Gobe Taziba*
“If you feel you are out of your comfort zone. We are all out of our comfort zone. The world is out of its comfort zone.” (Dr. L. Kwape; 2020)
Botswana has a history of social activism going back several years. In fact, civic society organizations and NGOs are more, or less, as old as the Republic itself; with many traditional such organizations predating the coming of freedom and self-determination. However, the sustainability of such organizations has been a key and topical issue for just as many years. In recent years a significant number of high impact community serving NGOs have regrettably closed down due to varying reasons; but chief among them, lack of funding, poor management, and institutional fatigue. Indeed, it is worth emphasizing that the life span and suitability of NGOs in Botswana has always been a fragile, and very often, contentious issue in Botswana public space before the bewildering arrival of the dreadful COVID-19 pandemic.