Dr Gloria Somolekae is the head of the Governance and Administration Unit at BIDPA. The unit spearheads research on a number of Governance areas including democracy and development, corruption, e-governance, public sector reforms, policy implementation and project management, service delivery issues, evidence-based policy making, local government, rural development and policy analysis in general.
Dr Somolekae brings to BIDPA extensive expertise and experience in a variety of Governance issues that are the focus of its work.
She holds a PhD in Public Administration from the Maxwell School, Syracuse University, USA. She obtained a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration in 1983 from the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague, Netherlands. Her undergraduate degree is in Public Administration and Political Science obtained from the University of Botswana and Swaziland.
Dr. Somolekae started her career as a Lecturer at the University of Botswana where she taught Development Administration, Public Policy analysis, Research Methods, Local Government, Program evaluation and Organizational Development.
After 18 years with the University, she joined the W.K. Kellogg Foundation as a Policy Consultant focusing on poverty eradication and broader issues of rural development in Southern Africa. In 2006, she moved to South Africa to take on the role of Program Director at the W.K. Kellogg Africa head office assuming responsibility for the work of the Foundation in Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe.
After relocating to Botswana, she was appointed Specially Elected Member of Parliament. She served as a member of the Pan African Parliament which is located in Midrand in South Africa. In 2011 she was appointed the Deputy Minister of Finance and Development Planning where she also assumed the role of Director for the African Development Bank representing the Botswana Government. She then served for a year, before moving to the Office of the President, and later the Ministry of Health in the same role of deputy.
During her stay in parliament and cabinet, she contributed to a variety of policy related tasks covering State Owned Enterprises, Budget formulation and Administration, reviewing the mandate of the Rural Development Council and the Rural Development Program. Her portfolios included issues of Poverty, disability and HIV/AIDS.
