22 Sep 2022

Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) has hailed the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as an important partner.

This is after JICA assisted with the Gaborone Extension 2 Clinic project, which came to an end in 2021, through its Keizen concept.

Kaizen is a Japanese term meaning continuous improvement to create more value and eliminate waste. Throught the concept, ideally, every employee is engaged in a never-ending pursuit of perfection. 

In BNPC/JICA virtual meeting to discuss the Botswana/Japan bilateral relations on Monday September 19, JICA resident representative in Botswana, Mr Hideo Eguchi urged BNPC officials to share the Kaizen concept with its stakeholders. 

He noted that his country’s  partnership with Botswana started in 1977 when Japan accepted a Botswana participant for a telecommunications capacity-building programme.

He said emphasis was currently on the ‘improvement of the environment for industrial diversification, poverty reduction and the betterment of quality of life’. Japanese assistance in industrial development, he highlighted, was evidenced by the Kazungula Bridge project. 

He also noted the digital terrestrial TV broadcast project in partnership with the Department of Broadcasting Services and training programmes to improve broadcasting standards at Botswana Television.

Mr Eguchi also said his team had formulated training programmes, both short and long-term, that included country-focused courses in education, health, ICT, economic policy, agriculture and private sector development.

Long-term training programmes, he said, included postgraduate scholarship programmes.

Mr Eguchi also explained that the poverty eradication and betterment of quality of life programme covered projects for capacity development for the conservation and sustainable use of forests and range resources through the process of master plan development.

He noted that the Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteer programme supported primary school education, community development, social welfare, sports and environmental education.

Mr Eguchi emphasised the need to capacitate the private sector as a key stakeholder in the country’s development. 

For his part, BNPC executive director, Mr Jacob Mmola highlighted that the clinic project had been successfully implemented, expressing hope that it would be replicated across health facilities throughout the country.

Mr Mmola expressed happiness that JICA had identified a volunteer who would join BNPC in November to work on Kaizen. 

He applauded JICA for helping the centre, noting that it would be the third senior volunteer to work with BNPC. He noted that BNPC was established in 1993 as a parastatal with a tripartite board comprising of representatives from government, employers and workers organisations as well as stakeholders.

He said their mandate was to enhance productivity awareness as an advocacy function and enable individuals and organisations, through training and consultancy, to be productive and competitive.

The enabling process, he highlighted, involved assisting organisations to adopt best management practices through productivity-enhancing tools and techniques. He also said BNPC’s strategic objectives included facilitating the reform of the public service to a point where it would be rated the best in Africa.

He informed the JICA delegation that the centre also facilitated the improvement of Botswana’s workforce to a standard where it would be ranked the best in the region and to provide productivity statistics and information.

He also said BNPC facilitated a culture of excellence within the private sector with a focus on SMMEs to enable local businesses to achieve a regionally competitive rating. Ends