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PartnerFES
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CompletionNovember 2020
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Project typePlanning
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Project LeadCde Mhotsa
Informalisation, casualisation, precarious and insecure work, jobless growth, outsourcing, redundancies in the public sector, all have a negative effect on their membership and income base. Membership is, and should always be, the core source of income for trade unions, but reality shows that trade unions have become more dependent on project income and external donor funding. This is also the situation that BFTU faces. However, for BFTU to be sustainable, its members need to be sustainable.
During the past years, the project income and donor support has dried up for various reasons, but mainly due to the graduation of Botswana to middle income status. At the same time, due to the persisting global and regional economic crises, available government funding faces cut-backs, hence less funding becomes available from national budgets. It is against this background that we carried out a trade union investment study to guide BFTU and its affiliates on ethical investments to carry out for sustainability as well as to educate our members on the advantages and disadvantages of investments and the possible gains.
We had engaged ILES to carry out research on the issue and present the same to affiliates. A draft presentation was shared with the GC on the 6th November 2020 and second opinion on the document done by Edward Tswaipe on the second day to give the GC a holistic approach and understanding to the issue.