This month the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Namibia launched the 2016 Global Human Development Report (HDR) under the theme: “Human Development for Everyone.”

UNDP Namibia supported the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) to launch the Anti- Poaching Billboards around the country, as well as an Anti-Poaching Law Enforcement Centre at Waterberg.

Namibia is a land of other-worldly landscapes of breathtaking scale and splendour. With a dramatic geological past, and an arid climate shaped by the efforts of the frigid Benguela ocean current which sweeps along its coastline, this sparsely-populated country in the southwest of Africans home to a wide array of largely-rural peoples, rich biodiversity, and unique ecosystems.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Namibia has once again supported the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), to produce a National Corruption Perception Survey, which for the first time; covered all fourteen regions of the country including both urban and rural areas, and public and private sectors.

UNDP’s Resident Representative to Namibia Ms. Kiki Gbeho together with the Minister of Water Agriculture and Forestry and NAFOLA colleagues; launched the carpentry workshop at the Okongo Forest project.

UNDP Namibia  partnered with Namibia Media Holdings Group of Companies (NMH), the Hans Seidel Foundation (HSF), the Economic Association of Namibia (EAN);  and other sponsors to produce a 32 page booklet about  The SDGs under the theme: “ENSURING SUSTAINABLE GROWTH FOR NAMIBIA“ The publication aims to inform...

UNDP Namibia together with the First Lady of Namibia and in partnership with the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, launched the African Human Development Report and the 16 Days of Activism campaign to end gender based violence.

The Onampira Combined School in the Etayi Constituency of the Oshana Region in northern Namibia, has profited greatly from the assistance from the Scaling up Community Resilience to climate variability and climate change (SCORE) Project. Through the use of a micro drip irrigation system donated to them by the SCORE project the school’s community garden was able to thrive through harsh climatic conditions.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry, supported by Gobabeb Training Centre, the International Treaty on PGRFA and FAO, through UNDP and the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, officially launched the Namibian National Strategic Action Plan for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) at the African Drought Conference in Windhoek.

The Government of Namibia recently requested the United Nations, to undertake a skills audit of the National Disaster Risk Management (DRM) System of the country. In response, the Capacity for Disaster Reduction Initiative (CADRI) Partnership organized a scoping mission, with the objective to clearly define the scope, thematic focus, modality and timeline of engagement in Namibia.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Technical Advisor on Extractive Sector Initiatives, Dr. Audrey Cash, recently embarked on a familiarization trip to Dundee Precious Metals in Tsumeb, to engage the stakeholders in the Tsumeb Extractives Sector. These efforts are geared towards the preparation of the upcoming Extractives Conference which will examine environmental management, of this sector in Namibia.

The RC to Namibia, Ms. Kiki Gbeho presented a paper at the Foreign Policy Review Conference, hosted by the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, at NIPAM. The paper gives an overview of the United Nations contribution towards Poverty Eradication and its role in shaping Foreign Policy both nationally and globally. Thoughts were provided as to how Namibia could use its Foreign Policy to accelerate development in order to eradicate poverty and inequality.

UNDP Namibia RR Kiki Gbeho visited the Okongo Community Forest/Conservancy in the Ohangwena Region. The gazetted community forest covers 70 000 square kilometers of dry land, and is the best avaible grazing land in the region,The Community Forest Management Committee explained how they maintain decent grazing...

Christine //Hoebes, Deputy Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister of Namibia, officially launched the African Drought Conference in Windhoek, on the 1st of June 2016. Government officials, UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Kiki Gbeho, members of the private sector pledged to unite Africa to strengthen resilience to drought events on the continent.

As poaching becomes a growing global concern, UNDP Namibia in an effort to support the Government of Namibia has invested N$84 million (US$6m) towards anti-poaching efforts in Namibia over a period of ten years. The Government of Namibia has been very proactive and has aggressively tackled poaching through the...

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism in collaboration with UNDP Namibia launched the Guidelines for Integrating HIV and Gender-Related issues into Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for Capital Projects. Namibia is the first country among ten who are part of a regional pilot project to review the environmental assessment process,and to have developed and launched these country specific guidelines.

DID YOU KNOW: The Kavango East and West Regions in Namibia combined have the highest percentage of poor people in the country, with 53.2% of the Region Classified as "poor"; followed by the the Oshikoto region at 42.6%. "severely poor" refers to the total number of households who spend more than 80% of their income on food, while "poor" refers to the population that spends more than 60% of their income on food.

UNDP Resident Representative Ms. Anita Kiki Gbeho recently undertook an orientation mission to one of the NAMPLACE community level socio economic projects in Klein Karas, in Keetmanshoop, which is supported by UNDP. The Commissioner of the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET), the Programme Manager of NAMPLACE, the EIF Director, and Godwana representatives, also accompanied the mission.

UNDP Namibia celebrated its 50th anniversary on the 24 February 2015, together with its key stakeholders and partners, and with the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, as the guest of honour.

UNDP Namibia and the Katima Mulilo Town Council launched the Know Your Epidemic (KYE), Know Your Response (KYR), and Modes of Transmission (MoT) Report in the Zambezi Region on the 8th of February 2016.

Namibia has become one of the countries in the developing world, with a good story to tell when it comes to poverty reduction. The number of poor people have been reduced from seven to three out of every ten people. Progress has also been made in primary education enrolment, which currently stands at 99%....

United Development Programme (UNDP) Namibia Launched the Human Development Report (HDR) of 2015 on 15th December 2015. The HDR under the theme "Work for Human Development" was launched in Windhoek by the Deputy Minister of Economic Planning, Ms Lucia Iipumbu, the Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director, Regional Bureau for Africa Ms Ruby Sandhu-Rojon. The report addressed the fundamental questions "How work can be rethought for Human Development and "How to Enrich Human Development". The HDR 2015 also focused on the three basic dimensions: to lead a long and health life, to acquire Knowledge and ability to achieve a decent standard of living. The report highlighted the progress of the Human Development over the past century. Today there are more children going to school, people have access to clean water and good sanitation. The report particularly followed shortly after the UN Sustainable Development Summit adopted the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including Goal 8’s explicit emphasis on work: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all.

On 28 August 2015, the UNDP team visited several Government-UNDP/GEF Project sites in Etosha. ENP is Namibia’s oldest National Park. The Park covers an area of 22,270 km2 and is one of Southern Africa’s popular wildlife sanctuaries.

A committee meeting of Namibian ministers led by the minister of Environment and Tourism, Hon. Pohamba Shifeta was held with Dundee Precious Metals Tsumeb (DPMT) management in Tsumeb on Thursday, 27 August 2015.

In a country where the largest population of young people struggle to find work or a stable source of income, Shetuuka Shetuuka has managed to turn a crop farming project into a flourishing small business.

The United Nations Development Program in partnership with the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service and Wilderness Safari officially launched it s Youth Development Fund of Namibia. The Youth Development Fund is in initiative that was started as a pilot in November 2014 and is aimed at assisting out of school youth for training in field guides courses. The youth are trained by Mr Johan Fourie of Wilderness Safaris and Mr. Siegfriedth Bantu !Aebeb from the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service as well as assistance from associates within the Tourism sector. Trainings are conducted at the various Youth centres across the country and participants are unemployed youth from all the 13 Regions of Namibia. Wilderness Safaris has done such trainings in the past but due to financial constraints, had stopped doing so. The increasing need for field guides and increasing unemployment amongst the youth inspired the revival of this training program and gave birth to the Youth Development Fund of Namibia.

In celebration of the 2015 International Day for Biological Diversity the Gobabeb Research and Training Centre successfully organized and ran the sixth Youth Environmental Summit (YES), co-funded by the German government’s cooperation agency,GIZ, Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) and Gobabeb Centre, focusing on biodiversity and sustainable development at the Waterberg Plateau Park.

Despite its arid lands, Namibia is rich in biodiversity. To date, it has 20 state-run protected areas comprising nearly 17% of the country’s total land area. These protected areas are a centrepiece of Namibia’s tourism industry, which in turn sustainably supports the country’s economic development.

23 April 2015, the Government of the Republic of Namibia in partnership with UNDP launched the Namibia Poverty Mapping and the Namibia Index on Multiple Deprivation reports. These reports were launched jointly by the Honourable Tom Alweendo, Minister of Economic Planning and Director General of the National Planning Commission and Honourable Zephaniah Kameeta, Minister of the newly formed Ministry of Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare. Unlike earlier analyses of poverty in Namibia, the Namibia Poverty Mapping report provides a detailed analysis of spatial distribution of and trends in poverty headcount at regional and constituency levels using a combination of the 2003/04 and 2009/10 Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Surveys; and the 2001 and 2011 Namibia Population and Housing census data.

The United Nations Development Program in Namibia launched its first ever "Youth Development Fund". This initiative was inspired by the recently launched UNDP Youth Strategy titled, “Empowered Youth, Sustainable Future which was launched in March 2014 in Tunis.