Development In Botswana Research Articles

Implementing national performance indicator ontology: A case study of Botswana's development agendas

This paper presents the National Performance Indicator Ontology (NPIOnto), a knowledge model designed for the semantic representation of national performance indicators (NPIs) and related performance variables to enhance the semantic capabilities of open data. The research addresses the lack of semantic representation for NPIs, particularly within Botswana's development agendas, which impedes the effective use, accessibility, and integration of performance data essential for monitoring and achieving sustainable development goals. NPIOnto was developed through five steps: discovering the ontology purpose, studying the development agenda knowledge domain, developing the conceptual knowledge model, formalizing the conceptual model, and evaluating the formal model's effectiveness in enhancing the semantic capabilities of open data resources. The evaluation, based on practical application in Botswana, demonstrated that NPIOnto significantly improves the accessibility, understandability, interoperability, integrability, and intelligibility of open data. Insights from the Botswana case study indicate that while NPIOnto is tailored to meet Botswana's development agenda needs, it can be adapted for use in other developing countries.

DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND ETHNIC EXCLUSION : THE CASE OF THE ZEZURU INFORMAL ECONOMY IN BOTSWANA

This article discusses Botswana's development policies and its silent exclusion of minority groups, particularly the Zezuru. Focusing on the case of the Zezuru, the paper seeks to demonstrate that historical ethnic discrimination and exclusion has blinded the government's economic diversification strategy. It draws a parallel between government policies and negligence in particular projects that fall within the scope of the diversification strategy. It discusses the government's failure to engage the Zezuru into modernizing their informal economy. It also discusses the lack of Zezuru access to the venture capital provided by government meant to improve the formal economy. It looks into the fiscal risks and lost benefits to the government while the Zezuru informal economy remains strong. The author conclusively argues that the economic exclusion of the Zezuru in development policy implementation is a setback in the overall diversification strategy.

Development policy and economic performance in Botswana: lessons for the transition economies in Sub-Saharan Africa

Botswana is exceptional, both within Africa and among less developed countries, as a whole, when comparison is made of macroeconomic performance, development management, and good governance. The country has developed an international reputation as a nation that stands out among developing countries, and in Africa in particular, for its generally successful development policy and economic performance. In this paper, the discussion and analysis is centred on the nature of Botswana's development policy and economic success and the lessons that can be derived for the transition economies of sub-Saharan Africa. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The political context of Botswana's development performance

The purpose of this article is to provide a persuasive account of Botswana's development performance from a historical materialist perspective. It commences by looking at commonly accepted indicators of Botswana's development record and the sources of its political stability, and explains why Botswana has been able to attain that relatively high level of development performance. The nature and character of the Botswana state are also examined, including its relationship with civil society. The changes that have taken place in Botswana's political system are also analysed but not in isolation from the broader regional and international context. It concludes by teasing out the salient features of politics in Botswana and what they imply for the country's economic growth and development in the future.

Adaptation of Botswana's Development Strategy to Meet Its Peoples' Needs for Land, Jobs

Abstract. The history of Botswana's economy reflects the development of an open, multi‐party democracy through which group, class and regional conflicts have been resolved. Four socioeconomic problems have been emerging in ways which challenge this process and thereby threaten the bases for Botswana's material progress and social and economic stability. The problems involve a growing income and asset ownership gap among Batswana, an expanding demand for scarce water, a decreasing output of cereal crops, and a growing economic dependence on the Republic of South Africa. In response to the problems, matters of which the governing class is clearly cognizant, these key development policy measures have been undertaken: the Arable Lands Development Program; the Tribal Grazing Lands Policy; and the Financial Assistance Program. The measures' contents are designed to expand rural, agricultural employment and generate rural incomes, expand cereal crop production, lessen food dependency on South Africa, and improve water management. However, the measures need to be modified to insure the maximum developmental impact.

Socioeconomic and Demographic Aspects of School Enrollment and Attendance in Rural Botswana

As has been true for other African and non-African mineral-rich economies, the most serious constraint on Botswana's development to date has been the lack of human capital. Schapera notes that in traditional Botswana schooling was conceived as a burden on the family, because of both the new expenditures associated with schooling and the loss of the child's contribution to household production and income.' Ashton notes that parents in Botswana apparently failed to perceive the benefits of education.2 The situation has changed fundamentally since Schapera and Ashton wrote in the forties. Largely through government policy programs of school construction and teacher training, schools have become relatively widespread. The benefits of schooling are apparent in the labor market and are even more immediately evident at home-schools often provide free meals and health care to their pupils. However, the schooling system may not be designed to serve sparsely populated areas completely. This reflects, in part, the movement and social spread of Botswana's rural population across villages, lands, and cattle posts. Moreover children, especially in households with assets, play a role in the household economy.3 As a consequence, the indirect costs of schooling-those noted by Shapera-may still be substantial in Botswana today. These costs, in addition to the direct costs of transportation and uniforms, may be prohibitive to the schooling of many children. The evidence I present later shows that even primary schooling was not universal in Botswana at the time of the 1974 Rural Income Distribution Survey on which this present study is based.4 This paper is to study the demographic and socioeconomic corre

The Economics of Pastoralism: A Case Study of Sub-Saharan Africa

Part 1 Introduction. Part 2 A socio-economic framework of pastoralism: preamble an idealized model of a pastoral economy a realistic model of a pastoral sector conclusions. Part 3 Livestock-capital, range and the people: livestock as capital and problems of its accumulation trade in livestock and the distribution of its ownership rangeland and its management sedentarization - a partial solution. Part 4 Pastoral nomadism -the case of Somalia: land, people and their livelihood livestock commercialization of the pastoral sector development planning and the nomads. Part 5 The Sahelian drought: the drought and demography the MIT report comparison and assessment of Caldwell's and Picardi's approaches a third point of view. Part 6 Transhumance - the case of Botswana: the development of trade in livestock Botswana's development programmes - a reassessment national policy on tribal grazing land. Part 7 Some speculations on the prospects of the pastoral mode of production: the alternatives proposal for pastoral reform is it worth it? conclusions appendices.