03 Mar 2015

The Kgalagadi Beverage Trust (KBT) has donated a Toyota Hilux van to Mokolodi Wildlife Foundation (MWF) to carry out its educational and conservation activities.

This specially designed vehicle is equipped with state-of-the-art audio visual equipment, and will enable MWF staff to reach the furthest and most remote areas of Botswana with their environmental educational programs as this was difficult to achieve in the past.

Speaking at the handing over, KBT Board chairlady, Ms Kate Maphage said KBT is the corporate social investment arm of Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) and they are tasked with the mandate to further the business’ corporate social investment aspirations towards communities in Botswana.

She said at KBT, they have come to recognise how their corporate social investment imperatives needed to charter a new direction; one that was vested in inclusive growth.

Ms Maphage said the principle for inclusive growth was based on the premise that as the business grows, the ways which uplift communities would also grow.

“This inclusive growth principle also requires us to listen deeper as a business, as such pressing issues are often shared by communities, businesses and governments, and hence we require joint approaches and partnership in solving the challenges effectively.

In our view, only those companies who are part of their community solutions can, and will achieve long term success”, she said.

With these thoughts at heart, she said, they continued to build and develop local programs such as Kick-start, the new retailer development program - ‘Khumo Ka Kgwebo’, Copa Coca-Cola, the Young Offenders - Prisons Rehabilitation Project, and the Sports Activity Park Development, among others.

As a result of this drive, Ms Maphage said, they have come to know and acknowledge that more still needed to be done to focus their efforts to target disadvantaged communities, such as women, those with the lowest income, children, and others in need of their support.

She however said such well-meant intentions could only be achieved when working in jointly with stakeholders, partners, employees, and the very communities they aspire to serve. She noted this would help their corporate social investment programs grow in terms of relevance and impact.

Ms Maphage said it would benefit many Batswana children and environmental conservation. “This is for the children whose lives Mokolodi Wildlife Foundation continues to enrich and in whose lives they have made a positive difference over the past 25 years,” she said.

Nevertheless, she thanked The Mokolodi Wildlife Foundation for the leadership role they continued to play in promoting wildlife conservation and environmental education for the children of Botswana, particularly to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

For his part, Mokolodi assistant park manager, Mr Dennis Ramokgau said the donation was the beginning of a very valuable relationship. He said this was a milestone in achieving one of the national pillars of Vision 2016, adding that KBT was handing a tool that would enable Mokolodi Nature Reserve to educate the nation.

Mokolodi Nature Reserve is a non- profit making environmental and conservation education organisation. Having been established in 1994, by the Mokolodi Wildlife Foundation, it aims to protect the country’s natural resources and serve as a vehicle to promote and conduct conservation and environmental education programs for children.

Mr Ramokgau said their mission was to engage, inspire, and enable participation by all visitors in conservation and environmental education and to serve as a model environmental classroom, focusing upon primary school children, capacity building for teachers and persons from less privileged backgrounds, by non-consumptive use of the country’s ecological resources.

The principle goals of Mokolodi Nature Reserve are to serve as an inclusive-for-all educational nature reserve that is self-sustaining, to build and maintain broad support amongst a diverse public audience for conserving African biodiversity and to increase engagement, especially amongst the young with wildlife and the environment via its educational programs.

In the past years, Mokolodi has recorded an annual average of 11, 000 students coming through for this program. Given the total number of students in Botswana, this is a small number and is influenced by several issues, among them lack of resources and financial shortcomings by those involved in the distance.

Through this outreach programme, the reserve intends reaching out to those schools that cannot make it to Mokolodi and impart the knowledge and skills necessary to deal with environmental issues.

Mr Ramokgau also extended their gratitude to KBT for giving them new hope in shaping the future of this country.  ENDS