As part of its Capacity Building programme, the WCO organized a Leadership and Management Development (LMD) workshop from 5th to 16th October 2015 for 19 senior managers of Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS) in Gaborone, Botswana. The overall objective of the two-week interactive workshop was to strengthen senior management capacity to lead and drive reforms within BURS.
The workshop brought together a diverse group of senior managers, including Regional Managers, from customs and other units and departments of BURS. Throughout the workshop many of the current and future challenges of BURS were discussed. A wide range of topics was covered such as visioning, strategic management, negotiations, people management, change management and strategic and personal communication. The workshop highlighted the importance of leadership and management skills, as well as the responsibilities of individual managers, to drive modernization and change within their own units and departments as well as the whole BURS.
For many of the participants, the workshop turned out to be not only practical, but it was a real eye opener of individual leadership and management skills. Feedback emphasized the importance of areas like self-awareness, people management and change management. Overall the group was extremely participative and devoted to enhance one’s own experiences and skills.
Acting Commissioner General of BURS, Mr. Lekau, emphasized the importance of the LMD workshop for BURS. He referred the participants as the future drivers of change that will be needed as BURS is undergoing structural and procedural changes.
The event was funded with the support of the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs through the ESA Project "Building Capacity through Customs Modernization in the East and Southern Africa Region".
For more information on the WCO Leadership and Management Development Programme, please contact Capacity.Building@wcoomd.org.