01 Dec 2013

There is need to develop a national policy for the family in Botswana to guide the development of family programming strategies in a holistic manner to enhance the wellbeing and optimal social functioning of the family.

The deputy director of social protection, Ms Mmaphefo Setabo-Kgetse, said this when addressing Lobatse Town Council recently. She said formulating a family policy would involve examining existing laws and policies so that there could be synergy regarding envisaged family programmes.

Ms Setabo-Kgetse said the suggested policy would act as a framework within which a comprehensive approach to social development could be implemented. She added that Botswana’s laws were fragmented. She said families in Botswana had been affected by different emerging issues that have varied impact on the family set-up.

These challenges included environmental issues, economic, cultural, political changes, migration patterns, and traditional roles of women and men versus modern ones. Environmental issues such as global warming negatively affected the livelihood of families as farming, which was the source of income for many families, had been diminished.

She said recession caused economic stress as family members were left with limited resources to be shared among family members because they must survive.

Ms Setabo-Kgetse said about cultural issues that cohabitation, extra marital affairs and multiple concurrent partnerships remain a challenge as at some point children are introduced as part of the family after the death of one partner.  Extra marital affairs and multiple concurrent partnerships were some of the factors for the spread of sexually transmitted infection.

She said remarriages, marital conflict, parenting problems, family violence, lack of family/community support networks, diminishing value of traditional extended families, alcohol and drug abuse have relegated children to institutions of children custody which are all full.

She told Lobatse Town Council that lack of proper preparation for marriages result in failure to prepare children to accept new spouse as their parent.

“In regard to migration patterns, partners and other family members who are looking for greener pastures in urban areas strain the budget because one has to feed two houses,” she said.

Ms Setabo-Kgetse added that modern roles of women, as opposed to traditional ones, resulted in more women joining the labour market for economic reasons; and holding positions of responsibility.

Unfortunately, this caused families to rely on alternative child care outside the family, meaning that house maids became role model and trainers of children. Ends