Local Democracy

The two-tier system of Government comprises Central and Local Government. At present there are 9 Districts and Town Councils. The function of the Councils is the provision of services at local levels, being responsible for primary education, health, water supply, etc. Even though each Council has powers to generate its own revenues, they still highly depend on the Central Government's budget allocation.

In 1983 the Botswana Association of Local Authorities (BALA) was formed with the mission of creating a strong democratic and development-orientated Local Government in Botswana. It follows these objectives by promoting and strengthening local democracy, by providing advice and guidance to local authorities, and through arranging training for councillors and officers.

FES has been supporting BALA in its endeavour from the very beginning.

For many years FES has supported training courses for councillors throughout the country. Special leadership training programmes target women in local politics. The main partner next to BALA in implementing these programmes is the Ministry of Local Government.

FES and BALA embarked on a series of workshops covering all districts with the objective of "Mapping Local Democracy". The methodological instrument for this was developed by the African Union of Local Authorities, AULA (now UCGLA), in co-operation with IDEA, an intergovernmental development organisation based in Sweden. These activities bring together local authorities such as city and district councils (councillors and staff), district commissioners, dikgosi (traditional chiefs), ward development committees, local NGOs, representatives of ethnic minorities, youth, the police, and many more. Results are being published and serve as a basis for further dialogue in the councils. Results are being published and serve as a basis for further dialogue in the councils.