BOCONGO to host first public dialogue

Lerato Maleke | Monday February 17, 2014 07:52

It is billed as the first public dialogue of its scale in Botswana. BOCONGO executive secretary, Bagasi Mabilo, said during a media briefing yesterday that the NGO sector makes a significant contribution to the National Development Plans and Vision 2016.

She said the NGOs are a force to reckon with in serving the hard-to-reach populations, 'ensuring their right to education, knowledge, justice and social/economic services.

She said the NGO Policy and the NGO Council will be launched during the conference. She said the conference provides an opportunity to address how the policy will be implemented in the context of national, regional and international developments.

The theme of the conference is 'Positioning NGOs in a changing national and global landscape: Strategic partnerships for sustainable development'. Mabilo said that it will focus on issues like HIV/AIDS, non-communicable and chronic diseases, youth unemployment, and poverty eradication, as threats to sustainable development in Botswana. The objectives of the conference are to: position the NGO sector as a national development partner and to engage key partners in the public, private and international community on the role of the NGO sector in Botswana.