13 Oct 2020

Botswana Red Cross Society (BRCS) secretary general, Mr Kutlwano Mukokomani says as an auxiliary arm of government, BRCS has over the years contributed significantly to issues of health, social services and disaster management.

Speaking during media engagement in Gaborone on Monday October 12, Mr Mukokomani highlighted that upon joining BRCS, he had three main objectives, namely restoration, transformation and growth of the organisation.

However, he indicated that the objectives could only be achieved through collaboration with key stakeholders, including government, communities, donor agencies, corporate companies, the media and a team of dedicated and capable employees.

Mr Mukokomani said some of the objectives were slowly being realised, revealing that last year they developed and commissioned three main documents, being strategic plan 2020/2025, the revised constitution and the youth policy.

He indicated that the documents were important to their operations moving forward, as they would ensure efficient and effective delivery of quality services.

These documents, he said, would also bring stability on membership and mandate, as well as instil the spirit of volunteerism in the youth, as the country seeks to achieve Vision 2036 and Millennium Development Goals.

Mr Mukokomani noted that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has adversely affected operations, the rolling out of the strategic plan had not been as timely as they had expected, adding that they were nonetheless determined to ensure that it was realised.

“It is our priority to cultivate a society that is built on trust and credibility as well as to attract passionate volunteers, who are selflessly willing to join in this call to serve humanity,” he said.

Through trust and quality of services, he said they would be able to re-build the Red Cross brand as a credible humanitarian partner of choice.

He indicated that by consolidating experience gathered over the past 52 years of responding to humanitarian issues, trainings and support from international partners, BRCS would be in a better position of being a partner of choice locally and regionally.

For her part, BRCS health and care coordinator, Ms Neo Mogowa said the overall goal of the organisation towards the COVID-19 response was to support government to implement a comprehensive response to prevent and control the pandemic through community based activities.

To achieve the goals, she said the interventions were guided by a number of key strategic objectives, which include to contribute towards the overall national preparedness response, mitigation and recovery to address cross cutting humanitarian and social needs of vulnerable populations; to communicate critical risk and event information to all communities and be able to counter misinformation.

Ms Mogowa indicated that one of the objectives was to reduce vulnerabilities and enhance community capacity to cope with socio-economic and the impact of COVID-19.

“COVID-19 is not only a health related risk, it has other socio-economic effects, and as such the scope goes beyond treating it as a health problem,” she said.

She indicated that BRCS, in partnership with different organisations, provided sanitation and hygiene services, public health education as well as capacity building of staff and volunteers.

She explained that in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, over 2 400 volunteers would be deployed to public areas to ensure compliance in and assist on contact tracing. ENDS