The Industry I Gained Practical Hands-On-Experience

Let me seize the very first lines of my hands-on-experience synopsis and introduction of where i was an internee to greet you all the aspiring future Public Relations Officers and Consultants.

Well, My name is Michael Siamang from the LUCT Campus, geographically located in Cyberjaya Malaysia. As a requirement or a pre-requisite for Public Relations Professional (PR393) to do an internship i was endorsed with an opportunity to embark on the Public Relations activities at the Ministry of Agriculture headquarters in Gaborone, Botswana, under the Information and Public Relations Department and i was based in the Campaigns section. Its obvious the Ministry of Agriculture is 100% funded by the Botswana Government. I started my duties on the 10th of December 2010 and the last day of my gratitude opportunity was the 18th of February 2011. I was attached together with my friend from LUCT campus too, Bakang 'Buckz' Pesi.

The Ministry of Agriculture provides extension services to the farmers in Botswana, both locals and foreigners. So the Information and Public Relations Department's mandate is to promote Agricultural and rural development in Botswana. To facilitate this mandate's objective, Agricultural Information and PR provide exclusive support to the Ministry's extension services like disseminating information on Agricultural development programmes, policies and projects to farming communities, extension staff and interested stakeholders in the country at large.

Out of the 16 Ministries in Botswana the Ministry of Agriculture has the best and most utilized Public Relations unit, according to me. I am saying this because the unit has a show on the National Television called 'Temo-Thuo' literally meaning Agriculture that broadcasts every Monday evenings. It teaches and informs farmers and the nation at large about Agriculture programmes and policies, outbreak of diseases and other relevant-to-Agriculture information. On the National Radio there are two programmes called 'Matimela' and 'Molemi Ithute' which serve the informing roles as well. There is another Agricultural show on Duma FM radio. There are national trips that the campaigns section take to disseminate information on Agricultural programmes and policies in towns and villages through seminars and ward or 'Kgotla" meetings. There are monthly and quarterly magazines too that disseminate Agricultural information.

I didn't mean to make my first post to be this long. Anyway, keep it logged so that i share with you the day to day experiences and the events we have organized and the ones we took part in my next blog posts.

Have a great week ahead..