01 Feb 2023

Public officers have been implored to collectively reflect and come up with solutions on how to deliver services faster, better and closer to communities.

Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Mr Mabuse Pule said this when giving a keynote address during a five-day Community Home Based Care, Destitution Programme and Cash Transfer workshop in Francistown on Tuesday.

 “The success of government hinges on the overall performance in the implementation of social programmes across the country,” Mr Pule said.

He said every officer had a role to play in facilitating government’s commitment to Batswana as clearly articulated in their social contract.

The assistant minister advised officers to inform themselves on policy matters to adequately deliver government programmes targeting vulnerable people.

He explained that approval of the National Social Protection Framework (NSPF) in 2020, was a challenge for the ministry to adapt, transform and adopt a coordinated approach in service delivery of social protection services across the country.

To achieve that, Mr Pule said, a Single Social Registry was introduced to provide an integrated, structured and systematic information on various social protection programmes.

Mr Pule said that would be equally aligned with the ministry’s pillar of Local Government Digital Transformation.

“Based on our experiences and feedback from our customers and the general public, there was nascent need to acquire knowledge and requisite skills in order to become innovative and intuitive,” he said.

Commenting, principal social welfare officer Mr Ephraim Pule said there was  disparity between the ratio of employee to their clientele, as five officers were required to assist around 80 000 people in their area.

He said social workers needed specialisation but there were budget limitations as the same amount had been allocated over the years irrespective of the increasing population.

Meanwhile, chief social community development officer, Mr Ogoditsemang Seleme said some officers were unable to communicate with people with disabilities as they did not know sign language.

“How many social workers have specific skills to deal with traumatised people or deal with those who have been abused,” he said.

While other challenges were generic approach, he said at times, social workers attended to numerous issues simultaneously, hence losing or focus.

For her part, the chief social community development officer- North East Region, Ms Leagile Pusoentsi said there were no offices at village level for both extension officers and social workers.

Ms Kehumile Mopako said inadequate budget was a challenge that hindered provision of services to customers while one officer decried slow progression of social workers as they had all been stuck at C1 salary scale for more than 15 years. Ends