Implementation challenge in North West19 July, 2012 | |
GUMARE - Implementation, coordination and monitoring of policies continues to be a challenge in the North West District.
In a special council meeting to review the District Development Plan Seven (DDP 7) in Gumare recently, assistant district commissioner for Okavango, Mr Thabang Dikatlholo said there was insufficient communication between implementers and communities during the roll out of the plan. He said lack of transport within the district, inaccessibility to remote areas and shortage of manpower has not made the situation any better. This he said has resulted in low uptake of youth empowerment schemes and other programmes meant for the community. He said the main purpose of the mid-term review of the DDP 7 and National Development Plan Ten (NDP 10) was to review major achievements in the implementation of projects and policies. Mr Dikatlholo said it also highlights problem areas, to suggest policy reforms or alternative policies and to prioritise projects for the last half of DDP 7. He however, concurred with the councillors that the plan did not cover most of villages as there were no new projects added to the draft due to financial constraints. He said communities have similar concerns and constraints that affect the development of the district as well as poverty and the high crime rate in the district. To this effect, councillors accepted the Ngamiland DDP 7 with mixed feelings. They felt that the new draft report does not add proposed projects to the original plan to cover most of their villages. Councillors Allen Sokwe and Baphutholodi Kgari of Tsau and Boseja wards respectively said there was no need for the mid-term review, as the country is still experiencing the effects of the recent recession. Councillors were also briefed on key issues raised during mid-term review consultations including frequent outbreaks of natural disasters, high levels of poverty, human-wildlife conflict and staff turn-over. BOPA |
Friday, 27 July 2012
Ngamiland west more poor
15% below PDL in Okavango/Ngamiland24 July, 2012 | |
PARLIAMENT - According to the 1993/94 Household Income and Expenditure Survey, 15 per cent of the population in the Okavango/Ngamiland region is living below the Poverty Datum Line (PDL).
The Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration said when answering a parliamentary question on Thursday that the 2002/03 survey estimated 33.9 and 53.3 per cent of the population as living below the PDL in Ngamiland east and west respectively. Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi said the 2009/10 survey preliminary estimates showed that 27.9 and 47.3 per cent of the population were living below the PDL in Ngamiland east and west respectively. Mr Masisi noted that comparing the 2002/03 and 2009/10 estimates, indications were that the poverty incidence in Ngamiland east and west was progressively improving, suggesting that the region was positively recovering from the effects of the cattle eradication exercise. The MP for Okavango, Mr Bagalatia Arone had asked the minister to state how the level of poverty was in Okavango/Ngamiland before and after the cattle eradication exercise of 1995. He had also wanted to know whether Ngamiland region had positively recovered from the effects of the eradication exercise. BOPA |
Poverty in Ngamiland
Study uncovers "pockets of severe poverty" within Botswana districts
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The poverty headcount index, or the number of poor people expressed as a percentage of the population, shows that the Kgalagadi District is the worst with 19,133 poor people out of a total district population of 41,684. Within the Kgalagadi District, rural Kgalagadi South has a high poverty headcount of 11,570 people out of 19,348 classified as poor.
In short, two out of three residents of rural Kgalagadi South were classified as poor. In rural Ngamiland West, 24,556 out of 44,729 were classified as poor, while in rural Boteti, 16,461 people out of 32,857 were classified as poor.
Using the 2001 Population and Housing Census and the 2002/03 Household Income and Expenditure Survey (HIES) as base documents, the recently released study was able to identify poverty trends at district and sub-district levels. By analysing the data sets from the two base documents, the researchers were able to calculate estimations of poverty for small areas, making use of Poverty Datum Line estimates.
Internationally, the poverty datum line is set at US$1 per day (P6.6). In 2003, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimated that 30 percent of Batswana were living below the poverty datum line. The study, funded and assisted by UNDP, confirms previous data indicating that poverty is highest in rural areas. But it also goes further to identify in which districts, sub-districts and towns the poorest households are concentrated.
The Poverty Map was able to break down data from the Population and Housing Census and the HIES to calculate district, sub-district, town and locality poverty levels into categories such as poverty headcount, poverty gap and poverty severity. In the poorest district, Kgalagadi, the Poverty Map indicates that rural areas of Kgalagadi South have the highest poverty severity index, followed by the rural areas of Kgalagadi North.Another high poverty area is rural Ngamiland West into which the researchers incorporated areas around the Okavango Delta. Other areas with high poverty severity indices include rural Ngamiland East, rural Boteti and rural Kweneng West, in descending order.
Conversely, areas with lower poverty severity indices include Orapa, Sowa Town, Gaborone, Tlokweng and Jwaneng, in descending order. In terms of poverty gaps, the Kgalagadi District again had the highest index, followed by Ghantsi, Ngamiland, the Southern and the Central District. In Kgalagadi South, Tsabong had a poverty severity index of 0.041, while in contrast, areas in rural Kgalagadi South had a collective poverty severity index of 0.182.
Major towns such as Gaborone, Francistown, Lobatse and Selebi-Phikwe all showed lower poverty levels, in terms of poverty headcount, poverty gap and poverty severity, according to the Poverty Map.
The capital has a poverty headcount of 0.076 which translates into 13,804 poor people, while Francistown has 12,879. However, Lobatse and Selebi-Phikwe have high poverty headcounts, or numbers of poor people expressed as percentages of total populations.The Poverty Map shows that Lobatse has a poverty headcount index of 0.191, meaning that close to one in five residents of the border town are classified as poor.But the CSO warns that using district-level information often hides the existence of poverty pockets in otherwise relatively well-off districts, which would lead to poorly targeted schemes.
"Having better information at the local level would necessarily minimise information leakages and therefore permit more cost-effective and efficient anti-poverty schemes," the CSO report says. "Poverty indicators are needed at the local level, as spatial inequalities can be important within a given region."
The CSO strategists stressed that policy-makers and planners need finely disaggregated information in order to implement their anti-poverty schemes. Typically, they need information for small geographic units, such as city neighbourhoods, towns or villages, the researchers said.
The CSO and UNDP hope the Poverty Map will become an important tool in support of the government's administrative and decentralisation processes currently taking place.
The Poverty Map could also be used in conjunction with alternative measures of poverty alleviation based on education, health or infrastructure indicators.
The Poverty Map could also be used in conjunction with alternative measures of poverty alleviation based on education, health or infrastructure indicators.
Source: Mmegi on line. October 30, 2009
Monday, 23 July 2012
Tsodilo Resources develops mines in Ngamiland region
Tsodilo Resources develops mines in Ngamiland region
by Tshiamo Tabane23-07-2012
Tsodilo Resources, the Toronto Stock Exchange listed company, is preparing to turn Ngami region into a mining hub for variety of minerals as it continues to record encouraging results from exploration and drilling activities from its iron project in the northern part of this country.
“The results from the Ironstone work have been very encouraging. We have reported grades of over 70 percent and Iron has been consistent and it doesn’t look like one has to go down to a very fine grind to recover this, which is a great advantage in this type of project,” said Mike De Wit, the company Director.
De Wit said as drilling activities indicate that the area has valuable grades of mineral deposits, the company could within three years start mining iron.
“Drilling will at least take three years but this doesn’t mean that we have to wait that long to start production if the evaluation of the deposit warrants it.”
He said the ironstone deposit is extensive and from the drilling done so far it could be in billions of tons.
“The opportunities are real and for the company it would add a lot of value. We would use that value to continue with our Copper and Diamond work,” he said.
De Wit said though the markets are up and down in line with the global economic uncertainties, in the longer run the outlook is very promising for Iron. “Also as Botswana is unlocking its coal potential and with its own Iron deposit there are great possibilities of developing its own steel industry,” he said.
He said as Ngamiland is an impoverished area it needs the project to provide an upliftment to the local communities. “It will in addition be seen as a diversification of the mineral industry in the country – away from diamonds,” he said.
De Wit added that after intersecting rocks which are identical to the Copperbelt in Zambia, they have realised that the region is a major base metal target. “It is also an opportunity to develop some of its people and the region as a whole.”
He said the Ngamiland region is a major base metal target in the country and can be turned into a mining town. While the area sits between two major mineral provinces (Copperbelt in Zambia and Damara) it has never been extensively explored because of its remoteness and thick sand cover.
“The results from the Ironstone work have been very encouraging. We have reported grades of over 70 percent and Iron has been consistent and it doesn’t look like one has to go down to a very fine grind to recover this, which is a great advantage in this type of project,” said Mike De Wit, the company Director.
De Wit said as drilling activities indicate that the area has valuable grades of mineral deposits, the company could within three years start mining iron.
“Drilling will at least take three years but this doesn’t mean that we have to wait that long to start production if the evaluation of the deposit warrants it.”
He said the ironstone deposit is extensive and from the drilling done so far it could be in billions of tons.
“The opportunities are real and for the company it would add a lot of value. We would use that value to continue with our Copper and Diamond work,” he said.
De Wit said though the markets are up and down in line with the global economic uncertainties, in the longer run the outlook is very promising for Iron. “Also as Botswana is unlocking its coal potential and with its own Iron deposit there are great possibilities of developing its own steel industry,” he said.
He said as Ngamiland is an impoverished area it needs the project to provide an upliftment to the local communities. “It will in addition be seen as a diversification of the mineral industry in the country – away from diamonds,” he said.
De Wit added that after intersecting rocks which are identical to the Copperbelt in Zambia, they have realised that the region is a major base metal target. “It is also an opportunity to develop some of its people and the region as a whole.”
He said the Ngamiland region is a major base metal target in the country and can be turned into a mining town. While the area sits between two major mineral provinces (Copperbelt in Zambia and Damara) it has never been extensively explored because of its remoteness and thick sand cover.
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