIDS Day on 1 December.

The social and recreational facilities are gender aware and responsive. The play park is being repaired by a woman owned company though details of the company were yet to be provided to the Gender Links verification team. There is a council women’s netball team and Madala football team.

Council minutes shown to the verification team show that street lighting has come under the spotlight. The main street has light but there is a proposal for other streets to receive lighting from the subcommitting on street lights. Three names of prominent females among others have been put forward as part of an exercise to put in place street names where these do not exist.

The council supports both women and men living with HIV and AIDS and in 2013 has provided a budget to assist with home based care, training of psychological counsellors, food supplements and chronically ill persons. The workplace does not discriminate and in fact supports those who disclose their status through counselling and other services.

Gender based violence is a flagship project of Chongwe council. It participates in an integrated reporting system between ministries that work on GBV and related matters. Commemoration of 16 Days of Action against gender violence is a key activity on the council calendar. There is collaboration with the Victim Support Unit and community policing of neighbourhoods is an integral part of the programme.

Councillor Oscar Kafeya confirmed that he had attested to the importance of training workshop a training workshop on gender violence that he attended that was facilitated by Gender Links. He believes he is better equipped to address some of the issues that come to him because of his position as councillor. However sometimes he refers the matter to the appropriate authorities such as police, counsellors, health clinics and so forth. He believes that high levels of violence in Chongwe district can be attributed to alcohol abuse.

The clerk of the subordinate court, John Bakasa shared the gender based violence statistics that they ardently keep and share during meetings for the District Gender Committee held periodically. He says he understands gender issues better. A report for 2012 made available to the verification team shows that of the 22 Court cases brought to court – four perpetrators were sentenced; one was fined and six referred to High Court. Further, four of cases are pending, one was acquitted and six withdrawn.

Women and men have access to capacity building within the council. Of the five people offered training abroad three (60%) of these were women. OF those who attend Gender Links trainings, the participants lists show that 60% of these are women.

Brian Musonda, a personnel officer and contact person for the COE process has been exposed to Gender Links training since 2010. He said at that point not many people were interested so he developed himself “to be a gender champion”.

Because of his participation, the gender issues have begun to receive attention. He was a runner up in one of the Local Government and Gender Justice Summit categories while the council itself received a best practice award COE institutional award at regional level. There is even a dedicated budget line. “There is political will in the council and whenever we present a budget it is supported”.

He is also mobilising other ministries to take part in the work at local level as part of the Gender action plan such as Social Welfare, Police and Justice.

Conditions of service are gender sensitive with women receiving three months maternity leave and unlike most public and private establishments men have five days of paternity leave. Mother’s day is commemorated actively by the council. Sexual harassment is dealt with in the context of the national gender policy (2000) and the 2011 Anti Gender Based Violence Act.

The council has set up structures to ensure sustainability of the COE process with the gender focal point and the District Development Community Community involved. Some senior officials have gender mainstreaming written up in their job description such as the gender focal point as per her appointment letter from the town clerk.

There is a consensus from all stakeholders that the greatest challenge is political decision making where women are almost absent. There is a need to educate voters to vote for women.

Another challenge is that decision making powers are concentrated with central government so this limits the council’s ability to implement everything that they would like to. However, there is a move to decentralise governance structures in Zambia and Kufeya believes this will assist.

Cultural and traditional practices and mindsets fuel violence against women. There is a feeling that a woman should submit to her husband thus there is a need for community sensitisation. Chief Tatile emphasised the importance of community training so that they understand the concept of gender using many entry points such as educating them on women’s rights or gender based violence.

He said that while many women attend village level meetings compared to men; it is men who speak more and this is a concern for the chief.

Funding for implementation remains a challenge but the council is ensuring that existing programmes are engendered before even taking on additional gender specific activities.

Overall councillor Kufeya believes that the council has benefited immensely from the COE process. Of particular importance is the development of a policy to ensure the Protocols (legal instruments) become a reality at local level. He also acknowledged that as a councillor he should lead by example in terms of advancing women’s rights. He believes he may give way to a woman candidate in the next round of council elections.