Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO) Executive Secretary Bagaisi Mabilo has urged the media, as an important stakeholder to participate in the first NGO biennial conference slated next month.
BOCONGO said the NGO Biennial Conference will be the first public policy dialogue of its scale to be hosted in Botswana. It will aim to reposition the NGO sector as a strategic partner in national development.
“The conference coincides with major breakthroughs in NGO development in Botswana with the launch of both the NGO Policy and the NGO Council. It also provides an opportunity to address how the policy will be implemented in the context of national, regional and international development,” Mabilo told reporters last week at BOCONGO offices in Gaborone.
Mabilo who is also a Chairperson of this Biennial Conference said their hope is that the media would inform all stakeholders and the public about this conference.
“The conference is a platform to showcase the achievement and innovations of NGOs in different sectors, as well as share information, knowledge, strategies and solutions. Therefore the media will be much needed,” said Mabilo.
She told reporters that the objective of the conference is 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.
She said the Conference is the brainchild of BOCONGO under the Maatla Project. Maatla is a five year United States Agency International Development (USAID) funded project which is designed to strengthen the capacity of the civil society sector in Botswana to deliver HIV related health services.
The Biennial Conference is slated for March 11 and will end on March 13. Acting US Ambassador Michael Murphy will be the guest speaker at this conference.