13 Sep 2020

Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) board has approved Women and Sport Botswana (WASBO) special award.

The award seeks to recognise an individual or group making a significant contribution to the growth of women sport in Botswana.

The announcement was made at BNSC annual general assembly recently and the award will form part of annual Botswana National Sports Awards.

WASBO secretary-general Keenese Katisenge said they were happy that the special award was approved.

She said the initiative was in line with the establishment and functions of the Botswana National Sport Commission, specifically, promotion and inclusion of girls and women in sport as per the BNSC Act of 2014 as well as the Botswana Gender and Sport Strategy and other strategic objectives from bodies like the Botswana National Olympic Committee.

Furthermore, she said the aim of the initiative was to serve as a source of recognition and motivation for those contributing and encouragement to those who had not taken the steps yet to contribute to the growth of women sport in Botswana.

She said the award would look at how the nominee had contributed in different areas.

“Nominees will be expected to define and describe the impact resulting from their initiatives, include statistics where possible such as number of women who ended up in leadership after mentorship or support, how inclusion in media had aided women and sport research, baseline surveys,” she said.

Furthermore, she said nominees would also be expected to amongst others, define contribution to the participation of women and girls in sport and physical activities, educating or raising awareness on gender issues in sport, creating an inclusive culture by challenging gender inequality within an organisation and promotion or fostering the inclusion of women in sport in the media.

WASBO objectives include amongst other to increase and enhancement of women and girl child participation in sport, empowerment of women to take leadership positions in sport and facilitation of conducive environment for women and girl child participation in sport devoid of cultural barriers. ENDs