By Surihe Gaomas WINDHOEK The Association of Local Authorities of Namibia (ALAN) yesterday received a welcome boost in capacity-building by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Standard Bank of Namibia. By entering into this Public / Private Partnership, the two parties strive to work together in meeting the country’s developmental goal of Vision 2030. For a long time, ALAN has been faced with several challenges especially in terms of effective capacity-building that would at the end of the day hamper the implementation of the central government programmes. ALAN, among other objectives, aims to help its members address socio-economic challenges in a comprehensive and sustainable way in order to stimulate growth and financial sustainability in the municipalities, towns and village councils. Thus, the latest signing ceremony in the capital yesterday – which originally started off last year – is seen as a major step towards realizing sound Public / Private Partnership. In his address, the managing director of Standard Bank of Namibia, Mpumzi Pupuma, said that by joining hands with ALAN, the association is set to enhance the operational efficiency of local authorities and improving its overall service delivery. “Today, however, marks another milestone on the road to realizing Vision 2030 as the bank and ALAN are pledging to join hands, thereby assisting one another and helping each other with projects, expertise, capacity-building, and more,” said Pupuma. The partnership is therefore geared towards realizing the vision and objectives of ALAN, Standard Bank and Local Authorities. According to the signed Memorandum of Understanding, a Joint Management Committee will be formed in order to manage this relationship and serve as a platform of communication, consultation, exchange and feedback between the partners. “Together with ALAN, Standard Bank will face local, economic and developmental challenges head-on and find amicable solutions for all parties involved,” said Pupuma. Besides being a partner in financial products and service delivery as well as capacity-building, Pupuma said the bank would also act in an advisory role and as a solutions-provider. “One of the burning needs is on corporate government and knowledge of councillors on how to manage the affairs of local authorities. The agreement we have can be in money or in kind; we can run courses here for selected councillors. So it can be money or resources, as long as it moves forward in accordance with the MoU objectives,” explained Pupuma further. The way in which Local Authorities get assistance through the bank includes Project Finance, Vehicle and Asset Finance, Contract Finance, Debtors Finance, Electronic Banking, Black Economic Empowerment Finance, Group Schemes. At the same time, both the bank and ALAN will strive to introduce tailor-made products and services for the particular needs of elected councillors in all 13 regions. Speaking on behalf of ALAN’s president, Rosina //Hoabes, the Deputy Mayor of the City of Windhoek and Executive Committee Member of ALAN, Elaine Trepper, reiterated the strengthening of local authorities. “Many Local Authorities especially those smaller councils (without necessarily excluding the bigger ones) need social upliftment and capacity-enhancement that can be realized with the assistance of our financial institutions such as Standard Bank Namibia, hence the importance of this occasion,” said Councillor Trepper. It turns out that, during the five-year term in office, most elected councillors work part-time and depend only on the monthly allowances they receive, without enjoying any funeral policy. Thus, the deputy director in the Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, Evans Maswahu, said the move is commendable as it will go a long way in addressing the challenges facing councillors in various local authorities. “We had problems with councillors as they work part-time and are only given allowances. Therefore honourable councillors must be respected accordingly,” he said. Maswahu was speaking on behalf of the Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, Kazenambo Kazenambo.