07 Dec 2016

Youth have been urged to get involved in cooperatives as a way of accelerating economic diversification and creating employment.

Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (BOLESWA) vice chairperson of youth committee in Botswana, Mr Cosmos Moatlhodi said this when outlining objectives of a workshop on Monday (December 5).

He noted that the BOLESWA youth cooperatives exchange forum provided an opportunity to benchmark from other countries and encouraged members to network and help accelerate economic diversification.

Mr Moatlhodi said the forum had designed three types of activities; empowerment, experience sharing and engagement.

He further encouraged youth to share ideas and learn from others.

For his part, BOLESWA representative youth desk officer from Botswana, Mr Moses Monone said the government had come up with transformation strategies that focused on the youth to encourage them to participate in cooperatives.

He further said they mobilised youth through trade fairs and consumer fairs and exhibitions, such as the Ghanzi show where they normally have stalls.

Mr Monone said 2015 statistics showed that 15 youth registered cooperatives and more than 10 000 youth who participate in cooperatives.

For his part, the BOLESWA representative youth desk officer from Swaziland, Mr Charles Khumalo encouraged the youth to mobilise and form cooperatives.

He noted Swaziland is trying to pick up its economy by putting more effort in helping the youth start their own cooperatives.

He further said that as a country, they want to learn from their colleagues and network with other cooperators to improve what they already have in order to diversify the economy and create employment for the youth. ENDS