The Coordinator of Poverty Eradication Unit, Mr. Montshiwa Montshiwa, who represented the Minister of Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Hon. Nonofo Molefhi, during the occasion officially opened the launch meeting. He revealed that though Botswana has not been using the Multidimensional Poverty Index, all the interventions have been geared toward eradicating poverty using the multidimensional and multisectoral approach .

 He said that in 2018 the Government of Botswana collaborated with UNDP to host an International Conference on poverty eradication, specifically emphasizing the Leave No One Behind (LNOB) guiding principle.

In his words, “the National Poverty Eradication Policy (NPEP) on LNOB takes into consideration the multidimensional approach to addressing poverty. He revealed that consultations were done in different districts followed by a national consultation workshop, which consolidated all the inputs collected from the districts into the national policy document”.

He said the primary objective of the NPEP is to consolidate the different efforts under the Programme Eradication Programme so that addressing poverty can yield greater impact. In conclusion, Mr. Montshiwa thanked UNDP for always being there to support the Government in  the implementation of interventions addressing the eradication of poverty in the country including the partnership on the hosting of the international conference on poverty eradication, the production of the National Poverty Eradication Policy and now the development of the National MPI. He also thanked OPHI on behalf of the Government for the technical support it will be providing to the Government in its adoption of the multidimensional poverty approach and development of the National MPI.