Zambian Council shows that charity begins at home

Chongwe District Council is one of the 10 Centres of Excellence (COE’s) for mainstreaming gender in Zambia supported by Gender Links. The Council has completed all six stages of the COE process including meeting with management teams; situation analysis; council level policy and implementation workshop; community mobilisation village meetings on SADC Protocol; capacity building through on-the-job training, application of skills during 16 Days of Activism, and participation in the 2011 Gender Justice and Local Government Summit in which they won two awards. As a COE, Chongwe is implementing a number of articles of the SADC Gender and Development Protocol in relation to governance, productive resources and employment, Gender Based Violence, and HIV and AIDS. This COE is a good example of the Protocol@work and demonstrates the role of local government in implementing the Protocol on the ground where it matters most. The Council has developed a gender and GBV action plan which is being implemented with resources from central government and local resources.

Chongwe hosted the provincial gender and GBV workshop 14-16 October 2009. The Council has a high level gender champion in the person of the District Planner, Carol Mkandawire. It has created a gender committee composed of both males and females. The council works together with the area development committees, village development committees and traditional leaders to implement the gender and GBV action plan. Chongwe council has dedicated Thursdays to gender activities. Men and women play football and net ball together and have round table discussions and watch videos on GBV.

Chongwe District Council is promoting women’s rights to economic empowerment through funding of women’s clubs from the Constituency Development Fund (CDF). The Council conducts annual reviews of the HIV/AIDS work place policy to ensure that workers’ needs are being upheld especially the needs of the women. There is a budget line for maintenance of street lighting to ensure security is in place. The Council continues to ensure that 30% of land available is reserved for women. The Council is also promoting equal representation of men and women in committees such as the Area Development Committees (ADCs).

There are many challenges. For example, women who are allocated land are sometimes unable to develop it due to limited access to financial resources. This is because women do not have collateral to borrow capital from the banks. The Council is encouraging women to access credit facilities to enable them get funds for their projects. Secondly, there is high demand for extension of street lighting to other areas whilst the resources are limited. The Council has started with lighting commercial and public areas to ensure the safety and security of informal women traders. Thirdly, women lack skills in business entrepreneurship. The Council has responded by linking women clubs to institutions that give skills training in various areas, especially through the Ministry Community of Development). Fourthly, women in some cases share decision making positions in the Council due to lack of education especially in communities such as ADCs. The Council is providing short training for communities to enable women take up decision making positions.

Stigmatisation of those infected by HIV results in those infected failing to speak out. The Council continues sensitising people on the need to support those infected by HIV and AIDS. Chongwe District continues to lobby for resources from the government and funding agencies for implementation of the District programmes.

The tangible outputs to include: increased number of women having access and owing land; increased number of registered women clubs; long trading hours by women on the streets, and equal representation of men and women in committees such as ADCs.

GBV has been reduced and more women have become aware of their rights. The men have started advocating against GBV. Because of economic empowerment through their activities in the clubs, more women are demanding land. There is also recognition of the role of women in decision-making in the communities.

The gender mainstreaming activities of the Council are sustainable because of the availability of the ward development funds to continue with the initiatives. There are also qualified staff to ensure the sustainability of the women’s clubs. The Council is working with the Area Development Committees, Village Development Committees, and traditional leaders to implement these activities.

These initiatives are replicable in Zambia and in other SADC countries through dissemination of information by the local government associations. GL is currently working with 100 Councils across SADC on mainstreaming gender in local government. This number will be increased to 300 over the next two years. GL is also working with local government associations like the Local Government Association of Zambia (LGAZ) on strategies for cascading the COE’s. Involvement by local councils in the Sixteen Days of Activism increased markedly in 2010, with several sharing innovative strategies at the Second Gender Justice and Local Government Summit in March 2011.