11 Sep 2022

Communicators of government policy, programmes and projects are strategically placed to demonstrate government’s commitment as a responsible global player in the development space.

This was said by Botswana Government Communications and Information System (BGCIS) acting director, Ms Morwalela Kesalopa at the Sustainable Development Goals (SGDs) training workshop for government public relations officers and SDGs focal persons recently.

She said the training would capacitate participants to be able to demonstrate government alignment to the global goals.

Ms Kesalopa said government was committed to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and as part of the domestication process, efforts were employed to align the SDGs with the national frameworks such as the Vision 2036, National Development Plan as well as the District and Urban Development Plans.

She said other notable initiatives included the development of the Domesticated Indicated Framework which outlined relevant SDGs, their targets and indicators for Botswana, the formation of the necessary institutional mechanism as well as the development of the National Roadmap on SDGs which guides implementation efforts at both national and sub-national levels, amongst others.

Furthermore, Ms Kesalopa said in order to advance coherent SDGs advocacy and sensitisation, a National SDGs Communication Strategy had been developed.

The strategy outlines various ways of communicating SDG messages, such as forging strategic partnerships with key stakeholders, developing Information Education and Communication (IEC) materials and working with academic institutions to develop tailor-made training programmes that promote development-oriented reporting as well as organising workshops and strategic training programmes for various stakeholders involved in the implementation of SDGs, she said.

“Moreover the strategy outlines target audiences, their roles and responsibilities in the communication of SDGs and amongst the stakeholders are the media and public relations practitioners whom the document recognises as vital players in communicating SDGs,” she said.

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) acting Resident Representative, Mr Etienne De Souza said the UN family recognised the role played by public relations officers and SDG focal persons.

He said all should be able to communicate how their respective sector was putting SDGs at the core of the framing of policies, programmes, communications plans and publications.

Mr De Souza said UNDP’s hope was that the training would forge a relationship between the public relations function and the SDG focal persons in each entity represented in the training.

He said Botswana being chosen to present a Voluntary National Review (VNR), a report highlighting progress on the implementation of the SDGs at country level, 2022 had brought the attention of other countries to herself and therefore all must be intentional and deliberate in the interventions that they choose to advance the 2030 Agenda.

Mr De Souza said the training was one of those that would assist Botswana to remain amongst the countries championing the 2030 Agenda.

He said UNDP was committed to supporting the Government of Botswana realise the commitment to the Agenda.

The director of Population and Sustainable Development Coordination in the Ministry of Finance, Mr Moremi Moremi said his ministry being the SDG secretariat recognised that bringing together a diverse array of partners to communicate Agenda 2030 and SDGs was vital for their realisation.

Mr Moremi said the involvement of all stakeholders in communication and implementation of the SDGs was critical to Botswana to eradicate poverty, protect biodiversity and ensure prosperity for all, amongst others.

He said Botswana just presented her second VNR during the High Level Political Forum in New York in July and the report was hailed as one of the best reports among the 44 countries that presented to the forum.

Mr Moremi said one of the lessons learnt from the development of the VNR report was that, there was low level of awareness among communities, government officers, civil society organisations and others on what SDGs were. ends