Polokwane Municipality
Polokwane Municipality
Polokwane Municipality is a council which strives to ensure provision of services to communities in a sustainable manner. The council also promotes the social and economic development of the community at large by creating dialogue platforms with community organisations in the matters of local government.
Introduction
Polokwane Municipality is a local council of Capricorn District Municipality the council joined the COE process in May 2012. The council had been awarded the runner up in the prevention category the 2012 Gender Justice and Local Government Summit, before the council joined the COE process there was no clear indication with regard to gender mainstreaming.
One of the key challenges that the council also faced was that there was no designated gender coordinator and therefore issues of gender got blended in very fluidly with issue of disability and HIV/AIDS. This was problematic as there was no clear direct indication as to how the council would be approaching issues of gender, and there was no sense of understanding and fully grasping the concept of gender mainstreaming.
Before the council joined the COE process there was no clear agenda as to how the gender mainstreaming would take place in the council, the programmes also lacked a sense of ownership and understanding of gender issues in the council. Capacity training and understanding why gender issue were key within the institution was also a major issue. The COE process assisted the council to understand that gender mainstreaming was not only an issue that was meant to be confined to the Special focus unit, but also needed the overall involvement of the programmes and institution.
The council has also managed to formulate a draft gender policy which will be adopted by the council, before the COE process in the council there was no clear indication of a gender policy being developed and implemented.
Stories of change
Jane Dimakatso Bambo - South Africa
I played the role of a champion for gender and against gender-based violence after the National Crime Prevention Strategy (NCPS) was established in May 1996. Bolobedu sub-district was declared an area with the highest rate of "social fabric crimesÀ and violence by the national Department of Safety, Security and Liaison. The National Crime Prevention Strategy demanded that all victims of "social fabric crimesÀ which were later referred to as "contact crimesÀ should be protected.Go to: Find out more