REPUBLIC OF BOTSWANA
MINISTRY OF LABOUR AND HOME AFFAIRS
GENDER AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT
REVISED GUIDELINES FOR FINANCIAL SUPPORT
TO INDIVIDUAL WOMEN SHAREHOLDERS,
WOMEN’S NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS, WOMEN COMMUNITY BASED BUSINESSES
AND WOMEN’S GROUPS BUSINESS VENTURES
OCTOBER 2015
DEFINITION OF TERMS
i. Unemployed refers to a person who is without a job and does not have any source of income.
ii. Source of income (level of income) refers to salary/wage/pension, income from rent of properties (houses, shops, etc.) and any other reliable source of money/fundswhich accrues to the individual on a regular basis.
iii. Assets mean any possessions or belongings in the form of property such as cash/money, houses to rent out, businesses in which an individual can make a living out of.
iv. Individual Women Shareholders refer to women entrepreneurs who are sole owners of their business.
v. Services refer to non-production oriented activities.
vi. Community project refers to any business venturewith a minimum of ten (10) members and has potential to employ more community members.
vii. Beneficiaries refer to individual women shareholders, NGOs, CBOs and women groups.
ACRONYMS
CBOs Community Based Organisations
CIPA Companies Intellectual Property Authority
CSO Civil Society Organisations
GeAD Gender Affairs Department
MLHA Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs
NGOs Non-Governmental Organisations
PE Poverty Eradication
WEE Women’s Economic Empowerment
NPGAD National Policy on Gender and Development
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs through the Gender Affairs Department (GeAD) is mandated to facilitate mainstreaming of gender in the development process. In the past decade, Non-Governmental Organisations, Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Women’s Groups have been active players in the social and economic development of Botswana. Following the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, the need to empower women for their advancement in all spheres of development was identified. The need for sufficient financial and human resources for the advancement of women was said to be a major priority. Government of Botswana acknowledges that gender inequalities often lower economic productivity and this increases susceptibility of individual women to gender inequality further generating inequity and worsening individual wellbeing.
As gender equality remains pivotal to all development processes as espoused in the National Development Plan and the National Vision 2016, targeted programmes such as Women’s Economic Empowerment become of great significance. Government has made a commitment to allocate resources for the Women’s Economic Empowerment programme supporting income generating initiatives in line with the National Policy on Gender and Development 2015.
The National Policy on Gender and Development addresses the following priority areas:
a) Economic Development, Prosperity and Poverty Eradication to achieve sustainable development.
b) Social Protection and Social Services.
c) Political Power, Democratic Governance and Decision Making.
d) Access to Justice, Protection of Human Rights and Freedom from Violence.
e) Special Measures targeting vulnerable groups of women, men, girls and boys cutting across the areas outlined above.
f) Implementation strategies for the priority areas which include; accelerating sectoral gender mainstreaming, capacity and systems strengthening, establishing and strengthening strategic partnerships and alliances.
The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs through the Gender Affairs Department, administers disbursement of funds for implementation of the Women Economic Empowerment Programme. Funds are allocated to individual women shareholders, Women NGOs, CBOs and Women’s groups.
Furthermore, the Ministry provides technical support to women groups and individuals to start income generating projects. These projects are viewed as having potential to address the beneficiaries’ immediate and practical needs. In the long term, they will be able to address their strategic needs that promote gender equality particularly on the areas of concern which were adopted by Botswana Government during the 1995 UN World Conference in Beijing.
The Ministry has in the Post 2015 Development Agenda, prioritised provision of targeted support to women enterprises through programmes that ensure and accelerate sustainable participation of women in the mainstream economy. In addition, the Ministry aims to transform economic conditions and create an enabling environment to sustain women enterprises, as harnessing the productive potential of women remains a critical option that can guarantee Botswana’s sustainable socio-economic development in the 21st Century.
The Guidelines for Financial Support to Individual Women Shareholders, Women’s Non-Governmental Organisations, Community Based Businesses and Women’s Groups, seek to strengthen administrative procedures to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of the Ministry’s support to the beneficiaries under the Women’s Economic Empowerment Programme.
2.0 ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
2.1 To be eligible for financial support, the followingcriteria must be met:
2.1.1 All beneficiaries must be citizens of Botswana.
2.1.2 Beneficiaries should either be unemployed or have a monthly income of not more than Five Hundred Pula (P500.00).
2.1.3 Funding will be provided to individual women as sole owners of their businesses.
2.1.4 Funding will also be provided to groups of two or more people.
2.1.5 A group may include men; however, their number should not exceed that of women.
2.1.6 The Women Community Based Organisations (CBOs) must be registered with the Registrar of Societies or constituted under the Deeds of Trust in the Deeds Registry of the Attorney General’s Chambers.
2.1.7 Women’s groups and individual women must be registered with Companies Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) and produce a copy of valid certificate of business name/company registration. In the event that the names of beneficiaries do not appear in the certificate, share certificate will be required where each member will have equal share holding. Women’s Groupsmay also register with any recognised body such as the Department of Cooperatives Development and Agri-Business in the Ministry of Agriculture.
2.1.8 A Community Project must have a minimum of ten members with at least 70% of the members being women.
2.1.9 Beneficiaries will be required to undertake an oath (affidavit) to confirm their social and economic status.
2.1.10 Beneficiaries should be implementers of the funded project.
2.1.11 Beneficiaries will be expected to open a bank account after approval of their project, which will be accessible to relevant authorities, into which Government financial contribution will be deposited.
2.1.12 It is mandatory that beneficiaries should route all their purchases through Gender Affairs Department Offices at District levels, for authentication.
2.1.13 Beneficiaries will undergo relevant technical, financial and business management training upon approval of their requests.
2.1.14 Beneficiaries, who have previously benefited from any Government grant or scheme, may only be considered after thorough assessment.
3.0 APPLICATION AND APPRAISAL PROCEDURES
Beneficiaries must submit their Business Operation Guidelines and certified copies of National Identity (Omang) for all members, with their proposals to GeAD Office in their areas of operation.
3.1 Project Proposal Appraisal Criteria
Project application and procedures appraisal, inter-alia, entails the following:
a) All projects should be conceptualised, initiated and implemented by business owners.
b) The proposal will be accompanied by a simple, clear and easy to understand Project Implementation Plan with an in-built monitoring and sustainability plan.
3.1.1 Beneficiaries must submit together with their proposals, Business Operation Guidelines and certified copies of Omang for all members of the group.
3.1.2 Relevant NGOs, CBOs and groups or individual shareholders who request funds to purchase equipment, and conduct training should submit three quotations from different suppliers.
3.1.3 Proposals should be accompanied by a detailed market situational analysis report. Letters of intent from potential customers/buyers should be enclosed.
3.1.4 Where property is leased for operations, the property lease agreement period will not be less than 5 years. Government will not make any physical and permanent development on leased properties.
3.1.5 All proposals must be routed through relevant line Ministries for endorsement, e.g. Agro based projects must be routed through the Ministry of Agriculture Departments.
3.1.6 Proposals should be submitted as originalstothe Gender Affairs Department.
3.1.7 A field trip or site visit will be undertaken by Gender Affairs team to determine capacity, viability and sustainability of the project. Proposals that are not accompanied by the required documents will not be considered.
3.2 FUNDING
3.2.1 Government funding is partial, beneficiaries should indicate their contribution. The beneficiaries must also demonstrate commitment in the implementation of the project.
3.2.2 The budget will be itemised to ensure efficient utilisation of Government assistance.
3.2.3 The following is a breakdown of ceiling for categories of beneficiaries:
a) Individual: Up to One Hundred Thousand Pula (P100 000.00).
b) Group project of two members: Up to Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Pula (P250 000.00).
c) Group of three or more: Up to Three Hundred Thousand Pula (P300 000.00).
d) Community project: Up to Pula Five Hundred Thousand Pula (P500 000.00).
e) Special consideration will be made for People With Disability.
3.2.4 The following components will be financed under this package: working capital for the first 6 months (i.e. transport for funded items to the area of operation, transport for purchasing and delivery of goods, rent for leased areas, water and electricity.
3.2.5 Funding will be disbursed in phases as per the project implementation plan.
3.2.6 All beneficiaries will be required to maintain proper books of accounts, which will be subject toaudit.
3.2.7 Periodic report will be submitted to Gender Affairs Department as follows:
a) 30 days after utilisation of the initial funding
b) Monthly progress report.
4.0 EVALUATION OF PROPOSALS
All project proposals will be appraised to determine viability on the following components:
a) Market availability;
b) Projected profitability;
c) Sustainability and
d) Management and prospects for growth.
5.0 MONITORING OF PROJECTS
5.1 Gender Affairs Department Officers will conduct monthly monitoring of projects to ensure adherence to project implementation plan and utilisation of funds as per the signed contract.
5.2 Monitoring will be continuous for a period of five years.
6.0 TYPES OF PROJECTS
Funding will be inclined towards such as Manufacturing, Agro based, Tourism Construction, and Services.
7.0 CONTRACT OF AGREEMENT
7.1 The Departmentwill only release the grant to the beneficiary upon the signing of the Contract of Agreement stipulating the terms and conditions of the grant.
7.2 All funded projects including the property bought through the grant, remains the property of the Government of Botswana up to 5 years.
7.3 The property can only be deemed to have passed to the beneficiary upon satisfactory project progress coupled with regular reporting.
7.4 In the event that an individual shareholder leaves the project due to death before the end of the 5 year period, the property willpass to the immediate heir identified by the family.
7.5 In the event that the beneficiary abandons a project or shows lack of commitment to the project before 5 years, the Ministry will repossess all the equipment and other assets financed by Government.
8.0 APPEAL PROCEDURE
8.1 All appeals related to the funding will be directed to:
Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs
Private Bag 002
Gaborone
Tel: +267361 1151
Copy to: The Director, Gender Affairs Department
8.2 The final appeal will be made to:
The Minister
Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs
Private Bag 002
Gaborone
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Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs
Telephone: +267 3611100; Toll Free No.: 0800 600777
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