The Botswana Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (BOCONGO), located in Gaborone, Botswana was established in 1995 to coordinate the work of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in Botswana. BOCONGO has over the past 21 years created a platform for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Botswana to engage in processes of development and policy formulation.Over the years, the role of BOCONGO has been to strengthen the NGO sector through coordinating the sectors contributions to the development in country and beyond; delivering capacity development; facilitating platforms for the effective communication between members and key stakeholders; and increasing capacity of members to be effective advocates both individually and as a sector.
To this end, BOCONGO developed a new turnaround strategic plan “Moving Forward – 2017 -2020” which build on the 2010-2016 strategy. The “Moving Forward Strategy” was informed by lessons learnt over the years and practical and functional realities dictated by current development paradigms and dynamics.
The evolution emphasis of the strategy calls for amongst other fundamentals, a new leadership model, new partnership models, new delivery strategies and systems, including networking and coordination, communication and engagement.
This new strategic orientation is anchored on the need to network and partner with key stakeholders in order to deliver on the four key thematic areas of Inclusive Social Policy; Sustainable Environment and Resource Management; Democratic Governance; and Economic Justice.
The Council currently has close to 159 members nationwide whose mandate targets various areas of interest within the civil society sector. It was imperative that members were clustered into thematic areas with the overall goal to improve advocacy, capacity development, information, learning and knowledge sharing.