11 Oct 2023

Botswana’s future lies in its young people, and it is important that the country invests more in their intellectual development for them to realise full potential, UN acting resident coordinator and WHO resident representative, Dr Josephine Namboze, has said.

She was speaking during the launch of Botswana’s National Commitment for Adolescent and Young People ‘s Wellbeing on Tuesday. 

Dr Namboze said the country’s commitment, which was in line with President, Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Mindset Change drive, woukld ensure a better future for Batswana through sustainable development, technology and digitalisation. 

While commending the president’s support for advancement of young people, Dr Namboze said the UN also applauded the First lady, Ms Neo Masisi for her dedication as a champion for “the empowerment and engagement of youth, particularly the adolescent girl child.” 

She said government’s partnership with the UN in areas of human development was praiseworthy and spoke of a clear progression towards achievement the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on health, education and gender equality. 

Dr Namboze commended Botswana for its well-established institutional mechanisms which, coordinated by the National Planning Commission, were aimed at ensuring that Botswana attained the SDGs. 

“As the UN, we strongly support government’s planning processes as it embarks on development of the entire government national development plan,” she said, adding that Botswana had done a commendable job in aligning its national priorities to the SDGs as captured in the Vision 2036 road map. 

Further, she said, the SDG financing programme reflected government’s commitment to aligning its budgetary processes with the goals through domestic and international leverage of SDG based investments in sectors such as education, health, infrastructure and agriculture. 

Speaking at the same event, Minister for State President, Mr Kabo Morwaeng, said adolescents and young people faced unique obstacles to their development, which often affected their transition into adulthood and hindered their participation in shaping their future. 

Therefore, it was important to empower them so they may participate effectively towards own development and achievement of SDGs. 

“Young people continue to face various socio-economic challenges such as unemployment, health and education, thus it is essential to accelerate investment towards their wellbeing,” he said adding doing so would facilitate unlocking and optimisation of their potential towards theirs and the nation’s development. Ends