Summit 2016-Mokhotlong Urban Council COE

Mokhotlong Urban Council is situated in the town of Mokhotlong district;is a city and seat of Mokhotlong District in the mountainous northeastern part of Lesotho. It is the first major city with an airport along the road from South Africa across the Sani Pass, near the Maloti (Drakensberg in South Africa) Mountains. The name of the city is a word in Sesotho, the language of the people of Lesotho, meaning “Place of the Bald Ibis.” Thabana Ntlenyana, the highest point in southern Africa is found in Mokhotlong.

The council has put in place a number of gender-related policies to guide its work. The district council consist of 7 male councillors and 4 female councillors. The council aims to expand its percentage of female councillors from 36%. The Mayor, as well as the Deputy Mayor of the council are males.

The council is made up of 3 committees, two of which are chaired by women. There are more men employed than women in their Workforce of the council.

Young people, people living with disabilities (PWD) and community members participate in community-based planning projects and meetings. Between 51 and 75 percent, women participate in public consultations.

The total workforce of the council employees consist of 47 percent women, and 37 percent youth. Women are only 7 of management. The Council amended the recruitment, selection and promotion policies to increase the proportion of women in the workforce. Production rate is a little bit lower since the majority of people in senior positions are women and they have a tendency of disobeying others.

There are provisions for maternity and paternity leave. The council does have a sexual harassment policy. In cases related to Sexual harassment, disciplinary measures are taken against workers who harass others.

The Mokhotlong Urban Council allocates a substantial budget to gender-related projects, these amounts have increased from 2015 to 2016.

Category	Budget 2015	Budget 2016
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality in decision-making and public participation	$23 106	$8 509
Resources allocated to promoting gender equality/family friendly/ youth and disability friendly policies and practices	$19 582	$15 247
Resources allocated to gender-responsive local economic development	$90 252	$52588
Resources allocated to promoting gender/youth/PWD responsive projects on climate change	$4 249	$6 019

As part of the of the Council's local economic development plan, There are market places where women, men, PWD and youth are allocated space equally. There are 260 beneficiaries benefiting from jobs created by the council, 130 women and 130 men.

Women, men, PWD, and youth are involved in the planning, management, and maintenance of water and sanitation. There is a total of 33 water and sanitation committees. There is 13 women and 20 men on the committees, four of which is chaired by a woman.

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