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Home / GIPF takes member education to Zambezi Region
GIPF takes member education to Zambezi Region
2016-03-04Staff Report 2 Windhoek Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) stakeholders’ engagement remains critical because it empowers members with appropriate updates on members’ benefits in particular and the fund’s’ operations in general. “Member education is an essential part of our corporate strategy which the fund wishes to accentuate. Through member education the fund complies with good governance as well as acceptable standards in pension fund management,” said Amos Kambonde, GIPF’s manager for marketing services. GIPF has close to 97 000 active members and 31 599 annuitants in the form of pensioners and orphans. In this context the fund has an obligation to ensure that its products and services are well understood by its members. This enhances the GIPF’s ability to improve its turnaround times in benefit distribution, which is at the core of its mandate as a pension fund. GIPF has emphasised that it is essential that its members and beneficiaries understand its rules, how they are applied and what their obligations are in the set-up. Furthermore, members have to know their rights and responsibilities and know what they are entitled to. “In our experience members only apply their minds to their pension when they need to claim and that’s when contentious things such as documents to be submitted and nominees come into play, resulting in claims being delayed. The sad thing is that many of these negative experiences could have been avoided had people known their fund and the benefits at the outset and understood both their rights and obligations in terms of the pension fund’s rules. We are very happy to have concluded many member education sessions last year in most regions around the country, hence we are continuing to do so going forward,” said Kambonde. The fund has therefore invited its members to join them in the Zambezi Region between March 7 and 11. GIPF’s Pension on Wheels will be making rounds in Zambezi and the surrounding villages with its client consultants to attend to all queries during this roadshow. The next member education roadshow will be in Kavango East and West. 2016-03-04Staff Report 2
