31 May 2013

Rural communities must be empowered in order to enable them to appreciate the basic services that government provides. The Vice President, Dr Ponatshego Kedikiwe said this when officially opening the Rural Development Council (RDC) Pitso at Kang in Kgalagadi District on May 30.

Dr Kedikilwe said rural development required coordination of efforts to transform rural communities to a level where they would not only identify, but also take advantage of opportunities in the evolving technology and credit infrastructure to advance their socio economic status.

The Vice President said much had been achieved in terms of providing some infrastructural elements of rural development, but the same could not be said with respect to the livelihoods of rural dwellers.  He thus called for concerted effort to address the softer elements for the maximum benefit of rural communities.

Dr Kedikilwe, who is also the chairperson of the Rural Development Council, encouraged stakeholders in rural development to come up with an elaborate operational plan to guide the RDC so that it could provide an effective oversight role in the general implementation of rural development policies. 

He said it was essential for the council to carry out research in all regions of Botswana to determine the comparative advantages of each region and see how best communities in those areas could be best assisted to undertake projects on the basis of what they knew best and improve upon such traditional knowledge.

“In areas where there are rivers and dams, feasibility studies should explore the potential like large scale horticulture and plant processing, while small stock abattoir and growing of sengaparile could be ideal for empowering the livelihoods of people in areas like Kgalagadi and mostly importantly, funding for such projects should be multi-pronged,” he said.

Dr Kedikilwe applauded the Ministry of Trade and Industry for its vigorous efforts to resuscitate the cooperative movement adding that  cooperatives had  the potential to influence the production of quality locally produced goods in rural communities hence improve the economic growth of that community. ENDS