Staff Reporter

The Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management (NIPAM) has achieved several milestones and overcome various challenges in the last few years.  

For the past nine years, NIPAM has been challenged with getting accreditation for its courses. Accreditation, in general, is a recognition granted by an accrediting body, the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA), in the Namibian paradigm. 

Maria Nangolo was appointed as the executive director in July 2018 and she is the first female to lead NIPAM. During her tenure, Nangolo faced a huge task of addressing the challenges the institution was experiencing. 

Being accredited allows institutions to ensure that they maintain and adhere to a training standard and hence quality offering meeting national and international standards. It further assures the public of the quality of the institution’s courses and attracts various people to enrol for the accredited courses.

Under her leadership, NIPAM have noticed the transformation and improvements in the performance of the institution and some notable achievements to date as the executive director cements her five-year term.

“During NIPAM’s 12-year journey to date, the focus has been on knowledge transfer through capacity-building interventions as per the mandate. Through operational research, we have identified additional needs of our stakeholders, one of which was the need for qualifications that have an articulation arrangement and that are accredited. 

Thus, we began to set up systems and processes to align with accreditation requirements and keeping in mind cultural trends by assessing the situation on the ground, given Namibia’s history and current context.” 

NIPAM received its accreditation from the NQA for three qualifications, i.e., the certificate in public sector management (NQF Level 6), certificate in public sector management (NQF Level 7), and the postgraduate certificate in public sector management (NQF Level 8). 

These programmes were launched on 25 April 2022. Obtaining these qualifications may help enhance the participant’s competence required in the public sector and increase the likelihood of the participant getting a job in the public sector.

“The coordination and integration of our people, processes, and products have considerably improved and are critical to our long-term growth. Capacity-building should continue in meaningful and tangible ways internally and externally, and we continue to engage our stakeholders more actively through our expanded range of activities. This effort is continuous and requires persistent commitment from every individual at NIPAM.”