Designed to inspire and motivate the youth to choose the careers they’re most passionate about, the Namibia Training Authority recently launched the third season of its ‘Live Your Passion’ careers advocacy campaign.
Live Your Passion brings the true and inspiring stories of ordinary Namibian women and men who are finding fulfilment in technical and vocational career paths.
These stories will be presented through a series of broadcasts on the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation and YouTube as well as newspaper articles to be published in the New Era newspaper, sharing the amazing and diverse technical work being done by extraordinary Namibians in the hopes they can inspire many others to pursue a career from a registered vocational centre.
Muvatera Ndjoze-Siririka, the acting CEO of the NTA, said during the launch that the Namibian society continues to place a high value on professional jobs while stereotypes and stigma continue to unfairly isolate technical and vocational options and children continue to be influenced that such careers are low-status, low-paying and dirty jobs.
“In demystifying the dominant societal perceptions around careers, the NTA advocates for our country’s youth to take up technical and vocational career paths and to reject the negative perceptions of them as low-status selections, which hold limited prospects for career growth,” he said.
Ndjoze-Siririka said the overarching objective of the Live Your Passion campaign is to enhance the status and attractiveness of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) career options among the youth.
The campaign supports trainee employability and leverages TVET institutions while promoting life-long learning and entrepreneurship.
Two of the TVET graduates profiled as ambassadors of 20 distinct career profile sets are Ulli Nuule, a female hazardous goods driver, and Mandume Hamukwaya, a computer technician.
Nuule, who first got her driver’s licence when she completed grade 12, is one of two female drivers for Unitrans Africa Namibia.
After doing office administration and later studying as a safety officer, she took up work as a firefighter and in 2021, her father advised her to apply for a vacancy by Unitrans that was looking for females to train as hazardous truck drivers. Her code 10 driver’s licence and firefighting training aided her attempts to be chosen out of over 700 people who applied.
She then had to undergo Code CE testing and passed at her fifth attempt.
“I was always keen on driving and used to fight with my siblings for the front seat whenever our father would take us to school just to see what he was doing with the gears.”
Through grit, determination and focus, Nuule is making inroads in a male-dominated career as a driver for Unitrans Africa Namibia.
Hamukwaya’s first job after moving to the city was as a security guard and later as a fuel attendant. He also ran a printing shop and assembled bicycles. Hamukwaya is now a full-time employee at PEBL Computers as a computer assembly technician.
“From a young age, I’ve always been passionate about fixing things. Me and my twin brother would sit all day fixing broken radios,” he said.
Launching the Live Your Passion careers advocacy campaign season three, Itah Kandjii-Murangi, minister of higher education, handed over textbooks and DVD copies of all the candidates’ stories to the deputy education minister Faustina Caley to greatly benefit the Namibian child in his or her career options.
She said technical and vocational careers pay more than academic professions, thus the technical stream is the best for Namibia and its people.
The minister noted that workers in the technical and vocational fields love what they do and find fulfilment in their jobs.
“They are successful and make a difference in their lives and those of others. They live their passion, and if you live your passion, you are creative, probably don’t get tired easily and always want to be better at what you do.”
Kandjii-Murangi said a responsive and industry-relevant TVET sector can play a pivotal role in addressing and redressing youth employment challenges.
She added that the past two seasons of the Live Your Passion campaign have been impactful, with 45 distinct career profile sets being produced.
These remain accessible on the NTA’s YouTube channel and website, which has exceeded over 74 000 followers on Facebook and 1.2 million views on YouTube.