The COE concept seeks to ensure that key councils are identified across the region and worked with very closely in their process of getting gender on their council's agenda. The approach also seeks to develop synergy in GL programme work by focusing various projects from our SADC Gender Protocol, governance, media and justice programmes in specific localities.

The councils' progress in Zimbabwe

Council	About the Council	Stages
Harare	The Harare City Council aims to provide and maintain sound infrastructure and efficient services. The Harare City Council is dedicated to provide an enabling environment which offers first class municipal services and goods to its stakeholders while creating investment opportunities, promoting smart partnerships in an endeavor to reduce poverty and develop the city. In total the Council has 46 elected councilors and 10 appointed councilors and out 56 councillors, only 5 are females. The Chamber Secretary –Josephine Ncube is a gender champion	Completed stages I, II and III
Chitungwiza	The council has 21 councillors, 4 females and 17 males. Chitungwiza municipal council has an employment policy, the Human Resources and Recruitment policy. The policy stipulates that the Chitungwiza municipal council is an equal opportunity employer. Despite such a policy being in existence, women are still few compared to men in the council. The Chitungwiza Municipal council is a municipality servicing a high density population. It currently employs 1, 700 employees, a third of whom are women (567 employees). Most of the employees are in the 25-30 age range. The municipality encourages equality of opportunity in employment, including in duties and responsibilities though one has to rise through the ranks (by merit).	Completed stages I, II, III and IV
Ruwa	Ruwa is one of the 3 councils out of the 91 councils in Zimbabwe which is being directed by a female CEO and is the only one out of the 31 urban councils. The other 2 CEOs are from the rural district councils. In total Ruwa has 9 councillors (8 males and 1 female). However, the female councillor is chairing the powerful committee of finance. The Town Secretary Ms Julieth Makombe is the gender champion.	Completed stages I, II and III
Makoni	Makoni Rural District Council is situated in Manicaland Province in Zimbabwe. It is the biggest district within the 7 districts and has the largest resettlement schemes. It has a population of two hundred thousand. Its vision is to create a sound local government and an improved standard of living support of National Government efforts. The district has a District Gender Council Chaired by Mrs Annah Murigwa who is also the GFP for the council.	Completed stages I, II and III
Beitbridge
Victoria Falls	Victoria Falls is situated in the Matabeleland north province . It is one of the tourist attraction centres, the Victoria falls being one of the seven wonders of the world. It is comprised of 11 councillors, 10 males and one female. The deputy Mayor Patricia Muchekesi is the gender champion in the council.	Completed stages I and III
Kariba	The Municipality of Kariba thrives to deliver quality services to tourist, residents and visitors and to meet the expectations of all stakeholders. Full Council comprises of ten councilors, three (3) women and seven (7) men. The Mayor is male and he is deputized by a female councilor. Of the seven committees of Council only the Procurement Board is chaired by a lady. The deputy Mayor Tracy Ndoro is the gender champion.	Completed stages I
Gweru	City of Gweru, the City of Progress, is situated at the heart of Zimbabwe with a road and rail network that links it with the other major towns in the country. More so this also links it with the neighbouring countries of Botswana, South Africa, Zambia and Mozambique. In its mandate to provide service delivery the City aims to be a dynamic, clean and green city, to provide efficient and effective services to all residents of Gweru and to promote the economic development of the city in an environmentally friendly manner. Gweru City Council consists of 21 councillors, 2 female councillors and 19 male councillors. However, one of the female councillors is a committee chairperson and the other a vice chair. In terms of community committees it was said that women constitute the majority. There are a lot of community committees and these include gardening, HIV/AIDS and clean up committees. Cllr Holly Dzuda is the gender champion and she is the WILGF chairperson.	Completed stages I, II, III and IV
Chiredzi	Chiredzi Town Council is comprised of 2 female councillors and 7 males. Councillor Bernadette Chipembere is the gender champion for the council. Chiredzi Town is located in Masvingo Province, 201 km from Masvingo Town. The Town Council is one of the biggest institutions in Chiredzi with regards to the number of people it employs, the volume of services it provides to the public and the public utility works it carries out. Chiredzi Town Council provides various services to its citizens, most of which are maintained by nominal fees paid by Ratepayers. The services offered by the Council include cemeteries, community hall, housing, roads and water. Chiredzi Town is not only a centre of excellence in terms of gender issues, but is also a focal point in terms of Tourism development in Zimbabwe. Chiredzi is also a growing investment area in terms of agriculture. It prides itself for having some of the largest sugar plantations in Africa. In addition, business confidence in Chiredzi is high and the future for the town looks bright.	Completed stages I, II and III
Bulawayo	Bulawayo City of Kings, is a leader in local excellence in local governance. The council is committed to excellence in local governance through provision of quality services to the satisfaction of stakeholders. Council has three female councilors out of the twenty-nine. There are two female heads of departments out of six. One of the female councilors chairs the Health, Housing and Education Committee. Council runs pre-schools women’s and youth’s clubs to cater for the different needs of men and women, boys and girls.	Completed stage I

Stages in the process are:
Stage I: Meetings with management teams and political heads of councils
Stage II: Situational Analysis
Stage III: Council level policy and implementation workshops
Stage IV: Community mobilisation village level meetings on the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development
Stage V: Capacity building through on the job training: Modules include: Gender, elections and the media, Making IT and the media work for you, Campaigns, Communication
Stage VI: Application of skills in the running of major campaigns, e.g. 365 Days of Action to End Gender Based Violence