This week, our Chief Impact Officer Dr Jennifer Lalley was honoured to sign a landmark Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with UNICEF Botswana that will support our Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD) in Botswana. The signing took place at an event in Maun, witnessed by UNICEF and the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education. In attendance was UNICEF Acting Representative Dr. Kimanzi Muthengi and Honourable Nono Kgafela-Mokoka, announcing a proposal to engage the tourism industry more broadly in helping to meet the ECD needs of Botswana.
Earlier this year, the UNICEF acting Representative, Dr.Muthengi and assisting coordinator Tuduetso Kelapile, visited one of Natural Selection’s preschools ‘The Learning Tree’ in Shorobe and proposed a partnership that will scale this model to other rural parts of northwest Botswana. “We are proud of our ECD centres and even more proud to have them recognised by UNICEF,” notes Jennifer.
Natural Selection’s early childhood development programme aims to provide safe learning spaces for young children, laying the groundwork for long-term success in education and greater community empowerment in rural villages. The Natural Selection Foundation and our teams on the ground have established four ECD centres over the last decade (three in Botswana and one in Namibia) in places where children previously had no access to ECD opportunities. By investing in school infrastructure, funding teacher salaries and materials, providing nutritional meals and helping to keep centres running, Natural Selection camps are directly supporting growing minds.
The partnership between Natural Selection, UNICEF and Government marks a significant step forward in advancing collaborative investment in Botswana’s young children in remote communities – a cause we’ve been unwavering in our support for.
Speaking at the event, UNICEF Acting Representative Dr. Muthengi described early childhood development as ‘the foundation for lifelong learning, wellbeing, and national development,’ highlighting that evidence consistently shows investments in the early years yield the highest social and economic returns.
“By investing in children, tourism partners are investing in a more productive, resilient, and inclusive workforce,” said Muthengi. “When businesses invest in young children, they are not only supporting families but also helping to build stronger communities and a stronger future for Botswana.”
It is each party’s sincere hope that the newly signed MoU will strengthen the collaboration between Government, UNICEF and private sector partners in improving the quality of early learning centres serving children in remote areas, while supporting compliance, training, child safeguarding, inclusive learning approaches, and access to quality learning materials.
The event also included a practical capacity-building workshop for educators and care takers, which focused on quality assurance, curriculum implementation, play-based learning methodologies and sustainable management of early childhood centres. Our preschool teachers were in attendance, bringing back valuable skills to their schools.
The partnership also aligns with Botswana’s Holistic Early Childhood Development Policy Framework and reinforces national efforts to ensure that every child – regardless of geography or background – has access to quality early learning opportunities and nurturing care.
Well done to our ECD teams for creating a collaborative preschool model for rural Botswana. This is how we make a difference to children today, and for future generations.
