History and Background of Botswanas Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture free essay sample

I thank god for blessing my lectures and fellow students for making this module a success, otherwise without their support I would not have made it through with this module. The researcher consulted the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture on the 26 April 2012 to search for information about the background of the ministry. The researcher used the website of the ministry through the internet and policy files. The researcher also used the Ministry of Home Affairs website. The Administration History is the structure and functioning of government, the interaction between society and government and the ideas about government in society. The administrative history gives brief highlights of the individual’s career and life or the organisation’s foundation, development and major programs. It also provides information such as organisation charts, timeline and lists of transitional heads of the organisation from the time of inception to the current stage. Before 2007, the following departments Sport and Recreation, Culture and Youth, National Museum and Art Gallery, Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Botswana National Library Services were under the Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs. Due to the complaints from unsatisfied customers and of stakeholders on unattended issues of sports the ministry of Labour and Home Affairs was forced to split into two. In January 2007 a Presidential decree approved by the parliament was established to settle the issues of stakeholders calling for an independent ministry. The sport portfolio has been under the ministry of Labour and Home affairs for a very long time but really was merely broading the mandate of the custodian ministry, therefore issues relating to sport did not get sufficient attention. Sport department did not execute its role and the ministry had to split. The Ministry of Youth sports and culture was established in January 2007. It was envisaged that the new ministry would reflect on how delivery in these departments could be optimized and duplications removed. Whilst the economic impact of youth, sport and culture, has not yet been quantified, it is believed that the ministry could also leverage these entities to contribute towards the national priority of economic diversification. RELOCATION OF THE NEW MINISTRY The new ministry was then allocated their first offices at the Capitol building in the main mall. Thus Ministry was formed with the division of Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs and requisite number of employees from Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs was taken in the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture as its initial staff. Immediately thereafter, it began its own recruitment of staff required for its proper functioning . It may be pointed out that a training division was set up to provide the necessary inputs in terms of induction into the new department for the recruited employees. Although the ministry was lead by the Permanent Secretary most posts were vacant, but the job had to be done. The ministry had to operate with the few staff members transferred from the divisions of the ministry of Labour and Home Affairs. As time went on a few posts were filled, such as Director Ministry Management, Deputy Director Ministry Management and Assistant Human Resources with newly appointed to existing staff to help the Permanent Secretary. The ministry struggled for a short while to recruit its own staff but survived the struggle with the help of temporarily appointed staff assisting in various offices of the ministry. It was one devastating crisis after another, first the ministry had no expenditure votes or budget, and there was a shortage of stationery and furniture. There was basically nothing to fall back on. As time went on the office space also became a little too crowded as more staff was being recruited, it was complete havoc but the ministry did not despair. The year went by as the ministry struggled. It was then in the following year (2008) that things got better, the ministry was relocated to yet another new offices in Old Naledi along Samora Machel Drive at Plot number 50626 when the staff felt that they were finally being recognized as a ministry. Expenditure votes ledger accounts were created and budgets were allocated to the ministry in the next financial year. The struggle slowly but surely declined, the staff worked effortlessly as the working conditions were in their favour because they had spacious offices and enough stationery to do their job. The Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture grew gradually as it operated with six different departments, namely Ministry Management, Department of Culture and Youth, National Museum and Art Gallery, Botswana National Library Services, Botswana National Archives and Records Services and finally Sport and Recreation. Step by step everything seemed to fall into place as the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture had found its purpose. Some of the departments had to transfer to other ministries that suited their responsibility. In 2010 the department of National Museum and Art Gallery moving to the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism as it is a national treasure that attracted tourists. Some changed their names to accommodate the ever changing times, like the department of ministry management changed its name to the department of Corporate Services. In 2010 the department of Culture and Youth was then split into two to create yet other departments within ministry such as the department of Arts and Culture and the department of Youth. This was done so as to tackle different issues for instance the department of arts and culture focused on developing young Batswana artists and the department of youth focusing on youth affairs, development of youth policies and projects. Currently the ministry is operating with yet six departments after all changes made, namely corporate services, Botswana National Library services, department of Arts and Culture, Botswana National Archives and Records Services, Sport and Recreation and the department of Youth. MANDATE The Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture’s mandate is to empower youth, develop sport and recreation, promote culture and heritage to create wellness and competitiveness, identity, unity and pride for posterity and sustainable development. The Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture is charged with the responsibilities of implementing the Arts and Culture, National Library Services, Sport and Recreation and National Archives and Records Services missions. These departments have been operating independently under the leadership of Directors. It was established that some of their responsibilities overlapped, especially in areas of youth, information provision, and protection and promotion of Heritage. Relationships and interdependencies between departments in terms of process and customers are evident, in particular, in respect of; Preservation and promotion of culture and heritage (Arts and Culture, Youth, Sport and Recreation Archives and Records Services and Library) and Youth empowerment. MISSION MYSC exists to create an enabling environment for youth development, promotion of sport, preservation of culture and heritage through creative relevant, vibrant and attractive programmes. Ministry of Youth Sport Culture shall be a model of excellence in promoting sport, youth empowerment and cultural identity. OBJECTIVES OF THE MINISTRY Since its inception in 2007 the ministry has been able to achieve the following: -Ensuring youth have equal opportunities to resources and in particular, information communication Technology necessary. -Enabling the youth to access useful and relevant information on youth programs, education and employment opportunities, and e- government services. The ministry found t imperative to invest in the global libraries initiative now known as sesigo project. The ministry committed P48 million towards sesigo project to ensure that public libraries are information communication technology enabled. The ministry in collaboration with the private sector implemented projects aimed at identifying non sport talent . President’s Day celebrations are now used to identify talents in various district and localities in the fields of fine arts, mus ic, dance, theatre, drama poetry and comedy, with accompanying incentives to reward the best performers . These projects have been successful and praised by Botswana as it rewards talented ordinary Batswana and improve their standard of living. The ministry is still in the process of exploring ways to assist upcoming music artists to record their work. The Ministry implemented and run youth targeted projects and currently over 43,000 young people participate in the constituency tournaments and over 3000 youth projects have been sponsored by the ministry. Since the tournament of the ministry, sports codes started to do well in both regional and international competition latest being winning of gold medal in the 2010 common wealth games. The ministry is in the process of reorganizing sport administration structure in the country, in line with international trends, accelerate the outgoing process of facilities development throughout the country, establishing of the school of excellence, direct funding of national teams by the state and human resource development to ensure that the ministry and other sport structures are appropriately resourced with qualified personnel. So far two sports complex in Francistown and Lobatse have been constructed by the ministry. The ministry has also built three Records Centers, in Francistown, Gaborone and kanye to accommodate noncurrent records before they are selected to be archives and for permanent value. Even though the ministry has been able to achieve some of the mandates through its dedicated and hardworking staff since its formation in 2007, the ministry has been confronted with issues of employee attrition since 2008, losing highly experienced, skilled and competent employees to other organization. The attrition has been a serious issue of concern in the ministry. Currently it finds some of its Department operating without Directors and skeleton staff. Between 2007 and 2011 the ministry lost 210 employees to other departments. The Ministry of youth Sport and Culture perform its duties or functions through the following Departments. Â  The department of Corporate Services exists to efficiently and effectively coordinate and manage resources and performance, provide guidance information . This is done in collaboration with stakeholders. The following units fall under the Corporate Services. Accounts, Finance, Human Resource, Internal Audit, Legal Services, Ministerial Technical Unit, Ministerial Tender Committee, Office Operations, Planning, Reforms and supplies. Planning unit: project planning, project monitoring and evaluation, project financing, development of project and implementation policy. Finance: budgeting, accounts, receivables’ and payables. Planning unit: project planning, project monitoring and evaluation, project financing, development of projects and implementation policy. Legal Service: to provide legal service to the ministry and its departments, to assist in the interpretation of laws (statutes), to assist in the drafting and interpretation of memorandum of agreements/contracts prepared by other parties contracting with government, to prepare drafting instructions where new legislation or amendment to an existing legislation is to be drafted, to act as liaison officer in case of work that is related to the prosecution of either a criminal or civil matter. Procurement and supplies: office supplies and equipment, material management. Reforms: formulation of strategic/annual plans, coordination of reforms initiatives, facilitation of performance reviews and coordination of performance standards. Information Technology: Strategy/ planning, development of plans and strategies for use of information Technology in the ministry and its department, to develop and use appropriate tools for improving productivity in the business processes, and customer satisfaction of users of the ministry, Train users in making appropriate and effective use of technical tools in IT provided, responsible for initiating and implementing NDP10 IT projects in Headquarters and user departments. IT Management, Operational and Support: information communication and technology system development and support, planning and management of information technology, management of information systems and e-government. The Human resource division: manpower planning, training and development, personnel administration, recruitment and selection, health and safety, employee relations and management services. The Human Resource Management at the ministry of Youth Sports and Culture coordinates and monitors the implementation of human resource management and development of policies, strategies, rules and regulations. The division ensures that rules and regulations, human resource management and development policies are implemented as accepted by management. Rules and regulations should be cleared and interpreted to all employees ,so as to understand the laws that govern their services and what is expected from them in pursuing of the organization’s goals and objectives . The human resource division interprets ,terms and conditions of service to staff and advice the staff members on matters of Human resource management and development. Human resource division is one of the most important divisions in every department . Every organization that wants to achieve its goals and objectives through its dedicated, committed and loyal employees need to have a responsive, caring and effective Human resource division that ensures that employees are developed and equipped with skills needed to perform their jobs effectively. The department of Botswana National Archives and Records Services exist to provide an effective and efficient Records Management Services to government and to provide the same to the local authorities and Parastatals Organizations on advisory basis. In government this is done primarily through the Records Management Units, commonly known as Registries. Within this division the department is entrusted with the responsibilities of providing action officers with the right information at the right time and for the right purpose. We also advice and provide guidance on the creation, maintenance and use and finally disposal of records, i. e. records either going for destruction because they do not contain information of permanent value or records going for permanent preservation as archives. In 2009 the department of Botswana National Archives and Records Services decentralized the posts of all Records officers and redeploy them to their respective ministries and department. All the personal files of the affected officers were transferred from the host ministry and department. In 2010 the department implemented a pilot project of the computerization of records called the National Archives and Records Management computerized System (NARMS) in the department of corporate service, Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs, Department of Primary Education, Department of Water Affairs, Office of the President and Francistown Records Center. The system was implemented to change from the paper – based system to electronic system to manage information which is slow, labourious, and counter productive. NARMS is a computerized management information system that will provide the departments and clients with an efficient and productive service. NARMS will ensure the efficient and systematic control of creation, receipt, maintenance, use and disposition of records. (ISO 15489 – 1: 2001). The department through archives administration division further ensures the provision of research information {noncurrent records archives} to the general public through acquisition, preservation, control and conservation of archives for posterity. Other functions include reprographics, exhibitions, outreach programmes and oral history collection. Archives administration services are provided through the repository, search room, conservation unit, the microfilming unit and audio visual unit. The department of Arts and Culture promotes and preserves culture and to creates an enabling environment for the general public to participate in the cultural development of this country . The department coordinates cultural activities at national level. Cultural preservation instills a sense of pride and unity in the entire nation . The department is guided by the national policy on culture. The department of Youth is responsible for creation of an enabling environment for youth to participate in the development of the country . This department coordinates youth activities at national level . In this regard ,the department emphasizes the provision of excellent customer service and timely delivery. The ministry through the department of youth has been mandated to oversee the implementation of the National youth policy and the action plan for youth. With the assistance of the Botswana National Youth Council, they are the leading partners in youth development. The major functions of the department are as follows: -To develop and review policy in all matters related to youth affairs -To implement and monitor youth programmes and initiatives -To initiate research and keep information relating to youth issues up to date -To promote collaboration efforts amongst all youth NGOS and government of Botswana and any efforts within relevant government ministries. The department Sport and Recreation is charged with the responsibility of facilitating and ensuring the development and implementation of national policies and strategies on sport and recreation in the country . This department is therefore a government organization responsible for policy coordination ,direction and leadership ,sport education ,resource mobilization and appropriation ,networking ,coordination and collaboration ,sport facilities development and recreational leisure.