11 Jun 2015

Okavango Sub-district councillors have been challenged to adopt a more proactive leadership style in social and community development.



Officially opening a social and community development (S&CD) two-day workshop in Gumare recently, Okavango assistant council secretary, Ms Mogomotsi Seemule, said councillors should attain the skills applicable to their role as leaders.

She stressed the need for team work and generating solutions to common problems in order to build stronger and more resilient communities.



She said they should empower individuals and groups with skills needed to effect change within their communities. She advised that they should be concerned with the needy and improve the livelihoods of individuals so that they could enjoy benefits of other forms of development.



She urged them to change the way they do things for better results, adding that people are not interested in how difficult it is to do the job but how they manage to perform through the difficulty.
Ms Seemule also challenged them to do more with the little resources at their disposal.

For her part, principal community development officer for Okavango, Ms Kopano Poroga, said the objective of the workshop was to sensitise councillors about S&CD programmes and forge good working relations with them. 


She said the Department of Social Welfare and Community Development exists to enhance social integration in the community and provide social safety nets to the marginalised. 
Giving the vote of thanks, S&CD Committee Chairperson Mr Morobela Ledimo appealed to councillors to support S&CD officers and stop attacking them.


Mr Ledimo, who is also the Nxau-Nxau/Ghani councilor, advised his colleagues to put aside their political interests and put the nation first by coming up with ideas to positively change the lives of the community.

He also urged them to visit government offices so as to be better informed to deliver on their mandate. He advised them to include people living with disability in their budget. Mr Ledimo also appealed to all stakeholders in the sub-district to ensure that beneficiaries of the social safety net are not treated unfairly by service providers. Ends