Khoelenya Community Council COE

Khoelenya Community, situated in the Mohale’s Hoek District of Lesotho, is a large rural area characterized by a dispersed network of villages and rugged terrain. Life in Khoelenya is deeply shaped by subsistence agriculture, as many households rely on small-scale farming and livestock to sustain themselves. The remoteness of the region, coupled with climate vulnerabilities such as erratic rainfall, places added pressure on the community to build resilience through innovative livelihood strategies.

The Khoelenya Community Council is part of the Gender Links Centres of Excellence (COE) programme, which aims to mainstream gender equality into local governance. Over the course of its COE journey, Khoelenya has held action-planning workshops (such as the Stage 5 workshop in 2014) to design a gender action plan that addresses key issues like gender-responsive budgeting, gender-disaggregated data, and strategies to combat gender-based violence.  As part of this process, councillors reflected on both practical and strategic gender needs and committed to gender-aware policies that also take into account climate change impacts.