Shilongo Eliphas Shilongo

The country’s economic and political actors have established the cross-border trade knowledge in e-commerce and services across SADC and the rest of the globe, which holds significant economic potential. Nevertheless, these economic activities require supporting digital infrastructures. Namibia recorded the need to the connectivity of regions and villages should be provided affordable internet services, bring down the overall cost of internet services, and connect public institutions digitally.

These will allow the connectivity of remote areas and less privileged communities. Namibia’s government should take advantage of new digital infrastructures from developed countries and assimilate. Citizens in all sectors need to be taken through lifelong learning programmes that require the necessary adult learning and skills’ enhancement. Currently, Namibia’s adult literacy rate refers to the percentage of people aged 15 and above who can both read and write, with understanding a short simple statement about their everyday life. These requires more intervention through collaboration with universities and all lifelong learning departments in various sectors to equip women and men with digital skills and knowledge, and to enhance economic activities. 

The strategic plans of our government should focus on establishing common e-services’ enablers to offer communities stable education and skills development, permit all citizens access to information and public services through their mobile devices. Equally important, the government should intensify friendly user e-recruitment processes for all, while electronic government resource centres should be readily available as digital infrastructure. 

Environmental management and resilience 

The e-environment and natural resources’ management plans should focus on applying digital infrastructure to enhance the planning, management and monitoring capacity of all the institutions responsible to promote sustainable environments and green environments in Namibia. The plans also set out objectives to develop environmental databases and geographic information systems’ (GIS) repositories and maps for use across government, with a view to managing the country’s natural resources more efficiently. Digital infrastructure brings its own environmental sustainability challenges, including those associated with increased demand for natural resources, e-waste and the potential environmental impacts of cable networks. This will minimise the development of physical assets in new areas, avoiding potential negative environmental impacts such as vegetation removal, biodiversity loss and interruption of hydrological regimes and animal migratory routes, as well as damage to Namibia’s rich cultural heritage sites and above all, Namibia as a country will re-arrange, re-programme and re-design its economic hubs through connectivity. 

Digital infrastructures into strategic national planning objectives 

Namibia’s infrastructure needs a well-crafted section in its national plans. Digitalisation and connectivity should stand as central pillars of the National Planning Commission, set a digital agenda for development and social change, laying out multiple uses for digital solutions, not only e-business and e-government, but also e-environment and natural resources’ management, e- agriculture, e-health and e-learning. This emphasises an integrated approach, with digital solutions mainstreamed across multiple sectors. It will represent progress from earlier or existing ICT policies which are confined. Moreover, Namibia should strive to create an enabling environment for these applications of digital solutions and ICT markets. This includes measures to complement regulations with neighbouring countries, removing monopolies and assessing and modernising present ICT legal frameworks to crowd in private investment in various sectors. The Covid-19 pandemic has underlined the importance of integrated planning for resilience, and demonstrates the value of investing in digital infrastructure for flexible working arrangements. Among other benefits, millions of occupations and educational activities have successfully shifted onto virtual platforms, allowing people to continue to pursue livelihoods, while potentially reducing the need for formulae of built infrastructure with larger biological footprints such as offices and transport infrastructures, which still today is Namibians’ habitual phenomenon. Digital infrastructure improvements can be incorporated further into our country’s strategic plans as part of a green and resilient economic recovery from Covid-19. With rigorous sustainability and viability assessments, digital solutions may offer alternatives to physical infrastructure assets. At the same time, the potential negative environmental and social impacts associated with digital solutions such as the consumption of natural resources and energy, or loss of traditional jobs and practices, must also be fully assessed and mitigated.