Raising Botswana's Human Resource Profile to Facilitate Economic Diversification and Growth
Botswanaapos;s economic growth has hinged on its abundant natural resources, particularly diamonds, which generate nearly half of its fiscal revenues. In terms of sustainable growth, this dependency on natural resources poses the biggest challenge...
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| Format: | Policy Note |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/01/22668491/raising-botswanas-human-resource-profile-facilitate-economic-diversification-growth http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21078 |
| Summary: | Botswanaapos;s economic growth has
hinged on its abundant natural resources, particularly
diamonds, which generate nearly half of its fiscal revenues.
In terms of sustainable growth, this dependency on natural
resources poses the biggest challenge for the country. To
prepare Botswana for life after diamonds, the government
developed a growth paradigm in its vision 2016 strategy
document (Presidential Task Group 1997), which suggests that
the development of new economy skills will play an
extremely important role in the country s future. Botswana
is aiming to develop new engines of growth, supplementing
the diamond industry with manufacturing, financial, and
transport services, and transforming the country s
entrepreneurship sector into a buoyant, productive, and
innovative private sector led by entrepreneurs with
cutting-edge skills. A key ingredient of this strategy is
the development of a holistic approach to skills
development. Botswana has achieved high enrollment in basic
education (90 percent in primary education) and the
government continues to invest a high share of gross
domestic GDP, almost 8 percent, in the education sector. In
2010 11, expenditures on education amounted to 25 percent of
total government expenditures. Nevertheless, a skills
constraint is repeatedly cited as a major challenge for
businesses in the country. In 2010, the Enterprise Survey
for Botswana reported that of the 10 major business
constraints, the majority of firms in the country reported
skills shortage as the key problem (World Bank, 2010a). The
country also has high unemployment rates reported at
approximately 17.8 percent and approximately 27 percent,
when discouraged jobseekers are included (CSO, 2011). This
note reviews the current landscape of the education sector
in Botswana and attempts to identify key bottlenecks in the
supply of relevant skills for economic diversification.
Recommendations for preparing students who can be readily
integrated into the labor market are then offered, using
examples of best practices from successful case studies. |
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