The statistics include 775 women and girls (aged 12-55) benefiting from the safe coaching practices. India surpassed Botswana, reaching 1, 700 participants. The programme reached over 20, 000 individuals across more than 60 countries. The pathway is designed to address gender inequality that hinders the participation of women and girls in sports at all levels. By focusing on coaching the coaches, the pathway aims to remove barriers and create a more equitable, accessible, accommodative, and positive experience for girls in sports. Speaking during WASBO Annual General Meeting (AGM) held over the weekend in Gaborone, the chairperson, Keenese Katisenge-Tizhani, said finishing second after India is a huge achievement because India has a larger population compared to Botswana. She said the outcome is an indication that the programme was a success. “Since our re-launch in 2000, WASBO has strategically focused on fostering advocacy for an inclusive and conducive environment that nurtures participation in sport among women and girls in Botswana.
Through initiatives such as the Leadership and Capacity Building Trainings and recently in 2024, the TAFISA ‘Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway’ programme, where Gorata Kgathi emerging as a regional trainer for TAFISA, and all our four trainers (Tapiwa Masunga, Kgathi, Bridget Kabutu and Barobi Ngwako), enabled us to accomplish such a milestone,” she said. Katisenge-Tizhani said they achieved commendable milestones, including sponsorships for recognition of girls and women from international sport bodies, and the introduction of WASBO special awards to recognise extraordinary contributions in the space of women and girls participation in sport in Botswana. WASBO treasurer, Dhanalakshmi Ramasamy, presented the financial reports for the period of April 1, 2023 to March 31, 2024. She mentioned in her report that WASBO had received a grant of 5, 000 Euros which translated to P65, 000 as 50% of the grant from TAFISA. She said the funds were meant to drive the Girls Positive and Safe Coaching Pathway programme. Meanwhile, Katisenge-Tizhani told SportMonitor after the meeting that the remaining P65, 000 will be paid this month. “The gathering was an accumulation of regional AGMs we hosted since 2023 where we were electing new regional leadership for all the eight regions.
In October 2023, a new WASBO executive committee was elected into office where I was elevated from being a secretary-general to be the chairperson. This is our first AGM since those elections. The constitution dictates that we should present an executive report to the membership as well as financial report presented by a qualified accountant and minutes from the previous AGM,” she said. Katisenge-Tizhani said the meeting was also meant to interact with regions, get feedback from them because WASBO mandate is both recreational and competitive sport. She said AUSC Region 5 also made a presentation, which included scholarship opportunities that they have, the women leadership programmes that they offer and the Walk for Life, amongst others. “We agreed that we shall meet AUSC Regions 5 together with the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) because they have a regionalisation approach, to see how we can work together and they can assist us with resources. Today our regions were quiet, which is abnormal but that gave us confidence that everything was on point and all the action items were completed,” Katisenge-Tizhani said. However, regions complained that they had received the financial report a day before the meeting, which meant they did not have enough time to peruse them. Katisenge-Tizhani explained that the accountant was still working on the report hence not being sent to the region at the same time with other reports.
