New Ambassador of the Republic of Botswana meets iMOVE

John-Thomas Dipowe was appointed Head of the Embassy of the Republic of Botswana in Germany in February 2024. He was previously Permanent Secretary for Communications in the Botswana Presidency.

During a video conference, Birgit Thomann, Head of Department "VET International" at BIBB, and His Excellency discussed various avenues for cooperation in vocational education and training. Dr Andreas Werner, Head of iMOVE at BIBB, presented the broad spectrum of possible activities and cooperation formats with the German education industry.

For the prosperous country in southern Africa, the further development of its own education and training sector is high on the agenda. Botswana wants to diversify its economy, which has so far been heavily characterised by the export of raw materials, and complete the transition to a knowledge-based economy. In order to train the missing skilled workers for this transformation, the focus in the vocational training sector is initially on technologies associated with the term "4th Industrial Revolution".

As a first concrete cooperation, the ambassador and iMOVE agreed to work closely together as part of the business initiation trip for German training and further education providers to Botswana in June 2024.

For German education providers, the business initiation trip is an opportunity to familiarise themselves with the local education market. In discussions with local government agencies and private sector companies, the German and Botswana sides can exchange ideas on what cooperation with the German education sector could look like.