Zambian parliament
ActionAid Zambia has released the following press statement regarding the call for increased women representation as elected leaders, especially at local level.
“Although women comprise of 51 per cent of Zambia’s population, they continue to be under-represented as leaders and councillors.
The number of women councillors in Zambia at the moment stands at 88 against a total number of 1,427 Councillors.
As a result of the stated inequalities, women do not have equal power to influence policies and developmental decisions at the local level which has a direct effect on their lives. Women’s participation in local government can have a particular impact on local and national development, global affairs and or social issues that affect their families, daily lives such as healthcare, education and infrastructure.
One of the policy objectives in the Decentralisation Implementation Plan is to coordinate gender mainstreaming programmes in the councils in order to promote gender equality and equity.
However, as we steadily continue to record positive developments in other areas, ActionAid Zambia is asking, “Where are the Women in our local governments?” This question is very important as we approach the 2016 Tripartite Elections in August.
The upcoming elections present an ideal opportunity for Zambia to show that we are serious about gender equality and other past achievements. These include the appointment of first female Vice President, female Chief Justice, first female Inspector General of Police and Head of Anti- Corruption Commission.
ActionAid Zambia would like to recommend that the Government should support mechanisms to prepare the electorate and potential candidates for local government elections with a specific focus on building the confidence of women so that they are able to stand for leadership positions in their communities.
We also want to urge Parliament to prioritise the enactment of the Gender Equity and Equality Bill and other related legislation to support electoral gender quotas as a fast track to gender-balanced decision making structures.
We also recommend that political parties should observe and promote women’s participation in their parties through enshrining into their manifestos equality quotas as a commitment meant to promote women’s participation.
Although Zambia is yet to achieve all the goals set in the implementation of decentralisation reform, there have been several achievements which have expedited the implementation of the revised National Decentralisation Policy of 2013.
These include the approval of the revised Decentralisation Implementation Plan for the period 2015 to 2017 and amendment of the Local Government Act Cap. 285 of the Laws of Zambia to provide for devolution and related matters.
We also wish to laud the approval of the new organisation structures for City, Municipality and District Councils to facilitate the transfer of devolved functions and staff from Central Government to Councils and the harmonisation of salaries and condition of service for all the Councils in the country.
We also note the re-establishment of the Local Government Service Commission to enhance human resources and management for Councils and the approval of Sector Devolution Plans.”