MAVANDJE - Kavango West Governor Sirkka Ausiku says youths in Kavango West should not despair because of high level of unemployment in the region – encouraging those in school to focus on achieving their education goals.
Ausiku made the remarks during the belated 29th Independence Day celebration at Mavandje village in Ncuncuni Constituency on Saturday.

“Parents should encourage their children to finish school because education is the greatest equaliser in any society. My office have started engaging the youth leadership in the region to come up with ideas on how to address the unemployment,” she said.

“Together with the Regional Youth Forum, we want to identify youth leaders in all eight constituencies to be champions of developmental initiatives in their respective constituencies.” 

The governor said that during the upcoming Nkurenkuru Expo in June this year, her office is planning to come together with the youths for two days to develop the Kavango West Regional Strategy on how to address youth unemployment in the region.

During the occasion, Ausiku also noted that since the creation of Kavango West Region and Ncuncuni Constituency in particular in 2013, a lot has been achieved.  She said that at regional level, although the then Kavango Region had two towns Rundu and Nkurenkuru, all public and private services were set up in Rundu.  Offices, ministries and agencies were operating from Rundu and the same can be said about financial institutions such as banks and other institutions. 

 However, since the creation of Kavango West, these services are now set up in Nkurenkuru which is the regional centre. “This brought development closer to our people.  New jobs were also created and we are seeing positive impact on the livelihood of our people. According to the Namibia Labour Force Survey of 2018, the regional unemployment rate was at 36.4 percent in 2016 and 33 percent in 2018,” she said.

Although Ausiku is happy that the creation of her region is starting to show some positive developmental signs, she said the region still remains among the poorest in the country. “The region remains concerned with the youth unemployment that according to the Namibia Labour Force Survey stands at 46 percent in 2018.  Therefore, we must now put our heads together to come up with ideas on how to address this challenge facing us,” she noted.

Now to address the developmental aspect at the level of Ncuncuni Constituency,  “We are witnessing developmental programs and projects taking place in our constituency since its creation.  We can list many projects like the construction of Sikanduko road, the construction of Ncaute and Gcwatjinga Primary Health Centres, the expansion of classroom blocks at Mavandje Senior Primary School and Shinguruve Junior Primary School to mention but a few,” she said.