06 Jul 2017

Youth participating in the ongoing sixth Youth Leadership Training Programme organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation have been drilled on issues regarding Economic Development.

Presentation focused on plans put in place to realise the objective and how far the efforts have impacted on Selebi Phikwe. The youth were also engaged on issues of Foreign Policy and International Politics looking in areas such as politics and the environment, social justice and sustainable development. Officially opening the programme on July 2, Kgosi Maruje III urged youth to continuously inform themselves by acquiring knowledge to enable them to be good leaders.

Kgosi Maruje III said youth were the drivers of change and should take part in leadership events and fora to advocate for issues that concern them. He said youth should aspire to hold offices of responsibility such as parliamentarian offices to play a role in societal economic and social development.

Kgosi Maruje III said they should not be afraid to ask questions in order to be informed, saying fear would only hold them back to achieve their potential. He encouraged them to learn elders and always refer to elders for guidance.

Leadership, he said was about having a clear vision. He said youth would always encounter challenges, saying however that they must find ways to overcome them. Mr Franscisco Kgoboko, an entrepreneur, encouraged youth to put more effort in their work.

He acknowledged that they were faced with challenges of unemployment even those with qualification and urged them to be innovative, creative and start their own businesses and employ others. Botswana Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation patron, Ms Ludo Mosojane said it took knowledge to be a good leader.

She said leaders needed to be well informed, enlightened, have a vision and a dream about where they want to take the nation. She said the foundation had come on board to help the young generation and guide them in taking the right steps into the future.

She said she was optimistic that the youth engaged in the programme would be equipped with the knowledge and necessary skills that they needed to lead. Selebi Phikwe mayor, Mr Molosiwa Molosiwa said the purpose of the programme was to improve young citizens participation in the public sphere and decision-making processes.

He said good governance was not an abstract principle, but participatory, consensual, accountable, transparent, responsive, efficient, equitable and inclusive. He said the fundamental objective of good governance was the acceleration of social, economic and political development. ends