About UNDP in Botswana

UNDP has been operating in Botswana since 1975 following the signing of the Standard Basic Assistance Agreement (SBAA). UNDP’s assistance to the Government of Botswana shall be made available to the Government and shall be furnished and received in accordance to with the relevant and applicable resolutions and decisions of the competent UNDP organs, and subject to the availability of the necessary funds to the UNDP.

In 2005, UNDP’s Executive Board approved the new Financial Regulations and Rules and along with them the new definitions of “execution” and “implementation” enabling UNDP to fully implement the new Common Country Programme Procedures resulting from the UNDG simplification and harmonization initiative. In light of this decision this Programme Operational Plan (POP) together with an AWP constitute together a project document as referred to in the SBAA.

The cooperation between the Government of Botswana and the United Nations system in Botswana is also pursuant of the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 63/233 on Development Cooperation with Middle Income Countries that recognises and calls for appropriate support to middle income countries to overcome disparities masked by national averages and to realise all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Our Role in Botswana

The role of UNDP (and the UN) in Botswana is shaped by the status of the country as an upper middle income country. Botswana has reached a relatively high level of infrastructure development, is well-resourced and able to fund most of its developmental needs. However, Botswana requires best practices, high-quality policy advice on how best to respond to challenges associated with its middle-income status, including widening inequalities and disparities, persistent poverty among population groups, and climate change and natural disaster risks.

Our work in Botswana focuses on;

• Providing evidence-based policy advise and international best practices, as well help the Government to bridge the policy implementation gap. We provide policy advice aligned with the programme priorities that are relevant in Botswana as a middle-income country.
• Using our unique convening power to bring together various stakeholders and provide coordination, including on critical cross-cutting issues such as gender equality, climate change, and the rights-based approach to development.
• Providing evidence-based policy advice in line with international norms and standards, including support to integrate these norms and standards into national legislative and policy frameworks and monitor their implementation and impact on beneficiaries.
• Advocating for and helping to ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged are heard and issues of inequality are addressed in national policy processes.

We draw on the collective global assets of the organisation and global expertise and best practice to provide technical expertise, exchange of knowledge and capacity development, based on international best practice, and will support innovative approaches to human and social development issues and implementation of global normative standards.

Our Goals

UNDP is working with the Government of Botswana, academia, civil society, private sector national partners and Batswana to help find solutions to persistent and emerging development challenges. We continue to provide policy advisory and capacity building services, technical expertise, and knowledge in areas of environment and energy, poverty reduction and economic development, governance and human rights.

UNDP will implement a programme that reinforces the value triangle of policy design, policy implementation and data as Botswana moves towards ‘Vision 2036’. The programme will address the following national priorities (eleventh national development plan):

1. Eradicating extreme poverty and reducing inequality;
2. Strengthening human development outcomes;
3. Generating diversified export-led economic growth and employment creation, and deepening democracy, as well as managing the trade-off between income generation and environmental sustainability.

Programmatic results will be achieved through direct technical support to inclusive pro-poor policy processes, working with government, United Nations organizations, development partners, private sector, civil society and local communities. Poverty and inequality will be addressed holistically, using data to inform policy design and targeting, ensuring wide coverage, particularly for women, youth, and rural communities, who are often the face of poverty and inequality. Lessons from implementation will be used to refine policy, while data will facilitate the monitoring and evaluation of both policies and the sustainable development goals. UNDP will develop a knowledge management system, using local and external evidence to demonstrate sustainable development models, to further inform policy. For effectiveness, this approach will be combined with innovation and knowledge brokerage through South-South initiatives. Tools, best practices and learning will be developed, while building skills and capacities among actors for sustainability.

UNDP will position itself as a thought leader in the areas of poverty and inequality by supporting policies that facilitate job creation, economic growth and diversification, and the creation of a conducive business environment. The strength of the United Nations system will be leveraged from the United Nations Botswana Partnership Framework, through which UNDP will deliver on shared outcomes with other United Nations organizations in the three programme areas.

$8.257

GDP per Capita Income

68

Life Expectancy

2.3 m

Population