For example we have the President’s Day Competition which allows youth to seek opportunities in the Arts which since 2013 has seen 14,061 participants, the Constituency Competition for the year 2013/14 with 203,830 participants, the CEDA Young Farmers Fund with 5,509 projects since inception, the Youth Development Fund with 3,871 projects since inception, Internship Programme for the year 2013/14 which has benefitted 4,000 participants, Back-to-School for the year 2013 with 33,044 learners and the Youth Expositions and capacity building boot camps which has benefitted 26,203 youths. Since 2013, 9,794 youths have been allocated land. Today 15,000 youths are being commissioned to serve in the National Service.
The theme for the 50 years of Independence “Botswana Pele” resonates very well with the principles of the Botswana National Service Programme that we are about to launch. In fact, the theme “Botswana First” is a call to service for all Batswana. An occasion such as this provides an opportunity for us to re-emphasise the very tenets upon which this nation was founded. Our contributions in society both as individuals and as a collective are defined by the values we uphold. Let me remind this gathering that the concept of volunteerism is not new in Botswana.
