SWAKOPMUND – Youth, women unemployment, housing, water and educational infrastructure are some of the most critical areas that need much attention in the Erongo region. Regional governor Neville Andre highlighted this during his state of the region at Swakopmund on Friday.
Andre, who was addressing residents, local and regional councillors on the state of affairs in the region, said that several interventions are needed to readdress these challenges.
“A committee of eminent persons from the private sector, local authorities, institutions of higher learning and other relevant stakeholders in the region will soon be set up to look at practical strategies of generating employment, fast track the issue of housing delivery, water provision and the improvement of the educational infrastructure,” Andre said.
According to him, youth development forms a critical component of society to readdress social inequalities; therefore, seven youth entrepreneurial projects were identified and selected for funding in all seven constituencies in the region.
“Regrettably, due to budgetary constraints, the Rural Youth Enterprise Project could only fund two projects, namely the Arandis Butchery, which received
N$ 350 000, and a Mini Market in the Walvis Bay Rural constituency,
which received N$250 000,” he said.
The governor added that future leaders can also not be created without adequately capacitating the current youth leadership. As a result, he says his office successfully hosted the first edition the annual Youth Leadership Symposium, where 100 youth leaders participated.
The symposium touched on contemporary leadership skills, emotional intelligence, and conflict resolution amongst other issues.
According to the governor, the industrialisation ministry, under the Industrial Upgrading and Modernisation Programme (IUMP) during the 2021/2022 financial year, supported five businesses with grants in Erongo to increase their production capacity.
This includes the provision of the necessary machinery, equipment, as well as tools used in the specific industries, which fall under the targeted industries under the growth at home strategy.
“N$1.4 million was spent in cosmetics, agro-horticulture, mining, fishing, and charcoal production. These are all initiatives and interventions through government that are aimed at assisting youth entrepreneurs and women and men in our region in an effort to address unemployment,” Andre said.