As part of ALCOM's on-going activities in the SADCC region, a pilot project for the exploitation of small water bodies was approved for Botswana, implemented and managed by the Fisheries Unit, Ministry of Agriculture. The pilot project has the following aims:
The initiation of pilot activities consists of a preparatory phase with socio-economic and bio-technical information gathering components. The purpose of collecting this information is to enable a final selection of sites for the second, exploitation phase, as well as to help facilitate the direction of future development and management of the exploitation of small water bodies in Botswana.
Seven dams were selected for the preparatory phase activities. All dams are located in south-eastern Botswana with three dams in Kweneng District and four in Southern District (see Map 1). In terms of settlements found in Botswana and with reference to the 1981 Population Census classification, the dams selected fall under three main categories : village, lands and cattlepost.
This report describes the findings of the preparatory phase socio-economic investigations carried out at these seven dams. The study was carried out by Ms Sevaly Sen, a Consultant Socio-Economist appointed by ALCOM, advised by Ms Y Merafe of the Rural Sociology Unit and Mr T Mmopelwa of the Fisheries Unit, Ministry of Agriculture. During the fieldwork, Ms Sen was assisted by three enumerators: Mr R Khan, Mrs E Slave and Mr M Segale.
