At the Coalface

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Voices Amplified: Women Driving Change in Local Government . It is dedicated to celebrating the strength, resilience, and transformative power of women in politics. […]

Gender@Work in Local Government
June 2017

COE Report card Stage Description Date Outputs I Meetings and adoption of COE concept 12 Aug 2015 Buy-In Report Scorecard II Situation analysis 19 Aug 2015 Situational Analysis III SADC […]

This report is part of the third phase of the research project that led to the Gender Links (GL) publication: At the Coalface: Gender and Local Government in Southern Africa. This is a report on the research conducted in Zimbabwe between November 2009 and April 2010, in which 101 councillors in 19 localities participated in interviews and 315 women and men in focus group meetings. Their views and voices are the heart of this work.

This DVD draws on research conducted on women’s representation and participation in decision making at the local government level. It advocates for equal representation and participation of women in all areas of decision making in line with the provisions in the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development which was adopted in August 2008.

The first in-depth study on gender and local government in Southern Africa explores why some countries have succeeded in dramatically increasing women’s participation at the local level and the difference this makes where it matters most – on the ground.

An extension to the original study, “At the Coalface: Gender and Local GovernmentÀ that covered four SADC countries (South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho and Mauritius) this report demonstrates both the challenges and possibilities at the local level. The lesson from the first study is that no country in the region is likely to make the SADC targets without adopting special measures. The example of Lesotho, which has a FPTP system at the local level but adopted a system of reserved seats for women that are rotated with every new election is pertinent to Zambia which has a similar electoral system. With 58% women in local government, Lesotho is living proof that change is possible.

This report is part of the second phase of At the Coalface: Gender and Local Government in Southern Africa which aims to extend research on gender and local government carried out in Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa to all of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries.

This report is part of the second phase of the research project that led to the Gender Links (GL) publication: At the Coalface: Gender and Local Government in Southern Africa. The aim of the second phase is to extend the research on gender and local government to all of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. The first phase of the research was conducted in four countries: Lesotho, Mauritius, Namibia and South Africa.

This report is part of the third phase of the research project that led to the Gender Links (GL) publication: At the Coalface: Gender and Local Government in Southern Africa. The aim of this programme is to conduct research on gender and local government in all of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. So far research has been completed in ten: Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.