13 Nov 2022

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) will today hold a workshop to validate its transformation communication strategy.

A press release from the ministry says the communication strategy will  support its five-year strategy and transformation plan (MSTP 2021-25). It notes that it is anchored on six pillars including decentralisation and digital transformation.

The media release says in 2020 the ministry embarked on a mid-term evaluation of the 2018-2023 strategic plan.

“The review was necessitated by a number of factors, among them the COVID-19 pandemic, which prompted changes in the way government operates and delivers public services, the mid-term review of NDP 11, which highlighted several emerging developmental demands as well as configuration towards the presidential transformation agenda and the Reset Agenda,” says the press release.

As such, the press release says the resulting output from the mid-term review is the MLGRD strategy and transformation plan (MSTP) 2021-2025, which aims to transform the ministry by combining radical changes in economic, governance and digital performance, centred on a decentralisation policy that aims to devolve more power to local government institutions.

To support the mind-set change and requirements of the ambitious transformation process set forth in the MSTP, the media release says a robust and effective transformation communication strategy that can be deployed at the national level is required under the tagline, “BathoPele: Closer, Faster, Better.”

“Against this backdrop, the ministry has developed a draft local government transformation communication strategy with the assistance of UNDP Botswana and wishes to subject the draft strategy document to an in-depth validation process by key stakeholders,” says the press release.  ENDS