15 May 2014

About 8 721 Batswana have so far benefitted from the Poverty Eradication Programme and over 1 169 of them are success stories.

Acting Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Mr Shaw Kgathi said at the eighth poverty eradication workshop at Qabo in the Ghanzi District that the programme had by extension transformed lives of 34 884 family members of beneficiaries.

Minister Kgathi said government recognised the need for conducting outreach and mainstreaming efforts with private sector and community based organisations. 


He implored stakeholders to help reduce the current statistics of 19.6 per cent of people living in abject poverty, saying this was the time to move beyond what had been the initial start-up stage into a broader commitment. Official statistics showed that while 19.6 per cent of Batswana lived below poverty datum line, six per cent lived on less than P9 a day.

Mr Kgathi said it was against this backdrop that government wanted to ensure that all able-bodied Batswana stepped out of poverty while every Motswana should aim for wealth.

He therefore encouraged potential beneficiaries to follow in the footsteps of the thousands who had preceded them at previous workshops, by taking full advantage of the training offered and acquire skills to build their enterprises.


He also urged them to learn more on various packages available before choosing those best suited for their circumstances instead of basing on the experience of their predecessors.

Although Qabo was the last leg of a series of regional training workshops, Minister Kgathi emphasised that it did not mark the end of training and mentoring as there would be other seminars with a different content and scope. 


With collaboration with Anglo American, Minister Kgathi said government had already developed an Enterprise Development Framework and Implementation Plan to increase productivity and overall performance of the small and medium enterprises.

He said through this partnership, capacity building for extension staff will be undertaken to improve their efficiency and effectiveness in mentoring, monitoring and evaluation. This, he said, would also benefit those whose projects were excelling to grow their enterprises. 


Poverty eradication workshops had so far been held in Diphuduhudu, Sehunou/Motshegaletau, Struizendam, Dikhukhung, Chanoga, Damochujenaa and Jamataka. ENDS