**6. Socioeconomic environment in post-colonial era**

As previously noted, at Independence in 1966, Botswana was one of the poorest countries in Africa, with a GDP per capita in the region of US\$70 [38–40]. Economic opportunities were limited and the five-year drought period that hit the country severely impacted on subsistence agricultural production that many families had relied on. In an effort to move the country out of poverty, the new government had to make critical decisions regarding what social and economic policies to adopt in order to reduce extreme poverty at both national and household level. Chiepe [41] quotes the then President, Quett Masire as grappling with several questions: *'Because Botswana is such a poor country, we can undertake only a few projects and the task of choosing is much harder. Do we provide more schools or more hospitals … Do we improve roads or water facilities.*' Clearly, the government at the time had difficult decisions to make (regarding what to prioritize) particularly in the first couple of decades following Independence [42]. In many ways, the authorities were caught between a rock and a hard place. As such, during the Transitional Plan for Socio-Economic Development (1966–1969) [33, 43], the government adopted a dual economic development strategy. This strategy allowed for investment in the productive sectors such as mining and agriculture [33, 43].

Botswana's fortunes turned around markedly in the 1970s following the discovery of large deposits of diamonds. This development led to the country, almost overnight, becoming one of the world's development successes [44]. Diamond mining, and good governance together with a relatively small population, enabled Botswana to rise from poorest to upper middle income status. Incontrovertibly, prudent management of resources and political stability had combined to see the country realize and maintain a high economic growth rate. Mafela et al. [45] stated that the phenomenal economic growth trajectory which was achieved, paid off as it resulted in the country attaining upper middle income status in 1991. These authors added that today, Botswana is a shining example of democracy, with a stable government, peace and tranquility. They might as well have added, 'with a stable economy' which had facilitated realization of meaningful standard of living and wellbeing for the population.

Evidently, as a consequence of the discovery of diamonds, Botswana has, over the years, experienced stable economic growth, which has been supported by prudent policies [44]. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from an estimated US \$2.2 million at Independence to \$2.6 million in 2007/08 and rocketed to US \$18.34 Billion as at 2019 – a phenomenal jump indeed by any standard. Life expectancy too continued to improve through the years, moving from 46 years in 1965, through 55.5 years in 1971 to 65.3 years in 1991 and 68 years in 2011 [44]. Furthermore, the crude death rate per 1000 people fell from 13.7 in 1971, to 11.5 in 1991 and 6.25 in 2011. Even though the crude death rate rose to 12.4 in 2001 due to the impact of the HIV and AIDS pandemic, the government was quick to address this anomaly, *inter alia*, by introducing free antiretroviral therapy (when this became available), thereby considerably lowering the death rate once more.

*Standard of Living, Well-Being and Community Development: The Case of Botswana DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.97680*

Through the years, the country did experience serious challenges that threatened to reverse the improved standard of living and wellbeing. The country continued to struggle with such factors as drought and poverty, economic disparities, unemployment and HIV, and AIDS [30, 46]. These challenges obviously impacted negatively on standard of living and wellbeing of the country's population.

As the economy grew through reliance on wage employment and the cash based economy and formalized services guided by national state policies [47], traditional social structures became even more weakened and eroded mostly as a consequence of modernization and rural–urban migration [48]. These social changes affected family welfare practices such as volunteerism, communal spirit, and collective participation, which traditionally had enhanced solidarity and social protection [28, 47]. Standard of living and individual wellbeing were therefore adversely affected. The government, however, continued to intensify and improve standard of living through innovative economic development strategies, which included the rolling out of fairly comprehensive social protection and welfare programmes. Provision of welfare programmes and a marked increase in provision of social services yielded positive results as shown by poverty reduction and increase in literacy rates, among other indicators [49]. Social and economic development in the country, lead to improved wellbeing and quality of life of the majority of people in the country.

### **7. Community development and citizen wellbeing**

While the discovery of diamonds was a major game-changer as far as Botswana's socioeconomic fortunes were concerned, it is common course that improved standards of living and wellbeing could not have been realized in the absence of meaningful community development. The Government appreciated that the wellbeing of the people could not be improved without community participation, hence in 1965, the authorities proceeded to establish a community development office [50] as a strategy to foster more sustained development of the country. The authorities indicated that community development would help build solidarity and agency by adhering to three practice principles namely, self-help, felt needs, and participation.

Thus the idea of introducing community development as a strategy for national socioeconomic advancement was a masterstroke given that almost all communities across the country believed in the main principles of communal or public participation and ownership of development. The government made the decision to create several community development positions to ensure that development would be balanced across the country. Consequently, as early as 1965, the country recruited and deployed community development workers across the country to facilitate all welfare activities [50]. The goal was that there would not be differing standards of living nationwide.

To a large extent, since Independence Botswana has performed extremely well in terms of improving both the standard of living and wellbeing of the people through community development approaches. However, implementation of this initiative has not been without hiccups; the strategy has always been accompanied by diverse and complex challenges that continue to threaten the wellbeing of the people. The early commentators on the history of socioeconomic development in Botswana such as Livingston [51] and Mitchison [52] highlighted that some people were unlikely to earn positive fruits out of the community development efforts being rolled out to improve the wellbeing and standard of living of the people. The reason for the failure realize benefits was that community development as a tool always tended to generate some social ills. For example, to improve the wellbeing of the people, community development efforts included the building of clinics, schools and also

creation of white collar employment; but this led to diminished reliance on agricultural production. Whereas these developments met the main domains of education, health and material wellbeing that are used to measure standard of living [53], the initiatives also had negative outcomes in some instances, given that ordinary people's way of life and even their eating habits had dramatically changed, creating new health challenges for the people in the process [51].

Other social ills that were noted to accompany community development, improved standard of living and wellbeing of the people included: disparities in rural and urban life, the tendency to put political interests ahead of the needs of the people, as well as poor implementation of policies and programmes meant to improve the wellbeing of the people [51]. The possibility that disparities in the wellbeing of the people would emerge in the country due to embracing of Western lifestyles introduced by foreigners, had been anticipated. And indeed this did come to pass. Mitchison [52] among others, highlighted the marked differences in lifestyle between people residing in urban (areas) and those based in rural contexts. Hesselberg and Wikan [54] too highlighted the widening gap in standard of living that had emerged between communities at the time, a pattern that apparently continues to exist even in present day Botswana.

To more clearly illustrate the rocky yet positive development pathways the country has trodden since Independence en-route to attaining upper middle income status, the next few paragraphs will now examine issues around how the standard of living and well-being of the population in Botswana have experienced drastic changes through the years, as well as the role played by community development in this regard.
