By Eveline de Klerk
SWAKOPMUND – Namibians should take pride in and ownership of the country by promoting and actively engaging in the Nationhood and National Pride (NNP) campaign, as it will ultimately determine the degree to which Namibians can connect and develop a common identity.
This was said by the Deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Stanley Simataa, during the official opening of the five-day NNP workshop that started on Monday at the coastal town of Swakopmund.
The workshop, which is being attended by close to 70 participants, is aimed at educating people on the contents of the NNP strategic plan and also to develop a training manual that will be used for the establishment of the NNP regional and constituency structures.
Attendees to the conference include chief regional officers, representatives and members of the Interim NNP National Stakeholders Forum as well as representatives of various government institutions.
According to Simaata, the workshop provides key NNP stakeholders a platform to acquaint themselves with the key doctrines of the NNP as embodied in the strategic plan that was approved by cabinet in August this year.
The NNP campaign was conceived during a cabinet retreat in 2006, followed by the presidential directive to cabinet in 2007.
The directive was that the government through the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology develop the NNP campaign as a vehicle to support and sustain Namibian citizenship, motivate individual and collective consciousness of duty, commitment obligations and responsibility to the nation and to each other as fellow citizens of Namibia.
President Hifikepunye Pohamba officially launched the NNP campaign in April 2011 with the aim of addressing social ills such as tribalism, violence against women and children, vandalism of public property and crime, amongst others.
“The plan amongst others envisages the establishment of regional and constituency structures that will be tasked to spearhead the implementation of the national initiative at regional and constituency level,” Simaata explained.
He went on to say that it is therefore crystal clear that effective and functional regional and constituency structures are in place for the successful attainment of the objectives of the NNP.
Simaata said the NNP campaign also seeks to draw on the country’s rich cultural diversity to develop common values that can identify the Namibian nation from other nations. “It is a vehicle through which we should muster and rally sustained support and cultivate a high level of consciousness and commitment to the nation,” he explained.
The workshop is expected to deal with various matters such as the perspective of the NNP campaign, the establishment of the NNP national and regional structures, its funding as well as the role of line ministries in the campaign.
Speakers at the workshop include Professor Joseph Diescho, political veteran Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, Professor André du Pisani and the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Uahekua Herunga.
An NNP Strategic Plan will be launched at the end of the five-day workshop on Friday.