08 Dec 2015

Government is committed to maintaining high standard of training and conducive learning environment at Botswana Wildlife Training Institute (BWTI) in order to attract more students from the SADC region.

Officiating at the 2015 BWTI graduation ceremony and Anti-Poaching Unit, Batawana regent, Kgosi Kealetile Moremi said the graduation of students from Malawi was a historic testimony to the readiness of the government to share its resources and expertise with other partner states in the region.

She said for the first time, the institute had five foreign students from Malawi who graduated with Diploma in Wildlife Management and Conservation. She said the graduation of the 133 students is another milestone of achievement in human resource development in this country and the broader SADC region.

Among the graduates, 63 completed Basic Anti-poaching course and Kgosi Moremi revealed that for the first time there was a significant number of female graduates who enrolled and successfully completed the training.

She noted that recently the world has experienced increased poaching levels, particularly of elephants and rhinos, adding that the training would add to the government’s efforts to effectively fight poaching.

Kgosi Moremi said the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism needs highly knowledgeable, skilled, motivated and patriotic personnel in order to realise its vision of protecting the environment.

She urged graduates to apply the knowledge they acquired to uplift and enhance their career growth and also serve the people of Botswana and Malawi with distinction.

For his part, acting BWTI principal, Mr Dimpho Sebotho said the institute offers world-class training in natural resources and conservation. 

He cited an example of the Professional Tour Guide course, which he said was aimed at providing trainees with broad-based initial training and competence to conduct game viewing, photographic and any other tourism related safari under supervision.

The programme targets all people currently unemployed and those in the tourism industry as a way of creating more opportunities for Batswana to penetrate the job market.

Mr Sebotho said another important target group was Community Based Natural Resources Management project escort guides, adding that this year, 17 graduates were sponsored by the Kalahari Conservation Society and Barclays Bank and were drawn from 11 community trusts in the northern part of Botswana. Ends