Gender and local government in Namibia

A key conclusion from the study which took place in four Southern African countries, Namibia, Lesotho, Mauritius and South Africa is that there is no longer any excuse for any country in the region not to reach the 50 percent target of women in decision-making set by the SADC Heads of State in 2005. 

 

Namibia has performed consistently well at the local government level and with 42 percent of all elected councillors being women. It is second only to Lesotho which has 58 percent women in local government, the highest in the SADC region and possibly the world.  This good performance can be attributed mainly to the use of a PR electoral system and legislated quota, coupled with the adoption of the “zebra” system by the ruling Swapo party.  Unfortunately, however, the same gains have not been made at the national level and Namibia still falls short of the 30 percent target.  

 

A key finding of the research is that in both countries with high and low levels of women’s representation in local government there has been very little attention to the systems, structures and processes that need to be put in place to ensure gender mainstreaming in local government and that there is need for systematic approaches to gender mainstreaming at local level accompanied by the requisite skills and commitment.

 

The launch will be followed by a four day workshop organised by Gender Links and ALAN (Association of Local Authorities in Namibia) in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare and the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development.  The purpose of the workshop will be to work with councillors and officials from local authorities across the country to develop a draft strategy for mainstreaming gender in local government. 

 

The draft strategy will be forwarded to the Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development. Once adopted, the partners will work with a team of facilitators to translate the strategy into action plans in all local authorities.

 

 

For more information contact:

Susan Tolmay of Gender Links on 081 347 8380 or

Maureen Kambala of ALAN on 081 273 9102