In his 2012 state of the nation address the President mentioned with regards to youth empowerment that our nation faces no greater task than that of empowering our youth to achieve their aspirations for a productive and meaningful life. Census findings reveal that some 39% of Botswana are aged between 15 and 35. Yet notwithstanding the fact that this age cohort is better educated than any generation before them, or that many of them also possess additional life skills and talents, such as relatively high levels of ICT literacy, as a group they are struggling. Having come of age in an especially challenging time of economic downturn, our youth deserve the government’s special support. The nation’s present opportunities as well as future prospects are at stake. With their energy and innovative capacity our youth are solid assets, who need to be enabled if we are to be a more prosperous and productive nation.
He further went on to mention that government’s commitment to building a better future by investing in our youth is perhaps best reflected in their devotion of substantial resources to their education, training and overall skills development, both in and outside the classroom; they recognize that our education system must be adapted to meet evolving social and economic demands. Statistics show that participation in tertiary education has been increasing steadily over the years but is still relatively low. About 45% of the relevant school‐leaving age group is entering tertiary education and about 64% of them are going to private institutions.
The levels of unemployment for the educated are high with tertiary level graduates comprising 15% of the unemployed and those with post‐secondary certificates a further 22%. These figures suggest poor quality of post‐school education and/or an inability of the economy to absorb individuals with high levels of education or maybe even lack of intuition, innovation and initiative by the graduates of the education system. This could be caused by other non-economic factors such as a dependency culture which was brewed by government’s active role in assuming the private sector role since 1976.
The need for the adaption of the education system is the principal justification for the development of Botswana’s first comprehensive Human Resource Development Strategy set to be realized by 2029. When it is implemented it will provide a strategic link across each of the vision 2016 pillars, and a vital underpinning to the range of government, societal, sector and institutional reforms that are necessary for Botswana to achieve the status of “winning nation”.
So far through the Human Resource Development Council, several sector committees have been setup to review and develop integrated HRD plans in line with this strategy. As an identified key alternative driver of societal development, economic development and growth, the government has through its Ministry of Trade and Industry’s Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) placed the creative industries as the number one priority sector to development in line with the Private Sector Development Strategy and Human Resource Development Strategy.
It is argued that a human resource development strategy that recognizes the creative industries as key cross cutting catalysts or a sector for Botswana, will ensure that the policies of government, the desires of civil society, the programs of educational institutions, and the initiatives of business and industry are better aligned and work together in a coordinated way to enhance overall sustainable human resource capabilities and consequent economic growth and development. In the next blog post I will discuss some theories on the cultural and creative industries and how these can contribute to economic development of the country and its people.
