RUNDU – The government of Japan, through its Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects Programme (GAGHSPP), yesterday handed over an engineering workshop worth N$96 625 to a local non-governmental organization in Rundu.
The beneficiary of the fully equipped workshop, Komeho Namibia Department Agency (KNDA), yesterday received the engineering workshop in the presence of Tomohide Yamada, the first secretary of the Japanese Embassy in South Africa. The handover took place in the Kaisosi informal settlement and was attended by scores of local people. KNDA Director, Nelao Kasuto, said the centre’s main responsibility is to design and develop technologies that are appropriate for rural communities and at the same time focus its outreach efforts to target rural communities.
“Komeho Namibia is ready to provide skills and practical training to our young people at vocational schools, within the limits of our capacity, so as to contribute in our small way to the national quest for a technology-driven nation as we walk the long walk to industrialization,” said Kasuto. She added that the vision of the NGO is to provide sustainable solutions for poverty alleviation and through the provision of equipment and machinery, for land preparation, harvesting, processing and value addition, as well appropriate mechanisms for crop production. “Honorable governor, you will agree with me that the engineering workshop that we built with the money donated to Komeho by the Embassy of Japan was the missing puzzle in making our vision a reality,” she said.
Komeho has since roped in two engineers, one from Zimbabwe and another from Zambia, to transfer skills to the apprentices in the workshop. The workshop was constructed at the Appropriate Rural Technology Centre in Rundu’s Kaisosi location. The centre has to date produced pit latrines, bush pumps and thrashers. It has also assembled hand tractors, distributed solar technologies and trained 25 apprentices since 2011.
On his part, Yamada said he hoped that the centre would provide the apprentices with an interactive approach to skills development and help them to gain a keen interest and knowledge in ways of bettering their communities. “This project with Komeho Namibia forms part of a greater relationship between Japan and the Republic of Namibia. Since the establishment of a diplomatic relationship in 1990, Japan has been extending development assistance to Namibia in many areas, such as infrastructure, agriculture, rural development, education and health,” said Yamada. The first secretary announced that since the start of the GAGHSPP in 1995 over 35 projects have been implemented around Namibia in order to help satisfy basic human needs at grassroots level. “The Project for Flood and Drought Adaptive Cropping Systems to Conserve Water Environments is being conducted in the northern parts of Namibia for the development of new agricultural techniques,” said Yamada.
Standing in for Kavango Regional Governor, Ambassador Samuel Mbambo, Rundu’s deputy mayor, Bonny Kahare, said technology is the catalyst for any development today, hence the importance of the newly built engineering centre. “If this centre is taken seriously, it has the ability to affect many lives positively. Therefore I want to thank the government of Japan for providing us with a facility where our people can develop their skills, which they can use to work and produce food instead of giving us donations such as food which we did not work for,” he said. Kahare underscored the importance of the support from the Japanese government as Namibia moves towards becoming an industrialized nation by 2030.
By Mathias Haufiku