Projects
Our Pride
Botswana Society for the Deaf prides itself in assuring that advocacy and empowerment of the deaf is trickled down into every project pioneered by BSD. Thus far, BSD’s key projects are the Ramotswa and Francistown Centre for Deaf Education. These Centres are located in the Southern and Northern part of the Country. The two Centres provide pre-primary and primary education including vocational training skills. The centres are subsidized by the government of Botswana which provides 80% of the total budget; furthermore the government provides qualified skilled and specialized staff trained in teaching the Deaf. The Centres are managed by the Ministry of Basic Education in conjunction with Botswana Society for the Deaf, over and above these two centres;
Our Projects
Sign Language Awareness Campaign
BSD embarked on a sign language awareness campaign which was carried out in different organizations in Gaborone. The intent of the campaign was to increase sign language awareness in the community and teach Batswana basic sign language. The campaign maintained a footprint in private companies, government ministries and schools. From its inception, the target groups of the campaign included businesses, religious organizations, health facilities, legal services as well as law enforcement arms with the intent of later extension of the campaign to other areas within Botswana, the workshops were offered free of charge and ran within the period of February to March 2020.
Covid-19 Workshops
Presentations were conducted by sign language instructors to raise awareness about Covid 19 and the deaf community; this was also an opportunity for attendees to be taught new signs for all covid-19 related matters. During this outreach the following schools were visited:
- Ramotswa Community Junior Secondary school
- Ramotswa Center for Deaf education
- Francistown Center for Deaf Education
- Tashatha Community Junior Secondary School
