Namibian corporates are throwing their weight to anchor the sustainable feet of the Namibia National Internship Programme (NNIP), with the Namibia Institute of Pathology (NIP) being the latest to bolster the programme with N$300 000.
The collaborative partnership seeks to aid the development of young Namibians, and drive the country to become a knowledge-based economy.
NIP is the fifth corporate, joining the likes of Momentum Metropolitan, Old Mutual, Standard Bank Namibia and MTC in ensuring that the programme continues to grow as a national vehicle for internships.
MTC, as the custodian of the programme, commits N$2 million annually.
MTC’s chief: human capital, marketing and corporate affairs Tim Ekandjo welcomed NIP’s support, stating that through collaboration, any national challenge can be easily addressed.
“We are appreciative, and we welcome NIP’s support. This will significantly assist in upscaling the programme’s capacity. We thus urge for more corporates to come onboard so we can collectively address the shortage of Work-Integrated Learning opportunities in the country,” he said.
NIP indicated the decision to support the NNIP is in line with their integrated strategic business plan for 2022-2027, with capacity development as one of their key strategic objectives.
The main objective of the internship will be to complement and steer NIP towards achieving much-needed capacity development to support the full implementation of the people agenda, going forward.
What is more, NIP’s chief human capital Oaitse van Staden said the programme “is a move in the right direction to not only support the success of the NIP’s strategic and operational deliverables, but also address youth unemployment”.
She said “This forms part of the NIP’s contribution to advance the socio-economic agenda from a corporate social investment perspective.
“Therefore, granting an opportunity to young people requiring work-related and developmental opportunities to enhance their careers can never be understated. NIP is pleased to be part of this collaboration with MTC,” she said.
Annually, Namibia is reported to have over 48 000 students nationally who are required to do work-integrated learning as a prerequisite to graduate.
In response to addressing this national challenge, MTC launched this national internship programme in 2019. They have never looked back since then, with the programme’s annual intake increasing from 160 to 300 students. With an ambitious and deliberate target capacity of 1 600 students, a yearly capital injection of N$14 million can make this a reality for the worthy academics, MTC projected.
A call therefore stands to corporate Namibia to aid the course with a minimum of N$200 000 to upscale the programme’s intake.
To date, NNIP has recorded a total of 990 students placed on internships in different sectors.