Offices and Departments

Peace Corps

Peace Corps first entered Botswana in 1966, closely on the heels of independence. Peace Corps’ arrival coincided with the new government’s “Transitional Plan for Development”. Over the next thirty-one years, more than 2,000 Peace Corps Volunteers contributed to Botswana’s transformation, notably in the areas of education, health care, small enterprise development, and natural resource management.

Peace Corps withdrew from Botswana in 1997. The decision to “graduate” was based on a combination of factors. These were mostly linked to the fact that Botswana had reached a “middle income country” status—whose development challenges were not as pressing as those of other countries. Botswana was a development “success” story. Peace Corps’ withdrawal from Botswana was gentle. No new volunteers were accepted; the program ended through the attrition of those volunteers in the field.

The idea of Peace Corps’ return to Botswana came about through a request from President Mogae to President Bush in 2001 and was directly related to the severity of the AIDS epidemic in the region and its potential to reverse Botswana’s prolific development gains. The first group of 18 Peace Corps Volunteers is slated to arrive on March 21, 2003. They will undergo a ten-week training in and around the village of Rasesa, before being assigned for two years of service.

Peace Corps is heavily engaged in the process of identifying appropriate and effective programming plans. Under the guidance of the National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), Peace Corps will begin its activities in partnership with the Ministry of Local Government, specifically with the AIDS Coordinating Unit. The AIDS Coordinating Unit is less than a year old and is slated to play a key role in the “mainstreaming” of HIV/AIDS education and programming in all national and district development projects at the district and village levels. They have recently hired and deployed “District AIDS Coordinators” in 15 districts (with planned expansion to all 24 health districts in Botswana). There are several capacity gaps that have been identified in terms of the planned implementation of HIV/AIDS programming, as well as in the mobilization of community-led responses to the epidemic. Volunteers will be assigned as counterparts to District AIDS Coordinators, in hopes of helping to close these gaps.

Increasing, Peace Corps has become aware of the absence of a gregarious community response to the effects of AIDS. The civil society sector is weak and unprepared to carry the rapidly multiplying social and economic burdens (e.g. orphan care, home-based care, income generation, etc.) With few strong non-governmental organizations (NGO’s, CBO’s and FBO’s) and an increasing demand by the government for NGO AIDS service providers, it is highly likely that Peace Corps will look to target future programs at the grassroots/village level and civil society sectors.