29 Aug 2021

The partnership between University of Botswana (UB) and Non-Governmental Organisations Council will open a lot of opportunities for both the council and the entire civil society sector. 

    This was said by the council’s chairperson, Mr David Tibe, at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two parties in Gaborone on Friday. Through the MoU, UB and the council would work together to enhance the voice of civil society and achieve impact in national development, he said. 

Established nine years ago through a presidential directive to act as an advisory body especially on matters of policy development and service delivery, Mr Tibe said the council also existed to build strategic partnerships for resource mobilisation and to create a fund that would serve as a basket of funds for the sector. 

He said the MoU would promote global partnerships towards establishing third stream income in collaboration with government and development partners to ensure a sustainable foundation for the development of civil society organisations. 

Additionally, the partnership would help to effectively articulate the council’s mandate in comprehensive representation of civil society, package Botswana’s unique civil society sector products, services, practices and investable offerings, said Mr Tibe. 

He further said the marriage between the two was bound to reinvigorate civil society in Botswana as key players in the national development agenda. 

  For his part, UB vice chancellor Professor David Norris said the council was  critical to society and nation building as it facilitated active participation of communities in decision making thus giving them an opportunity to be creators of their own destiny. “In our new strategies, stakeholder engagement is at the forefront of what the university wants to do, therefore working with the council will help people realise their potential to make a good living for themselves,” he said. 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 sources of global funding. 

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

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

Prof. Delport said the MoU was important because the partners could work closely together in order to make Botswana visible to the global first stream funding community, great foundations and non-governmental bodies. 

He also said together, the council and UB could also develop social enterprises of all kinds. 

“Within these, social enterprises, women 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.ends