SPEECHES

Ambassador Canavan Remarks: Botswana Child labour Conference "Education not Exploitation", July 3-4,2007

July 2, 2007

Hon. Minister Charles Tibone

 

 

Commissioner Claude Mojafi

 

 

BNYC Executive Director

 

 

Members of the RECLISA Project

 

 

Ladies and Gentleman

 

 

 

Dumelang bo rra le bo mma

 

 

 

If you asked anyone in Botswana what is Botswana’s greatest natural resource, most people would respond “diamonds.”  But as Walt Disney, who knew a thing or two about children, once said, “Our greatest natural resource is the minds of our children.”

 

 

Botswana has done a good job of developing its natural resource – its children – through education.  According to the 2006 UN Human Development Report, Botswana ranks high in many education indicators such as adult and youth literacy rates, primary, secondary, and tertiary school enrollment, and children reaching grade five.  In fact, Botswana is a leader in these indicators in the SADC region and Africa as a whole.

 

 

Botswana’s success in educating its citizens is not surprising.  One of the goals of Vision 2016 is an educated and informed nation.  But like all countries, Botswana can still do more to ensure it meets its Vision 2016 goals.

 

 

Education is not compulsory in Botswana, which may allow some children to fall through the cracks and not receive an education.  Rural poverty in Botswana and the HIV/AIDS pandemic are factors that lead children to work rather than attend school.  Child labor can be the start of a vicious economic cycle.   Children may work because their families are poor but if these children fail to get an education, as adults they will also be limited in the types of jobs for which they can qualify.   These uneducated adults may then in turn rely on their children to contribute to the family income, producing another generation unable to escape the trap of poverty.  Continuing its fight against HIV/AIDs and growing the economy so all members of society participate in Botswana’s economic success will help Botswana achieve its Vision 2016 goal of an educated and informed nation.

 

 

The United States has and will continue to assist Botswana reach its Vision 2016 goal and through USAID and U.S. Department of Labor programs, the U.S. will continue to support the children of Botswana.  

 

 

One such program is USAID’s Ambassador’s Girl’s Scholarship Program, which is a program under President Bush’s Africa Education Initiative.  The objective of this program is to support the retention of girls in school in sub-Saharan Africa through scholarships and mentoring programs.  In the past three years, 450 needy girls in Botswana have received scholarships, which cover the costs of tuition, school fees, books, uniforms, supplies, food, shoes, and transportation.  

 

 

One of my first acts as Ambassador to Botswana was to launch in 2005 two projects focused on eliminating child labor.  The first project was the USDOL program in Southern Africa, “Towards the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor.”  The program works with Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland in developing national plans to address these issues.  Such a comprehensive approach identifies all the factors that contribute to child labor, from infrastructure issues that require a child to walk for hours to fetch drinking water to education issues such as a family’s needs for an exemption from school fees.  Botswana is now close to completing a national Action Program on the Elimination of Child Labor.  I urge the stakeholders involved in drafting and approving this plan to work quickly as this will be another effective tool for Botswana to eliminate child labor.

 

 

The second program I helped launch was the RECLISA program, for which we are here today.  The aim of this program is to withdraw 10,000 vulnerable children from involvement in hazardous or exploitative child labor in South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.  Through the efforts of the Botswana National Youth Council, SOS Children’s Villages, and other local NGOs, this project has enrolled over 1,600 children in formal schools and special educational programs since its inception less than two years ago. Of these, many are street children or likely to become street children without the RECLISA program.

 

 

A mining company such as Debswana would never leave a diamond behind in a mine.  Through programs such as RECLISA, through the leadership of the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Labor and Home Affairs, and through the dedication and hard work of the people at BNYC, SOS, and other local NGOs, I am confident that there will be a day when no child is left behind in Botswana.

 

 

Thank you.