De Beers Group and United Nations (UN) Women, in collaboration with Botswana’s Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, have announced a BWP8 million, three-year investment in capacity-building programs to support women micro-entrepreneurs in select villages in the Okavango Delta and Kweneng District.

The announcement was made at the W Summit in Gaborone, convened by De Beers, which focuses on the advancement of women business leaders in Botswana and southern Africa.

In the Okavango Delta, De Beers and UN Women will work with the NGO Adore Little Children Botswana (ALCB), which provides support to women and children in Ngarange Village. The partnership will extend ALCB’s existing women’s economic empowerment programmes, which focus on improving livelihoods through permaculture programmes that produce fresh vegetables for local communities.

In Kweneng District villages, De Beers and UN Women will work with local partners to advance existing micro-enterprises that include leatherworks, pottery and livestock businesses, as well as identifying and developing opportunities for new small, medium and micro-enterprises.

The programs, to be launched in early 2018, will equip women micro-entrepreneurs in the target regions with business management skills, an understanding of access to markets and marketing, and technical skills, especially in agricultural activities. In addition, the programs will help build life skills and confidence to support effective decision-making, communication and negotiation.

The Okavango Delta and Kweneng District are some of the poorest and most remote areas of Botswana and were selected as the initial focus due to the strong potential to deliver tangible, positive outcomes that support entire communities through the increased economic empowerment of women micro-entrepreneurs.

Bruce Cleaver, CEO, De Beers Group, said: “Botswana has achieved a huge amount of development through prudent use of diamond revenues, but challenges remain and programmes such as these can have a real and lasting positive impact. Advancing women’s economic empowerment in two of the most disadvantaged areas of Botswana will not only support the women micro-entrepreneurs that participate in the programmes, but also their communities through increased employment opportunities and skills development.”

Anne Githuku-Shongwe, Representative, UN Women South Africa Multi-Country Office, said: “This initiative is in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals Agenda 2030 to ‘Leave No One Behind’, targeting one of the most marginalised communities in Botswana to invest in women’s economic empowerment and create long term sustainability for families in this region.”

De Beers and UN Women are working with local stakeholders in the target areas to finalise the implementation approach. More information on how to participate will be provided early next year.

The programs are part of De Beers’ three year global partnership with UN Women and its commitment to stand with women around the world. De Beers is investing $3 million to advance women micro-entrepreneurs and STEM students in its diamond producing countries of Canada, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

In addition, as one of seven UN Women HeForShe Thematic Champions, De Beers has committed to achieving parity in the appointment of women and men into senior leadership roles in its own organisation, as well as ensuring the company’s brands are a positive force for gender equality through all its marketing campaigns.

UN Women is the UN entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide. For more information, visit www.unwomen.org.

Created by UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women, the ‘HeForShe’ solidarity movement for gender equality provides a systematic approach and targeted platform where a global audience can engage and become change agents for the achievement of gender equality in our lifetime. For more information, visit http://www.HeForShe.org/en

The HeForShe Thematic Champions Initiative is a growing cohort of select world leaders who are lending their influence and conviction to UN Women’s efforts. This group of leaders are known as HeForShe Thematic Champions. They are designated a focus area as outlined in the UN Women Strategic Plan, and actively leverage their unique resources, networks and specialized skills to drive for the concrete change that is fundamental to achieving gender equality. For more information, visit: http://www.HeForShe.org/en/thematic

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