27 Jul 2016

Kgosi Gothaang Moalosi of Sankoyo in Ngamiland has welcomed a project meant to review the existing policies to ensure they develop welfare of the communities.

The project dubbed: Environment Policy Implementation Review, aimed at identifying, categorising and gauging the capacity of civil societies in the Okavango Delta.

The one-year project was funded by the United States embassy to the tune of P1 million and is spearheaded by Ngamiland Council of Non-Governmental Organizations (NCONGO) and other involved partners.

In an interview, Kgosi Moalosi hailed the project as a new development in the right direction noting that the existing policies had been disadvantaging the communities. He explained that the project was important as it would reveal which existing policies had loophole.

He said some policies had not been implemented while some had not benefited the communities as expected because they were formulated without the communities’ input.

Kgosi Moalosi emphasised the need to solicit ideas from the communities when developing policies noting that would assist to make sound policies which would eventually benefit the public.

He cited an example about the Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) policy which he said it was good because the communities were involved. He said surprisingly at times the government takes decisions without consulting the involved communities.

However, NCONGO came up with the project as they realized that Ngamiland district is rich in natural resources and yet the communities are poor and believed it is because of the conflicting policies in place.

The project is expected to determine the ability of environmental NGOs and community-based organizations to promote transparent, sustainable management and oversight of the delta. Current policies and procedures would also be reviewed

It is implemented by a team of experts from various institutions and it is expected to be completed by July 2017.

A member of the implementing team Professor Joseph Mbaiwa from Okavango Research Institute welcomed the project recently during its launch noting that it would make the voices of the communities heard.
He revealed that the district might be poverty stricken may because the policies in place are not adequate enough to promote the livelihoods of the communities.

He cited the hunting ban noting that it has resulted in many job losses because the revenue in the trusts was going down.

“There was nothing wrong with hunting ban but we suggest that proper consultation could have been conducted”.

Prof Mbaiwa said because of poor consultation, poaching has been escalated because before hunting ban, the communities were policing. Ends