Russia has expressed willingness to share its best practices and experiences of the universal basic income grant (BIG) with Namibia, chairperson of the Russian federal council committee on social policy Yelena Perminova has said.
Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Standing Committee on Health, Social Welfare and Labour Affairs yesterday, Perminova said Russia has been implementing its universal BIG for two years, and is ready to assist Namibia in its deliberations.
Standing committee chairperson Hans Nambondi indicated that a motion was adopted in November 2023 for investigations on the importance of adopting a universal basic income grant as a means of social protection.
“This is a very important task for the committee, as the findings and recommendations will be forwarded to the relevant stakeholders for consideration for the betterment of poor and vulnerable Namibians,” he said.
The BIG Coalition of Namibia on 15 June 2024 took to the streets, and handed over a petition to the Minister of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare Doreen Sioka, demanding a universal and unconditional BIG of N$500 per person aimed at addressing poverty.
Meanwhile, Nambondi highlighted some of the committee’s findings on the health sector challenges, which include poor public health infrastructure due to inadequate funding for renovations and maintenance, a shortage of staff accommodation and ambulances, and inadequate numbers of health professionals such as medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists and medical specialists.
Perminova said Russia faces similar challenges in public hospitals.
“It is worse to say we have a lot of students studying medical degrees at the universities, but the problem is that not many of them go into state medical organisations,” she noted.
“We wholeheartedly welcome the invite to come to Russia to learn some of your best-practices. As leaders, we can all agree that one of our main objectives is to try and see how we can assist our country for the benefit of our people,” said Parliamentary Standing Committee member Emma Muteka at the same occasion. -Nampa