This report covers Carnegie funded activities for the period April—August, 2002. The focus was mainly on training activities whose primary objective is to strengthen staff capacity for better service delivery. Four workshops were organised by INASP/BOOK AID/Botswana Library Association and the National Library Service.
- Monitoring and Evaluation Workshop 14 - 17 April, 2002. The President Hotel, Gaborone.
- Advocacy and Lobbying 10 - 14 June, 2002 - Crystal Palace, Gaborone
- BLA/INASP Workshop on Continuing Education: Proactive Library Services for Children, Young People, People with Special Needs and for Adult Basic Education.
- Strategic Communications Workshop 15 — 18 July, 2002, Dar-Es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Twenty (20) officers, from the National Library Service, mostly from the Public Libraries, participated in the first three workshops. Six (6) officers including the then Project Co-ordinator Mrs. Baratedi attended the Communications Workshop in Dar-Es-Salaam. Other institutions — the University Library and Botswana College of Agriculture were also invited to send participants to the Advocacy and Lobbying Workshop.
One of the significant outcomes of this programme has been to improve co-operation between the major stakeholders in the field. Mrs. Kay Raseroka, Director of Library Services, University of Botswana, officially opened the Workshop on Advocacy and Lobbying. Ms. Bobana Badisang, Chairperson Botswana Library Association, officiated at the closing ceremony for the Workshop on Monitoring and Evaluation. The workshop on Lobbying and Advocacy had 2 participants from the University Library and 1 participant from the Botswana College of Agriculture. The BLA/INASP workshop had an even broader representation of stakeholders, including some from non-government organisation.
The workshops were not formally evaluated. However, those directly involved — the key resource persons from BOOK-AID, the facilitators and the participants were quite satisfied with the outcome of the workshops. A Draft Action Plan on Advocacy and Lobbying has been developed and submitted to management for comments. Participants of the Dar-Es-Salaam workshop also report that they found the workshop very useful. A formal report on the workshop is being prepared. On the whole, staff feel very motivated and empowered to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate with a sense of confidence activities planned for either the revitalisation of the public libraries program or their regular programs in Educational and Special libraries.
