WINDHOEK – The International Trade Centre’s (ITC) ACCESS! Programme in Namibia this week launched a training-of-trainers workshop for equipping candidate ACCESS! national trainers with knowledge and skills.
The 10-day workshop is being held in Windhoek from September 23 to October 03. The project is funded and initiated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry and implemented by the Namibia Trade Forum, which serves as the national ACCESS! focal-point institution.
Designed to strengthen the capacity of women exporters in Africa, ACCESS! aims to help them realize their economic potential and thereby contribute to poverty reduction and improved standards of living. Fifteen candidate trainers from the public and private sectors – including trade support institutions, small and medium-sized enterprises, higher-education institutions and non-governmental organizations – are taking part in the training programme.
“Increasing income equality through the promotion of Namibian women economic empowerment is a priority of the Government of Namibia,” said Tjekero Tweya, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry.
“ACCESS! is an inclusive and strategic response to constraints faced by Namibian businesswomen who are seeking to export to regional and international markets.”
The goal of the training-of-trainers workshop is for certified ACCESS! regional lead trainers to share their knowledge of the needs of women-owned enterprises and the constraints they face in exporting goods and services with the Namibian National Team of Trainers.
“This ACCESS! training workshop is a crucial first step in the certification of ACCESS! national trainers, allowing candidate trainers to become familiar with packaging, marketing, negotiation and export finance,” said Dorothy Tembo, ITC’s Deputy Executive Director.
“These trainers will train women entrepreneurs to enable them to tap new markets and increase their exports.”
“The diversity of participants’ backgrounds is impressive,” said Ndiitah Nghipondoka-Robiati, Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Trade Forum. “Selected candidates’ competency and experience levels are very high.”
The event will also provide the opportunity to launch the development of a National Implementation Strategy to sustain the programme impact by setting out the vision for ACCESS! in the country, aligning all relevant partners along the same vision and becoming a key instrument to mobilize funds. Namibia becomes the 20th Sub-Saharan country in which ACCESS! is executed.