On October 24, 2023, the Job Creation and Investment Climate (JCIC) programme funded by European Union and implemented by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) Department of Business Services (DBS) has mobilised its stakeholders and partners organisations during a one-day Retreat seminar, to discuss the progress of the programme and the need to join all forces for bringing JCIC project to success. The retreat seminar mobilised high level representatives from European Union Delegation (EUD) to Botswana and SADC, MTI-DBS, Department of Tourism, Digital Transformation Coordination Office (DTCO), SmartBots, Botswana Investment and Trade Center (BITC), Business Botswana (BB), Hospitality and Tourism Association of Botswana (HATAB), Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), Botswana National Productivity Center (BNPC) and Administration of Justice. (AoJ).
During the opening ceremony, Mr. Tebo Motswagae, Acting Director MTI-DBS and M. Clément Bouthillier, Head of Cooperation, EUD, highlighted the importance of JCIC programme aiming to accelerating the investment climate reforms for making Botswana as an attractive investment destination. They called the concerned stakeholders and partners to put communication and collaboration as an engine for implementing JCIC project in the best condition, encouraged them to consolidate the progress made so far and recommended them to accelerate the implementation of the remaining activities before the end of the programme foreseen in May 2024.
The Retreat Seminar was led by Dr. Sid Boubekeur, Team Leader of the Job Creation and Investment Climat (JCIC) programme. During the morning session, comprehensive presentations were made by JCIC senior experts on the progress of doing business reforms activities (Mr. Dev Chamroo), eGovernance and digitalisation activities (Mr.Guibert Hairson) and eco-tourism (Mr. Norbert Trehoux). The presentations were followed by constructive discussions and fruitful deliberations from the participants who learned on the methods developed by JCIC experts, including on the user-centric approach which will be used for Botswana One Stop Service Center (BOSSC) digitalisation.
The afternoon was dedicated to working groups sessions related to the three components of JCIC programme: ‘’Doing business reforms’’, ‘’eGovernance services and digitalisation’’ and ‘’eco-tourism value chain’’. The stakeholders and partners discussed and defined solutions for accelerating the implementation of JCIC activities through better communication and collaborations for meeting the expected results.
The Retreat seminar was a very good opportunity to present the logic of how transformation must happen to achieve in a sustainable manner the objectives of JCIC programme. A consensus was reached by the stakeholders and partners to work together through regular consultation on the ongoing and forthcoming activities of the programme. Ultimately, this seminar made it possible to mobilize stakeholders and partners in a participatory approach to better execute the programme and, to carry out the activities at a stage of maturity, so that they can be relayed by the Government, international and bilateral donors in the framework of forthcoming projects on Doing business, digitalisation and eco-tourism development.
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M. Clément Boutiilier, Head of Cooperation, EUD to Botswana and SADC – M. Tebo Motswagae, Ag. Director MTI-DBS – M. Mako Gaogaufi Steady Deputy Coordinator, DTCO – M. Stanely Makosha, Coordinator, SmartBots
M. Marelidi Dipate, Regional Magistrate South, AoJ, M.Obert Yuyi, Ms DoT, xecutive Director Business Facilitation, BITC, Ms Matlho Kgosi, Marketing Manager, BNPC, Dr. Sid Boubekeur, Team Leader, JCIC programme