ANNUAL GEERAL MEETING 17 November 2022
BCD AGM UPDATE:
Botswana Council for the Disabled held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the 17 of November 2022. The AGM which marked BCD’s 42 year of existance was well attended with a delegate of 31 from 14 participating Civil Society Organizations (CSO’s) providing services to people with disabilities. BCD member organizations provide services in Education and life skills development, Habilitation and Rehabilitation, Health and Sports and Advocacy and Community support services.
The general membership was general excited about progress reports from the Board and encourage the Board to work even harder on their transformation agenda. BCD is currently working on a new strategy plan, which has 7 major strategic goals which include:
- Efficient recognition and promotion of the human rights for persons with disability for inclusivity and equitable society
- Enhanced brand visibility and stakeholder management
- Enhance service delivery for people with disabilities
- Achieve greater financial sustainability for broader impact
- Strengthened and harmonised legal framework systems for development of persons with disabilities
- Enhance governance, management, and controls
- Build a diverse, inclusive, agile, and high-performing organisation
It was reported that BCD is currently redesigning its website to make it a resource for information about disability services in Botswana. The Board Chairperson and the Treasurer also talked at length about the challenges that CSO’s working in the disability sector experience, such as:
- Lack of funding for most CSO’s working in the sector, and budget cuts for those which are being funded. It was explained that CSO’s which are getting financial support, its mainly coming from three ministries, which is the Ministry of Health (Health sector), Ministry of Education and Skills Development (Education sector) and Ministry of State President (Advocacy and human rights).
- Weak civic engagement and participation – that the sector is mostly passive and issues affecting people with disabilities are not aggressively dealt with. This is one reason the sector is poorly financed.
- The chairperson also emphasized that CSO’s need to strengthen their governance and management structures so that they can perform at their optimal best, with the limited resources.
The Annual general meeting endorsed 5 new members which are: Love Botswana (Lorato house) from Maun, Tsholofelo Rehabilitation Centre from Serowe, Brave Hearts Association from Gaborone, Madikwe Community Care Group (MCCG) from Malolwane Village, Kgatleng and Autism Botswana from Gaborone.
BCD Board members are Mr Dickinson Samaemo (Chairperson), Ms Orapeleng Mokgosi (Vice-Chairperson), Ms Tebatso Menyatso (Secretary), Mr Moagi Mmitsi (Treasurer), Mr David Tatolo Ranto, Mr Omphemetse Ramabokwa and Ms Seanokeng Marina Ngwako (Additional Members).
