23 Jun 2022

 Inviting the youth to be part of solutions to challenges besetting young people could achieve a lot for the country’s youthful population, says deputy  private secretary to the President , Ms Matshidiso Bokole.

Speaking at Generation Unlimited workshop in Gaborone Wednesday, Ms Bokole said Botswana’s population was mostly youthful and a lot could be achieved if the country harnessed youth talent.

“If we involve them and invite them to advise us on how to solve their problems, we can achieve a lot,” she said. 

Generation Unlimited is global partnership that supports  opportunities for the youth as they graduated from learning to earning.

The workshop discussed draft landscape analysis of opportunities and challenges for youth in the country.

However, Ms Bokole said the Generation Unlimited was a worthy initiative to address youth population challenges. 

She said the country was not producing and manufacturing enough and the youth should be natured to innovate and come up with solutions.

She further said as the country aspired to attain high income status by 2036 and transform from a mineral-based economy to knowledge-based one, there was need to harness youth talent.

“Knowledge will have to come from young people, they will have to think and innovate.” 

Nonetheless, she said the current youth population was going through various challenges such as growing up among the most unequal societies in the world. 

Such, she said meant that most of young people were disadvantaged.

Also, she said it had been repeatedly constituted that Batswana were one of the unhappy people in the world, which meant young people were unhappy, sha said.

Ms Bokole said the country was also not doing well in terms of global competitiveness due to poor work ethics, which stifled opportunities for economic growth.

Therefore, she said digitalisation was a key priority in transforming the economy and said there was a need for young people to access technology.

The UNICEF representative, Dr Joan Matji said the youth landscape analysis study, among others, identified opportunities for young people. 

She said it was also initialing a process of co-creation and collaboration among UNICEF, UN agencies, civil societies, the private sector and youth.

The landscape analysis draft study, among others, pointed out that the youth faced challenges in accessing funding, as well as starting, running and marketing businesses. 

The draft study also pointed that Botswana had a good policy framework, but was lacking on implementation.

The workshop was organised by the Office of the President in conjunction with UNICEF Botswana through Generation Unlimited. ENDS