Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Ministry of Gender Permanent Secretary, Auxilia Ponga has bemoaned the low women representation in decision making positions at local government level.
Speaking during the launch of the Lusaka City Council Social Inclusion and Gender Mainstreaming Policy, Dr. Ponga is concerned that out of the 1, 624 elected councilors in the country, only 130 are women.
She says these statistics show that there is still a lot of work to be done to ensure that more women participate and make decisions that affect them.
She says the eight percent is far below the SADC target of 50 percent representation of women in decision making.
Dr. Ponga says equal participation of women and men in local government decision making is critical to ensuring that any decision made and budgets allocated are relevant to the living conditions and needs of women, men, youth and children at local level.
Dr. Ponga has however, commended the Lusaka City Council for launching the gender policy, saying it has demonstrated that it is a candidate for the certification process.
Speaking at the same event, Local Government Minister Vincent Mwale has directed the Mayor’s office and the office of the Town Clerk to make deliberate steps to support the implementation of the aspirations contained in the policy and its implementation strategy.
Speaking on a speech read on his behalf by local government permanent secretary, Amos Malupenga, Mr Mwale reiterated government’s commitment to ensuring that social inclusion and gender mainstreaming form part of service provision in all government departments.
And Lusaka Deputy Mayor, Chilando Chintangala has committed her office to Social Inclusion and Gender Mainstreaming within the Council and its service delivery as well as capacity development of its staff.
And Lusaka Millennium Challenge Account Zambia Chairperson who is also Lusaka Town Clerk, ALEX Mwansa has thanked the American government through the Millennium Challenge Account for providing the financial support to undertake the work.