September 15, Gaborone: U.S. Ambassador to Botswana, Earl Miller, and the Assistant Minister of Health, Dr. Alfred Madigele, will address the closing celebration ceremony of USAID’s Maatla project on September 15 in Gaborone to honor its success and congratulate the many partners involved in its five-year undertaking.  

The $17.2 million project from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), began in 2011 to strengthen civil society organizations throughout Botswana with training, development, and direct assistance.

Twenty national NGOs and 84 district level organizations benefited from the project, as Maatla provided training on the best ways to ensure quality services, obtain funding, develop long-term strategies, collect accurate data, and much more. The organizations now have improved financial management, leadership and governance standards, training manuals, and other technical resources to better deliver important services to Botswana’s population including HIV prevention, care, and support; advocacy; stigma reduction; services for orphans and vulnerable children; tuberculosis interventions; and gender-based violence awareness and prevention.

Through PEPFAR, the U.S. Government has spent over $750 million supporting the Government of Botswana since 2004 in its response to HIV/AIDS, by offering both direct assistance and by strengthening local organizations to address health issues. Although the Maatla project is ending, U.S. Government support to Botswana’s health systems continues in many different ways through other PEPFAR-funded projects.

The closing ceremony will begin at 6:00pm at Boipuso Hall in Fairgrounds and will include an overview of the project’s successes, a multi-media presentation, and testimony from organizations strengthened by the project.

For further details, please contact: USAID Strategic Communications Advisor Sara Sullivan 7233 0886 or U.S. Embassy Information Specialist Ephraim Keoreng at KeorengET@state.gov or 395-3982 ext. 2419.

Please note that pictures and additional information will be available on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/u.s.embassygaborone after the event.