Increasing the number of women in decision-making positions in local government is a priority for CLGF. When there’s gender equality, everyone benefits. In the last few years, CLGF has worked tirelessly with its members on activities to encourage women to beome local councillors and, on 12 April, is hosting a Commonwealth Women in Local Government Workshop for the Southern Africa region on this topic.

Participants will hear from CLGF Chairperson, Rev Mpho MW Moruakgomo, the Chairperson of the Commonwealth Women in Local Government network (ComWLG), Hon Thembisile Nkandimeng, leaders of the women in local government networks across the region, central and local government officials, and secretary-generals of local government associations, amongst others.

Sharing success stories and agreeing next steps

They will discuss the outcomes of an exciting project - Connecting the dots: Local Actions for Women Political and Economic Empowerment - whick place in four countries: Eswatini, Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe. As well as sharing the many success stories, it will look at the challenges and lessons learned about women's political leadership in Southern Africa and agree on the next steps for the Commonwealth Women in Local Government Forum of Southern Africa.

Connecting the dots: Local Actions for Women Political and Economic Empowerment was funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and implemented over two years from from October 2019 to September 2021. CLGF and Gender Links worked in partnership with the national local government associations, local governments, ministries responsible for local government and civil society organisations in the respective countries.

With the aim of empowering women and girls in Southern Africa by increasing the number of women in local politics and economic development, the main target was to increase the number of women holding senior positions in local government in the target countries by 15% and increase beneficiaries' monthly incomes by 30%.

Capacity building through mentorship

Further capacity building through methods such as training, and mentorship increases women's self-esteem, confidence, and agency which is critical for increasing women’s participation in local government. Moreover, successful lobbying and advocacy for women’s representation in local government require explicit articulation/ quantification of the problem using evidence and statistics for it to succeed.

The project implemented eight main strategies:

• conducting gender audits in the four countries to establish the project baseline
• establishing and strengthening existing Women in Local Government Forums
• developing and implementing women in local government strategies (from 3 to 10 years)
• setting up Young Women in Local Government Networks to work with prospective local government leaders
• developing the capacity of the young women in local government network members through mentorship and training
• mobilising youth to campaign for youth and gender-responsive service delivery and women’s participation in local government
• collecting stories of change highlighting the impact of the project as well as to increase understanding of the roles and responsibilities of local elected leaders and encourage women to lead in local government
• facilitating platforms for women to dialogue and disseminate the results of the project.

All of which, have directly contributed Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, which focuses on gender equality and empowerment.

CLGF Regional Manager for Southern Africa, Ms Nyasha Simbanegavi said: “The results emerging from the project are reassuring in that they remind us that working in partnership, particularly with and through central government,  regional and local governments and local government associations is key to achieving gender equality.” She went on to say that such projects are more successful when women work together with men and boys in addressing the barriers to women’s participation in public life.

The event will be an ideal opportunity for members from across the region to share their work and experiences within the Connecting the Dots project in promoting and supporting women in political leadership at the local level.