24 Jun 2025

The Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) resource package for traditional leaders will serve as an instrumental resource and a reference point for dikgosi in dealing with SRH and gender-based violence (GBV) issues in their communities. 

This was said by Ntlo Ya Dikgosi chairperson, Kgosi Malope II of Bangwaketse when addressing the media at the end of the weeklong GBV and SRH workshop in Gaborone recently. The SRH resource package was developed by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. He said the workshop gave them an opportunity to appreciate and validate the draft resource package. 

He further said the objective of the workshop was to capacitate dikgosi with the necessary tools and strategies to deal with issues of SHR and GBV in their communities. He also said they had presentations from different partners to appreciate the policy and legal framework pertaining to SRH and GBV. 

To this effect, he said they were able to come up with recommendations and resolutions and were committed to do their part as Dikgosi to work with the government and communities to restore peace and harmony. Kgosi Malope said as dikgosi, they were concerned by the escalating GBV cases in Botswana because their communities seemed to have lost sense of humanity adding that they desired to see and end to GBV. He said the notion of molemo wa kgang ke go buiwa and ntwakgolo ke ya molomo seems to hd eluded them as a nation. 

“Our families and communities resort to violence. This is not our nature as Batswana, ga re a nna jaana re le Batswana,” he said. 

He also said they were grateful to key stakeholders in the issues they deliberated on and recognised that the challenges before them required joint consented efforts as no entity could deal with that alone. 

Ntlo Ya Dikgosi deputy chairperson, Kgosi Kahiko III said they grateful to UNFPA and other stakeholders for equipping them with skills to deal with GBV. He said he was hopeful that they would defeat GBV as they part of a consented effort and strategy to end GBV. ENDS