Voice & Choice summit recognises entrepreneurs

For immediate releas:

Maseru, 2 November: Gender Links Lesotho in partnership with the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) held the first of its three summits on 28-29 October 2020. The summit brought together a total of 80 participants (55 females and 25 males) drawn from local councils, government ministry, alliance partners and the media.  The first summit was held for entrepreneurs and beneficiaries of the Sunrise Campaign. A total of 20 aspiring entrepreneurs presented on their businesses in front of the judges for the two days and two winners and two runners-up emerged from both the new group and the pilot group. The #VoiceandChoice entrepreneurship summit provided a platform for sharing and learning for all the emerging entrepreneurs.

The awards ceremony was honoured by the attendance of the Deputy Minister of Local Government, British High Commissioner Maseru, local donors, Government Ministry, Alliance partners and members of the Lesotho Women in Local Government Forum and Women in Local Economic Development Forum, which were both launched during the award ceremony.

In his keynote address, the Deputy Minister of Local Government and Chieftainship Honourable Moshe Leoma commended Gender Links for the great work done at the local level. He attested to the fact that he is personally a beneficiary of the training provided by Gender Links during his time he served as the Chairperson of Botha Bothe Urban Council. He commended GL for implementing new programmes at the local level, saying “I am very excited that Gender links is implementing the Sunrise Campaign in partnership with the local councils. This gets to show the commitment of Gender Links towards providing services at the local level where services are needed the most.”

He noted  that the Centres of Excellence programme has helped the local councils ensure that there is women representation in all areas of work including in decision making. The programme has enabled the councils to improve their gender mainstreaming efforts and the annual summits enable them to share good practices.

CLGF representative Greg Murno noted that he was pleased to have partnered with Gender Links on  gender equality work in Lesotho during the most challenging times ranging from economic crisis, lack of health care, climate change and escalating Gender Based Violence.

“All these problems are affecting women more than men and therefore they need to be included as part of the decision making processes in addressing these problems. The networks which are being launched are part of how CLGF is ensuring that gender equality is attained in Lesotho. I therefore strongly encourage the members of the networks to work towards bringing a positive change in Lesotho and in all the Commonwealth countries,” he said.

When launching the WLGF and WLED, he encouraged the members to become drivers of change both within their councils and amongst the communities they serve. He mentioned that he supports women as they have shown leadership for a long time within their families and their communities and that it is about time that they move on to decision making. He encouraged members to be at the forefront in promoting local economic development and ensuring that women entrepreneurs access opportunities provided by councils. The next summit will be held for the COE Councils from 3-4 November 2020.

Summit winners were

For more information contact Manteboheleng Mabetha on lesmanager@genderlinks.org.za/ +266 22316755 or visit our website and Facebook page and follow us on Twitter or join the #VoiceandChoice Campaign.