By Petronella Sibeene
WINDHOEK
In its continued efforts to address the disparities existing between the urban and rural areas, the Women Action for Development (WAD) recently opened a training centre in the Karas Region.
The centre will assist school dropouts, school-leavers and the community at large to receive training in various skills that will enhance their chances of finding employent in both formal and informal sectors.
While the Karas Education Region has been a knight in shining armour as far as Grades 10 and 12 results are concerned, the region has lost that status, the Regional Education Director, August Mungunda, confirmed. In the past two years, the region’s education performance has deteriorated.
“Learners are still repeating, and others are still dropping out of school. Still too many learners in primary schools do not really satisfy the requirements,” said Mungunda.
He added that poverty is a daily menace in the region, while ignorance is threatening to engulf communities in a sea void of knowledge and skills.
Based on that, the concept of training in the region was also prompted by the worsening situation of destitute families due mainly to unemployment.
Initially, the region had a “Complementary Learning Centre” at the town of Keetmanshoop, but this became redundant. Through the support of Namdeb, WAD was able to give the centre a new face and it is now back in operation.
Namdeb gave a sponsorship of N$232 000, while Old Mutual and Nedbank sponsored WAD’s Field Days to the value of N$80 000 and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation sponsored training programmes to the value of N$13 000.
“With the assistance of Namdeb, we could renovate and upgrade the entire centre before we could effectively start training activities,” said the Executive Director, Veronica de Klerk.
She also announced that no permission would be granted for activities such as weddings and parties at the centre, as was the case in the past, and stressed that the centre would be used for training and developmental activities only.
WAD is partnered with three institutions presently operating from the training centre.
These, according to De Klerk, include the AIDS Law Unit of the Legal Assistance Centre which mobilizes vulnerable individuals and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, the INTEC Distance Learning Skills Development Institution which offers support to students without access to computers, and the National Social Marketing Association (NASOMA) which employs innovative HIV/AIDS preventive strategies through the use of social marketing.
The opening of the centre coincided with the graduation of 58 students who received training in the fields of computer literacy, bee-keeping , tree-planting, needlework, hoodia and vegetable production. During the official opening of the centre, the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Willem Konjore, said WAD has been instrumental in making rural communities realize the unexposed potential that lies within themselves.
“With the birth of WAD”, he said,”many women particularly in rural areas have taken the lead in becoming breadwinners, business women and decision-makers, contributing immensely to the growth of our economy and its modern state.”
The Minister gave the reassurance that government will continue to ensure that commitment towards sustainable development through various institutions is realized.
“We consider WAD one of our prominent partners in this regard,” he added. Konjore compared women-empowerment to preparing the soil before sowing the seeds for the much-needed products. He said poverty cannot be eliminated by giving people handouts to satisfy their basic needs, but by encouraging and empowering them to use hthe available resources to cater for their own needs.
“WAD has taken concrete steps and has explored possible avenues to discourage the dependency syndrome among its members,” said Konjore.
Many Namibians in rural areas possess great skills and are aware of the potential their surroundings or they themselves have to offer the country but, unfortunately, they are never in a position to acquire the necessary money or opportunity to explore these talents.
Mayor of the town, Fiina Elago, has appealed to regional leaders in the Karas to support WAD’s initiative for the region to benefit the community.