BOTSWANA APPRECIATES ASSISTANCE Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Mr. Edwin Batshu says Botswana welcomes the European Union (EU) assistance as it goes a long way in complementing governments efforts of government in addressing various development challenges facing the country. Minister Batshu said with the coming in of Non State Actors Programme (NSA), most socio-economic pressing challenges afflicting the nation would be debatably addressed to a certain level of appreciation. Officially launching the Call for Proposals for Large and Small Grants of the Empowerment of Non State Actors Programme (NSA) in Gaborone, he said the programme would capacitate NSAs and enable them to contribute more effectively to the development process, promote sustainable livelihoods, particularly of disadvantaged groups in the society and diversify the economy. “This programme is a key principle of the African Caribbean and Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) cooperation regarding the participation of NSAs in the development process enshrined in the revised Cotonou Agreement,” he said. The agreement, he said, called for the enhancement of capacities of these actors, particularly their organisational skills. Under the European Development Fund 10 (EDF 10), Botswana signed a Country Strategy Paper (CSP) with EU, he added. The minister said CSP provides for support to the NSAs to strengthen their participation in the development process with special attention paid to the poorest and hard to reach sections of the population. He also noted that the Empowerment of Non State Actors Programme would provide NSAs with skills and financial resources that would enhance structural dialogue, cooperation and programme implementation. The overall objective of the programme is to contribute to the promotion of economic growth and poverty reduction, through the strengthening of NSAs in Botswana, he said. Furthermore, he said the programme would strengthen financial discipline in the disbursement of public funds to NGOs; capacitate NGOs and strengthen coordination and cooperation mechanism among them. He noted with appreciation that the Empowerment of Non State Actors Programme introduces a grant scheme that operates in two mechanisms; large and small grants. The grant scheme, he said would enable civil society organisations to implement various projects benefiting members of the community in different parts of the country. Five priorities had been identified by both the EU and Botswana, namely early childhood care and inclusive education, social services in particular, orphan and vulnerable children (OVCs), the environment, gender as well as arts and culture, he said. He further said in availing funds to the projects, consideration would be made for their potential to reduce poverty, even geographical distribution, remoteness of the areas and hard to reach groups including those with disabilities. The minister said the programme has availed funds to the tune of P26 million, of which P3 million goes to small grants targeting at least 30 NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) while P23 million will assist about 26 umbrella bodies, networks and individual NGOs under the large grants scheme. The government currently supports NGOs financially, materially and technically but the support, he said would at one stage stop, hence the need for NGOs to take advantage of funding to develop self-sustaining programmes. “This will go a long way to facilitate government’s objectives of weaning the NGOS in the long term,” he said. Minister Batshu said he was confident that the support from the EU would continue in the future under the European Development Fund (EDF) 11.(BOPA)
Posted on: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 12:28:48 +0000
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