MARIENTAL – Traditional authorities should be careful not to duplicate work under the recently established community trust funds, but rather ensure that the funds work to complement the various work of traditional authorities in the country.
This was said by the Governor of the Hardap Region, Katrina Hanse-Himarwa at a training workshop on the management and establishment of the Traditional Authorities Fund at Mariental recently. The establishment of the fund is in line with the Traditional Authorities Act to improve the livelihood of people at all levels and to fight poverty.
Hanse-Himarwa said the establishment of Traditional Authorities Fund is a very important step in the alleviation of poverty and empowerment of people at all levels. However she said, such empowerment goes hand in hand with responsibility, accountability and prudence.
She also highlighted on the importance of service delivery and the need to introduce methods by which to measure performance of various institutions entrusted with development and empowerment of communities. The governor volunteered her region to be the first region to measure its own performance.
“I will identify some ministries in the Hardap Region to improve service delivery. I will pilot that project in my area. We are preaching service delivery to our people, but if we cannot measure performance, how would we know where and how to improve,” she asked.
The Ministry of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development is currently conducting a series of training workshops for community trust funds’ boards of trustees. The purpose of the training workshops is to build the capacity of the board members.
In the Hardap and //Karas regions, training has already been conducted in the Vaalgras community, the /Hai /Khaua community and the Bondelswarts. The Mariental workshop was attended by the /Khomanin royal community as well as the Simon Kooper Traditional Authority.
By Hoandi !Gaeb