OUTREACH PROGRAMME – KASANE

DITSHWANELO’s Outreach office is based in Kasane, in northern Botswana.  Following a direct request from the Basarwa / San community, the office was established specifically to support the needs of this community by helping to raise their awareness of their rights, enhance their ability to achieve their rights, and providing a PARALEGAL service.  We do not, however, limit our services or activities to this ethnic group.

The office was established in Kasane as there was and still is no other NGO based there which can provide these sorts of services.  However, we provide support to communities across a large area of Botswana, including the Gantsi District, around Maun, Nata and Francistown.  Our support ranges from running workshops to raise the communities’ awareness of their rights, to providing community based organisations’  leaders with training on budgeting, planning and legal issues to help them secure and retain funding for community projects.

The Programme developed a focus on land rights issues in response to the community’s particular needs.  The forced relocation of Basarwa / San from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve was one significant land rights issue, but not the only one.  For example, as northern Botswana is a high tourism region there can be significant discrepancy between the legal understanding of the local communities and the developers seeking to create tourist ventures on tribal land.

In addition to providing a PARALEGAL service from the Kasane office, the Outreach Programme conducts training sessions for local communities and even for the employees of large organisations.  These sessions enable participants to discuss their experiences and gain understanding of their rights and their responsibilities.  Workshops combine a specific focus on land rights issues with discussions and training on rights regarding any matter of concern to the community, such as HIV/AIDS, gender equality, labour and domestic rights / abuse.

As the only rights-focused NGO in the region, we also represent civil society at a number of meetings, ranging from election monitoring to involvement in HIV/AIDS-related activities.  Immigration problems are also commonly handled by this office, as Kasane is on the border with Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia.

DITSHWANELO is also a key stakeholder in such major regional projects as the Zambezi River Basin Programme on Agricultural Water Management for Food Security, a project covering Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, and funded by the FAO