04 Nov 2014

Barclays Bank staff members recently flocked Gakuto Primary School on the Force for Good mission.    

Activities carried out during the day served as a preparatory for the school library launch to be held on Saturday, November 8, which will be donated by Barclays Bank of Botswana. 

Ms Keabetswe Pheko, the bank's chief operations officer said the bank was not just about making money, but they had a citizenship agenda of leaving a lasting impact in communities. “We want to be the force for good and contribute to growth and sustainability,” said Ms Pheko.

She explained that Barclays Bank had set aside the month of October for the ‘Force for Good’ campaign aimed as a drive for colleague engagement to contribute to sweat equity to their communities.

She further explained that their operations team identified Gakuto Primary School and its community as volunteer recipients, and as such dedicated countless hours into making the day possible. Activities carried out during the day were litter-picking, tree-planting and teach-aids. Teach-aids were not just meant for Gakuto Primary School pupils but they also catered for community members. One of the topics discussed was about how to embark on commercial farming, and money management which entailed budgeting and saving.

Ms Keabetswe Pheko explained that they have worked with the primary school before. “The school needs a functioning library for the pupils and we saw it fit to refurbish one of the classrooms to serve as a temporary-library until a more permanent solution has been sort.” She said they have already bought tables and cabinets as well as books for the library.

“Our citizenship agenda crisply captures our desire to remain an active agent of change of development in Botswana, where we see our involvement contributing to the way we do business, which puts our clients, customers, colleagues and communities at the heart of everything we do,” said Ms Pheko.

Ms Pheko explained that through colleague engagement, each colleague was given 16 hours per year to use for community volunteerism .She said in the past year they invested P600 000 in projects such as financial literacy for youth and enterprise skills development.

Barclays has also pledged to support  five million young futures by 2015 and aims to help to develop skills they need to fulfill their potential.

The principal quantity surveyor in Kweneng District Council, Mr Andrew Matlapeng said it was the mandate of the council to build school libraries.

He said Barclays was helping achieve the Vision 2016 pillar of ‘an educated and informed nation.’  ENDS