Promoting Entrepreneurship amid Youth in Windhoek’s Informal Settlements: A Namibian Case

Considering the high unemployment rate among Namibian youth and a lack of job opportunities, the promotion of entrepreneurship has gained wider attention in the country. A number of initiatives have been started such as entrepreneurship trainings and workshops, business idea competitions, etc. All these aim to inspire young people to think of alternative income sources. As part of a two-year funded community outreach research and development (R&D) project, we have investigated participatory approaches to engage marginalized youth into conceptualizing their own context, imparting skills, and deriving new career paths. This article reports and reflects on one of the interventions we have recently concluded with a group of youth in Havana, an informal settlement in the outskirts of Windhoek. We conducted what we entitled “The Havana Entrepreneur”, a series of interactions inspired upon the model of the American reality game show “The Apprentice”. Over a number of weeks two youth groups were given challenges to tackle by means of competing against one another. After completion of each challenge, groups were rated by a number of judges on skills demonstrated such as marketing, presentation, reflection and creativity among others. We observed an increase in, and improvement of skills revealed along tasks’ completion, besides an openly expressed self-realization and discovery of abilities by participants. Moreover, the youth are currently engaged in the continuation of activities beyond the initial entrepreneurial interactions. Thus we suggest replicating “The Havana Entrepreneur”, including the recording on camera of it by the youth themselves as a new mode to instigating a wider entrepreneurial spirit in informal settlements

Corporate social responsibility, mining and sustainable development in Namibia: critical reflections through a relational lens

For its advocates, corporate social responsibility (CSR) represents a powerful tool through which business and particularly multinationals can play a more direct role in global sustainable development. For its critics, however, CSR rarely goes beyond business as usual, and is often a cover for business practices with negative implications for communities and the environment. This paper explores the relationship between CSR and sustainable development in the context of mining in Namibia. Drawing upon extant literatures on the geographies of responsibility, and referencing in-country empirical case-study research, a critical relational lens is applied to consider their interaction both historically and in the present

The Okavango; a river supporting its people, environment and economic development

The Okavango basin comprises the Cuito and Cubango active catchment areas in Angola, in addition to the Kavango–Okavango non-active catchment in northern Namibia and Botswana. The Okavango River water and its ecosystem resources are critically important sources of livelihoods for people in the basin. Pressures from livelihoods and development are already impacting on the environment. These pressures may increase in the future due to the rapid increase in population, the peace process and associated resettlement activities in Angola, and major development initiatives in Botswana and Namibia. For instance, possible future increase in water abstraction from the Okavango River may affect the long-term environmental sustainability of the Okavango Delta by minimizing channel shifting and thereby reducing spatial biodiversity. The paper argues that while conservation of the natural environment is critical, the pressing development needs must be recognized. The reduction of poverty within the basin should be addressed in order to alleviate adverse effects on the environment. The paper recommends that the development of sustainable tourism and community-based natural resource management initiatives may be appropriate strategies for reaching the Millennium Development Goals of poverty alleviation and achievement of environmental sustainability in the Okavango Basin. These initiatives have a comparative advantage in this area as demonstrated by the performance of the existing projects

Namibia : the Ideology of National Liberation

SUMMARY The article examines the distinctive ideological character of Southern African national liberation, compared with earlier African nationalism. The case study is the Political Programme of Namibia's liberation movement, SWAPO. Its theme is to differentiate national (political independence, national unity, egalitarianism) from liberation goals (social emancipation, mobilisation, self reliance). This distinction is vital in terms of determining the character of post?colonial restructuring in an independent African state. RÉSUMÉ Namibie : L'idéologie de la libération nationale Cet article examine le caractère idéologique particulier de la libération nationale dans le sud de l'Afrique et la compare au nationalisme africain antérieur. L'étude de cas est le Programme politique du mouvement de libération de la Namibie, SWAPO. Son but est de différencier les objectifs nationaux (indépendance politique, unité nationale, égalit?arisme) des objectifs de libération (émancipation sociale, mobilisation, autonomie). Cette distinction est vitale pour déterminer le caractère de la restructuration post?coloniale d'un état africain indépendant. RESUMEN Namibia : la ideología de la liberación nacional En el artículo se examina el carácter ideológico distintivo de la liberación nacional de Africa Meridional, comparada con anteriores nacionalismos africanos. El estudio de casos es el programa político del movimiento de liberación de Namibia, SWAPO. Su tema consiste en establecer diferencias nacionales (independencia política, unidad nacional, igualdad) con los objectivos de liberación (emancipación social, movilización, autodependencia). Esta distinción es vital para determinar el carácter de la reestrucuración posterior al periodo colonial en un estado africano independiente

Vote of Thanks by H.E. Sam Nujoma, President of the Republic of Namibia

warm welcome and customary Nigerian hospitalit

Namibia freedom rally

Die mense van Namibia het uiteindelik hul vryheid gekry! Hulle het getriomf teenoor die koloniale regering in Pretoria en die brutale apartheid magte. Die mense van Namibia sal binnekort hulle self kan begin regeer. Hulle sal ’n nuwe nasie bou - vry van onderdmkking en uitbuiting

From 'One Namibia, One Nation' towards 'Unity in Diversity? Shifting representations of culture and nationhood in Namibian Independence Day celebrations, 1990-2010

In 2010 Namibia celebrated its twentieth anniversary of independence from South African rule. The main celebrations in the country’s capital Windhoek became the stage for an impressively orchestrated demonstration of maturing nationhood, symbolically embracing postcolonial policy concepts such as ‘national reconciliation’, ‘unity’ and ‘diversity’. At the same time, nation building in post-apartheid Namibia is characterised by a high degree of social and political fragmentation that manifests itself in cultural and/or ethnic discourses of belonging. Taking the highly significant independence jubilee as our vantage point, we map out a shift of cultural representations of the nation in Independence Day celebrations since 1990, embodied by the two prominent slogans of ‘One Namibia, one Nation’ and ‘Unity in Diversity’. As we will argue, the difficult and at times highly fragile postcolonial disposition made it necessary for the SWAPO government, as primary nation builder, to accommodate the demands of regions and local communities in its policy frameworks. This negotiation of local identifications and national belonging in turn shaped, and continues to shape, the performative dimension of Independence Day celebrations in Namibia.Web of Scienc