Hilma Nakanduungile
EENHANA – The Ohangwena regional directorate of education, arts and culture recently received donations of sporting equipment worth N$25 000 from Project Hope Namibia (PHN).
About 24 schools will benefit from the donations, which includes balls, whistles and chessboards.
According to PHN Ohangwena regional programme manager Saara Eliphas, they are currently providing prevention programmes around sexual violence and gender-based violence among girls and boys between the ages of 9-14. The programme started last year.
She added male coaches enrol boys through schools as an entry point and give coaching sessions, using a curriculum called Coaching Boys into Men (CBIM) as they prepare them to be responsible boys and caring men in the future.
“This programme is focusing on young boys due to reports of gender-based violence increasing almost every day in the country. In Ohangwena, 24 schools are selected for CBIM implementation for the year 2020-2021. The Ohangwena CBIM target for this financial year October 2020 - September 2021 has enrolled 675 boys in the region,” said Eliphas.
Receiving the donations on behalf of the regional director, the deputy director of education Palisha Ngulu commended PHN for the good gesture, saying the donations came at the right time, since the region has a high learner population, which makes it difficult to cater to all schools with sports equipment.
“We applaud Project Hope Namibia for the programmes they run in schools to coach our boys. We are also very grateful for the equipment they donated to our learners. This is a way to meet the government halfway. Our learner population is big; we, therefore, need these kinds of donations. Other stakeholders and individuals should come on board and support the ministry in all kinds in order to see a better Namibia,” urged Ngulu.
PHN is a non-profit organisation that has been supporting the government to implement HIV-related programmes since 2002.
The programme is aimed at reducing the impact, transmission and spread of HIV through a comprehensive and integrated community-based response that provides a range of care and support interventions for vulnerable groups and populations infected and affected by HIV.