14 Oct 2015

The Botswana Association of Tribal Land Authorities (BATLA) has been hailed for engaging stakeholders in their work.

Officially opening the 17^th BATLA Annual Conference in Gaborone on Tuesday (October 13), the Minister of Lands and Housing Mr Prince Maele commended BATLA for focusing on stakeholder participation in land management saying that could assist in facilitating socio-economic development. 

Mr Maele stated that land management issues were sensitive and complicated and therefore his ministry could not efficiently manage the land resource without the assistance of the different stakeholders who were involved in land management. 

He said they could only achieve efficient land management if all stakeholders actively participate in land management to drive socio-economic development of Botswana.

Mr Maele stated that there were  different stakeholders with different interests in land use and management, for that reason he said when the ministry plans for the different land uses, it needs to take the different stakeholders' interests into consideration and ensure that all stakeholder needs were met. 

He said there were  immense challenges facing the land management use and said with different stakeholders it would usher an opportunity to make informed decisions.

He also said by engaging different stakeholders, it would result in them transferring appropriate knowledge on sustainable land use and management to the communities' also saying land is very critical adding that almost all the organizations were  interested in land issues. 

He encouraged BATLA to use its competitive advantage to partner with different organs of government, the private sector and other big and influential organizations. 

He pointed out that having effective partnerships could enable BATLA to be transformed into a very powerful organization that could easily influence land laws and policies. 

He also said BATLA also has the opportunity to engage in other activities such as educating the public and raising their awareness on land use and management issues. 

“It is only when the public, NGOs and the private sector feels the presence of BATLA through its advocacy and sees the impact the Association is making to influence land policy and improve the life of an ordinary Motswana that other organizations would develop interest to join or partner with the Association” he stated. 

Mr Maele also mentioned that another opportunity that is at BATLA’s disposal is to conduct research on land management issues and find solutions for technical, organisational and socio-economic problems related to sustainable land use and management.

 He also advised the Association to collaborate with academic institutions both locally and internationally to do research and exchange information, learn best practices and impart the learning’s to government and other institutions. Ends