08 Dec 2020

Minister of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development, Mr Mpho Balopi says counselling of unemployed persons commenced as far back as July 10, 2018.

Answering a question in Parliament on Monday, he said the ministry had a database of job seekers, who registers throughout the country, which included some unemployed youth, where it was found that a total of 138 470 people had registers as job seekers from 2016 to date with 70 per cent of that number - 96 929 being youth.

According to the minister 1 530 of the registered youths were counselled in Gaborone and surrounding areas with topics ranging from CV writing, interview skills, application letter, productivity and smart working ethics, youth empowerment schemes, personal image, job search strategies, people skills, money skills, entrepreneurship skills and the harnessing of social media in job search.

Mr Balopi further revealed that the age range of those who participated in the counselling workshops was 15 to 35 years and beyond in some instances depending on the gap identified.

He said the counselling of the unemployed persons was a continuous process, which was undertaken by the employment bureau in the ministry, noting that the ministry had further adopted the use of social media in order to provide counselling while adhering to COVID-19 protocols.

He further said social media had increased the coverage to unemployed persons in the whole country who participate in virtual workshops that were later shared on official ministry social media platforms.

Mr Balopi also said counselling would be rolled out to other regions in the last quarter of 2020/21 in order to make it more inclusive with more workshops having been planned in the current and next financial year.

He said the ministry was also working in collaboration with Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development including other government ministries, NGOs, the private sector, Business Botswana and volunteers to carry out such functions and ensure a holistic approach.

Further, the ministry was working with Human Resource Development Council to develop a labour market Information System, which would capture labour market information including unemployed graduates for the purpose of assisting them to find employment and that the counselling component was incorporated in the statement of user requirements.

He said the system would enhance outreach to all young persons and allow them to link up with professional counsellors online.

Tonota MP, Mr Pono Moatlhodi had asked the minister whether during the 2019 general elections, the Botswana Democratic Party promised to arrange counselling for all unemployed youth throughout the country: and if so, to state how many had indeed been counselled per region, what were their ages, how long the project took; and when the next exercise would commence. Ends