P164m training funds lying idle-BOTA

Brian Benza
Staff Writer | Thursday January 28, 2010 00:00

 

Speaking at a ceremony to handover a BOTA accreditation certificate to Events Venture, an events management and training company, the Authority's CEO Abel Mudongwa urged employers to undertake training for their employers in a bid to develop their organisations' human resources, the full cost of which will be covered by the Vocational Training Fund(VTF).

'Most management training companies in the country are doing all they can to get BOTA Accreditation, but I am not sure if stakeholders are taking advantage of the top quality programme that these companies have to offer. In the last 12 months we have accumulated over P164 million and only P24 million has been claimed by employers. ' I am suprised by these figures which can only mean that employers are not training their staff,' he said.

The Vocational Training fund, which comes from the Vocational Training levy paid by companies, was established for the purpose of reimbursing employers who have incurred training costs for apprentices and trainees. Its overall objective is to support skills training by employers and increase skills base at the work place.

Mudongwa added that ' it is surprising why employers and organisations are not taking advantage of the Fund as its underlying goals are to motivate enterprises to train their staff, achieve a more equal share between enterprises in financing training activities, help to bring together supply and demand for training'.

Event Ventures is a 100 percent citizen owned   company and it is the sole distributor of the world renowned Franklin Covey products and services in Botswana under license of Franklin Covey Southern Africa. The CEO further urged potential employers and the nation to take advantage of Events Venture's internationally acclaimed programme.

'Organisations are also placed at a competitive edge to recoup their training costs from the Vocational Training Fund and from BURS as income tax/training deduction (200%) since Event Ventures is accredited with BOTA.

'Organisations will witness a return on their investment as Franklin Covey workshops are the global leader in effectiveness training, productivity tools and assessment services for organizations, teams and individuals,' he added. BOTA accreditation is synonymous with quality as audits and monitoring are regularly undertaken at any BOTA accredited institution to ensure that set standards will continue to be met.

Mudongwa also said that in an effort to promote workplace learning, the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, in conjuction with BOTA, has developed structured work-based training regulations, in accordance with Section 31 of the Vocational Training Act no. 22 of 1998.

These regulations require, among others, that any learning or training activity that takes place at the workplace must be structured, assessed, and linked to national awards so that it could be recognised and certificated.  They also require that this learning/training should be planned and agreed with the learner (employee) through the signing of a training agreement approved by BOTA.