Botswana: Layani Elias


Date: July 6, 2019
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Mr Elias is a broadcast journalist by profession, working for the government of Botswana under the Ministry of Basic Education in the Department of Educational broadcasting. He is also the founder of Broadcasters Organization, a youth organization that empowers girls and boys and women and men on different issues including gender and education. He cites the ability to delegate tasks, engage and work well with others as some of his leadership qualities. His vision is to see young boys and girls receiving education of the same quality on different issues. Through the Broadcasters Organization, Mr Elias teaches students and teachers about gender issues, HIV/AIDS and ICT. He also advocates for gender mainstreaming in schools and quality education for both genders. His organization, the Broadcasters Organization, annually hosts a Broadcasting Summit to give students a chance to learn more about gender issues and HIV /AIDS. It also gives awards to girls who perform exceptionally well in male dominated subjects at schools and organizes gender and media competitions which promote fair competition and equality.

Through the Broadcasters Organization Mr. Elias also established the Destiny Shapers Cluster, which is a cluster of teachers who coordinate initiatives in schools. One of the cluster’s projects is the Dynamites magazine aimed at empowering and promoting freedom of expression amongst young boys and girls. Some of Mr Elias personal achievements include winning the MISA broadcast journalist of the year, securing funding for ICT training in schools and being runner-up for the 2015 Gender Awards in the media category. At community level Mr Elias’ achievement is that he has managed to engage the community in the organizations work. In his role as a journalist, he writes gender balanced stories addressing gender equality which he reckons influences change at policy level, along with the gender awareness activities he organizes. For his next steps, Mr Elias intends to continue serving the nation through educating them on issues of gender, organizing more events, which tackle gender issues, engaging decision makers in his projects.


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