Okavango Brigade

Okavango Brigade is a public vocational training centre at Shakawe, in the far north-west of Botswana's North-West District. It is one of the brigades through which the Government of Botswana provides training in the building and practical trades. The Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development's 2021 intake notice for brigades and technical colleges lists Okavango Brigade at Private Bag 14, Shakawe, with two courses to Trade Test C, each with 16 places: - Bricklaying and Plastering - Carpentry and Joinery For that intake, applicants had to be aged 16 to 35, hold the Junior Certificate, BGCSE or an equivalent, and apply for one programme only. The Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA) registers the brigade, as Okavango Brigades Centre, as a public education and training provider under number ETP0451, accredited from 19 April 2021 to 18 April 2031. BQA's register of accredited programmes lists Certificate III and Certificate IV programmes for it in Automotive Engineering, Bricklaying and Plastering, and Carpentry and Joinery. The brigades movement began in the 1960s, when the educator Patrick van Rensburg founded it alongside Swaneng Hill School at Serowe, combining education with production. The government now offers vocational training through the brigades and four technical colleges, at Maun, Jwaneng, Palapye and Selebi-Phikwe, with the Department of Skills Development as the point of contact. Shakawe lies on the Okavango River in the Panhandle, close to the Namibian border, at the head of the Okavango Delta. It is the staging post for the Tsodilo Hills, a UNESCO World Heritage Site about 40 kilometres away, and had 6,693 residents at the 2011 census. The ministry's 2021 intake notice gives the brigade's telephone number as +267 687 5034 and its admissions email address as okavangoadmissions@gmail.com; current fees and intake dates have not been published online.

Private Bag 14, Shakawe, Botswana
Shakawe

18°20′37″S 21°50′1″E