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MoSD with UNICEF’s technical support and funding in 2011. At the local level MoSD is
represented in each District to coordinate policy and legislation and service delivery.
At the national level Lesotho established the National OVC Coordinating Committee
(NOCC) and the National Secretariat on Coordination of OVC, both in 2007. These
coordination bodies are made up of stakeholders from different government Ministries
as well as NGO's and CSO's involved in matters regarding children. They meet on a
monthly basis.
At the District level members of District Child Protection Teams (DCPT's) meet monthly
to discuss child protection coordination issues. DCPT’s are in each District. Members
include Social Workers in MoSD, staff of residential care facilities, juvenile detention
centre staff, participants from other line Ministries, and CSO's and NGO's involved in
child programming. Membership of the DCPT varies in each District but is consistently
chaired by the District Council Secretary from the Ministry of Local Government,
Chieftainship and Parliamentary Affairs.
Their terms of reference include: monitoring compliance with CPW Act and National
Strategic Plan on VC; promote development of partnerships among stakeholders who
are implementing children’s activities; undertake trainings and research activities at
District level; advocate for the protection of children’s rights; advise and support
government in the domestication and reporting on the implementation of relevant
international legal instruments relating to care and welfare of children; liaise with the
NOCC secretariat on a regular basis; and assist in the preparation of reports to Cabinet.
Distribution of information to these groups could therefore be used as a key
dissemination tool at grassroots level.
In much the same vein, the Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) has established a
multi-sectoral team for anti-trafficking at the national level. This body meets monthly with
the objective to coordinate and guide the referrals and programming to ensure that the
best interests of the child under the Charter are best served at all times.
Village Child Justice Committees are a community level institution envisaged by the
CPW Act to employ alternative dispute resolution measures in order to deal with
children in conflict with the law. These bodies are only operational in two of the ten
Districts and as yet no budget exists to roll out these bodies into all geographic areas.
Difficulties
In practice most districts do not contain the necessary human resources within MoSD.
Under the proposed structure, the District office of MOSD would be comprised of four
sections: 1) District Clinical Social Welfare Services; 2) District Elderly Care Services;
3) District Child Welfare Services; and 4) District Social Rehabilitation Services. District
Child Welfare Officers have been appointed to each District and are becoming gradually