About Vision 2016

Historical Background

The idea of developing a national vision was first discussed in different forums in 1995 and 96. The work of defining Vision 2016 began in August 1996 with a nine person Presidential Task Group. They produced a booklet entitled "A Framework for a Long Term Vision For Botswana". This group was expanded to thirty one people in January 1997. The additional members represented political parties, Government, parastatals, non - governmental organisations, churches, youth, the private sector and labour Unions. The task of the expanded group was to manage a process for consulting the people of Botswana to discover their common aspirations for the future. They did that, and produced a booklet entitled " A Long Term Vision For Botswana: Towards Prosperity for All".

The task group issued invitations to the public to make written submissions about the national vision. A large number of people did so. Some contributions were from Batswana living outside the country. The task group read and discussed them all. The task group managed a series of more than thirty open hearings or kgotla meetings in the main district centres of Botswana. The attendance at these meetings was very good, and the participation provided many of the ideas expressed in the Vision. A research team from the University of Botswana carried out consultations in a selection of small villages and remote settlements. The resulting ideas were different from the ideas of people living in the main centres, and the vision has given special consideration to them.

The Task Group arranged an essay competition so that they could learn the ideas of young people in or out of schools and tertiary institutions. Some 740 entries raised many very important issues that are now part of the core of the vision.

The symbol representing Botswana's long term vision - The logo- was also the result of a public competition, where more than 420 people sent in their ideas.The first Vision 2016 document,"Framework for a Long Term Vision" ,(page 60) lists names of people who were first appointed by the former President Sir Ketumile Masire, to form a Task Force to lay foundations for the country's long term vision. The team consisted of the following nine people:-

The team was, in August 1996, given the mandate to find out from Batswana what their aspirations would be when the country celebrated its 50th year of independence. They interviewed people from all corners of the country gathering information on how Batswana envisaged improving their performance records with regards to economic, social and political levels acquired over the past years of independence. From the information gathered they produced a document entitled "A Framework for a Long Term Vision for Botswana" which became the basis for the operation of the Interim Council which was constituted by President Mogae in year 2000 their names were:

These names are in page 82 of Vison 2016: Towards Prosperity For All. As the terms of some of the members came to an end or were transferred, appointed into cabinet, new members to replace them were appointed and these were:

1. Mrs. S. Tsiane
2. Dr. G. Somolekae
3. Mr. N. Kahiya
4. Mr. O.K. Matambo

The Chairpersonship was taken over by Mr. Ebrahim when Mr. Gaolathe became a Cabinet Minister. They set up a solid foundation upon which the transformation process of changing the country into a prosperous and productive nation could be set up. The Interim Council conducted country wide deliberations and came up with the Vision Document entitled "Towards Prosperity For All".

The Interim Council's main objectives were to;

The Interim Council encountered severe challenges such as lack of financial resources to meet the need for developing a computerised monitoring and evaluation framework. Initially, the private sector regarded the Vision to be a government's responsibility, whilst on the other hand the government policy makers felt it was outside their mandate as it was not part and parcel of the National Development Plans.

The Interim Council also instituted 5 forums to assist in operationalizing the 7 pillars of the Vision and recommended for the constitution of a Vision Council to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the vision. It was from these forums that some of the names which made up the Vision Council were nominated, forwarded to the Interim Council for endorsement and in turn, their names were recommended to the President for appointment to the Vision Council.

The Interim Council handed over to the Vision Council constituting of 25 members in July 2000. The names of the first Vision Council were:

Rev. F.K. Mokobi 's term lapsed in July 2001 whilst that of Mrs. T.Tlhong lapsed in July 2002.

To ensure continuity, some of the appointments of the Council members ranged from one to three years. The Vision Council increased the number of forums to 8. Each pillar had a forum and a youth forum was instituted bringing the total number of forums to 8.

To ensure national ownership of the vision, the Council was housed as a project under BIDPA and they provided secretarial services to the Vision Council. The BIDPA staff seized to provide secretarial services to the Vision when staff under the Vision Council were employed but remained under the direct supervision of BIDPA. In March 2002, the Vision 2016 Coordinator was employed and was later joined by the Council Secretary in August and the rest joined the service at the beginning of the year 2003. The Vision secretariat is therefore currently serviced by 6 officers; the Coordinator, Council Secretary, Forum Secretary, Publicity Manager and a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer and the Executive Secretary. The governmen, through Office of the President, covers the Vision Council administrative budget.