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16 October 2026
From Investment to Opportunity: Conversations with UN Youth Advisory Group Members on Namibia’s Development Ambition and Opportunities for Young People
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01 September 2026
When the Bruises Fade: The Hidden Mental Health Toll of GBV in Namibia
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04 August 2026
From Ambition to Action: Delivering Opportunities for Every Namibian
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The Sustainable Development Goals in Namibia
The Sustainable Development Goals are a global call to action to end poverty, protect the earth's environment and climate, and ensure that people everywhere can enjoy peace and prosperity. These are the goals the UN is working on in Namibia.
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11 March 2026
Beyond the Mine: How Namibia Is Mapping 26,400 New Jobs for the Next Generation
The precision skills she is learning today could soon place her at the centre of Namibia’s next economic chapter.For thousands of young Namibians like her, the country’s economic transformation is not an abstract policy debate. It is about whether training, talent and ambition can translate into meaningful work.A new Rapid Product Space Assessment by UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), launched in Windhoek this February, suggests that this transformation is within reach. By expanding value addition and developing industries linked to Namibia’s mineral resources, the country could unlock around US$900 million in new economic activity and support up to 26,400 jobs, roughly three per cent of Namibia’s labour force.Many of these opportunities would require the technical and industrial skills that young Namibians are already acquiring through vocational and technical training programmes across the country.The 8th Administration driving homegrown valueFor Namibia’s leadership, the changing global economy presents an opportunity to deepen domestic value creation beyond the traditional model of exporting raw minerals.Speaking at the launch of the assessment, Honourable Selma Ashipala-Musavyi, Minister of International Relations and Trade, described the report as an important milestone in advancing the development priorities of Namibia’s 8th Administration under President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah.By linking the findings to Namibia’s Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), the Government signaled a clear ambition to transform natural resource wealth into diversified industrial activity that delivers tangible benefits at home.“This report is a strategic roadmap,” the Minister said. “Namibia’s natural wealth must translate into local industry, specialised skills and inclusive growth that benefits future generations.”Namibia in a changing global economyGlobal demand for critical minerals such as lithium, copper, manganese, cobalt and rare earth elements is rising rapidly as countries expand renewable energy systems, electric vehicles and digital infrastructure.At the same time, governments and industries are seeking to diversify supply chains and reduce dependence on single suppliers of raw materials.For resource rich countries like Namibia, this shift creates an opportunity to move beyond exporting raw commodities toward processing materials, manufacturing industrial inputs and developing stronger domestic value chains.As Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of UN Trade and Development, noted, Namibia’s ambitions reflect a wider transformation underway across the global economy.Countries that invest in productive capabilities, skills and industrial ecosystems are better positioned to create quality jobs and participate in emerging green and digital industries.Turning complexity into opportunityAt the centre of the assessment is the concept of economic complexity, which measures the knowledge and capabilities embedded in what a country produces.Using this approach, the analysis identified 353 potential products across 23 sectors that Namibia could realistically develop based on capabilities already present in the economy.These products include metal components, machinery parts, packaging materials and other manufactured goods linked to industrial value chains.If developed strategically, these opportunities could expand Namibia’s manufacturing base and create jobs across technical and industrial professions such as welders, electricians, technicians, engineers and logistics specialists.For young Namibians entering the labour market, this shift could transform uncertainty into opportunity.What 26,400 jobs could mean for young NamibiansYouth unemployment remains one of Namibia’s most pressing development challenges. Each year thousands of young people complete school, vocational training or university studies and begin searching for stable employment.Industrial diversification could create entire employment ecosystems.Each step up the value chain generates demand not only for factory workers but also for services such as equipment maintenance, laboratory testing, transport, packaging and business support.These ecosystems also create opportunities for young entrepreneurs and small enterprises that supply goods and services to emerging industries.Namibia’s regional advantageNamibia’s geographic position further strengthens its prospects.With the Port of Walvis Bay serving as a logistics gateway to Southern Africa, Namibia is well placed to supply regional markets including Angola, Zambia, Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo.If supported by reliable energy supply, transport infrastructure and industrial development zones, emerging manufacturing clusters in Namibia could serve both domestic and regional value chains.Addressing the missing middleThe opportunity identified in the assessment is significant, but it is not automatic.Key constraints remain in specialised technical skills such as machining, industrial maintenance and quality control. Expanding work-based learning programmes and strengthening technical and vocational education systems will therefore be critical.At the same time, reliable energy supply, industrial infrastructure, testing laboratories and improved access to finance will be necessary to support industrial growth.Addressing these gaps will determine how quickly Namibia can translate potential into production and jobs.A United Nations partnership supporting Namibia’s transformationThe Rapid Product Space Assessment illustrates the value of coordinated international cooperation. The initiative was funded by the Government of Japan and complements the contributions of the UN family through the economic pillar of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2025-2029.One joint UN initiative led by the Government of Namibia is the Global Accelerator on Jobs, Social Protection, and Just Transitions (Global Accelerator) aiming at improving employment and social protection ensuring a just green transition: International Labour Organization (ILO), supports Employment creation and labour market systems and is assisting the Government in developing Namibia’s third National Employment Policy (NEP).United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), supports youth empowerment and skills development connecting youth to employment and entrepreneurship opportunities.Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), promotes value addition in agrifood systems by strengthening agro processing industries and rural enterprise development for small-holder farmers.United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), supports the strengthening of the social protection policies.In addition, other agencies within the economic pillar of the UNSDCF, such as the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), work with national partners to strengthen technical and vocational education and training (TVET) systems by aligning training programmes with labour market demand.Together these efforts are aligned through the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF).As United Nations Resident Coordinator (RC) Hopolang Phororo emphasised, the assessment provides a foundation for coordinated action.“This assessment provides clear direction for turning economic opportunity into decent work for young Namibians,” she said. “Through the UNSDCF and initiatives such as the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection, the UN system is working together to expand jobs, strengthen skills and ensure that no young person is left behind.”From analysis to actionNamibia’s youthful population makes this moment especially significant.Each year thousands of young people enter the labour market searching for opportunities to build productive lives.Industrial diversification and value addition therefore represent more than economic transformation. They represent a pathway toward opportunity, stability and inclusive growth.The next phase will depend on sustained coordination between government, industry and development partners to translate evidence into implementation and implementation into jobs.Because beyond the US$900 million opportunity lies Namibia’s greatest resource: the talent, ambition and creativity of its young people.
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02 March 2026
From Headlines to Healing? Strengthening Survivor-Centred GBV Reporting in Namibia How Namibian journalists are rethinking GBV reporting — and why survivor protection is gaining ground.
For many years, gender-based violence (GBV) reporting in Namibia has often focused primarily on the incident itself — a crime, a quote, a broadcast — and then silence. While the public was informed, survivors sometimes continued to carry the longer-term consequences. For many survivors, what happens after the headline fades can matter most.In closely connected communities, anonymity can be fragile. A neighbourhood reference, a family connection or a brief description of a house — details that may appear harmless on air — can reveal a survivor’s identity in real life. Reporting intended to expose violence can, if not handled carefully, unintentionally extend harm through stigma, retaliation or isolation.Today, efforts are underway to further strengthen survivor-centred reporting practices.A Shift Across NewsroomsIn December 2025, more than 50 media professionals — including programme managers, producers, presenters and technicians — gathered in Windhoek for a “Do No Harm” training and dialogue on ethical GBV reporting. The engagement was convened through a partnership between the United Nations, the Southern African Broadcasting Association (SABA) and the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation (NBC), with support from media development partners working on gender equality and prevention.The training forms part of ongoing collaboration to strengthen responsible journalism practices and support survivor-centred reporting across Namibia’s media landscape.For Ann Bereng, a producer at NBC’s Tirelo Ya Setswana, the experience marked an important turning point. From Reporting to ProtectingBereng describes her earlier reporting as largely event-driven, relying heavily on police statements and court records. Accuracy was always a priority, but she had not fully considered how framing, language and contextual details might affect survivors after publication. In the fast pace of daily news production, these decisions can seem routine — but for survivors, they can carry lasting consequences.During the training, journalists reviewed real GBV coverage and examined how headlines, wording and imagery influence public perception.“That’s when I realised how one descriptive detail can either protect a survivor or put them at risk,” she says. “Responsible reporting isn’t only about accuracy — it’s about protection.”Since then, her editorial decisions have evolved. In one case, she removed a neighbourhood reference that would previously have been included for context. The details were not necessary for public understanding but could have identified the survivor within the community. Feedback later indicated that the survivor felt more comfortable seeking counselling — illustrating how careful reporting can support recovery rather than retraumatise.Growing Impact Beyond One JournalistThe shift is not limited to one newsroom. Across participating media houses, editors are increasingly reviewing headlines more carefully, questioning imagery choices and consistently including national helplines such as 106 and 116. These adjustments are helping reinforce survivor protection while maintaining public awareness.Law-enforcement officials note similar benefits. Sensitive and accurate reporting can support investigations, while premature or overly detailed coverage may unintentionally create risks for survivors or affect due process. Ethical journalism therefore plays an important role in balancing public information with protection and justice.The training also addressed emerging risks in the digital environment, including online harassment and manipulated content. As artificial intelligence increasingly draws from published media, responsible reporting is becoming an important safeguard for both individuals and the integrity of information ecosystems.UN–SABA Partnership Driving ChangeBy combining SABA’s regional media expertise with the United Nations’ technical guidance, the partnership is helping strengthen and institutionalize ethical reporting standards across participating media houses, while advancing progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).UN Resident Coordinator Hopolang Phororo underscored the importance of the initiative, noting that responsible journalism is a critical partner in advancing gender equality and justice in Namibia.“When media reporting protects survivors and upholds dignity, it strengthens both public trust and access to justice. Partnerships such as this are essential to ensuring that no survivor is left behind,” she said.The engagement aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) and global commitments including the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, the Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Global Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence.Looking AheadBuilding on this momentum, the United Nations and SABA are exploring opportunities to expand ethical reporting support to additional regions and media houses, while strengthening collaboration with the GBV Protection Unit and promoting continued knowledge exchange across the broadcasting sector.The changes taking place in newsrooms may appear modest — a removed detail, a reframed sentence, a more careful headline. Yet each editorial decision can influence whether survivors feel safe enough to seek services, report abuse or tell their stories.As Bereng reflects:“We don’t just report violence — we influence whether it continues.”
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02 March 2026
Refugees in Namibia rebuild their lives through livelihood activities
In Namibia’s remote Osire Refugee Settlement, Nicole tends to neat rows of her vegetable garden, watering each plant with care. To her, this is more than a garden - it is a lifeline.“Before, I was only waiting for food assistance. Now I have a garden. I can sell and buy stuff,” says Nicole Mulumba, a Congolese refugee farmer in the Osire Refugee Settlement in Namibia.This mother of seven arrived in Osire in 2004. Over the years, she has relied on humanitarian assistance to feed her children while working hard in her small vegetable garden and poultry farm. Today, Nicole sells fresh produce to fellow refugees and nearby communities, earning a small but meaningful income that helps support her household.Namibia hosts nearly 7000 refugees and asylum‑seekers from across the African continent, mainly from the DRC and Burundi, with others living in urban areas.In 2025, UNHCR, in collaboration with the Government of Namibia and the World Food Programme, launched a project to revive livelihoods. The support included small‑scale agriculture activities such as planting tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and lettuce, or raising beehives, to help refugees become more self‑sufficient while contributing to the local economy. A total of 24 hectares of land has been allocated to support the initiative, along with technical assistance.With limited employment opportunities, many refugees in Osire face persistent food insecurity driven by low wages, poor harvests, recurrent drought, extreme weather and limited access to markets. Budget constraints, including cuts to food assistance, have immensely affected many refugees, impacting women entrepreneurs like Nicole, who are the breadwinners in their households.Amid these challenges, Nicole remains hopeful. She dreams of expanding her garden, sending her children to tertiary school, and sharing her agricultural skills with others.
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02 February 2026
Sowing seeds of resilience in Namibia
In the remote village of Okakwiyu, where the wind carries the scent of tilled earth and the calls of livestock, 31-year-old Elise Amadhila is reshaping her life one crop, and one animal, at a time.It has been a sometimes back-breaking effort. Located in Namibia’s Oshikoto region, Okakwiyu is among the many northern villages affected by an El Niño-induced drought that ravaged the country over the past three years. Yet, despite the odds, Amadhila has transformed this sandscape into a flourishing, vegetable-filled paradise.Today, she’s raising livestock and, more recently, growing crops — thanks to a project supported by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the United Kingdom. Launched in 2025, the project aims to improve maternal and child nutrition by giving dozens of smallholder farmers agricultural training and equipment to grow healthier, hardier food. “I wanted to help my family by providing them with a healthier diet like carrots, to support their eyesight, and cabbage, to aid digestion,” Amadhila says.Born and raised in Okakwiyu, Amadhila graduated university with a bachelor’s degree (honours) in higher primary education, specializing in natural science and mathematics. She hoped to be a teacher. But limited job opportunities pushed her in an unexpected direction: agriculture.“Agriculture is just a fulfilling occupation,” Amadhila says, “It’s self-employment, and it doesn’t cost much, all you need is to apply your mind and work hard.”Seeing several of her neighbours raise chickens planted the first seeds of inspiration. What started off with a few hens gradually grew into a modest animal farm, which now includes pigs and pigeons. Amadhila finds joy not only in the meat and eggs her animals provide, but also in the daily interactions with them.Rising food prices and the burden of travelling long distances to buy ever-pricier vegetables inspired her to start growing crops. “Sometimes, you just want to make a salad for lunch, but it’s simply too expensive,” she says.Now Amadhila’s salads are made with her own greens. Spinach and cabbage, but also carrots and onions sprout from her fields, turning her homestead into a blossoming agricultural haven.It wasn’t always smooth sailing. Poor soil fertility, limited water access, and early struggles with seed germination nearly pushed her to give up. The years of punishing drought made things worse.“I was about to stop farming, but I used what I learned from the training and tried using organic fertilizer and that’s when everything started growing,” she says of the WFP-UK project. Through the support of WFP and the United Kingdom, Amadhila and 30 other participating farmers received vital agricultural inputs, including pesticides and seeds. They also received training on composting, soil analysis, food preservation, safe pesticide use — and how to use shade nets and irrigation equipment efficiently. Together, these assets and skills have saved precious water, kept pests at bay, enriched soil fertility and boosted their harvests.Now, Amadhila’s horticultural project isn’t just feeding her mother and her two nieces, it’s laying the groundwork for a bigger vision. She plans to expand her business, planting more crops and eventually selling them to local schools.Instead of a classroom, Amadhila’s horticultural project has become her new lecture hall, a place where resilience, innovation, and purpose grow side by side. In a world where many wait for opportunities to knock, she built her own path with determination, compost, care — and a whole lot of chickens.
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18 December 2025
UN@80 Open Door Forum: Advancing Disability Inclusion, Rights, and Transformative Action
As part of the UN’s 80th anniversary, the forum reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to dignity, equality, and shared humanity by fostering a crucial, action-oriented dialogue with persons with disabilities and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs) to advance inclusion in Namibia.This forum serves as a practical platform for advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2025–2029, which is aligned with Namibia’s Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6) and Vision 2030. By centering the voices of persons with disabilities and Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs), UN Namibia is operationalising its commitment to ensuring that national development processes are inclusive, participatory, and responsive to those most at risk of being left behind. “A United Call for Action”The forum began with impactful opening remarks from Ms. Hopolang Phororo, the UN Resident Coordinator; Ms. Erika Goldson, the Representative of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); and a message from Mr. Moses Nghipandulwa of the Namibian Federation of the Visually Impaired (NFVI).Ms. Goldson underscored the transition from "inclusion in words to inclusion in reality," emphasizing that disability inclusion is a right, not a charity. She celebrated the Art Expo and the vital dialogue on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) against people with disabilities.Mr. Nghipandulwa, speaking through his message, hailed the UN as a "beacon of hope" and urged adherence to the "Nothing About Us, Without Us" principle. His calls to action included reforms in travel and recruitment policies, systematic budget allocation for disability initiatives, and building partnerships that empower and lead to self-reliance.Ms. Phororo underscored the UN’s commitment to working with people with disabilities, emphasizing the critical distinction between doing things for them and doing things with them. She explained that the latter approach is far more meaningful, fostering better outcomes not only for the UN but, more importantly, for people with disabilities themselves, as it affirms their autonomy and demonstrates that their voices truly matter.The priorities raised during the forum directly inform the four strategic pillars of the UNSDCF 2025–2029. These include effective governance, by ensuring persons with disabilities are meaningfully included in decision-making processes; economic recovery and transformation, through inclusive growth and employment opportunities; sustainable development and climate resilience, particularly for marginalised groups; and human development, by improving access to quality, rights-based social services. Together, these pillars translate disability inclusion from commitment to action. “Open Forum: Dialogue on Progress and Persistent Challenges”The morning session, "UN@80 Reflections on Disability Inclusion," featured a vibrant open forum where UN agencies persons with disabilities and OPDs engaged in candid discussions. Participants shared successes, such as UNFPA's support for youth with disabilities and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)'s partnerships, while also presenting key challenges. Discussions highlighted the need for UN agencies to directly engage with OPDs at their facilities and support their capacity building in areas like corporate governance. Access to information was a critical point, with calls to translate key documents into "Easy Reading Versions." Participants also emphasized the removal of institutional barriers in travel requirements and UN recruitment, urging systematic funding for disability-specific initiatives and ensuring UN implementing partners integrate disability inclusion into their projects. These reflections underscored a common message: inclusion must be intentional, resourced, and measurable.The open dialogue reinforced the role of Organizations of Persons with Disabilities as essential partners in implementation, monitoring, and accountability. Their contributions offer practical guidance on how the UN system in Namibia can operationalise the UNSDCF 2025–2029, ensuring that policies, programmes, and partnerships address structural barriers and reflect lived realities. The forum also contributes to Namibia’s “80 Voices for 80 Years” campaign, which seeks to amplify diverse lived experiences and ensure that the voices of persons with disabilities help shape inclusive development and the future of multilateral cooperation.“Addressing Gender-Based Violence: Uncovering Hidden Risks”The afternoon session delved into a critical panel discussion on "Gender-Based Violence: Addressing Violence Against Persons with Disabilities," aligning with the global "16 Days of Activism Campaign." The panel was composed of a frontline service provider, a parent of a child with a disability, and two persons with disabilities, bringing together lived experience and professional expertise to illuminate the multifaceted risks faced by the disability community.Key insights revealed that emotional abuse is a frequently overlooked form of GBV, leaving deep scars. Participants highlighted significant access barriers, including communication difficulties for deaf individuals in justice systems and the lack of trained service providers. The disproportionate burden on parents of children with disabilities, often single mothers facing stigma and economic hardship, was also a key focus. Calls were made for policy implementation, community awareness, advocacy to break stigma, and strengthening networks among all stakeholders to create genuinely inclusive environments and address infrastructure accessibility.Panelists called for decisive policy implementation, expanded community awareness, stronger advocacy to dismantle stigma, and enhanced coordination among all stakeholders to ensure accessible environments, communication, and services. “Art and Partnership: Cultivating Connection”Following the in-depth discussions, an "Art Expo" showcased the inspiring creativity and talent of artists with disabilities. This exhibition served as a powerful reminder that their expression and leadership know no bounds. Their work served as a reminder of the inherent talent and potential within Namibia’s disability community; potential that must be recognized, amplified, and supported.The event concluded with networking opportunities, allowing UN, persons with disabilities, and OPD representatives to interact and build stronger partnerships through shared experiences and cultural appreciation. This fostered a collaborative spirit, moving beyond dialogue to genuine human connection.Under the UNSDCF 2025–2029, “Leaving No One Behind” is not a slogan but a development mandate. It requires deliberate action to address the root causes of exclusion and inequality in Namibia. The Open Door Forum marks a key moment in a five-year journey to move from inclusion in words to measurable inclusion in practice, ensuring that persons with disabilities are recognized as rights-holders, contributors, and leaders in Namibia’s development.The "UN@80 Open Door Forum with Persons with Disabilities" served as a crucial platform for honest and productive dialogue between the UN and Namibian OPDs. The invaluable feedback and recommendations received will strengthen the UN's commitment to working "with" people with disabilities, guiding the transition from promises to tangible practices, from exclusion to empowerment. This event marked a significant step forward for disability inclusion in Namibia, reinforcing that sustained partnerships and concrete action are the only path forward toward true empowerment and self-reliance.
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16 October 2026
From Investment to Opportunity: Conversations with UN Youth Advisory Group Members on Namibia’s Development Ambition and Opportunities for Young People
A biotechnology graduate, biodiversity activist and member of the United Nations Namibia Youth Advisory Group, she has brought young people’s perspectives into conversations about sustainable investment, skills and the green economy.Yet she is still looking for a job.“Having a qualification does not automatically mean you will find work,” Micky says. “You can be educated, active and willing to contribute, but you still need someone to give you that first opportunity. Without it, you are caught between having the skills and being able to use them.”Her experience captures a wider challenge facing many young Namibians: the distance that can remain between education and employment, participation and influence, investment and opportunity.As Namibia attracts investment, builds new industries and develops skills, the question is how those efforts translate into opportunities that people can experience in their own lives.Investment must produce results in people’s livesNamibia is pursuing new opportunities in energy, green growth and industrialisation.According to Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board investment pipeline and portfolio data, projects that have reached Final Investment Decision represent investments exceeding N$32.2 billion and are expected to create approximately 15,000 jobs, while the broader investment pipeline exceeds N$174.9 billion.At the same time, official Namibia Statistics Agency data show that 44.4 per cent of young people aged 15 to 34 in the labour force were unemployed in 2023.The figures point to both opportunity and urgency. The question is not only how much investment Namibia can attract, but whether young people will be equipped to benefit from it.“Green finance is not the destination. Development is,” says United Nations Resident Coordinator Hopolang Phororo. “Investment has to translate into opportunities for people, into skills, decent jobs, productive enterprises and the capacity of young Namibians to participate in and shape the economy that is emerging.”This relationship between finance and development was among the issues explored at the International Conference on Finance and Sustainable Business at the Namibia University of Science and Technology, where discussions considered how sustainable investment can contribute to economic transformation.But behind the investment figures is another question: will young people have the skills and experience needed to access the opportunities that new investment is expected to create? From qualification to opportunityFor Gabriel Mandume, a member of the UNFPA Youth Advisory Panel, the education to employment challenge begins with what young people are learning and whether they have opportunities to apply it in practice.“The problem that we really have in Namibia is that we have a disconnection between the school curriculum,” Gabriel says, arguing that education can place too much emphasis on theory without sufficient practical learning.He advocates for stronger technical and vocational education and training, longer paid internships and closer collaboration between Government, educational institutions and the private sector to better prepare young people for employment.Dawid Gawaseb, Senior Youth Officer for the Khomas Regional Youth Office and YouthConnekt Namibia focal point, identifies another dimension of the problem: credential inflation.“Mainly it's the skills mismatch and also as far as I'm concerned what had happened over the years is the issue of credential inflation, what the kind of job you would normally get with a typical grade 10 or a grade 12 now requires a degree.”Their perspectives reinforce Micky’s experience. Education builds capability, but qualifications need to connect with practical experience and pathways into work.This matters as Namibia’s economy changes. The green transition will require technicians, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, innovators and workers with combinations of technical, digital and interpersonal skills. Long term investments can create opportunities extending beyond construction into operations, maintenance, services and local value chains.The skills pipeline cannot begin after the jobs arrive. Participation must lead to opportunitySkills alone, however, do not complete the pathway.Young people are increasingly participating in conversations about Namibia’s future. The next question is whether that participation translates into influence, experience and opportunity.For Toini Amutenya, a member of the UN Namibia Youth Advisory Group, participation must also prepare young people to take advantage of the opportunities emerging around them. She has highlighted the importance of problem solving, communication and digital competencies for emerging industries, while pointing to entrepreneurship and local value addition as ways for young people to create opportunities rather than depending only on formal employment.Micky’s experience illustrates why that connection matters. As a job seeker, she has encountered realities familiar to many graduates: application costs, demands for prior experience and institutional requirements that can be difficult to meet when starting out.Drawing from her experience, she encourages students to begin building networks, volunteering and seeking practical exposure early rather than waiting until graduation to gain experience.Similar themes emerged during the BeFree Big Talks discussion “From Ideation to Impact: Who’s Holding the Door Open?” and NBC’s Situation Kritikal: From Education to Employment, where Micky, Toini and Dawid discussed the transition from education into the labour market.Across these conversations, the message is clear: participation needs pathways. Creating more than one pathwayFor some young people, the pathway may be formal employment. For others, it may be entrepreneurship.Gabriel describes what young entrepreneurs need through what he calls the “three Ms”: money, mentorship and marketing.Dawid argues that support may exist, but young people can struggle to navigate services spread across different institutions.Dawid explains that support for young entrepreneurs is spread across different institutions, making it difficult to access mentorship and meaningful financing, including credit guarantees.He advocates for a more coordinated ecosystem, including a “one stop shop” through which young people could access information on funding, training, mentorship and opportunities.The broader point is that skills development, investment, entrepreneurship support and youth participation are more powerful when they connect around a common outcome.There is already progress on which to build.During the first year of implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2025–2029, UN support equipped 295 young people with green skills, supported 50 businesses, assisted 1,760 households through agriculture and mobilised US$28.63 million for climate priorities, while 820,747 learners benefited from stronger education systems.These achievements are important, but their longer-term value will depend on whether they translate into stronger livelihoods, businesses, employment and opportunities that people can sustain.Namibia’s role as a Pathfinder Country under the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions provides another opportunity to strengthen those connections by bringing employment and social protection into the same national conversation.Decent work is also about dignityWhether those pathways work has consequences beyond employment statistics.For many young people, prolonged unemployment is more than an economic challenge. It can delay independence, affect confidence and make it harder to begin building a life.For Dawid, decent work ultimately comes down to something deeply human.“It's dignity... being able to have a decent job means you have some sort of a wage... if you look at the cost of living today it's difficult to even just buy bread if you don't have the means.”Together, the perspectives of Micky, Gabriel, Toini and Dawid point to the same conclusion: investment, education, participation and entrepreneurship are most effective when they create clear pathways into opportunity.For a young Namibian, education, employment, entrepreneurship, participation, climate action and economic security are not separate development agendas.They are one life.The result is what happens to peopleBy 2030, Namibia will be able to count investments mobilised, jobs created, young people trained and businesses supported. Those numbers matter.But the real measure of progress will be what those investments and interventions make possible in people’s lives: whether qualifications lead to opportunity, participation leads to influence, skills lead to livelihoods and investment creates pathways that young Namibians can actually enter.That brings the story back to Micky.She is already educated. Already participating. Already contributing.Namibia’s young people are not waiting to contribute. Many are already doing so.The challenge is ensuring that opportunity can meet them there.
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01 September 2026
When the Bruises Fade: The Hidden Mental Health Toll of GBV in Namibia
Someone who used to speak up now keeps quiet. A colleague who was always on time starts arriving late. A student who once thrived begins to fall behind. A teacher notices a learner in a rural school who no longer raises her hand. A corporate supervisor in Windhoek wonders why a once-reliable employee has grown distant. No one asks why.Nothing dramatic. Nothing you can easily name. Just small, quiet changes that are easy to dismiss. We tell ourselves people are stressed, tired, or simply going through a personal phase. And then we move on.But sometimes, those quiet changes are not random. In Namibia, these subtle behavioural shifts are frequently the invisible, echoing effects of a persistent epidemic: Gender-Based Violence (GBV).The Scale of the Silent CrisisAs a society, we have become accustomed to tracking the visible toll of this crisis. National data cuts through any illusions we might hold. The 2023 Namibia Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) found that 33% of women aged 15–49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15, while 15% have experienced sexual violence. Police statistics further show that 17,669 gender-based violence cases were reported nationally between 2020 and 2023, including 4,516 cases in 2023 alone, with women accounting for 81.2% of all victims. Yet, these figures represent only part of the picture. The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that most survivors never formally disclose the violence they experience, meaning the true burden of GBV is likely much higher than official statistics suggest. Fear, stigma, financial dependence and limited access to support continue to prevent many women from seeking help.Yet, these numbers represent only the visible surface of a much deeper development challenge. While criminal justice response and physical safety are paramount, a critical opportunity lies in deepening our focus on the long-term mental health toll of GBV.As highlighted by the United Nations system and its partnership with the Namibian Government through the Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework, addressing this hidden trauma is directly tied to achieving SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality). Rebuilding lives after violence is not just a social imperative; it is foundational to our collective national development.What happens after the immediate crisis resolves rarely makes headlines. For many survivors, the experience reshapes how they move through the world. The psychological impact can manifest heavily as depression, chronic anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and thoughts of self-harm. According to the WHO, women who have experienced intimate partner violence are approximately twice as likely to suffer depression, are significantly more likely to develop anxiety disorders and PTSD, and face an increased risk of suicidal behaviour than women who have not experienced such violence. Although Namibia has limited nationally representative data on the mental health outcomes of GBV survivors, frontline health workers, counsellors and social workers consistently report that psychological trauma often outlasts physical injuries.Different Realities, Shared TraumaThe mental health burdens of GBV do not fall uniformly across Namibia; they are shaped by demographic and geographic realities. Consider the distinct experiences of an urban working adult compared to a rural learner. In an urban centre like Windhoek, an employed survivor might struggle with a sudden drop in workplace productivity and intense social isolation yet live in closer proximity to counselling services or civil society support networks.Conversely, a young learner or a mother in a remote rural community faces a different set of hurdles. Consider the lived experience of "Mee Ndahafa" (name changed for privacy), a communal farmer in the Ohangwena Region. After surviving severe domestic abuse, she experienced debilitating panic attacks and a complete loss of confidence. For her, accessing psychological support was not a matter of booking a quick appointment; it meant facing a costly, day-long trek to the nearest district hospital, where structural capacity is understandably stretched.Furthermore, deep-rooted cultural barriers and local stigma often mean that discussing mental health or family difficulties is viewed as uncovering private matters, leaving many rural women to process acute trauma in isolating silence.These realities are compounded by limited access to specialised mental health services, particularly outside Namibia's urban centres. Although the Ministry of Health and Social Services, with support from WHO and UNFPA, has trained more than 300 healthcare providers across all 14 regions to improve survivor-centred care for women experiencing violence, specialist psychological services remain limited, making sustained recovery particularly difficult for survivors in remote communities.Shifting from "Coping" to Shared Institutional ActionWhat we often misread as a survivor simply “coping” is actually unaddressed trauma. Namibia has made admirable progress in establishing dedicated Gender-Based Violence Protection Units and national gender policies. To complement these strong foundations, our collective next step must be to fully integrate mental health recovery into existing national frameworks.This is not the burden of any single entity; rather, it requires a multi-sectoral, whole-of-society partnership where every institution plays a supportive role:Primary Healthcare Integration: Building on the existing structures of the Ministry of Health and Social Services, we can further strengthen public health by training community health workers to provide basic psychological first aid and mental health screening at the clinic level, particularly in rural areas.The "Peer-Counselling Network" in Schools: While some Namibian schools are fortunate to have dedicated life skills teachers, many others face severe resource constraints. Instead, train existing teachers and mature student peer leaders in psychological first aid. By establishing "Circles of Support" within under-resourced schools, we ensure that a vulnerable learner always has a safe, immediate environment to turn to before falling behind academically.Workplace Wellness Frameworks: In the private and corporate sectors, employers can champion compassionate workplace wellness policies that recognise sudden changes in performance as potential indicators of personal crises, offering supportive pathways rather than immediate disciplinary action.Community and Traditional Leadership: Traditional authorities and local leaders remain vital partners in dismantling the social stigma surrounding mental health, utilising local platforms to normalise seeking psychological support.A Shared Journey Toward HealingBehind every statistic is a human life. Behind the small, everyday changes we notice are stories of profound pain, survival, and quiet resilience. Sometimes, the loudest impact of violence is not the physical harm we can see, but the heavy psychological weight that Namibian women and girls are forced to carry silently.By framing mental health support not as a missing piece, but as an essential catalyst for our national development goals, we can ensure that our response to GBV is holistic, sustainable, and truly transformative. Mental health is not only a health issue it is also an education issue when trauma affects learning, an economic issue when survivors struggle to remain productive, a workplace issue when invisible trauma goes unrecognised, and a human rights issue that affects the dignity and wellbeing of every individual. Investing in the psychological recovery of survivors strengthens families, workplaces and communities while advancing Namibia's commitment to SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality). It is time to turn our collective attention to the signs we have lived around for too long and build a shared pathway toward lasting healing.By Christophine Iyambo
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04 August 2026
From Ambition to Action: Delivering Opportunities for Every Namibian
Windhoek, Namibia. It is not often that the Secretary to Cabinet convenes Executive Directors from across Government ministries together with the entire United Nations Country Team to focus on a single national development challenge. Yet this is precisely what took place in Windhoek as Namibia signalled an important shift in the way it intends to accelerate employment creation and strengthen social protection through the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions, a platform that brings together government institutions, development partners, workers' and employers' organisations, the private sector and civil society around a shared implementation agenda.Rather than treating jobs, skills development, industrialisation, education, digital transformation and social protection as separate policy agendas, the dialogue recognised that these priorities are interconnected and require coordinated action across Government and society. Convened under the leadership of Secretary to Cabinet Ambassador Emilia Mkusa, the engagement brought together Executive Directors from across Government and the full United Nations Country Team to explore how the Global Accelerator can support implementation of Namibia's Sixth National Development Plan. More than a coordination meeting, it represented a strategic shift towards treating employment creation and social protection as shared national priorities requiring collective leadership, integrated planning and coordinated investment across sectors.A New Way of Delivering DevelopmentNamibia enters implementation of the Sixth National Development Plan at a pivotal moment. Government has committed to creating 500,000 jobs, accelerating economic transformation, strengthening resilience, expanding education and skills development and ensuring that no one is left behind.The urgency of this agenda is clear. Namibia's broad unemployment rate stands at 36.9 per cent, while youth unemployment remains 44.4 per cent among people aged 15 to 35. More than half of unemployed youth are between the ages of 15 and 24, underscoring the need for coordinated action that connects education, skills development, investment and employment creation.Participants recognised that no single institution can create jobs on its own. Education must equip young people with relevant skills. Industrial policy must attract investment and create productive employment. Digital transformation must improve productivity and service delivery. Social protection must provide security that enables people to participate fully in economic life. Success therefore depends on institutions working together rather than pursuing separate mandates.Secretary to Cabinet Calls for Shared National Action Secretary to Cabinet Ambassador Emilia Mkusa emphasised that citizens judge development by outcomes rather than institutional arrangements. She stressed that employment creation, livelihoods and resilience cannot be delivered by one institution acting alone and called for stronger alignment across ministries, regional authorities, development partners, the private sector, workers' organisations, academia and civil society.She observed: “Our citizens are not concerned with institutional boundaries; they are concerned with outcomes. They want to see decent jobs, opportunities for young people, stronger support systems for vulnerable households, and visible improvements in their daily lives.”The dialogue reflected an important evolution in Namibia's development approach, from coordinating institutions around individual programmes to coordinating around measurable national results. The emphasis is no longer simply on collaboration. It is on ensuring that policies, investments and institutions collectively deliver tangible improvements in people's lives.The Global AcceleratorThe Global Accelerator provides a practical mechanism for aligning Government leadership, development finance, technical expertise and partnerships behind nationally identified priorities. It encourages institutions responsible for labour, education, industrialisation, economic planning, investment promotion, digital transformation and social protection to work together around a common implementation agenda. By strengthening policy coherence and encouraging integrated planning, it helps translate national priorities into coordinated action and supports implementation of the Sixth National Development Plan. One National Agenda, One United Nations ResponseThrough the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2025 to 2029, fourteen resident United Nations entities, together with non-resident agencies, align their comparative advantages behind Government priorities. Rather than implementing isolated programmes, the United Nations responds as one system, combining expertise, policy advice, technical assistance and partnerships to support implementation of the Sixth National Development Plan.From Coordination to DeliveryParticipants highlighted ongoing efforts to strengthen technical and vocational education and training, expand work-based learning, support entrepreneurship, accelerate green industrialisation and prepare the workforce for emerging sectors such as renewable energy and green hydrogen. Projects that have reached Final Investment Decision represent investments exceeding N$32.2 billion and are expected to create approximately 15,000 jobs, while Namibia's broader investment pipeline exceeds N$174.9 billion. Discussions also reaffirmed the importance of strengthening Namibia's social protection system and ensuring that economic transformation benefits all citizens.Turning Ambition into ResultsThe dialogue demonstrated a growing commitment to addressing employment creation and social protection as shared national priorities rather than isolated sectoral responsibilities. As Namibia accelerates implementation of the Sixth National Development Plan, the Global Accelerator offers a practical platform for translating ambition into coordinated action.Success will ultimately be measured not by the number of meetings held or strategies developed, but by whether more Namibians secure decent work, businesses grow, communities become more resilient and development delivers tangible improvements in people's daily lives. By aligning national leadership with international expertise and focusing on measurable results, Government and the United Nations are helping turn ambition into acti
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08 July 2026
From Investment to Opportunity: Building Skills and Industries for Namibia's Green Future
Windhoek, Namibia. A decade ago, careers in green hydrogen barely existed in Namibia. Today, young professionals, such as process engineers, one at the Daures Green Hydrogen Village are helping shape an industry that many believe could transform the country’s economic future. Their experience reflects a broader national ambition; ensuring that Namibia’s green investment boom creates lasting opportunities for Namibia. Namibia is attracting unprecedented investment in renewable energy, green hydrogen and associated industries. According to the Namibia Investment Promotion and Development Board (NIPDB) official investment pipeline and portfolio data, projects that have already reached Final Investment Decision (FID) represent investments exceeding N$32.2 billion and are expected to create approximately 15,000 jobs, while the country's broader green investment pipeline exceeds N$174.9 billion.Yet the success of Namibia’s green transition will not be measured by the value of investments announced. The critical question is whether these investments can be transformed into decent work, competitive local industries and lasting economic opportunities for Namibians, particularly young people, women and local communities. Recognising this opportunity, the Government of Namibia, together with NIPDB, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the wider United Nations system, is supporting a coordinated effort to ensure that investment, skills development, industrialisation and job creation advance together. From Investment to SkillsLarge scale investments can only translate into employment if Namibians possess the skills required by emerging industries. Developed jointly by NIPDB and the ILO using the internationally recognised Skills for Trade and Economic Diversification (STED) methodology, the Energy Sector Skills Strategy provides an evidence-based roadmap for identifying future workforce needs and aligning education, training and labour market systems with industry demands. Rather than waiting for skills shortages to emerge, this strategy helps Government, employers and education providers prepare workers before industries reach full scale. The objective is straightforward – to ensure that Namibians are ready to fill the jobs created by the country's expanding green economy. Jessica Hauuanga, Executive for Investor Experience at NIPDB, underscored this point that: "At NIPDB, our mandate is not simply to attract investment. Our responsibility is to ensure that every dollar invested translates into structural transformation for Namibia's economy. Capital is mobile, but sustainable development must be local. That means building the skilled workforce our industries need so that Namibians are at the centre of this transformation."The Strategy identifies future occupations, skills requirements and reforms needed to strengthen Namibia's education and training systems through curriculum reform, industry partnerships, work-based learning and apprenticeships.Building Industries That Create JobsPreparing people is only one part of the equation. Those skills must be matched by competitive industries capable of creating productive employment, strengthening local value chains and generating opportunities for Namibian enterprises. Through the GEF 8 Global Clean Hydrogen Programme Namibia Child Project and the Accelerate to Demonstrate Facility, UNIDO is supporting Namibia to strengthen industrial capacity, promote local value addition, facilitate technology transfer and demonstrate practical applications of clean hydrogen technologies. While STED focuses on preparing Namibia's workforce needed for the future economy, UNIDO’s work focuses on building the industries that can employ that workforce. Together these efforts help to ensure that green investment delivers long-term economic transformation rather than short-term construction activity alone.As UNIDO Project Manager, Sven Schuppener, notes that Namibia’s opportunity lies not only in producing clean energy but in using that opportunity to create jobs, strengthen industries and deliver lasting benefits for communities.One National Priority, One United Nations ResponseWhat makes these initiatives particularly significant is that they demonstrate how different United Nations mandates can align behind a single national development objective.The ILO contributes expertise in skills development, labour markets and decent work. UNIDO contributes industrial development, green industrialisation, innovation and local value addition. Working alongside Government, NIPDB, industry and education institutions, these complementary efforts help address two sides of the same challenge: preparing Namibians for future jobs while helping build the industries that will create them. Together, they illustrate how the United Nations is aligning its comparative advantages behind Namibia's ambition to ensure that the green transition is not only environmentally sustainable, but also inclusive, job-rich and people-centred. From Strategy to Community ImpactThe Daures Green Hydrogen Village offers a glimpse of what this vision looks like in practice. Combining renewable energy, green hydrogen, sustainable agriculture, green fertiliser production and technical training, demonstrates how climate innovation can create opportunities while preparing the workforce needed for Namibia's future economy. Approximately 75 per cent of the workforce comes from the Daures Daman Constituency, while technical training, mentoring and study tours are creating opportunities for youth, graduates, researchers and local communities. For Jason, who oversees agricultural production, and Jeremiah, a process engineer, the green transition is no longer an abstract policy discussion. It is a source of skills, employment and opportunity in a sector that scarcely existed a decade ago. Their experience points to what success could look like at scale. People at the CentreUnited Nations Resident Coordinator Hopolang Phororo captured the central challenge: "The true measure of success will not be the volume of investment attracted or the scale of projects announced. It will be the extent to which these opportunities improve the lives of Namibians." Government leadership, supported by industry, academia, development partners and the United Nations, is helping ensure that Namibia's green transition delivers more than economic growth by creating decent work, strengthening institutions, expanding opportunities for women and young people and building resilient local value chains.Creating Lasting OpportunitiesUltimately, Namibia's green transition is about more than renewable energy or hydrogen production. It is about ensuring that unprecedented investment creates lasting opportunities for Namibians. By connecting investment with skills development, industrialisation, local value addition and community participation, Namibia is laying the foundations for a green economy that is globally competitive, economically inclusive and people centred. If successful, Namibia's experience will demonstrate how countries rich in renewable resources can transform investment into opportunity, creating cleaner industries, better jobs, stronger institutions and lasting prosperity for future generations.
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07 July 2026
Accelerating Namibia's Economic Transformation through African Partnerships
Africa's economic transformation increasingly depends on the continent's ability to harness its own markets, expertise and productive capacity. As global economic dynamics evolve, African countries are seeking new pathways to strengthen industrialisation, expand regional trade and build more resilient and competitive economies.For Namibia, these ambitions align closely with the Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6), Agenda 2063, the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) 2025–2029 and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Together, these frameworks provide a shared roadmap for accelerating sustainable, inclusive and resilient development.Against this backdrop, the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) and the Africa Group in Namibia convened their first dedicated dialogue at the United Nations House in Windhoek on 7 July 2026. More than a diplomatic engagement, the dialogue explored how African cooperation can help accelerate Namibia's economic transformation by connecting countries with proven policy experience, technical expertise, investment opportunities and regional markets. African Expertise as a Driver of Economic TransformationAcross Africa, countries are tackling many of the same development challenges, including industrialisation, value addition, renewable energy, logistics, skills development and job creation. Yet too often, solutions are developed in isolation despite similar experiences elsewhere on the continent.The dialogue recognised that Africa already possesses extensive expertise across sectors critical to Namibia's future growth. Every year spent duplicating policies, systems or institutional reforms that have already been tested elsewhere represents lost opportunities to attract investment, expand productive capacity and create employment. Accelerating development therefore depends not only on financing, but also on how effectively countries mobilise African expertise to shorten learning curves, strengthen institutions and improve implementation.For Namibia, this presents an opportunity to advance the objectives of NDP6 by drawing on African experience in industrialisation, mineral beneficiation, green industrialisation, logistics, energy, agriculture, digital transformation and skills development. Rather than replicating development pathways from outside the continent, Namibia can adapt proven African solutions while strengthening its competitiveness within regional and global markets.By connecting expertise, investment opportunities and markets across borders, African cooperation can also help countries realise the practical benefits of the AfCFTA through stronger regional value chains, increased intra-African trade and more competitive regional industries. In this context, cooperation becomes more than an expression of solidarity; it becomes a catalyst for productivity, competitiveness and long-term economic growth. The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) brings together a unified market of approximately 1.4 billion people with a combined Gross Domestic Product exceeding US$3.4 trillion. If fully implemented, it has the potential to catalyse economic integration towards a US$7 trillion continental economy by 2035. For Namibia, this presents an unprecedented opportunity to expand regional value chains, attract investment, strengthen industrialisation and create decent jobs through deeper regional integration.Regional Cooperation in PracticeThe dialogue highlighted practical examples of how African cooperation can support Namibia's development priorities.The Republic of Congo shared opportunities to strengthen economic cooperation between Pointe-Noire and Walvis Bay while exchanging expertise developed through decades of petroleum production. Ms. Kasturie Maharaj, Counsellor (Political) and Acting Deputy High Commissioner at the South African High Commission in Windhoek, Namibia, highlighted the importance of ensuring infrastructure investments remain sustainable throughout their lifecycle while continuing to support investment, skills development and employment creation in Namibia. His Excellency Alhaji Abdul-Rahman Harruna Attah, High Commissioner of Ghana to Namibia, challenged participants to consider why countries entering new sectors should reinvent systems or repeat avoidable mistakes when relevant experience already exists elsewhere on the continent.Together, these examples demonstrated that stronger regional cooperation can complement bilateral partnerships by expanding opportunities for policy exchange, technical cooperation, institutional partnerships and investment. The discussion also highlighted the evolving role of African diplomatic missions in facilitating trade, technology transfer, business partnerships and regional economic integration.Connecting African Expertise with National PrioritiesAs development challenges become increasingly interconnected, effective coordination is emerging as a critical enabler of economic transformation. The United Nations plays a unique role in connecting national priorities with regional expertise, development finance, technical knowledge and global experience while ensuring these partnerships remain aligned behind nationally owned priorities.Welcoming participants, Her Excellency Ms. Lauria Nyayino, Ambassador of the Republic of Congo, Dean of the Diplomatic Corps and Dean of the Africa Group, described the United Nations House as “our communal house,” reflecting the collaborative spirit of the engagement. United Nations Resident Coordinator Ms. Hopolang Phororo underscored the shared purpose of the dialogue, noting that "we are all contributing towards NDP6, ultimately Agenda 2063." She emphasised that the dialogue was convened to better understand how African countries are already contributing to Namibia's national priorities and to identify opportunities for stronger coordination, practical cooperation and knowledge exchange that can accelerate implementation of the country's development agenda.She noted that the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) provides a significant opportunity to deepen regional cooperation by connecting a market of approximately 1.4 billion people with a combined Gross Domestic Product exceeding US$3.4 trillion. As African countries strengthen regional value chains, expand intra-African trade and share expertise across borders, Namibia is well positioned to leverage these partnerships to accelerate industrialisation, attract investment and create decent jobs.Participants agreed on practical follow-up actions, including mapping African comparative advantages against Namibia's priority sectors, strengthening information sharing between African diplomatic missions and the UN system, expanding technical cooperation and convening future thematic dialogues on industrialisation, regional integration, green industrialisation and implementation of the AfCFTA. These actions will help strengthen links between African expertise and Namibia's national development priorities.Harnessing Africa's Collective StrengthThe dialogue reflects a broader evolution in Africa's development trajectory, from cooperation based primarily on solidarity towards cooperation driven by shared economic interests, industrial competitiveness and regional value chains.As countries implement Agenda 2063 and pursue the Sustainable Development Goals, the ability to mobilise African expertise at scale may become one of the continent's greatest development advantages. For Namibia, this means accelerating structural transformation by strengthening regional markets, expanding value addition, improving productivity and creating decent jobs through partnerships that deliver measurable economic outcomes.In an increasingly uncertain global environment, Africa's future competitiveness will depend not only on the resources it possesses, but on how effectively it connects its markets, institutions and expertise. By connecting African expertise with national priorities, the United Nations is helping transform regional cooperation into a practical accelerator of economic transformation, reinforcing the vision of Agenda 2063 and contributing to a more prosperous, integrated and resilient continent.
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Press Release
29 April 2025
UN Namibia Mourns Loss of Young Girls and Reaffirms Commitment to Strengthening Child Protection
Violence against girls and humanity is unacceptable under any circumstances and must be addressed with the full force of the law. The UN calls for thorough, prompt, impartial and independent investigations to ensure accountability and prevent such acts from happening again. These acts of violence against children represent a profound violation of their fundamental rights and underscores the importance of continuing to strengthen protective measures for all children. As a signatory to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Namibia must uphold its obligations to prevent unlawful killings, protect the best interest of the child, including protection from all harm, prevent discrimination and gender-based violence, and hold perpetrators to account.The loss of any child is devastating as it tears at the very fabric of society. Every child has the fundamental right to live in safety, dignity and peace. Protecting these rights must remain a shared priority.“We are deeply saddened by the tragic deaths of 15-year old Beyoncé !Kharuxas, 5-year-old Ingrid Maasdorp, and 6-year-old Rosalind Dinelao Fabian, a national tragedy that must strengthen our resolve to protect all children,” said Ms. Hopolang Phororo, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Namibia. “The protection of our children must be a non-negotiable priority. We owe it to every child, every parent, and every future generation to act with courage and urgency. The UN in Namibia stands ready to support national efforts and encourages enhanced and coordinated action to prevent and respond to violence against children.”UN Namibia encourages an urgent and compassionate collective national response to ensure every child is supported and protected. Strengthening Namibia’s child protection systems is vital to ensure that services are adequately funded, easily accessible, and effectively responsive. This also includes enhancing access to justice for affected children and their families by expediting investigations and legal processes. Furthermore, increasing investment in violence prevention and psychosocial support, especially at the community level remains a key priority. Promoting education and awareness within communities is equally important, empowering all members of society to safeguard the wellbeing of every child. Violence against children must never be accepted as inevitable. This is also an opportunity for Government to implement recommendations received from various UN human rights treaties which focus on enhancing community support, male engagement, and awareness programs, while also building capacity among healthcare workers, police, judiciary, and civil society to tackle gender-based violence; addressing the root causes of child abandonment and ensuring children's rights to life, survival, and development; and the need for prompt, impartial investigations into violence against women, prosecuting and punishing perpetrators appropriately, and training police, prosecutors, and judges on gender-based violence issues.The UN Namibia stands in solidarity with the families of Beyoncé, Ingrid, and Rosalind during this time of profound grief. We call for a swift, coordinated and urgent national response that leaves no child behind. We reaffirm our commitment to the Government of the Republic of Namibia and all stakeholders to create safer environments for every child. Justice must be delivered swiftly and fairly, upholding the human rights and dignity of every victim.The UN remains committed to supporting Namibia’s efforts in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions, and SDG 5: Gender Equality, and implementation with its human rights obligations. We recognize that ending violence against women and girls must begin with protection them from their earliest years.
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Press Release
04 February 2025
UN SDG Book Club African Chapter Celebrates World Read Aloud Day with Global Read-a-thon
The Power of Reading AloudWorld Read Aloud Day, observed annually on February 5th, emphasizes the significance of reading aloud and sharing stories to foster literacy, empathy, and community building. This day holds particular importance in Africa, where access to reading materials can be limited, and literacy rates vary greatly across the continent.Empowering African ChildrenBy celebrating World Read Aloud Day, the UN SDG Book Club African Chapter aims to inspire a love for reading and storytelling centered around sustainability concerns among African children. Reading aloud has the power to bridge cultural divides, preserve heritage, and foster a sense of shared humanity.Partnering Schools Across the GlobeThe UN SDG Book Club African Chapter is delighted to partner with the following schools worldwide:1. Islamic Day Secondary School - Ibadan, Nigeria2. Banana Island International School - Lagos, Nigeria3. Nature-Nurtured Basic Academy Chukuku - Abuja, Nigeria4. Holy Family Languages School for Girls - Cairo, Egypt5. Saint Fatima Language School - Cairo, Egypt6. Chrisland Schools Group - Lagos, Abuja, Nigeria7. Beehive School - Lagos, Nigeria8. Mohammed El-Sheikh Preparatory School - Casablanca, Morocco9. Bal Bhavan Public School - East Delhi, India10. Mount Abu Public School - North West Delhi, India11. Maharaja Aggarsain Adarsh Public School - New Delhi, India12. Maharaja Agrasen Model School - New Delhi, IndiaSaluting Young AmbassadorsWe salute the participating children for their enthusiasm and dedication to reading and promoting the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These young ambassadors are helping to shape a brighter future for themselves and their communities.About the UN SDG Book Club African ChapterOur mission is to promote literacy, foster a love for reading, and inspire action towards achieving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) among African children ages 6-12. We also showcase Special Collections of selected books addressing sustainability themes for young adults and adults.Join the Celebration!Starting from 12 noon on Wednesday, February 5th, 2025, selected video highlights from the read-a-thon will be published on:- Ambassador Schools Program website: sdgafricaambassadorschools.com -YouTube channel: UN SDG Book Club African Chapter Follow us on social media for promotions:- Facebook: Borders Book Reviews and Nigeria Volunteers Network- Instagram: Borders_Book_Reviews- Twitter: @sdg_book_clubWe look forward to sharing the joy of reading with you!
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Press Release
24 October 2024
UN Calls for Commitment to Agenda 2030 and beyond, as Namibia Prepares for the 2025-2029 UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework
Last month, the Pact for the Future was adopted at the United Nations General Assembly, providing a renewed vision for multilateralism aimed at addressing global challenges and delivering on promises for a better future.In Namibia, the United Nations is ushering in a new era of development cooperation with the launch of the 2025-2029 United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF), which succeeds the 2019-2024 United Nations Partnership Framework (UNPAF). Reflecting on lessons learned from the previous framework, much progress was made in social transformation—such as in health, education, and gender-based violence—less was achieved in environmental governance, economic transformation, and governance outcomes. These areas, require a concerted push for greater impact under the new UNSDCF.Tackling inequality in an integrated manner and placing people at the centre of the work the UN does with an emphasis on young people is the overarching goal. This requires concrete actions to move beyond rhetoric and meaningfully engage young people in the implementation. Central to the 2025-2029 UNSDCF is a renewed focus on addressing persistent issues such as gender-based violence, rising teenage pregnancies, increasing unemployment, and the challenges of drought and floods. These issues, which continue to affect Namibia’s population, remain key priorities for the next phase of collaboration between the UN and Namibia.The UNSDCF 2025-2029 prioritizes four key areas:Effective Governance and Public Service Delivery: Strengthening governance frameworks, enhancing institutional capacities, and promoting transparency.Economic Recovery, Transformation, and Resilience: Supporting economic diversification, job creation, and SME growth for inclusive economic development.Sustainable Development and Green Growth Opportunities: Promoting sustainable natural resource management and strengthening climate resilience.Human Development and Community Resilience: Improving access to quality healthcare, education, and social protection services to ensure no one is left behind.These areas of focus are closely aligned with Namibia’s national priorities outlined in the forthcoming Sixth National Development Plan (NDP6) and the Vision 2030. In this new framework, young people and marginalized communities will remain central to all development efforts. The UN aims to create more inclusive opportunities for youth participation in the economy and decision-making processes, while ensuring that women, rural populations, and people with disabilities are not left behind.The UN, while not a financing institution, has provided critical technical expertise, evidence-based solutions, and pilot programmes supported by catalytic funds. The UNSDCF emphasizes the need for greater coordination among UN agencies, and strengthening partnerships with government bodies, civil society, the private sector, and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) to achieve more significant, sustainable results. Leveraging the comparative advantages of each partner and fostering collaboration rather than competition will be essential to driving progress.The Pact for the Future provides a global framework for supporting national priorities and acceleration towards the SDGs. The UNSDCF 2025-2029 underscores the UN’s commitment to supporting Namibia’s development objectives in the lead-up to 2030 and beyond.
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Press Release
11 October 2024
UN and Government of Namibia Join Forces to Address Drought Crisis Amid El Niño
This initiative aims to deliver immediate assistance to vulnerable communities complementing other interventions to build long-term resilience. This funding decision by the United Nations CERF follows the visit of the Office of the ASG/Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niňo / La Niňa Response, Ms. Reena Ghelani, and the OCHA Regional Office in July 2024. The UN Resident Coordinator, Ms. Hopolang Phororo, and the ASG/Climate Crisis Coordinator for the El Niňo / La Niňa Response, Ms. Ghelani, advocated for UN support at regional and global level, as well as from development partners.
Namibia is currently facing one of its most severe droughts, influenced by the El Niño climate pattern, which has significantly impacted agriculture and food security across the nation. This crisis threatens the livelihoods of communities, particularly in the Omaheke, Kavango East, and Kavango West regions, which are classified as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 4, indicating an emergency in terms of food insecurity.
The United Nations, with the Government of Namibia, has mobilized US$3 million in response to this urgent need, leveraging the CERF. This funding, coordinated through the UN and OPM partnership, aims to complement the government’s Drought Response Plan to scale up lifesaving interventions to reach extremely vulnerable households in the most severely drought-affected locations in Kavango West, Kavango East, and Omaheke Regions.
The UN intervention will be implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for six months. The total number of people directly targeted is approximately 163,000 across the following sectors: food assistance; nutrition; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); and protection from gender-based violence.
The UN will oversee the implementation in collaboration with OPM, national, and local partners to ensure the effective distribution of food and services to those in most need. These efforts not only address the immediate crisis but also lays the foundation for long-term resilience, focusing on strengthening local supply chains, enhancing nutritional knowledge, and building community feedback mechanisms.
The integrated approach is designed to ensure accountability and transparency, with monitoring mechanisms established to protect the rights of affected communities and promote sustainable livelihoods.
Namibia is currently facing one of its most severe droughts, influenced by the El Niño climate pattern, which has significantly impacted agriculture and food security across the nation. This crisis threatens the livelihoods of communities, particularly in the Omaheke, Kavango East, and Kavango West regions, which are classified as Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) 4, indicating an emergency in terms of food insecurity.
The United Nations, with the Government of Namibia, has mobilized US$3 million in response to this urgent need, leveraging the CERF. This funding, coordinated through the UN and OPM partnership, aims to complement the government’s Drought Response Plan to scale up lifesaving interventions to reach extremely vulnerable households in the most severely drought-affected locations in Kavango West, Kavango East, and Omaheke Regions.
The UN intervention will be implemented by the World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) for six months. The total number of people directly targeted is approximately 163,000 across the following sectors: food assistance; nutrition; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); and protection from gender-based violence.
The UN will oversee the implementation in collaboration with OPM, national, and local partners to ensure the effective distribution of food and services to those in most need. These efforts not only address the immediate crisis but also lays the foundation for long-term resilience, focusing on strengthening local supply chains, enhancing nutritional knowledge, and building community feedback mechanisms.
The integrated approach is designed to ensure accountability and transparency, with monitoring mechanisms established to protect the rights of affected communities and promote sustainable livelihoods.
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Press Release
25 November 2022
Labour Migration Governance Key to Protecting Migrant Workers in Southern Africa
The President of Zimbabwe, Dr Emmerson Mnagwanga will officially open the high-level conference which seeks to find ways to foster fair and effective labour migration governance and the protection of migrant workers in Southern Africa. Led by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the High-Level Tripartite Dialogue is a culmination of activities and research organised by the Southern African Migration Management (SAMM) Project to identify priorities at the national level and advance in the implementation of country-level labour migration policies and action plans in the SADC region.
It is designed to improve migration management in the Southern African and Indian Ocean region guided by, and contributing to the realisation of, the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda goal 8 on decent work and economic growth and goal 10 on reducing inequality and Objective 6 of the Global Compact for Migration (GCM) to Facilitate fair and ethical recruitment and safeguard conditions that ensure decent work.
Since almost half of all migrant workers in the SADC region are women, the conference will spotlight the importance of labour migration policies to be gender-responsive and evidence-based. For many women, as for men, migration can represent a positive experience and have important emancipating and empowering impacts.
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA, year ), the feminization of migration has reached significant levels in the Southern African region with 47 per cent of all migrants being female.
But often female migrants are confronted with gender specific disadvantages and vulnerability in the migration process and in their employment. Women workers, especially young female migrants, often end up in situations of double or even triple discrimination, disadvantage, marginalization and vulnerability (including violence and harassment as well as forced labour.
“Maximizing the benefits of labour migration and minimizing the risks and social costs requires sound and effective labour migration governance,” said Ms. Hopalong Phororo, ILO Director for ILO Country Office for Zimbabwe and Namibia. “Expert studies and data show that migration, particularly labour migration, is an important enabler and beneficiary of regional integration and economic development in Africa.”
Across the world, migration is largely linked to the search for a job and better wages, and even if employment is not the primary driver, it usually features in the migration process at some point. In Southern Africa, as in many parts of the world, migrants face prejudice, intolerance and stigmatization in their workplaces and communities.
“It is necessary to advocate for improved migration management in Southern Africa, as a pivotal approach to addressing the challenges of migration, and ensuring that migration has a positive outcome for the country, migrants, and the members of their families”, said Mr. Ashraf El Nour, IOM Regional Director for Southern Africa.
The Southern African region has had a long history of intra-regional migration. All Member States of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) are involved in labour migration flows as countries of origin, transit, or destination and often they play the three roles at the same time.
In the SADC region, migrant workers are present in agriculture, fishing, mining, construction, food processing, domestic work, caregiving, cleaning, restaurants-hotels, transportation and retail trade.
The two day conference will promote fair, ethical and effective labour migration governance through tripartism that brings Ministries of Labour/Employment, Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs, as well as workers’ and employers’ organisations and social dialogue particularly in the development of rights-based, gender-sensitive and evidence-based labour migration legislation and policies, taking account of labour market needs.
The conference will assess labour migration governance progress so far, gaps and challenges as well as main opportunities to consider in the SADC region. It will also identify tripartite constituents’ labour migration governance priority areas of collaboration, share existing and proposed good practices and recommendations and mention current roles and contributions. It will also provide a platform to tripartite partners to re-organise and re-strategize on labour migration governance in Southern Africa
About the SAMM Project
The SAMM Project is a United Nations Multi-Agency programme composed of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). The European Union is supporting and funding the implementation of the project.
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20 August 2025
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20 August 2025
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