All You Need To Know About The Women’s Economic Empowerment Program Fund

This is the time for women to take advantage of the Government initiatives aimed at them. The Ministry of Nationality Immigration and Gender Affairs through the Gender Affairs Department, administers disbursement of funds for implementation of the Women Economic Empowerment Program.

Funds are allocated to individual women shareholders, Women NGOs, CBOs and Women’s groups. Furthermore, the Ministry provides technical support to women groups and individuals to start income generating projects. These projects are viewed as having potential to address the beneficiaries’ immediate and practical needs.

Eligibility Criteria

• All beneficiaries must be citizens of Botswana.
• Beneficiaries should either be unemployed or have a monthly income of not more than P500.00.
• Funding will be provided to individual women as sole owners of their businesses.
• Funding will also be provided to groups of two or more people.
• Graduates will also be funded under this program and membership will be open to family members as well
• A group may include men; however, their number should not exceed that of women.
• The Women Community Based Organizations must be registered with the Registrar of Societies or constituted under the Deeds of Trust in the Deeds Registry of the Attorney General’s Chambers.
• Women’s groups and individual women must be registered with Companies Intellectual Property Authority and produce a copy of valid certificate of business name/company registration. In the event that the names of beneficiaries do not appear in the certificate, share certificate will be required where each member will have equal share holding. Women’s Groups may also register with any recognized body such as the Department of Cooperatives Development and Agri-Business in the Ministry of Agriculture.
• A Community Project must have a minimum of ten members with at least 70% of the members being women.
• Beneficiaries will be required to undertake an oath (affidavit) to confirm their social and economic status.
• Beneficiaries should be implementers of the funded project.
• Beneficiaries will be expected to open a bank account after approval of their project, which will be accessible to relevant authorities, into which Government financial contribution will be deposited.
• It is mandatory that beneficiaries should route all their purchases through Gender Affairs Department Offices at District levels, for authentication.
• Beneficiaries will undergo relevant technical, financial and business management training upon approval of their requests.
• Beneficiaries, who have previously benefited from any Government grant or scheme, may only be considered after thorough assessment.

Application And Appraisal Procedures

Beneficiaries must submit their Business Operation Guidelines and certified copies of National Identity  for all members, with their proposals to GeAD Office in their areas of operation. For further information contact Ministry of Nationality Immigration and Gender Affairs Toll Free No.: 0800 600 777

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