Alleviating poverty among the youth in Botswana: assessment of the potential and prospects of the Youth Development Fund

Botswana has achieved an impressive development record since independence in 1966, and it belongs to a category of medium developed countries. Despite this achievement, the country is grappling with developmental challenges such as poverty and high youth unemployment. While poverty alleviation programmes have had a positive impact on the well-being of the youth, they seem to offer no long-term solutions to entrenched structural poverty. This paper is based on a study conducted in Botswana that sought to assess the potential and prospects of the Youth Development Fund. A cross-sectional descriptive research design was adopted, and data was collected using questionnaires. In addition, anecdotal evidence was gleaned from official documents. The findings show that there are fundamental challenges that undermine effective implementation of entrepreneurship development in poverty alleviation. The paper concludes by asserting the need for a coherent and effective means that will ensure the realization of sustained poverty reduction outcomes among the youth of Botswana.