Challenges of information and knowledge management in trade unions in Botswana within the context of millenium development goals

Trywell Kalusopa

Department of Library and Information Studies, University of Botswana, Private Bag 0022, Gaborone, Botswana. E-mail: kalusopat@mopipi.ub.bw . Tel: (267) 3555084 or (267) 71356528.

Accepted 9 October, 2009

   Abstract

The attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is closely tied to the challenges of globalization in Africa. Under the globalization drive, issues that centre on privatization, trade liberalization and foreign direct investment now call for most non-state actors such as the labour organizations to advocate for human centred approaches that stipulate MDGs projections. Globalization has also meant that the traditional processes of collective bargaining and advocacy in the labour movement have undergone a swift paradigm shift hastened global interactions of a high geographical spread facilitated by the advances in Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). This has in essence deepened the transformation of decision-making processes of most governments, multinationals and non-state actors. Several suggestions now point to the fact that to remain viable and relevant, the labour movement requires, as a matter of necessity, to exploit the capabilities of ICTs to counter the effects of globalization by developing renewed cutting-edge skills based on information appreciation and use. This paper explores the challenges that the labour movement faces in the changing e-environment in Southern Africa, with particular emphasis on Botswana. It identifies some of the impediments for the slow response of the labour movement in using ICTs as a tool that can open up opportunities for education, training, mobilization and solidarity. The paper underscores the need for the labour movement to embrace the ICTs as a tool for information and knowledge management in their planning, implementation and evaluation of its activities within the context of MDGs.

Key words: Globalization, labour movement, trade union, information management, Information Communication Technology, Millennium Development Goals, Botswana, SADC.