Botswana Police Service (BPS) attended the Girls Empower Summit 2025. The event was hosted with the aim to commemorate International Women’s Day. The programme Is hosted by Dare to Dream on Saturday in Gaborone.
Students of Dikgonnye and Lephephe Primary schools and junior secondary schools around Gaborone attended the event in large numbers.
The Head of Chemistry in the Botswana Police Forensic Science Services Branch, ACP Neo Maimela delivered the keynote address. She enlightened the young girls about the goals of the BPS.
The BPS has been working hard to ensure safety and security to the public. She urged the girls to know their rights and to stand for them at all times.
Assistant commissioner Maimela informed the girls that Botswana Police has increased the number of women recruits into their ranks. According to the assistant commissioner, as of today, women make up for about 31% of the organisation’s workforce.
A large number of them occupy leadership positions including Commissioner of Police Dinah Marathe at the helm. ACP Maimela highlighted that BPS strives to be gender-responsive.
They are working on ensuring that the needs of the victims of Gender Based Violence (GBV) related offences are expeditiously met.
This she said is evidenced by the establishment of the Gender and Child Protection Branch in 2021. Maimela stated that to date, nine child- friendly centres have been established around the country to afford children/victims of GBV cases the privacy and confidentiality required in attending to their reports.
Loungo Letshwiti, the Citizen Empowerment Entrepreneurship Programme Manager from Botswana Oil. Botswana oil is one of the sponsors of the event. Loungo Letshwiti encouraged young girls to venture into the energy industry. She also encouraged the girls to take interest in the energy sector as there were limited women in the sector.
Earlier in her welcome remarks, Captain Kgomotso Phatsima, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and founder of Dare to Dream highlighted the importance of knowing which career path to follow. She also stressed that equal opportunities for both genders should be provided and outdated gender norms be eliminated.