Botswana Maps a Digital Future for Its Creative Economy

UNESCO organised a two-day multistakeholder consultation in Gaborone on 25 and 26 August 2026 in partnership with the Ministry of Sport and Arts and the Botswana National Commission for UNESCO.

Botswana is taking a closer look at the people, ideas and technologies powering its cultural and creative industries as the country prepares its first comprehensive mapping of the sector's digital environment. The initiative could give artists, performers, designers, cultural practitioners and creative entrepreneurs a stronger voice in decisions involving skills, funding, market access and national cultural policy.

UNESCO organised a two-day multistakeholder consultation in Gaborone on 25 and 26 August 2026 in partnership with the Ministry of Sport and Arts and the Botswana National Commission for UNESCO. The workshop formed part of the UNESCO-KFIT Digital Creativity Lab III Project, supported by the Republic of Korea, and brought together creatives, academics, government representatives, development partners and industry stakeholders.

Turning Creative Talent into Sustainable Livelihoods

Botswana has a wealth of artistic talent, cultural knowledge and entrepreneurial energy, yet many creative professionals still struggle to turn their work into reliable livelihoods. Limited access to markets, gaps in digital skills, difficulty securing finance and a shortage of reliable sector data can prevent promising ideas from reaching wider audiences or attracting investment.

Rapid technological change is creating fresh ways to produce, promote and sell creative work, but many practitioners lack the training, infrastructure or institutional support needed to benefit from these opportunities. Cultural policies also need stronger evidence if they are to respond to the daily realities of musicians, filmmakers, designers, performers, craftspeople and other creative workers.

The national mapping exercise will document more than industry statistics. It will explore who is working in the sector, where opportunities exist, what barriers creatives face and how digital tools are changing their businesses and artistic practices. It will also reflect the experiences of communities protecting living heritage and institutions working to build a supportive creative environment.

Putting Creative Voices at the Centre of Policy

UNESCO Regional Advisor for Culture Elena Constantinou stressed that every piece of information collected represents a person or organisation whose experience can guide practical action. Understanding those realities could help Botswana design useful training, improve market connections and build policies that reflect how the creative economy actually works.

The findings are expected to guide targeted investments, market-access programmes and skills-development activities. They will also support the creation of an accredited capacity-building curriculum with the University of Botswana, giving emerging and established creatives access to learning that responds to the sector's changing digital needs.

Participants agreed that cultural evidence must be shaped by a wide range of voices. Artists building careers from their talent, entrepreneurs searching for customers, communities preserving traditions and institutions supporting creative development all hold knowledge that can make cultural planning more inclusive and useful.

Collaboration Can Build a Stronger Creative Ecosystem

The consultation also opened a wider conversation about Botswana's cultural policy and the need for stronger relationships across government, academia, industry and creative communities. Stakeholders discussed how shared planning could reduce fragmentation, raise the sector's visibility and create clearer pathways for creative businesses to grow.

Tefo Paya, National Expert for the UNESCO 2005 Convention, identified siloed working as one of the sector's biggest obstacles. Creative industries are more likely to reach their potential when institutions share knowledge, coordinate support and recognise culture as both a source of identity and a contributor to economic life.

The Gaborone workshop marks the beginning of a broader effort to turn evidence into meaningful support. By connecting data with lived experience, Botswana can build a digital creative economy in which cultural workers are visible, valued and better equipped to reach new audiences while strengthening the communities whose creativity drives the sector.