Eradicating poverty and promoting dignity in Botswana through contextual theology of liberation: challenges and prospects

Abstract

Poverty in post-Independence Botswana remains a significant problem for many people today as it inhibits human dignity. Eradicating it is equally a serious challenge. The difficulty with fighting poverty is that oppressive issues such as landlessness, gender/ethnic disparity and HIV and AIDS continue to make its eradication elusive for all concerned. This paper defines poverty and considers different kinds, or levels of poverty. It notes that poverty translates into limited access to basic necessities of life including education, health, recreation, potable water and public hygiene, The paper proposes the application of principles and methods of Contextual theology of liberation in eradicating poverty, for the reason that the basic tenets of this strategy provide perhaps the most pragmatic model in the fight against many social ills. It observes that Contextual theology of liberation is deeply-rooted in the Catholic belief system, and acknowledges the conventional definition of this concept, which posits that Contextual theology of liberation refers to the kind of theology whose knowledge, thinking and practice, arise from and are influenced by the context in which it occurs. The paper concludes by noting that approaches used in Contextual theology of liberation shed light on efforts to identify the most effective ways of eradicating poverty, because built in this paradigm is an understanding that poverty is a form of oppression that requires some form of liberation. Keywords: Poverty, Contextual theology, liberation, gender, landlessness, HIV and AIDS, oppression