adminLackson Munkombwe Sunday News Reporter
BULAWAYO City Council’s gender policy has seen it being named as one of the topmost cities in Southern Africa in terms of gender mainstreaming. The local authority came second in the category of the most resourceful urban council in the centres of excellence for gender mainstreaming at the 4th Southern African Development Community Gender Protocol at Work summit, held in Gaborone, Botswana, between 10 and 11 August.
Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, came first in the category.
Responding to written questions, BCC senior public relations officer Mrs Nesisa Mpofu said Bulawayo came second because Lusaka had a budget for gender.
“The City of Bulawayo participated at the recent regional summit on gender as Zimbabwe’s representative in the Most Resourceful Urban Council in the Centres of Excellence for Gender Mainstreaming in Local Government. Bulawayo was the runner-up in this category.
“In presenting their comments the judges for the Centres of Excellence category — Most Resourceful Councils highlighted that the only issue that separated the winner and the runner-up was the budget allocation for gender mainstreaming,” said Mrs Mpofu.
She said during the summit, the local authority was encouraged to include gender issues in their budget making process.
“They encouraged Bulawayo City Council to have a share of the budget that is targeted at gender mainstreaming, that is, over and above other allocations in the mainstream budget for programmes such as water and sanitation, local economic development and environment and climate,” she said.
The summit was attended by 200 delegates from 13 Sadc countries. It ran under the theme “A Strong Post 2015 Agenda: Action and Results”.
In other categories, Zimbabwe’s Makoni Rural District Council was named the most resourceful Local Government.
Bulawayo once held the status of being the cleanest city in the region for a number years.
Online Reporter