NAMIBIA’S VOLUNTARY PRESENTATION ON NATIONAL STRATEGIES FOCUSING ON HEALTH, EDUCATION AND POVERTY, in tandem with GENDER EQUALITY and women empowerment

1
NAMIBIAS VOLUNTARY PRESENTATION ON NATIONAL
STRATEGIES FOCUSING ON HEALTH, EDUCATION AND
POVERTY, in tandem with GENDER EQUALITY and
women empowerment
REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA

• By
• Hon. Doreen Sioka
• Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare
• Government of the Republic of Namibia
• Prepared for
• The Annual Ministerial Review of the Economic and
  Social Council (ECOSOC) meeting in New York,
  U.S.A
• 2010 - 06-30

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The Presentation Focus

• INTRODUCTION
• Political Framework
• General Overview
• Economic Development Planning - Focus
• IADGs, MDGs Vision 2030 Objectives
• The Planning Process
• The Key Elements
• MAIN FOCUS GENDER and HEALTH, EDUCATION, and
  P0VERTY

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Background

• This presentation is a response to the UN General
  Assembly Resolution 61/16 on the strengthening
  of the Economic and Social Council of November
  26th, 2006, focusing on sister nations shared
  and exclusive experiences in the implementation
  of IADGs, MDGs, and OWN NATIONAL developmental
  goals, in particular strategies used in the
  processes.
• The presentation summarises the main Report which
  focuses on gender and health gender and
  education and gender and poverty in relation to
  achieving the IADGs , MDGs, and Namibias Vision
  2030 objectives.

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Political Framework

• Borders
• North Angola and Zambia
• East Zimbabwe and Botswana
• West Atlantic Ocean
• South South Africa
• Regions 13, Each headed by a Governor
• National Parliament 72 Members
• National Council 26 Members
• H.E. the President, Executive, and Judiciary

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Political Framework Continues

• Attained independence in 1990
• Based on
• - multi-party democracy
• - separation of powers
• - unitary state with an
• - Independent Electoral
• Commission

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Key Features Population
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Additional Statistics

• 2 million people
• 65 rural mostly in the northern part.
• Rural Male 47 Female 53
• Urban Male 53 Female 47

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Economic Developmental Planning

• These factors generally guide national and
  developmental planning

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Economic Features

• A thriving mixed economy.
• Heavily dependent on mineral extraction and
  processing of minerals for export.
• Rich alluvial diamond deposits makes Namibia a
  primary source of quality-germs.
• Worlds 5th largest exporter of uranium, and 4th
  largest African exporter of non-fuel minerals.
• GDP is estimated at N78 Billion (U 10.3
  Billion) as per 2009 preliminary figures

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Other Economic Features

• Presents a modern market supported by a
  traditional subsistence sector. These combine to
  generate most of the country's wealth.
• The majority population is rural, and depends on
  subsistence agriculture and animal herding.
• Boasts 200,000 skilled workers, and a small but
  well-trained professional and managerial cadre.

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Synergies and Strategies
Vision 2030 and IAGs (Including MDGs)

• The given information provides the background to
  Namibias strategies to achieve the IADGs, MDGs,
  and Vision 2030 objectives in the selected areas,
• Namely i). Health and Gender.
• ii). Education and Gender.
• iii). Poverty and Gender

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Health and Gender MGDs 4-6
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Strategies

• Prioritisation of Primary Health Care as the
  key to achieving objectives on
• - Child Health
• - Maternal health
• - Reproductive health, and
• - Measures to prevent other infectious
• diseases.

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Strategies continue..

• Adoption of an Integrated Management of
  Adolescents and Adults Illness to achieve
  increased, effective comprehensive
  Anti- Retro-Viral treatment results by Rapid
  rolling-out the Anti-retro-viral treatment
  programme .
• Implications budgetary staff training, and
  effective information dissemination.

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Strategies continue..

• Research into national health issues and
  experiences through workshops and conferences.
• Undertaking Preventive immunisation campaigns
• Upgrading existing infra-structure and
  constructing new facilities to keep pace with
  population growth.

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Strategies continue..

• Cultivating and maintaining Cordial Donor- Host
  Relationship.
• Constant training of new and old personnel.

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Outcomes

• Increased accessibility of public health services
  to women and girl-children.
• Increased dissemination of information on
  diseases/illnesses and on what preventive action
  to take.
• Sustained donor contribution towards governments
  effort to achieve the MDGs.

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Outcomes continue

• 4. At Independence (in 1990) there was only one
  major hospital, now Namibia has
• 1 National Hospital 3 Intermediate Hospitals
  34 District Hospitals 44 Health Centre and 267
  Primary Care Clinics.

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Outcomes continue..
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Outcomes continue..
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Outcomes continue..
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Outcomes continue..
NDP3, 1993/1994
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Outcomes continue..
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Challenges

• Financially and materially sustain the
  effectiveness of the programmes on
• - primary health care
• - Child
  mortality
• - Maternal Mortality
• - Reproductive health, and
• - Measures to prevent other infectious
• diseases.
• - immunization
• - HIV/AIDS
• - nutrition
• - poverty, and others

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Education and GenderMDG 2
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The Strategies

• The strategies are based on government's
  commitment to achieve comprehensive capacity
  building objectives in line with the objectives
  of Vision 2030 which seek to see Namibia become
• A prosperous and industrialized society
  developed by own human resources enjoying peace,
  harmony and political stability.

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Rationale Strategies on Education NMDG2

• Historically women have been the most
  disadvantaged educationally. Government sought
  to rectify that through strategies that can have
  long term developmental empowerment of women and
  make them economically independent.

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Strategy One

• Education and Training Sector Improvement
  Programme (ETSIP).
• Objective
• To strategically guide the provision of public
  education and training in order to ensure
  achievement of Vision 2030 objectives with an
  intentional bias to empower women.

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Accompanying Policy Instruments

• Education for All Policy with focus on Primary
  Secondary Schools
• - Net enrollment
• - Youth literacy (15-24 years)
• - Survival rate at Grade 8
• - Access to tertiary Institutions,
  particularly by women.

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Accompanying Instruments

• Education Sector Policy for the Prevention and
  Management of Learner Pregnancy
• Goal
• To promote the continued education of pregnant
  learners and to ensure equal treatment of female
  and male learners.

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Strategy Two

• Establishment of Namibia College of Open
  Learning (NAMCOL).
• Goal
• Provision of additional opportunities in the
  event of failure the first, or being deprived the
  freedom to rejoin the mainstream after dropping
  out for various reasons, which often happened to
  girls who became pregnant, or forced out of
  school by cultural practices.

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Strategy Three

• Re-training and Continued Upgrading of Teachers
  Qualification Combined with Introduction of
  Attractive Incentives to entice qualified
  teachers to take up positions in the Rural Areas,
  increasing the quantity quality of teaching
  material.
• Goals Improve teaching skills .
• Improve educational equity nationally.
• Ensure value for the huge budget allocated for
  national capacity building through education.

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Outcomes
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Challenges

• Stereotypes, specially it terms of education for
  women.
• Raising passing percentages particularly at Grade
  10 and Grade 12 levels given the 30 of the
  national budget allocated for education annually.
• Making available adequate infra-structure and
  well trained teachers at all levels.
• Shortage of teaching and learning material.

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Poverty and Gender MDG 1
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Strategies

• Rationale for MDG 1 in Namibia
• Poor population 28
• Severely poor 4
• Rural population 65
• Rural women 53
• Vision 2030 seeks to see the country developed.
• Equal rights the rights for women in all human
  activities, in particular, Economic Endeavours.

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Strategy One

• Creation of an enabling environment in which
  women can have access to economic opportunities
  and autonomy across the board.
• Instruments
• Policies for financial institutions.
• Intensification of job creation programmes.
• Improvement of business climate for women.

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Instruments Continue

• Affirmative Action, Land Resettlement, and
• Equal Opportunity policies
• Implementation
• - Arms of government.
• - Private Institutions voluntary compliance
  with government policies.
• - Private individuals.

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Strategy Two

• Establishment of Koshi Yomuti
• Definition Banking under a tree.
• A financial outfit established to assist women,
  in particular rural women involved with small
  business enterprises by offering banking and
  credit services.
• It was modeled after SUSU of West Africa.

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Koshi Yomuti Modus Operandi

• Governed by the Division of Cooperative
  Development in the Ministry of Water and
  Forestry.
• Catered for the rural poor, in particular women
  (92 women).
• Products - Loans
• - Servings
• - Training

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Modus Operandi Continues

• Provided one on one consultation on how to run
  small businesses.
• Provided 5 training sessions to new clients.
• Advise clients to serve through the post office.
• Used mobile facilities (bicycles/motorbikes).
• Offered differentiated loans to individuals and
  groups.

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Outcomes

• Many women benefited.
• Helped to create relative success in reducing
  rural poverty.
• Its success convinced Government to provide
  support in
• - Credit for working capital or investment
• - Business planning to get a loan
• - Provide information on business.

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Outcomes continue..
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Challenges

• Economic reclassification of Namibia as an Upper
  Middle class country while poverty, particularly
  among women, is still rampart.
• It is difficult to convince major financial
  institutions to provide with minimum if not
  without collateral-access to rural women
  intending to undertake microfinance businesses.
• It is not easy create enough jobs to absorb High
  School leavers and graduates from tertiary
  Institutions yearly.

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Challenges under poverty continue

• How to establish a cross-cutting national budget
  on gender that can serve to enhance effective
  articulation of gender issues and requirements at
  different levels in all arms of government.

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General Challenges
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General Challenges

• Categorization of Namibia as an
  upper-middle-income-economy
• Costly access to international finance capital
  creating a serious impediment to her
  developmental agenda.
• Dwindling international support