03 Aug 2025

The establishment of the Private Sector Forum for Child Rights, to which 11 founding companies committed a generous P13 million, exemplifies a new era of leadership that transcends financial gains and emphasises an enduring impact on children’s lives.

Launching the forum in Gaborone on Thursday, Vice President and Minister of Finance, Mr Ndaba Gaolathe said the forum would serve as a springboard for forging partnerships and ensuring that actions and resources committed towards championing children’s rights translate into meaningful outcomes.

Mr Gaolathe said the focus was on enabling all children to access opportunities for growth and development regardless of their background or circumstances.

He said investing in the youth was not only about securing a more resilient and inclusive economy but also paved the way for peace, prosperity and sustainable growth.

“It is through nurturing the potential of our children, safeguarding their rights and creating avenues for their success that we can unlock Botswana’s youth dividend and transform our demographic landscape into a beacon of hope and progress,” he said.

Mr Gaolathe further said the country faced challenges including muted economic growth, which averaged 3.1 per cent over the last decade, high youth unemployment, a private sector that was growing too slow to absorb the talented, educated youth and continued over-reliance on diamonds.

“In short, we are vulnerable and we are not moving fast enough. This is why the government of Botswana has launched the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme (BETP) as our national response to these challenges,” he said.

The VP said the Private Sector Forum for Child Rights in Botswana was therefore a pivotal platform aimed at fostering cross-sectoral collaboration and aligned investment decisions with the well-being and rights of children.

For her part, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Ms Mamiki Kamanakao said nearly half of the children lived in multidimensional poverty while 70 per cent of them lacked access to adequate sanitation - a fundamental determinant of health.

Ms Kamanakao said 39 per cent were deprived of both decent housing and essential healthcare hence there was need to mainstream single-parent households and those with children into the Bonno National Housing Programme through the affirmative action stance.

Ms Kamanakao also said stunting continued to affect nearly one of five children under the age of five, resulting in lifelong consequences.

Also, she said less than 50 per cent of children had access to early learning and stimulation.

Regarding child mortality, she said the mortality rate remained high at 56 per 1 000 live births for children aged under five, with overall child and mortality standing at 240 per 100 000 children.

She said government did not take the statistics lightly as it had adopted a deliberate, rights-based approach to child development that recognised children as not passive recipients of charity, but as rightful stakeholders in the national development trajectory.

Therefore, Ms Kamanakao said the Children’s Act would be amended to reinforce legal protections and ensure that every child was seen, heard and safeguarded.

She said Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics (STEAM) education, including coding and robotics was introduced at early learning stages to prepare children for a future driven by innovation.

She said the Sghela se a Bitsa initiative was a second-chance programme which ensured that no child was lost in the cracks of exclusion or despair.

Ms Kamanakao said the launch marked the bold movement where opportunity was abundant, protection was guaranteed and every child could live, learn and thrive no matter where they were born.

In her welcome remarks, Mascom CEO, Ms Dzene Makhwade-Seboni said they recognised that investing in children was not charity but a visionary business practice.

She said children-focused investment strengthened the future talent pools, reinforced community trust, enhanced brand equity and contributed directly to market resilience.

Ms Makhwade-Seboni said the forum was established to catalyse and coordinate efforts to embed child rights into corporate governance, strategy and reporting.

She also said it mobilised and aligned private sector resources with national child development priorities as well as created spaces for innovation, knowledge exchange and collective problem-solving.

Ms Makhwade-Seboni further said the road ahead required bold leadership, shared responsibility and willingness to reimagine the role of business in society.

“It invites us to build not only profitable enterprises, but prosperous futures for the children of Botswana,” she said. ENDS