14 Aug 2023

Jwaneng mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie has revealed plans to kick-start a women and children empowerment project aimed at fulfilling the International Visitor Leadership Programme (IVLP) nomination.

The IVLP is a United States professional exchange programme intended to cultivate and build relationships between the US and other countries around the world, through visits by professional leaders in various fields including politics, education and media among others.

Ms Ditsie was this year nominated alongside other leaders in various ramifications from across the world and awarded US$5 000 (about P67 000) in support of her project.

In an interview, Ms Ditsie said as the only woman leader across all councils in Botswana, her project was intended to combat gender based violence (GBV) among women and children, owing to the escalating numbers of cases in the country. 

She said the project, to be undertaken under the slogan; May the women live in peace; Love Cares, Love Protects, would target women and children as they were mostly on the receiving end.

“As a woman leader I want to use this opportunity to respond to the escalating GBV cases in our country, which mostly affect women and children. The aim is to empower women through skills development programmes and find ways to engage survivors and perpetrators about this national concern,” she said.

In an endeavour to tackle the challenge from grassroot, she said, plans were underway to establish and train GBV champions from the schools, who would be educating their peers and speaking against the various forms of such violence in different platforms.

That, she said, would not only empower children from a young age, but also create more awareness among local communities.

Additionally, Ms Ditsie said she aspired to establish support groups through which GBV survivors could interact and share life skills. She said such interactive platforms would also create a safe haven where survivors would support each other emotionally.

“Violence normally comes with stigma hence we want them to inspire each other through such platforms,” she said.

Moreover, she underscored the need for all the stakeholders to harmonise their processes to ensure GBV cases were effectively dealt with and ultimately eradicated.

“We wish to engage all stakeholders and service providers to harmonise their systems and processes such that there is a clear understanding from the beginning when the case is reported until it is addressed effectively. This will not only help with accurate statistics but will also motivate people to play their part in ensuring that such issues are dealt with accordingly through proper monitoring and follow-ups, ” she noted.

However, she noted that the project needed a multi-sectoral approach and thus implored various stakeholders to play their part, in line with the country’s Mindset Change agenda. Ends