Botswana

Poverty/Economic Programme: Projects

Enterprise Botswana

The entrepreneurship development project, Enterprise Botswana, is a partnership between UNDP, the Government of Botswana, and the private sector. This project, which also benefits from Enterprise Africa assistance, utilises the UNCTAD developed EMPRETEC model of enterprise development. The objective of the programme is to promote entrepreneurship and the development of small and medium sized enterprises in Botswana. Enterprise Botswana targets growth- and export-oriented companies and individuals and provides a wide range of services including entrepreneurial and management training, technical assistance in preparation of business plans, business advisory and counselling services, credit sourcing, assistance in identifying subcontracting opportunities and promoting linkages between local Small and Medium scale Enterprises and foreign companies.

Ongoing Study of Employment Creation

To aid in the process of employment creation and enterprise development in Botswana, the economic unit is managing an employment creation study funded by the Knowledge Network Facility (KNF). The objective of the Employment Generation in Botswana - Lessons from Selected African Countries project is to analyse data from small macro and medium scale enterprises and best practices in selected Southern African countries. These highlights are to be translated into enterprise development and agricultural development in Botswana's urban and dry-land areas (dry land farming), respectively. The report will be made available here upon completion.

Pipeline Projects (under Development)

	Photo: Leather from abattoirs will be used to open leather industry in Botswana

Leather programme

Following a UNIDO executed feasibility study on leather and leather goods in Botswana, a programme proposal entitled Sectoral integrate programme for the development of the leather industry in Botswana is currently under review by the economic unit and stakeholders. The programme, which will commence in 2001, aims at creating a sound basis for the integrated development of national leather and finished leather products manufacturing. The leather programme will enhance the use of hides and skins from the cattle industry and create additional employment opportunities. The leather programme will focus on building and strengthening institutional capacity, as well as improve the collection and processing of hides and skins. The project will also improve and set environmental standards to regulate tanning pollution, improve and train trainers and entrepreneurs in leather goods production and integrate and mainstream gender concerns into the emerging leather sector.

Tourism Development programme

	Photo: UNDP promotes tourism for development under the Tourism Development Programme

Following the successful completion of the tourism statistics development project, UNDP Botswana's Economic programme, in collaboration with the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) and the Department of Tourism, have commenced work on developing a tourism development programme in Botswana. The partners have agreed that the programme will have a follow-up component focusing on an upgrade of the statistics to a tourism satellite account (TSA), which enables a country to measure the full contribution of the tourism sector to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Moreover, the tourism development programme will, with the involvement of local communities, focus on the development of sustainable and environmentally friendly non-wildlife based eco-tourism in selected areas of Botswana, develop a strategic tourism marketing plan, and build institutional and management capacity at both the district and national level.

Information and Communications Technology

Lastly, the economic unit is examining new and innovative ways of assisting the Government of Botswana to alleviate poverty. The enhanced application and utilisation of information and communications technology, and the improvement of technical and vocational skills, are only two of several areas currently being examined by the unit.