Situational Analysis Report

Situational analysis report

Country: Namibia

Council: Omuthiya Town Council

Synopsis

The Situation Analysis seeks to give the council a gender mirror of itself. Often councils are not aware of the gender gaps within the council and in the work of councils. This audit helps to inform policies and actions that need to be taken. The scorecard is a self-assessment, as well as an assessment for the facilitator of where the council is starting from. The agreed assessment forms the baseline for that council that is revisited after one year, to assess if progress is being made.

Strengths

The Omuthiya Town Council is a new or emerging and administrative town in the Omusati Region. It has the potential to implement the Gender Mainstreaming concept in their development process. There is has a female dominance in council and council in general is keen on supporting development causes. The council has a Local Economic Development Office that has a Gender Equality Plan that council has committed itself to; this is to improve the high inbalance in the percentage of men and women employed in the council. The council has had women in leadership over a long period and seem to be gender aware already. Some of the women leaders that came from Ondangwa have now moved through the different ranks in government to Parliament. During the buy in meeting, the leadership expressed a strong interest and eagerness in the process.

Challenges

The council has challenges are that of an unsustainable trend in gender in governance. Most Policies and processes are not gender aware. The council also lacks in the existence of policies such as those of Gender and Climate Change. There is over 65% of male employment in the council, which indicates to gender inequality in employment structures.

Results of gender score card

SITUATION ANALYSIS

POLICY FRAMEWORK

The council has awareness of international, regional and national commitments that the country has made, however the council does not have a gender policy that is adopted and implemented. It is also not know if the council is implementing the National Gender Policy.

GOVERNANCE

Representation

The political office compromises of four male councillors and three female councillors, resulting in dominance by male counterparts.

The Mayor and Chairperson of the management committee are both male, this means that the top leadership positions are already filled by male.The deputy mayor is female while other members are ordinary councillors.

The Mayoral committee is chaired by the mayor, while the management council committee is chaired by a male councillor. The local ward committee is chaired by councillor, meaning that there are 3 female chairpersons and four male chairpersons as indicated in the table above.

Participation

Participation of women in council meetings is equal as that of men leaders as they are the majority in the council; they also influence decisions taken in council.

Public participation

There is equal participation at public events and meetings. One particular process where a lot of consultation took place is the town’s currentstrategic plan where stakeholders where widely consulted. List of people attending the meeting is also attached. The council also has a LED Officer who is the link between the community and the council. The LED officer also works through ward committees that are closer to the community and consist of both men and women.

PLANNING

The planning of the council is facilitated through the different departments and presented to council, this include involving community members in the process through community consultative meetings. Both men and women attend the planning meetings and contribute equally. Council does not keep attendance records of community meetings and it is not known whether planning is gender targeted or just general.

For capital projects the council makes use of consultants to solicit input from residents and other stakeholders. The town planning consultants are two women engineers.

The public or residents are also welcome to sit in during council meetings.

MAINSTREAMING GENDER INTO EXISTING PROGRAMMES

Local economic development

The business and economic sector of Omuthiya is still in its growing stages, compared to the previous regional capital Tsumebin the region. A lot of businesses are SME’s trading in alcoholic and entertainment, while there is also shopping a complex which accommodates shops like Shoprite, SME Market which and Ministry of Trade and two banks i.e. Standard Bank and FNB. Bank Windhoek also has an ATM. The tourism industry is also on the raise in Omuthiya, this is because it is close to the Etosha National Park, this makes it a potential tourism hub. The council has a CBD expansion plan while it waits for the SME Traders that have been compensated to move their businesses.

The town council does not have proper trading zones for small and medium enterprises, because it is in the early stages of town planning and development, however with the plan mentioned above, provision has been made for more trading zone however the space is not enough to accommodate everyone. Most are still trading from an informal zone that is close to the road, this is because Omuthiya was previously a rural area where sales were mostly made to travelers.

The council has a draft LED policy which will regulate informal trading and also train and empower them with skills such as mentorship, infrastructure, monitoring and evaluation for SME’s.

Procurement

The council make use of the National Tender Board Regulations that has no specific reference to gender but has an incentive to encourage women traders to benefit from tenders. This incentive can be trusted to encourage women traders to bid for tenders if any available. The council so far has not been tracking their procurement based on gender and only follows the guidelines. There is no register of the number of tenders received by men and women.

Housing

The council provides land to all their residents based on affordability however there is a need to provide low, medium and high cost housing through the Build Together, and NHE and private means. There is a land roll indicating land ownership however there is no sex disaggregated data to refer to or track the whether the land is equally distributed between male and female.

The council is now in the process of servicing plots that will be made available to potential residents and bidders. The council also has a build together scheme that is meant to assist low income persons with finance to acquire and build themselves proper housing structures. Currently there are houses that are being constructed by NHE (National Housing Enterprise), however it is not known how many male and females has benefitted from the development or has been allocated plots to build their houses.

Utilities

The council provides water, waste management and land servicing and sale and town plan development services to the residents of Omuthiya. There is no sex disaggregated data that indicates accessibility of services between male and female.

There are also no records that indicate involvement of women in planning, management and maintenance of utilities; however through the ward or suburb committees’ residents both men and women are consulted in the planning, management and maintenance of services.

Transport

The town council does not provide any transport services to the residents. Transport is privately owned and managed.

The council is in the process of making changes to the road because of the speed that drivers use is not safe, hence the need for improved road and marking has been identified.

Health

The town has two public health facilities (1 clinic and 1 hospital). The facility is accessible to all residents.The council also has an Environment, Health and Safety Department that is responsible for making sure that resident’s health needs are taken care of.

The ministry of health keeps sex disaggregated data for Directorate of Special Programmes on HIV/AIDS for their Response, Monitoring and evaluation division. The Directorate also has national campaigns on HIV/AIDS. The materials are gender aware and carry different messages.

Post Exposure Prophylaxis is available at health facilities for rape victims. Little information is available publicly but the police are aware as they refer rape victims to the hospital for testing and counselling and PEP in the case that they are HIV negative.

Environmental health

The council has an Environment Department which is responsible for the environmental aspect of the town such as waste management. The council employs people on a casual basis to keep the town clean. The group of casual workers include both male and female, and they are paid by council for work done.

HIV and AIDS and care work

The council have a draft HIV/AIDS policy, which is not yet adopted and implemented. The policy is with AMICAALL for benchmarking. Ministry of Health in town is driving the HIV/AIDS campaigns for the community at large.

The council through the MoHSS has a behavioural change campaign that is gender aware in its messages as it addressed both the needs of men and women or share experiences of all.There is a local behavioural change and multi concurrent partners campaign translate into the local language Oshiwambo.

The council works with AMICAALL Namibia to implement their HIV/AIDS policy.

The community and staff rely on national HIV/AIDS campaigns for prevention messages and messages on Multiple Concurrent Partners.

All residents have access to voluntary counselling and testing. Male partners are encouraged to go for testing. Currently there is no support offered to Care Workers.

Climate change and sustainable development

The council is aware of climate change and its affects. In Omuthiya, storm water caused by floods from the upper north affects roads and property hence the council is in the process of erecting suitable sewerage facilities that will address the challenge. Currently the council uses the National Disaster Management Plan and does not have a council specific policy.

Social development

The council does not have recreational facilities and hence does not keep any data on the use of facilities in the town. The children and residents use open spaces to play soccer.

GENDER SPECIFIC PROGRAMMES

Edu-care

The council has not had an edu-care assessment yet. However there are kindergartens and crèches where mothers can leave their children while they go to work.

Gender based violence (GBV) flagship

The council does not have a gender budget and gender based violence action plan, but works with the local police on an adhoc basis to raise awareness about GBV. The LED Officer informed us that a Drumming Event to raise awareness against GBV was held recently in the town.

Prevention

No safety audit has been conducted yet. The police station is located centrally and is accessible to all residents. There are sufficient street light in the town and women can walk safely at night.

Public transport is privately owned hence the state of safety can only assumed to be good.

Public awareness campaigns

The council has not yet has campaigns on Gender Based Violence.

Response and coordination

There is no up to date crime statistics at the council. There is generally a good relationship between the police. There is no community policing forum in the town yet.

The Police women and child protection unit officers are normally trained social workers and are also trained to handle cases of gender based violence. No data is available.

Support

The town does not have a place of safety.But support services such as counselling and others are available to survivors.

EMPLOYMENT PRACTICES AND ENVIRONMENT

Selection and recruitment

The council has a an almost equal representation of male and female in the management structure, while the technical department employing more men and women, the finance and administration departments in the building again has a fair distribution of jobs between both genders.

The council has adopted the national Labour Affirmative Action policy which encourages gender inequalities in the workplace to be narrowed.

Capacity building

There has not been diversity and gender training yet for staff at the council. However the councils have indicated capacity building as a priority for staff development. The council has a capacity building policy that also encourages and supports staffs that want to grow in their professions.

Career Pathing

The council in its strategic plan realises the need for capacity building to enhance development in the town, hence there is a budget for capacity building. Because the town council is still very young or new, the staff complement is also still low. Currently there is a vacant position of HR and Admin Manager that is filled by the HR practitioner on an acting basis.

Working conditions and environment

The council only provides maternity leave as per the national labour policy; there is no paternity leave in Namibia. There is a sexual harassment policy that is enforced is per the national labour policy. No stats available on sexual harassment.

GENDER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Gender structures

There is currently no gender structure and gender is not written in job descriptions or performance agreements. A budget allocation is not made. However both male and female benefit from resources allocated on the current budget.

Budgets

The budget allocation does not have a gender aspect or target to it. And so far budgets have not been analyzed to determine how it caters for both genders.

Monitoring and evaluation

There are very poor or no Monitoring & Evaluation system in place to track progress of gender programmes. But there are general lists and information that can be reworked to provide clear and manageable data.

Political profile and champion

The council appointed a Gender Champion during the Buy In meeting with Gender Links and will hopefully give Gender issues high political attention. GC Cll Karina Kaume GFP Matha Nuugonya.