BCD LEADERS MONITORING AND EVALUATION WORKSHOP 25th -26th August, 2022

VENUE: Saharastone Hotel, Palapye

1.0 WELCOME REMARKS
In his welcome remarks the Executive Director; Mr. Moffat Louis explained that Botswana is expected to write a report which will be presented to UN on the monitoring and evaluation of the Convention since the country signed the Convention in 2021. This will be a holistic report jointly compiled by the government and Disability Person’s Organizations which advocate for persons with disabilities (PWDs). He went on to explain that as CSOs we are allowed to write our own report; SHADOW REPORT, independent from government. He urged all leaders to look themselves in the mirror, wake up and do more than what they are doing, to be seen, heard if the disability movement to be taken serious.
Another speaker Ms. Menyatso emphasized on the importance of reporting on the Convention as expected. She clarified the two major tasks as;

1) to monitor what the government is doing and interrogate if their report matches what is actually happening on the ground  2) to report on what we as the CSOs have done towards implementation of the Convention.

2.0 WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

Ms. D. Taukobong; Programs Manager outlined the objectives as follows;

• Discuss the UNCRPD
• Strategize implementation of the UNCRPD
• Discuss Monitoring and Evaluation of the UNCRPD
• Review the reporting tools currently used and generate a more user friendly version that will incorporate the UNCRPD
• Lastly, this workshop will provide a platform for us to know each other, discuss issues that affect all of us.

3.0 REVISED NATIONAL DISABILITY POLICY

Mr. P. Khame; Chief Disability Officer (National Disability Coordinating Office) shared on the Revised National Disability Policy and shared it vision is as; an inclusion Botswana where every person with disability can exercise their rights on an equal level with others. The policy views disability as:

1. Cross-cutting issue: It is in every sector.
2. Human Rights Based: The revised policy has shifted from viewing disability as a charity to a right based approach.
3. An evolving concept: Disability is not viewed as a sickness/condition that can be corrected with

treatment or medical.

Finally, the policy has embraced the CRPD: It incorporates issues of social inclusion, promote equality and access to services. Persons with disabilities should be treated equally, not like second class citizens.

The goal of this policy is to promote and protect the dignity of Persons with disabilities.

 

3.`1 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND INDICATORS

The government in consultation with Civil Society Organizations has come up with strategic objectives and indicators that will be used during the monitoring and evaluation. Every ministry submitted its own indicators depending on the issues they are dealing with and the same is expected of BCD (refer to the Implementation Plan of the Revised NDP 2021). Mr. Khame went on to say resources will be availed for the implementation part, the government will share the little it has to enable BCD to implement the Convention. Every ministry, and BCD will then be requested to write its own M&E report and these reports will be consolidated into one big cross cutting report which the government of Botswana will present to the UN in Geneva, Switzerland sometimes next year.

Furthermore, if CSOs through BCD want to present their own report independently, they are allowed to do so. He went on to highlight that M&E indicators are in three forms:

• Structural/Infrastructure-what do we have that enables us to implement
• Output-what we have done towards, if we put money towards implementation, what will come out, it could be number of people trained.
• Outcome-how has the implementation changed the lives of the PWDs, how has the training changed the lives of the trained individuals.

He further shared on the initially/current disability indicators as;

• Public Awareness
• Economic Empowerment
• Data Desegregation
• Monitoring and Evaluation

3.2 DISABILITY STRUCTURES

National Disability Council

Lead by the Minister responsible for disabilities issues, comprises of persons with disabilities, representative from advocating CSOs.

 

Disability Focal Persons Technical Team

Comprises of government departments, private sector, para-statals (they all report on their efforts in inclusion of PWDs). Disability organizations are represented by BCD.

 

District Disability Coordinating Committee

District coordinating committees in respective districts coordinate different government departments in their districts and report to the National Disability Council. These are chaired by the Districts Commissioners.

 

Council Committee

Chaired by the District Commissioner assisted by the Council Chairperson.

 

Parliamentary Committee

Similar to the Council Committee only this one is set up in parliament, serves as senior to the council committee.

 

Independent Monitoring Mechanism

This is independent of government, BCD belongs to this committee and they interrogate and verify the efforts of the government and the report.

 

WAY FORWARD

1. Develop a Holistic reporting tool that will include Indicators for the Convention; National Disability Coordinating Office will provide guidance
2. There is need for Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at BCD to support the Convention implementation
3. Establish a Reference team for the UNCRPD Implementation
4. The upcoming Disability conference with SAFOD should include a thematic area on Learning Disabilities
5. Intensify Awareness campaigns
6. CSOs to do a preliminary research and compile findings on the per capita cost of a special need child and later engage specialists.
7. Resettlement or exist programs-research on what happens to special kids after school, this research will help us determine the need for incubators.