Gela Post
//Karas Regional Governor Lucia Basson says training of people should be done with a programme in place that will benefit the trainees after completion of their training.
Speaking at Farm Gellap Ost research centre last Thursday, she said people, and the youth of the region in particular, have been through various training programmes nd acquired so many certificates, but in the end they sit at home with countless certificates that collect dust.
She said that people that are trained are usually left on their own after training and fail to do something meaningful with their new skills, stressing that unemployment remains high in the region despite so many people being trained by various institutions.
Basson singled out the Women’s Action for Development (WAD) training programme as one of those that continue to train people, without having any programme in place that will benefit trainees afterwards.
She stressed that WAD has trained and continues to train people throughout Namibia, but these trainees are all over the streets without jobs.
“That’s why I told Veronica de Klerk that I don’t want to be part of her WAD programme,” she said, in reference to the former executive director of WAD.
She said people should not just be trained for the sake of training them, but they must be given something after the training that will enable them to use their skills and generate some income.
She added that from now on whoever wants to train people in her region should have a good programme in place to give the trainees something to do after completing their training.
“I want them to be trained for something, not just train them and leave them in the air,” she said.
Basson urged the youth that attended the three-day workshop to equip others with the skills they have acquired during the training.
She encouraged them to do something for their communities, stating that every human being is pregnant with potential at birth, but how one nurtures this potential is what matters more in life, and thus young people should not live life for the sake of living but stand up and do something for their community.
The training, organised by Omayambeko Hope Foundation in collaboration with Skorpion Zinc, was attended by 26 young people from Keetmanshoop and focused on behaviour communication change.