Botswana Cooperative Association (BOCA)

The Cooperative movement in Botswana led by Botswana Cooperative Association (BOCA) which is the Apex Organisation, is determined to exploit all the available opportunities in the country to brand, grow and educate the public about cooperatives. These events are conducted continuously on yearly basis.

The movement in Botswana has continued to grow as most Batswana have started to appreciate and embrace the cooperative model in doing business. There are 315 registered cooperatives in Botswana with over 200 000 members and employed over 1000 people. Out of these, 83 are Financial Cooperatives (SACCOS) while 232 are Non-financial Co-operatives.        

1. Engagement

The National Policy for Cooperative Development together with the Cooperative Transformation Strategy for Botswana which is aligned to the “Africa Cooperative Development Strategy 2017 – 2020 ” are aiming at luring vulnerable population groups (youth and women) into forming cooperatives businesses. The Government through the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry has conducted Capacity Building Workshops country wide targeting women and youth. The workshops were aiming at equipping attendants with Cooperative Philosophy and Management.  As a result, there is an increase in membership especially for both women and youth in Cooperatives.

2. Cooperative Image and Identity

The Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry has identified platforms such as fairs & exhibitions and media where the value of cooperatives will be communicated to different audiences. Through these outreach programmes, peoples are in turn forming cooperatives businesses in large numbers thereby in increasing membership.  The government have made it a standard to intensify these marketing campaigns every year. Botswana, Lesotho and Swaziland (BOLESWA) Youth Co-operatives Forum was held in December 2019 with Botswana as the host country. The forum was launched by ICA–Africa as one of its sub-structures in 2016. This event is aimed at contributing to the Co-operative Transformation Strategy Pillar that seeks to promote Youth participation in Co-operatives.bot1

Review of the Cooperative Societies’ Act, 2013: The Government in consultation with the Co-operative Movement is currently reviewing the Act. The review was necessitated by the need to align the Act with the modern business environment as it was overtaken by events. The intended purpose is to resolve the implementation challenges that the Department for Co-operative Development and the Co-operative Societies continued to

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