BOCONGO: Milestones and challenges

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Friday November 5, 2010 00:00

The report identifies one of the major successes at the strategic level as the ability of BOCONGO to secure additional partnerships with the European Union and Botswana government under the auspices of the Non-State Actors Capacity Building Programme (NSA). 

According to the report, the partnership was geared primarily at enhancing the capability of BOCONGO in its coordination role of the NGO sector in the country. 

The report says BOCONGO further managed to have the IDASA/BOCONGO local government capacity-building project expanded and extended by three years.

The primary objective is to augment government efforts at improving service delivery at district level. 

A one year no cost extension of the Forum Syd/BOCONGO HIV/AIDS mainstreaming project was also secured and additional funding provided under the existing agreement.

According to the report, another milestone was the recognition by  government of the significant role BOCONGO can play in promoting moral and community values.

In this regard,  BOCONGO was considered one of the potential implementers of the Alcohol Abuse Prevention initiatives.

The organisation was able to secure funding to develop a performance management system, which still remains work-in-progress.  BOCONGO also secured funding for the setting up of the Records Management System as well as the services of three government interns.  Another achievement included acquiring a project vehicle. 

The organisation's website was also revamped, a master database developed and news briefs produced last year. The report further mentions that  two project reviews were undertaken and their outcome has enabled the organisation to reflect on its focus as it plans for the years ahead.

On policy, lobbying advocacy and networking, the report says BOCONGO continued to be represented in a number of national fora such as the High Level Consultative Forum chaired by the President and the Community Project Steering Committee. 

The report says this made it possible for BOCONGO to articulate the views and concerns of the civil society to both government and the private sector.

The report notes that BOCONGO worked with its different sectors to advocate for policy development or change such as the reversal of the payment of school fees for tertiary education, the signing of the gender protocol, the repeal of the Media Practitioners Act and the campaigns for TB eradication and HIV/AIDS treatment sustainability.   

Under leadership and development, the year saw the enhancement of knowledge on the adoption of rights based approaches regarding HIV/AIDS intervention strategies and skills development in the areas of governance and leadership. 

Successes have also been recorded under the research, publication and documentation when BOCONGO held its 6th National NGO Week.  The event was graced by Vice President,  Mompati Merafhe, who confirmed government's recognition of the role of NGOs in the development process of the country. 

BOCONGO also managed to hold its 14th annual general meeting where a new executive committee was elected and the report on the unqualified audit presented. 

The production of the quarterly newsletter and the monthly briefs was resumed in the last quarter of last year.The report mentions the challenges facing BOCONGO as including the expiry of grant agreements with two of its major partners ACBF and Syd.  

It says this led to uncertainties regarding the continued employment of respective programme officers as well as the future projects sponsored under these agreements. 

This was compounded by BOCONGO's limited success in fund-raising particularly for the positions of communication and information officer  and the sector coordinator.

The report notes that the inability to fill the position of finance and administration officer led to delayed financial reporting including the undertaking of the final audit.  This compromised the organisation's financial management. 

The report goes further to mention that without the communication and information officer, the organisation was unable to effectively network and share information with its stakeholders and this compromised the visibility and accountability of the organisation. 

'Operating without the finance and administration officer has also been costly to BOCONGO in terms of financial loss and delayed service delivery,' the report says.