08 Feb 2016

President Lt Gen. Seretse Khama Ian Khama yesterday received a Presidential Award from Junior Chamber International (JCI) Botswana, in recognition of his contribution towards youth empowerment.

While receiving the award, President Khama implored the JCI to interact with the Office of the President, so as to indicate what more could be done for young people, adding that their input was highly appreciated.

“Government is striving and will continue to strive in uplifting the lives of young people. Youth issues are rated highly, as one of the priorities of Government,” he said.

The President said government has put in place programmes geared towards empowering the youth and with time government would continue evaluating the programmes to see if the youth were benefiting.

Handing over the award, the National President of JCI, Ms Florence Chilisa said the award was in recognition of President Khama’s continued support in youth development programmes. 
He said, although the award has never been given to anyone in the past years since the establishment of JCI. Botswana, the President was the first to receive the award.

 “This award is given to the most deserving candidate, in terms of his/her outstanding contribution that the candidate made towards youth development and our President has been exemplary in that regard,” she said. 

“JCI is a non-profit organization of young active citizens age 18 to 40, who are engaged and committed to creating impact in their communities. Active citizens are individuals invested in the future of our world. JCI gathers active citizens from all sectors of society. So far, it has been operational in Botswana for 20 years,” she said.

Ms Chilisa said JCI’s mandate covers development of skills, knowledge and understanding to ensure that informed decisions are made.

She said as globally minded young people, youth needed to find targeted solutions to local issues which could benefit their communities and the world. There was need to embrace new ideas, particularly that it takes one citizen to change the world, she added.  Ends