Skills implications of Botswana's diamond beneficiation strategy

Human development is one of the pillars of Botswana's Country Partnership Strategy with the World Bank (2009-13). The strategy is in line with Botswana's vision 2016, which, in terms of human development, envisions the transformation of Botswana to an educated and informed nation and to a prosperous, productive and innovative nation as two key cornerstones of the strategy. In line with these objectives, the World Bank with support from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) embarked on an analytical study entitled 'Skills for economic growth and diversification in Botswana'. The work is informed by Botswana's need to diversify its economy to facilitate stronger, more sustainable economic and employment growth and, concurrently, equip its workforce with a variety of skill sets that meet employer needs. This note summarises the findings of four policy notes that address skills for economic diversification in Botswana.

This note examines the skills implications of the beneficiation strategy, particularly those of diamond cutting and polishing. In addition to reviewing the government's plans to develop downstream activities and their implementation, the note offers employment projections based on the potential success of diamond beneficiation efforts. For this purpose, an input-output simulation is used to show how output linkages arising from the production of polished diamond exports will impact labor in various sectors of the economy. Policies are needed in particular to: create industry-specific skills (with clear skills transfer targets, or deadlines); establish technology links between the diamond hub and the innovation sector; facilitate rough diamond trading; and expand the capacity of the Botswana Training Authority (BOTA) to accredit cutting and polishing programs within industry factories.

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