NKURENKURU – Public Enterprises Deputy Minister Veikko Nekundi has urged and encouraged young Namibians to become employment creators instead of solely relying on being employed by someone else.
Telling them to create industries that will bring employment, the deputy minister said such approach would help alleviate unemployment in the country.
Nekundi was speaking at a graduation event by the Women’s Action for Development (WAD) who trained and awarded certificates to 162 unemployed youths, men and women in Kavango West last week. “This is also an investment in knowledge and skills acquisition of Namibians. Dear graduates, you are now capable of running any community projects that will not only benefit yourselves but also other members of your communities that will work in partnership with you, in other words you have been trained as trainers to train as well as employ others,” he said.
“The graduation that we are witnessing today is yet another milestone meant to complement government’s efforts towards the socio-economic upliftment of the Namibian people, especially the most disadvantaged people of our communities, who find it hard to advance themselves in crossing the lines of poverty. This initiative should also be viewed as a mechanism to reduce poverty through employment creation for the graduates who will end up establishing their own businesses,” he continued.
The youths who got certified were trained in different subjects by WAD trainers at Nkurenkuru, free of charge. They received training in Office Administration and Computer, Hospitality and Tourism, Needlework and Tailoring and Gender Based Violence and Substance Abuse, Aspects of the Namibian Constitution, Human Rights, Gender Related Laws and Combating of Human Trafficking.
“It is noteworthy to mention that WAD has been at the forefront of capacity building and many other community development initiatives for our people for 25 years, in that regard, they have made significant improvements in the lives of many youths, women and men in all corners of our country. I wish therefore to congratulate WAD for the commitment to this noble cause for the people of Namibia and government fully support WAD’s efforts of uplifting the standards of our people through various training interventions,” he said.
Nekundi further noted that income generating activities should be encouraged at all levels especially amongst the communities. “The Ministry of Public Enterprises believes in the creation of employment and we solely advocate for the full inclusion and participation of women and youths to serve on boards in order to take key leadership roles in corporate governance.”
The training was funded by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung with support from Old Mutual Namibia and Nedbank Namibia.