Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority

BOCRA

MISSION: To regulate the communications sector for the promotion of competition, innovation, consumer protection and universal access.

VISION: A connected and digitally driven society.

VALUES:

Excellence – We will strive to be the world-class leader in the provision of regulatory services through committed teams and impeccable customer service.

Proactiveness – We will be forward looking in the delivery of our mandate, to keep up with evolving industry trends.

Integrity – In the execution of our mandate we will demonstrate openness, honesty and accountability in all our decisions.

People – We believe that our people are key to driving our success through their commitment and excellence. We shall therefore harness and develop individual skills and strengths to work as one.

Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA) is an independent commission founded under the Communications Regulatory Authority Act, 2012 (CRA Act) on the 1st of April 2013. BOCRA is responsible for regulating all matters related to Telecommunications, Internet, Information & Communications Technologies (ICTs), Radio Communications, Broadcasting, Postal Services in the Republic of Botswana.

BOCRA also issues licences to telecommunications and broadcasting service providers, enforces compliance with rules and regulations, protects consumers from unfair business practices and poor quality services and controls and manages the effective use of radio frequency spectrum.

PROJECTS

Over the years BOCRA has undertaken several projects in pursuit of achieving its mission and values:

Connect an employee Connect an employee is an initiative developed by BOCRA to encourage Government, parastatals, and the private sector to connect their employees to residential broadband internet. This includes employers paying for monthly residential internet of their employees as an incentive/ benefit that will allow them to work from home. The initiative has made massive strides with more than 10 companies with over 5000 employees giving a positive response by connecting their staff members.

Struizendum Primary School Struizendum is a small village located in the Kgalagadi district south of Botswana, which lies in the most poverty-stricken area in the country. As such, BOCRA was motivated to adopt Struizendum Primary School to help relieve the situation at hand and meet some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of No Poverty and Zero Hunger.

BOCRA in part of its adoption strategy supports the school academically and socially whenever there is a need. As such we have donated COVID-19 essentials and other requested items for the school, including stationery, sanitary pads and school shoes, for 157 students.

BOCRA Sports & Social Club

To promote social interaction amongst employees, a social club was formed by BOCRA employees with support from management. The Club is mandated to host social events and promote health and fitness at BOCRA. Planning and hosting fun social events for employees is proven to increase employee engagement and staff morale, which is an important thing for a productive and efficient workplace.

Batlang Support Group (BSG) BSG is a community-based organisation established to promote Positive Health Dignity and Prevention for people living with HIV/AIDS through targeted interventions to achieve “A dignified life with no new HIV infection.” BSG currently runs the Batlang Day Care Centre that enrols orphaned and vulnerable children in the Mogoditshane area, a small village near the Capital city Gaborone in Botswana. The BOCRA Sports & Social Club was galvanised to help Batlang Support Group by donating clothes, stationery and painting the Day Care Centre as part of their community involvement projects.

To promote wellness and fitness in BOCRA, the Club hosted the ‘The Biggest Loser/Gainer’ competition, which encouraged participants to live a healthier lifestyle - inspired by the hit American series of the same name. The initiative was a huge success with the biggest loser and gainer crowned at the end of the competition with co-ordination from a professional Personal Trainer.

Schools Connectivity

BOCRA through the UASF (Universal Access Service Fund) has commenced The School’s Connectivity Project to provide financial assistance for the computerisation and connection of broadband Internet in public schools in selected rural areas. Phase 1 of the intended School’s Connectivity Project has covered government schools in Ghanzi, Kgalagadi and Southern districts (68 Primary Schools), while the second phase is planned for some localities in Kweneng and North-West districts.

Media Graduates

BOCRA, through the UASF (Universal Access Service Fund), has initiated the placement of 20 Media graduates on attachment at the Department of Broadcasting Services (DBS) to produce local content for the airwaves and give them first-hand working experience. The programme follows the signing last year of a Memorandum of Agreement between DBS and Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA). Its aim is to empower the youth and help put them in a better position to create employment opportunities for themselves and their peers.

PROMOTING A HIGH PERFORMANCE CULTURE - PUTTING EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND WELLNESS FIRST

To effectively implement its mandate, BOCRA operates on a five year Corporate Strategic Plan which commenced in 2019-2024 following on from the 2014-2019 Plan. A Human Capital Strategy has since been developed in alignment with the Corporate Strategic plan. The Human Capital Strategy aims to:

• Improve employee engagement from 71% to 80% by 2024

• To create and promote high performance culture with 15% of employees exceeding performance threshold by 2024

HUMAN CAPITAL MANAGEMENT

Employee engagement

After every two years, BOCRA conducts an Employee Engagement Survey to measure employee engagement level. By 2024 BOCRA aims to achieve an 80% engagement index. In 2019 BOCRA employee engagement index stood at 71% surpassing the global employee index at 64%. Following the results of the survey, employee engagement impact plans are formulated and implemented to improve engagement in areas that attain a lower engagement score.

Flexitime guidelines

The Authority implemented Flexitime in 2015. When Covid-19 hit the country, flexitime was then reinforced ensuring that only 50% employees are at the office while the rest are working from home. However, currently employees go to the office as and when necessary. The use of applications, such as Signiflow and Microsoft Teams, made transformation to the new normal seamless. So much so that the organisation continued to perform, and was even recognised at national level as one of the performing parastatals in the year 2020/21.

Talent management and succession planning

BOCRA uses its Talent Acquisition process to ensure that the objectives of its Talent Management and Succession Management plans are fulfilled. On an annual basis supervisors and heads of departments conduct talent councils to talent profile each employee and nominate successors from supervisory to leadership level. This process supports prospects of promotions and talent development plans.

It is worth noting that BOCRA is gender balanced with 50% of employees being male and 50% female.

Graduate Development Program

BOCRA recruits graduates to support talent management and succession planning initiatives. Graduates are taken through a robust two year training programme where they rotate in all departments to appreciate the organisation and its operations. In September 2018 eight graduates were recruited and they completed their graduate programme in September 2020. Upon completion of the programme all graduates were employed and placed in different departments such as Legal, Technical Services and Business Development.

HEALTH AND WELLNESS

BOCRA has adopted a holistic approach to employee health and wellness that addresses physical, emotional, financial and psychological dimensions. Employees are paid for annual gym subscriptions and counselling services are provided and paid for employees who may need it as and when required.

Annually there is a Wellness Week where BOCRA treats staff to a variety of activities to encourage them to value and lead healthy lifestyles. Also, throughout the year BOCRA commemorates days such as Valentines days, Mothers and Fathers days, Women’s days, and employees get special gifts and are treated to moments of wining and dining.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT

BOCRA Learning and Development follows a 70:20:10 model where 70 percent of learnings and development are from job related experience, 20 percent from interaction with others and 10 percent from formal education (classroom situation). To achieve this model a Coaching and Mentorship programme was introduced in 2019 and by December 2021, 35% of employees had enrolled. The Authority fully sponsored 7 employees to pursue a Masters programme around the world e.g United Kingdom,

France and Malaysia since 2019. For the past 3 years, 3% of the company’s annual budget was spent to sponsor employees on long term training.

HR TECHNOLOGY

To efficiently serve employees and customers, BOCRA has put in place human resource Information systems to process payroll for its 90 employees and recruit candidates.

The recruitment system has made recruitment an easy and efficient process. Since 2016 the Authority no longer receives manual applications but system applications only.

ORGANISATIONAL CHANGE

BOCRA maintains a conducive employee relations environment through regular engagement with employees. The Union is engaged through the Joint Negotiation and Consultation Committee (JNCC) forum in accordance with the requirements of the Collective Labor Agreement (CLA).

CONTACTSPhysical Address: Plot 50671 Independence Avenue, Gaborone, BotswanaTelephone: +267 395 7755Fax: +267 395 7976Email: info@bocra.org.bwWebsite: www.bocra.org.bwFacebook: www.facebook.com/BTAbw/