09 Nov 2017

Government has put in place a number of strategies and initiatives to address the 6.4 per cent of the total population facing abject poverty, says President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama.

Delivering the State of the Nation Address on November 6,President  Khama said  some of the newly introduced initiatives which among others include Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in the areas of eggs and poultry, fish farming and cluster gardens around identified water sources, have reached a significant number of the targeted beneficiaries.

He said so far 51 794 beneficiaries have qualified with 45 packages and small and medium scale machinery available to choose from.

The President said  during National Development Plan 11 government will continue to implement the Disability Economic Empowerment Programme adding that the programme determines the extent to which people with disabilities are accessing economic empowerment programmes as well as to develop strategies that promote the uptake.

Further, with regard to rural development, President Khama said the Rural Development Council (RDC) continues to drive rural enterprise development through funding support and coordination of community projects.  

He explained that the objectives of the RDC projects are to catalyse development, local economic activity and job creation in rural areas.  

President Khama stated that development partners, such as World Food Programme have been working with the RDC Secretariat to link farmers to the market and produced a draft report on early warning indicators for drought and vulnerability assessment.

With regard to gender equality, President Khama said government have seen in the past 10 years increasing women participation in various spheres including trade, work, leadership and political voice.  

He said Botswana currently leads the SADC Region with 43 percent of women in government executive positions.

The President said the African Union in June of this year, conferred Botswana with an award for attaining gender parity in basic education.

He said parliament in 2015 approved the National Policy on Gender and Development which was followed by establishment of the National Gender Commission which monitors implementation of the Policy.

President Khama indicated that the commission has been capacitated on gender mainstreaming to equip them with skills to effectively deliver on their mandate.

He said there has been a commitment of resources to the national gender machinery which increased from an annual budget of P18 million to P48 million, with the bulk being P30 million going to the Women Economic Empowerment Programme.

That, he said, augmented the 10 per cent  alcohol levy dedicated to the programme as to date, over 708 businesses comprising 1, 416 individuals have benefitted from this programme at a total of P134.3 million.

President Khama indicated that following review of the programme in 2015 to address public concerns, the programme received an overwhelming number of applications which could not all be accommodated in the 2017/18 budget.

He said this resulted in suspension of receipt of applications in February this year and resumption of funding will as such be based on availability of funds.

He stated that government continues to support women in business to access the market through National Women’s Expositions.

Further, President Khama  said Gender Based Violence remains a challenge in the country, “following the 2012 Gender Based Violence Indicator Study, government developed a referral system which was piloted in Maun/Shorobe and Mochudi/Artesia.”

He said the pilot was concluded in July this year and results are that about 2,700 community members were reached with GBV messaging in the pilot areas, with over 200 service providers were trained and 20 institutions sensitized on GBV.

In addition, he said 134 referrals were made being; 113 females and 21 males hence there is to date, evidence of strong and cohesive network of service providers in both pilot areas. ENDS