05 Jun 2019

Botswana Telecommunications Foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with four entities being Black African Poets, Moshana Development Trust, Y-Care Charitable Trust and University of Botswana.

Speaking at the signing ceremony BTC foundation chairperson Kgosi Michael Mothobi said through the MoUs, the foundation approved sponsorship of P1.7 million for the four selected beneficiaries.

He said Black African Poets Trust was allocated P769 186 as assistance towards their mandate of developing resource base for Batswana poets and poetry in the digital space.

He said expectations were that they would use the funds to host an annual BTC Foundation Poetry Festival, which would be augmented by monthly poetry nights throughout the country.

Moshana Community Development Trust, he said would receive P615 000 to construct a park facility that would be used for educating and training the community to conserve and protect natural resources for their benefit and development.

Kgosi Mothobi said the University of Botswana would receive P307 200 to fund a youth training project on life skills through sports in three different schools being Shakawe, Nata and Good Hope Senior Secondary Schools.

However, he noted that the agreement with Y-Care was not monetary, explaining that their relationship was based on an EX Gratia service which means that in whatever project they collaborate, each party would bear its own cost in performing obligations as laid out in the agreement.

He stated that Y-Care charitable trust had been set up to support active and registered charities in Botswana which focused on vulnerable children, youth, health, environment, art, sport and culture, hence collaborating with them to achieve the goals.

Explaining the selection process, Kgosi Mothobi said from the 309 applications received, only 20 managed to go through the vetting process, a number which was also narrowed to four to select the organisations that met the criteria.

BTC managing director Mr Anthony Masunga said BTC was blooming and as they delivered their commercial mandate they also needed to be responsible for the communities.

Talking about the sponsorships, he said they were not just handing over money but giving the beneficiaries a vehicle to help the people.

BTC Foundation is responsible for delivering and managing the BTC’s Corporate Social Investment agenda, through impactful investments and sustainable development initiatives which benefit communities across Botswana. ENDS