Zambia - Kafue Town Council

Entry 12796

Kafue District Council Civic Centre is located in the urban area of Kafue along Luangwa drive in Kafue Estate. Kafue is divided into locations of urban and rural setup.

The Council has a Gender Action Plan in place and strides are being made towards achievement of SDGs. The Council also has a Gender Policy in place. This council has a total number of 16 councillors, by which 14 are male and two are females.

The council has five committees, one of which is chaired by women. This council is dominated by men. At present there is no Junior Council.

Young people, people with disabilities (PWD) and community members partake in the council’s activities. The Council has employed two PWDs and over 200 youths comprising male and female. They all participate at different levels in the decision-making processes at the council. Between 51 and 75% women participate in public consultations. Women and other people in the community take part in Gender Committee meetings, Ward Development Committee meetings and Stakeholders meetings chaired by various NGOs such as Child Fund, Save the Children (PWD) and other Partners.

Of the total workforce, the council has employed 249 women, 134 men, 278 youth and two PWD.  Women are only nine of management. The Director of Works is a woman and the Director of finance is a woman. The Community development, Procurement, Internal Audit and IT are headed by women.

Both men and women are highly involved in their jobs and the Council has seen more women in decision-making positions compared to the last few years where women were only considered for non-decision-making positions and decision-making positions were left for men which was partly attributable to certain norms advantaging men.

There are provisions for maternity and paternity leave. In an event were a woman undergoes a caesarean birth and is required to spent more time to recover, the council is flexible and gives more time for her to heal and gain strength. There is a policy against sexual harassment in the council. The council has a committee that presides on cases of human resource which also reports to Council for decisions. Channels and procedures have been put in place to resolve such cases. Effort by the council has been made where people living with disabilities are able to access the council's reception without difficulties.

Kafue Town Council allocates a substantial budget to gender-related projects from 2015 to 2016.

Category	Budget 2015	Budget 2016
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality in decision-making and public participation	$20 000	$20 000
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality/family friendly/ youth and disability friendly policies and practices	$20 000	$20 000
Resources allocated to promoting gender/youth/PWD responsive projects on climate change	$12 000	$15 000

As part of the council’s local economic development plan, about 65% of market stands are owned by women, 5% owned by people living with disabilities, 15% owned by youth while the rest is owned by male traders. The council is linked to village banking which acts like a micro-finance which it gives loans to women, men, youths and people living with disabilities to boost their business.

The council is involved in Condom distribution and sensitization materials such as fliers on family planning including community sensitization. There is high accessibility among youths and PWDs. The facilities have incorporated friendly corners to deal with most issues affecting these group on a peer approach basis.