Click here to find out about Skillshare International's partner organisations in Botswana.

In Botswana, Skillshare International works in education, training and employment; the empowerment of disadvantaged groups; environment; and HIV/AIDS. We work through 13 partner organisations and currently have 13 development workers in Botswana.

Skillshare International has worked with local partner organisations to develop skills and build capacity through the placement of development workers and, in some cases, project funding. Our partner organisations cover the entire country and despite a deliberate move to work with the poorest of the poor who reside in the western parts of Botswana, we have found ourselves working in the east due to HIV/AIDS.

Over the last 10 years, skills development efforts have increasingly involved supporting organisations working to benefit young people, the disabled and other marginalised and low income groups. We have also become increasingly involved with key issues such as HIV/AIDS and empowerment of women.

Our programme partners have included Somarelang Tikologo (an environment organisation), Thuso Lutheran Rehabilitation Centre and Botshelo Project in Serowe, which benefits the Basarwa people through income generation, pre-school education and other social services including HIV/AIDS intervention. Skillshare International has also focused its assistance on the brigades with more emphasis on information technology training.

In recent years, Skillshare International has also actively supported HIV/AIDS awareness-raising programmes aimed at prevention as well as mitigation of the effects of HIV/AIDS in communities.

Over the last 5 years, we have had a long standing partnership with North West District Council on Tourism. This relationship has assisted Natural Resources Management Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) to acquire legal status and develop tendering systems leading to community income.

Skillshare International has mobilised funds for projects including those aimed at economic empowerment of the Basarwa through Comic Relief in areas of household food security, pre-school education, advocacy and organisational development.

Partner Organisations   top of page

Bakgatla Bolokang Matshelo (BBM) is a CBO, founded in 1997, responding to HIV/AIDS. Its aim is to provide compassionate care to the terminally ill, many of whom are HIV/AIDS patients, in their homes and at hospital. Home-based care includes counselling for patients and their carers, washing and cleaning for the patients, ensuring that patients make their hospital visits and providing food. The organisation also has education and awareness outreach programmes through schools in the district. The organisation is run by an Executive Committee and a Board of Trustees, all of whom are volunteers. Home-based care is also provided by volunteers. Skillshare International has placed a development worker to provide administrative and financial management support, and is working together with BBM to develop and mobilise resources for an orphan care programme.

Light and Courage Centre was started in 1999 by the multisectoral AIDS Committee in Francistown. It was run on a voluntary basis and individuals and organisations pledged both time and material resources including clothes, food and accommodation. The centre has 5 members of staff and a Board of Trustees. The main aim of the organisation is to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS on the community by addressing the needs of HIV/AIDS infected and affected individuals of all ages. The day care centre collects patients from their home to spend the day at the centre while their carers are at work. This gives the clients an opportunity to meet and talk openly about their status, sharing and learning from each other. The centre provides counselling, food and outreach services as support to the community home-based care services. Skillshare International has placed 2 development workers at the Light and Courage Centre; a counsellor and financial administrator.

Pudulogong Rehabilitation Center is a vocational training centre providing skills training for the blind and partially blind, empowering them with skills to enter both formal and informal employment. The centre was established in 1982 as an initiative of the Dutch Reformed Church of Botswana but is now run by the community through a Board of Trustees with heavy financial support from the Government of Botswana. The school provides training in music, computer studies, horticultural production and poultry training. It also has a restaurant providing training for the partially-blind in customer care and catering. The restaurant also generates an income for the project. Skillshare International has placed a development worker as a hotelier, responsible for training staff in all aspects of catering and managing a restaurant.

Gantsi Craft is a member of the Kuru family, a consortium of NGOs providing people from settlements and farms in the Gantsi and Kgalahadi District with a sustainable marketing channel for their traditionally handmade craft work. The project promotes sustainable rural livelihoods for the San Culture by providing opportunities for income generation and employment in craft production. It strengthens the capacity of the San communities to improve their own social, economic and political and legal status in Botswana society. This project also raises awareness of their contribution to national development. Skillshare International has placed a development worker as a skills trainer to improve the quality and marketability of the products.

Ranaka/Ntlhantlhe Horticultural Project is an agro-forestry organisation producing vegetables and fruits at a small-scale. It is a membership organisation run by members who are also beneficiaries. The syndicate is run by 3 informal and independent groups from 2 villages, Ranaka and Ntlhantlhe. Skillshare International has placed a development worker who is a horticulturist responsible for training the groups in vegetable production, marketing and general administration.

Thuso Lutheran Rehabilitation Centre: Thuso Rehabilitation Centre provides community based rehabilitation in Ngamiland, Okavango and Chobe districts. The centre is in Maun (Ngamiland District) and has 33 full-time employees. The centre creates opportunities for people with disabilities to lead more independent lives. This is achieved through counselling, physiotherapy and occupational therapy, speech therapy and orthopaedic services, educational and vocational training.

TOCADI Trust for Culture and Development Initiative: TOCADI empowers marginalised communities so that they are able to formulate their own plans and implement them in a sustainable way. TOCADI helps the communities come together to manage their own development. The projects assist access to land resources and formalise the use of land; mainly through community-based natural resource management. Skillshare International has a long partnership with TOCADI, placing development workers with expertise in financial administration as well as cultural development. One of our development workers has just completed her placement where she was a co-author of a book on San history, launched in October 2004.

YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association): The YWCA Northwest Regional Programme covers an estmated population of 130,000 in Ngamiland, Okavango and Chobe. The region's main economic activities are tourism, livestock and fishing. The region has 17 YWCA clubs with an estimated membership of 700 people. The aim of YWCA is to improve the quality of life of its members, and the communities where YWCA clubs exist, through social, economic and spiritual development, by creating an enabling environment for the establishment of sustainable livelihoods and effective community participation and good governance. The organisation is currently training lay counsellors on HIV/AIDS. Skillshare International has been working with YWCA for over 9 years, assisting them with skills development and project funding and through the placement of 2 development workers: a programme advisor and a financial advisor.

Botshelo Project: The Marulamantsi community is a San community on the North West of Serowe village. The organisation was set up 20 years ago as a craft marketing cooperative with external financial and technical support. The major objective was to provide a livelihood strategy for the Marulamantsi community. The project has expanded to include a pre-school and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention initiatives. We have supported the project with development workers and fundraising for pre-school and management team building.

Chobe Brigade Development Trust: Chobe Brigade Development Trust was started by the community in 1976 as a farmers' training institute. It trains school leavers in vocational skills and promotes social and economic development and advancement of people in Chobe. The organisation also provides services to the community such as building, vehicle maintenance and carpentry. Skillshare International has placed a development worker to train young people in Information Technology skills.

Somarelang Tikologo (Environmental Watch): Somarelang Tikologo main activities focus on Environmental Awareness and Planning, Recycling and Waste Management. The vision of Somarelang Tikologo is to be a leading and innovative organisation in achieving a clean and healthy environment by creating an environmentally responsible community by the year 2016. Its mission is to improve the quality of life of Batswana by promoting a clean and healthy environment and mobilising members of the public to monitor, raise awareness and lobby for improvement of the environment. Skillshare International has placed a development worker to support the management of the organisation.

People and Nature Trust: People and Nature is a small, philanthropic, not-for-profit training and capacity-building organisation dedicated to enabling rural people to strengthen themselves and their children to act as effective wild resource managers and conservators through community-driven, biodiversity-based income generating enterprises. People and Nature has also developed and operates the orphan-centred therapeutic counselling and follow-up programme, Ark for Children, and the Kalahari range management capacity-building programme, Tiisa Kalahari. The organisation is staffed primarily by trainers and technical advisors. In all 3 of its primary programmes, People and Nature provides training that strengthens or builds the capacity of children and rural people to act as effective members of Botswana's productive economy and society. Skillshare International has placed a development worker to train 4 community groups on how to use websites for effective marketing.

Tquii Xu Yani (TXY): TXY aims to address the poverty, food insecurity, poor shelter, alcoholism, HIV/AIDS, low level of education and skills gaps faced by the Basarwa San who live in and around Kang in the Kgalagadi District. This is acheieved by enabling them to participate effectively in the mainstream social, economic and political development of their area and their country. The Basarwa community formed TXY in 1992 in order to improve their livelihoods. They negotiated with the Kang Brigade Development Trust for their young people to participate in skills training at the Brigade and for Basarwa to be employed by the Brigade. Kang Brigade agreed that 5% of employment opportunities and 5% of student intake at their Vocational Training Centre would be filled by local Basarwa. With assistance from Skillshare International, TXY is now a legally registered organisation. Skillshare International has mobilised funds and assisted the group with borehole drilling and equipping, vegetable production skills training, advocacy and lobbying skills training.

Leadership Development: Between 1999 and 2003, Skillshare International provided places on the Leadership Development Programme (LDP) for 20 managers of our partner organisations in Botswana. An additional 40 people from our partner and potential partner organisations participated in our leadership consolidation workshop in March 2004.
 
top of page