The time for Namibian youth to rise and make something of their life is now. With opportunities coming their way from the government, there is no better time to address some of the most pressing challenges facing the youth.

Youth empowerment has long been at the centre of discussions on many different platforms. 

High unemployment amongst young people, limited funding opportunities for their projects and programmes and minimal access to further studies due to funds limitations have long plagued the youth globally. Namibia has sadly been no exception. For Namibia’s youth, unemployment is not merely a statistic, but a harsh reality. Government has, through various initiatives attempted to nip this challenge in the bud, but the victory on this battle is far from being proclaimed. 

President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has, however, struck the right chord on this phenomenon by waging an all-out ‘war’ against it. Through the line ministry, N$301 million is dedicated specifically to youth development, training and employment programmes.

Among the key initiatives funded are the National Youth Service, which received N$117.6 million, and the National Youth Council, which was allocated N$34.2 million to implement youth programmes.

Also, Finance Minister Ericah Shafudah has said government has committed to establishing a National Youth Development Fund aimed at creating employment for Namibian youth. The fund seeks to create 52 087 jobs over the next five years with a budget of N$10 billion.

The Swapo manifesto commits to youth empowerment through amongst others support to apprenticeship programmes and the National Youth Fund.

The quest to address the needs of Namibia’s youth is also captured in the vision of the government’s third National Youth Policy (2020-2030), which seeks to achieve holistic youth development through a focus on four key thematic pillars: health and well-being, education and skills training, employment and economic empowerment, and political and civic participation.

With all these noble initiatives, the ball also falls at the feet of the youth itself; what are your contributions to have these initiatives realized and beneficial to you? It’s about time the youth meet the government halfway. This is the time to rise above complaints and present workable projects and programmes that would produce economic benefits for them and by extension benefit the country.

A begging bowl-in-hand mentality has surely not worked – there is simply not enough to go around. Hence, the need to prioritise initiatives that would create economic benefits for them. Doing social media dance challenges and flaunting a fake life on social media is not the way to get there. 

In its infancy, Namibia was, understandably so, confronted with several challenges. The biggest one is the need to address the gap between a politically and economically privileged minority and a marginalized majority. In other words, Namibia’s first task was to begin to clear away what was left over from segregation and apartheid. 

Challenges were numerous and enormous: to start with, wealth was very unequally distributed, and most of the population lived in poverty because of decades of racism and ‘separate development’. For the same reasons, the illiteracy and unemployment figures, especially in the former so-called homelands, were alarmingly high, as were other poverty- and inequality-related indicators.

The status quo has improved due to various interventions by the government of the day. It might still be a long way to go to the attainment of total economic freedom as some would argue, but the trajectory has mainly been a positive one.

Rise, young people and claim your stake. Don’t leave it to chance. Drive the change you want to see. Reach out and be counted. Your time is now.