Working Paper No. 8 - Cooperatives and development: a case of citizen economic empowerment in Botswana

The cooperative movement in Botswana has been expected to serve a broad set of socio-economic and political objectives. The government perceives cooperatives as a means for empowering its people to own businesses and in the process acquire entrepreneurial skills that can enable them to participate in social and economic development. In Botswana, cooperatives were established by the government immediately after independence and operated within the interests of the Government, as outlined in the Cooperative Societies Law.