28 Aug 2021

Stakeholder engagement is key to development strategies, says University of Botswana (UB) vice chancellor, Professor David Norris.

Professor Norris said this at a signing ceremony for  Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UB and Non-Governmental Organisations Council in Gaborone on Friday.

He said the council was critical in society and nation building given that it would facilitate active participation of communities in decision making.

“In our new strategies, stakeholder engagement is at the forefront of what the university wants to do, therefore working with the council would help people realise their potential to make a good living for themselves,” he said.

For his part, the NGO Council chairperson, Mr David Tibe said the partnership would open opportunities for the council and the civil society sector (CSS).

Mr Tibe explained that the council was established nine years ago to act as an advisory body to the minister especially on matters of policy development and service delivery on CSS.

“The NGO Council is also there to establish strategic partnerships for resource mobilisation and to create an indulgent of fund that would serve as a basket of funds for CSS,” he added.

Through the MoU, he said, UB and the NGO Council would work together to enhance the voice of civil society and achieve impact in national development.

He noted that the partnership would also promote global partnerships towards establishing third stream income in collaboration with government and development partners to ensure a sustainable foundation for development of Civil Society Organisations (CSO).

He also said the partnership would help to effectively rearticulate NGO Council’s mandate in comprehensive representation of CSS, to package Botswana’s unique CSS products, services, practices and investable offerings.

He further noted that the marriage between the two was bound to reinvigorate CSS as key player in national development agenda.

On one hand, UB stakeholder relations manager, Prof. Jean Delport applauded both organisations for their willingness to work together in order to make society open to most powerful source of global funding.

He noted that the two organisations were distinguished by the fact that they raised third stream funding for Botswana hence they should work together.

“CSOs and institutions of learning can attract third stream funding globally for purposes of research development and social justice,” he said.

He added that the MoU was important because the organisations could work closely together in order to make Botswana visible to global first stream funding community, to great foundations and to non-governmental bodies like EU where Botswana had representation.

He also noted that NGO Council and UB could also work together to develop social enterprises of all kinds within the civil society.

“Within these, social enterprises woman and young people can meaningfully enter into the economy where they live and it can also grow into investable knowledge economy in future,” he said. BOPA