21 Jun 2022

Botswana National Olympic Committee (BNOC) is committed to casting the net wider in its efforts to achieve national sport aspirations.

BNOC president, Botsang Tshenyego, said this at the Sport For Life (S4L) launch in Gaborone on Monday.

The intention, Tshenyego said, was so because government would not be able to achieve such aspirations single-handedly.

He said the S4L project was not delivered in isolation, but in pursuit of the organisation’s strategic goals in the 2021-2024 roadmap.

 “In this strategic map, we acknowledge the growing role of sport across societies and such is the expectations from various stakeholders,” he said.

He acknowledged that partnerships would be critical enablers for the achievement of their mandate as a national Olympic committee.

Again, he said they recognised that network to network bilateral engagement was new currency in the region, adding football had taken the lead. 

“Partnerships align well with the revised IOC motto: stronger faster higher together. With the latter ‘together’ as the new addition. Together we can do much more,” he said.

Furthermore, he said S4L was an additional platform for youth to be not only good athletes, but balanced future sport men and women as well as preparing the BNOC to meet future sport administration and leadership demands.

“I believe the empowerment programmes are going to reflect the importance of catching them young when it comes to gender balance. If we are not alive to that at grassroots then expecting gender equality at leadership levels will remain a mirage,” he said.

Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) chairperson, Marumo Morule, said the name Sport for Life reverberated with the mandate and objectives of what the project brought to Botswana’s shores in improving people’s lives through sport.

“The need to promote human development and empower youth, especially those that may be disenfranchised or come from communities which are disadvantaged, has never been more poignant and real than it is today,” Morule said.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic had also exposed how dire circumstances were for many in the communities, hence the need to shine a beacon of light and impart hope in their lives.

“As the old adage goes, give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; this is what this programme aims to do, through having our youth trained and go on to replicate the programme within their individual communities and implement projects that will stimulate happier, healthier and more fulfilling lives, which is in direct alignment with the objective of promoting Olympism in the country,” he said.

International coordinator, Joseph Moreau said S4L was a global movement aimed at promoting human development and youth empowerment through sport.

“We therefore found it imperative to focus on youth and facilitate courses and workshops to empower them,” he said. ENDS