21 Mar 2018

Various panelists at the International Poverty Eradication Conference have praised the country’s initiatives to alleviate poverty.

Debating the topic on identifying the poor and the causes of their state of poverty, under the theme: Leave no one behind; The Fight Against Poverty, Exclusion and Inequality, one of the panelists, Mr Tony German applauded Botswana for her anti-poverty actions and plans for an even brighter future.

Mr German, an expert in poverty eradication from the US said because of good initiative in fighting poverty, Botswana had over the years become a shining example in the fight against poverty.

In view of the theme, he said the notion ‘leave no one behind’ meant the poor must make progress fast enough to narrow the gap while the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) would not be achieved unless everyone was included in progress.

“The commitment to leave no one behind incorporates SDG 1 on eliminating poverty and SDG 10 on reducing inequality. The commitment is universal; applying both to development cooperation and to domestic policy within every country as well as globally. Leave no one behind recognises the multidimensional nature of poverty, inequality and exclusion,” he said.

Mr German further explained that commitment to leave no one behind was not just vital in social sectors such as health and education as it applied to all sectors including energy, financial inclusion, and infrastructure and to all actors, governments, private sector, and the civil society.

He said Agenda 2030 was an unprecedented opportunity to measure whether policies were delivering better incomes and opportunities.

Governments and other stakeholders including the private sector all shared responsibility to deliver on the SDGs and all these should measure their particular contribution to shared progress and prosperity.

“To ensure no one is being left behind, we must routinely collect data disaggregated at least by income, geography, gender, age and disability,” he added.

Debswana managing director, Mr Balisi Bonyongo told delegates that the mineral sector, in particular diamonds, have transformed and contributed immensely to human development, hence eradicating poverty.

He said Botswana from being one of the poorest countries in the world at independence, was now one of the upper middle income countries in the world.

Mr Bonyongo explained that Botswana adopted a range of policies and programmes in fighting poverty and this led to hundreds of thousands of people exiting poverty, developing their capabilities and expanding their life options.

He explained that Debswana came up with a number of initiatives as a response to fight poverty in communities where the mining company is doing business.

Some of these initiatives he said, include Corporate Social Investments (formally called the donation programme), education and community health.

He said in carrying out its Corporate Social Responsibility mandate, Debswana placed importance on a consistent and equitable distribution of its community social investments to position the company as the leading good corporate citizen adding that all Debswana social investments were selected in order to create a legacy of prosperity, sustainability, and community empowerment.

Mr Bonyongo said the company was committed to ensuring that the impact of its operations were beneficially experienced by associated communities. Debswana manages community relations in accordance with international standards for community engagement, consultation and support.

The managing director further stated that Debswana was arguably the leading corporate citizen in Botswana with a corporate social investment and community relations policy, which had, over the years, seen a significant socio-economic transformation of the country’s various communities.

“Debswana’s core values of ‘Show We Care’, ’Shape The Future’ and ‘Be Passionate’ impel it to be a world class benchmark when it comes to investing in and nurturing the communities it lives in,” he said.

Regarding education, Mr Bonyongo explained that diamonds have helped Botswana to educate its nation adding that the company is actively involved in education from pre-primary school level through to tertiary level.

He said Debswana scholarship programme has produced over 1 000 graduates adding that currently there were 50 students studying degrees at some of the leading universities across the world, at an annual budget of P28 million.

Debswana identified human capital development as an imperative in its formative years because the company runs an apprenticeship training college in Orapa which dates back to 1974.

“Since its inception, the college has produced over 1200 artisans, which is a mix of riggers, fitters, electricians, boiler-makers and instrument technicians. Our technical training curriculum and artisan development model have been adopted by technical colleges in Gaborone and Francistown,” he added

He said Debswana has built and currently runs two primary schools in the mining communities of Jwaneng and Orapa. 

Tuition fees for mine employees' children at the schools are highly subsidised.

On community health, Mr Bonyongo explained that Debswana invests in Health and Wellness in the communities within which the company operates and for the benefit of its employees adding that Debswana spends over P160 million each year running the two district referral hospitals at Jwaneng and Orapa.

“Our hospitals, which are Council for Health Service Accreditation of Southern Africa (COHSASA) accredited, are open to communities and provide essential services to over 160 000 community patients per year. Debswana, through its hospitals, assists government in availing anti–retroviral drugs to over 30 000 people in the Boteti and Mabutsane sub-districts,” he added.

He also said Debswana was committed to gender equality saying 21 per cent of its employees were women and the company intends to increase the figure. “We are committed to ensuring that we reach our Gender Diversity and Inclusivity goals, such as achieving 30 per cent women representation in the workforce by end of 2018, he explained. ENDS