17 Sep 2013

Developing rural livelihoods is key towards improving the country’s economy, the Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikilwe has said.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Hukuntsi on September 16, Dr Kedikilwe said rural development was a multi-dimensional process which included, among others, provision of services, enhanced opportunities for income generation and local economic development. As such, he said strict measures should be taken to monitor the process.

Dr Kedikilwe, who is also the chairman of the Rural Development Council, said government had a deliberate emphasis on empowering and uplifting the livelihoods of rural area communities as opposed to a bias towards development and delivery of infrastructure and social services as was the case before.

He said the new stance by government was informed by the fact much had been achieved in terms of providing infrastructural development such as schools and clinics in rural areas and that the same could not be said with respect to the livelihoods of rural dwellers. He thus called for concerted effort to address the softer elements for the maximum benefit of rural communities.

He explained that the Rural Development Council served as government watchdog on rural development. He said it also provided national forum for consultation and dialogue on rural development issues.

The Vice President therefore encouraged policy implementers’ in rural areas to prudently coordinate rural development through harmonisation of sectoral policies of various stakeholders and carefully oversee rural developments projects.

He said the inter-sectoral nature of rural development and a well-organised linkage within all the involved stakeholders was critical for the successful implementation of government policies particularly in rural areas. Rural communities, he said, must be empowered in order to enable them to appreciate the basic services that government provided.

He further mentioned that rural area communities should strive to identify sustainable business opportunities in their areas to also contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.

Making his contributions, Village Development Committee chairman, Mr Kerakilwe Leshope said it was essential for the government to carry out research in all regions of Botswana to determine the comparative advantages of each region and see how best communities in those areas could be best assisted to undertake projects on the basis of their traditional knowledge.

“In areas where there are rivers and dams, feasibility studies should explore the potential for large scale horticulture and orchards, while small stock abattoirs could be ideal for empowering the livelihoods of people in areas like Kgalagadi,” he said, adding funding for such projects should be multi-pronged,” he said.

He applauded the government for poverty eradication and Ipelegeng programmes which he said contributed immensely in empowering the lives of many particularly in rural areas where unemployment was rife. Ends