|
UNFPA Botswana Representative,
Dr. Agathe Lawson
UNFPA has been in Botswana since 1971. During the last thirty years, the
cooperation of UNFPA with Government and several NGOs within Botswana has
been very fruitful. In the past UNFPA assisted the Government with the
censuses, capacity building and Reproductive Health including Family
Planning, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, or STDs - including HIV/AIDS -
particularly for youth. In Botswana, UNFPA also developed, together with
the Botswana Government, the
National Population Policy.
Currently the UNFPA Country Programme is focusing on Adolescent Sexual
Reproductive Health. One of the focus areas is to increase the access of
youth-friendly reproductive health services. Besides the Country Programme,
UNFPA Botswana is also supervising the African Youth
Alliance (AYA), a partnership with PATH, Pathfinder International and UNFPA.
UNFPA will continue to work with the Government of Botswana towards
accessible reproductive health services, assist in implementing and
evaluating the Population Policy and improve quality of life for both men
and women within the nation.
We hope that our efforts will bear fruits.
Best regards,
Agathe Lawson
UNFPA Botswana embraces the following objectives as means to the end of
making a substantive, local impact in the country:
- To assist Botswana
in providing quality reproductive health and family planning services
on the basis of individual choice and in implementing population
policies in the context of sustainable development.
- To promote the
strategy endorsed by the 1994 International Conference on Population
and Development (ICPD) and reviewed by a special session of the United
Nations General Assembly in 1999 (ICPD+5).
- To promote cooperation
and coordination among UNFPA's partners in addressing issues of
population and development, reproductive health, gender equality and
the empowerment of women.
Mission
|
Access to youth-friendly reproductive health services is of utmost
importance to UNFPA
|
UNFPA promotes the principles of the Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) (1994). UNFPA
is fully committed to the promotion of reproductive rights, gender equality
and male responsibility, and to the autonomy and empowerment of women. UNFPA
believes that safeguarding and promoting these rights, and promoting the
well being of children - especially girl children - are development goals
in themselves.
UNFPA believes that meeting these goals will contribute to improving the
quality of life and the universally accepted aim of stabilising world
population. UNFPA also believes that these goals are an integral part of
economic development that meets human needs, ensures well being and
protects the natural resources on which all life depends.
Partners
UNFPA is working in close partnership with the Government of Botswana, all UN
agencies in and out of the country (please see The
UN in Botswana), development banks, bilateral aid agencies,
Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and civil society.
|
Mochudi school children performing in front of the BOFWA multi-purpose
centre
|
Co-operation between UNFPA and the Government of Botswana began in 1971.
The three previous censuses of 1971, 1981 and 1991 were supported both
technically and financially by UNFPA. UNFPA programmes assisted the country
with establishing certain institutional frameworks for the future
implementation of Population and Reproductive Health related activities.
These included the Central
Statistics Office (CSO), Demography Department at the University of Botswana, Family
Health Division with focus on Mother and Child Health and Family Planning,
and the National Population Council and Population Secretariat within the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning. UNFPA
also assisted in setting up a vital Registration Office within the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs to complement its
National Registration Programme.
UNFPA support also focused on capacity building through short and
long-term training, support to NGOs dealing with population related
programmes such as Botswana Family Welfare Association (BOFWA) and the Young
Women's Christian Association (YWCA). Support was also provided to
enable Government officials to participate in all the major population
conferences. Importantly, UNFPA supported most NGOs involved in the
advancement of women, to participate in the Beijing International
Conference of Women in 1995, and thereafter contributed immensely to the
upgrading of the Women Affairs Unit to a department at the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs.
UNFPA's assistance is always determined at a country's own request. In
Botswana, UNFPA's main areas of work are Reproductive Health, Population
and Development Strategy and Advocacy, as elaborated below:
Reproductive Health
UNFPA supports the provision of quality reproductive health care.
Reproductive Health (RH) care includes: family planning; safe motherhood;
counselling and prevention of infertility; preventing and treating
reproductive tract infections and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)
including HIV/AIDS; and dealing with the health consequences of unsafe
abortion. UNFPA Botswana provides financial and technical assistance to its
partners in increasing access to Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH)
information and services, particularly focusing on adolescents.
Population and Development Strategy
UNFPA helps the Government of Botswana to formulate, implement and
evaluate comprehensive population policy - in the context of sustainable
development strategies - through provision of financial and technical
assistance.
Advocacy
UNFPA is an advocate for the International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD) and ICPD+5 goals which include reproductive health and
rights, improvement of the status of women, longer life expectancy, lower
infant and maternal mortality, closing the gender gap in population and
development strategies, and increasing awareness and resources for
population and development.
UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador Mpule
Kwelagobe, Miss Universe 1999
|
Mpule Kwelagobe
|
In February 2000 UNFPA appointed Mpule Kwelagobe as its Goodwill
Ambassador for Botswana. Ms Kwelagobe was the first person from Botswana to
enter the Miss Universe pageant, which she won in 1999. She has used her
title to address HIV/AIDS prevention, particularly among adolescents. Ms.
Kwelagobe said: "I believe that through my determination and love for
Botswana, I can successfully, through the United Nations Population Fund,
accomplish my goal of seeing the HIV statistics drop and having the women
of Botswana get the necessary reproductive health care and facilities they
need."
Since her appointment as Goodwill Ambassador, Ms. Kwelagobe has visited
Botswana several times. One of her visits was dedicated to the launching of
AYA Botswana. During her most recent visit (Spring
2001), several international journalists accompanied the Goodwill
Ambassador in efforts to draw global attention to the AIDS situation in
Botswana. Ms. Kwelagobe showed the journalists several projects such as a
home-based care project in Gabane. They also visited the Coping Centre for
People living with HIV/AIDS and a pilot model youth-friendly clinic in
Francistown.
|
