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Nawa 11 |
May 13 2002 |
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NYAE NYAE CONSERVANCY: FIRST MILLION NAMIBIAN DOLLAR CONCESSION
 Nyae Nyae Conservancy, the first conservancy gazetted in the CBNRM program in 1998, has just concluded negotiations with a trophy hunting company for a tender of over one million Namibian dollars. African Hunting Safaris submitted and won a tender for N$1,045,000 (approximately US$103,000) per year for the next five years with the Nyae Nyae Conservancy.
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In December 2001, the Nyae Nyae Conservancy, home of the San people, decided to terminate its hunting concession agreement due to general misunderstandings between both parties and a failure to honor contractual agreements. As a consequence, there was a need to re-tender the concession. At the same time, this presented an opportunity to revise the hunting quota. The Nyae Nyae Conservancy worked with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism to set a higher quota of over 11 species of wildlife for off take, based on the current numbers at Nyae Nyae. The new concession was bid by eight Safari Companies and was ultimately awarded to African Hunting Safaris, making the Nyae Nyae hunting concession Namibia`s first "Million Namibian Dollar Concession."
The re-tendering of this highly valuable concession reflects two major successes of the Namibians` CBNRM program. First Nyae Nyae community was empowered to terminate their concession with its current concessionaire, after it failed to meet contractual agreements. Secondly, following nine years of development and managing Nyae Nyae`s wildlife resources, the quota was substantially increased, allowing Nyae Nyae Conservancy to more than triple its annual income from last year. Neither of these events would have been possible without long-term USAID and LIFE programme support.
Nyae Nyae Conservancy is one of five conservancies in Namibia that have hunting concessions. Trophy hunting made up only 12% of the total revenues for the CBNRM program in 2001, but it is vital to some of the conservancies. This is particularly true for Nyae Nyae Conservancy, located off the major tourist route in Namibia. It is three hours off the paved road and ends at the Botswana border facing a high security fence. Nyae Nyae is Namibia`s largest conservancy at 9000 square km but with a low population density, an ideal environment for wildlife. The San have made major changes in their life-styles and no longer poach the wildlife. The have managed it well for use both as a food source and as tourism attraction which engages trophy hunters. |
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LEARNLINK PROJECT SUCCESSFULLY CONCLUDES
 On March 31st, USAID`s LearnLink project successfully completed its 22-month mission to support Namibia`s education ministries to more effectively use information technology to improve professional development and support education professionals across the country. Through LearnLink, USAID/Namibia assisted the Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture (MBESC) in improving information technology skills in Namibia`s historically disadvantaged northern regions. With LearnLink`s support, the Ministry established four computer centers in Teacher Resource Centers (TRCs) in Ongwediva, Rundu, Katima Mulilo, and Okahandja and hired project-trained, out-of-school youth to manage the centers.
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The computer centers serve as Internet access sites and computer training venues for MBESC employees, private sector organizations, NGOs and community members. To date, almost 1,000 Namibians have become registered and paying members of these centers. Another initiative undertaken by the Ministry and LearnLink was the development of teams of technology champions serving in the four education regions who were trained to acquire IT skills and to share these skills with colleagues in the regional offices, at schools, and with learners in classrooms. Through LearnLink, the Ministry also developed the Educational Development and Support Network website (ED`S Net),www.edsnet.na, to provide online support, expanded access to resources, professional development, and opportunities for professional collaboration between teachers, ministry staff, and others interested in IT throughout Namibia.
Since October 24, 2001, there have been more than 1,600 visitors to the ED`S Net website. While ED`S Net is primarily accessed by Namibians, people in at least 20 other countries have also accessed it. One example of how ED`S Net is being used to share information amongst educators both within and outside Namibia comes through an e-mail conversation between one of the project`s counterparts, Mr. Alfred Ilukena of the National Institute for Educational Development (NIED), and the Director of the Tanzanian Institute of Education (TIE). During the conversation, the TIE Director requested Mr. Ilukena to send her information on Namibian materials to train teachers to work in large and multi-level classrooms. Rather than sending this information, Mr. Ilukena encouraged the Director to check ED`S Net where there are three teacher training modules on this topic. The TIE Director`s response after viewing the pages was, "I didn’t realize that such a god existed."Mr. Ilukena responded that he hoped that one day he could find similar resources available on a TIE website. |
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NID CIVIL SOCIETY CO-OPERATIVE AGREEMENTS SIGNED
 The Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID) announced co-operative agreements signed under its USAID-funded Civil Society Development Program (CSDP) at a function to mark the completion of the first year of the program in Windhoek on 27th March 2002. In his address, US Ambassador Kevin McGuire referred to the importance of active citizen involvement in the democratic processes that govern a democratic state, congratulating all involved in promoting this important right of civic participation through the CSDP.
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Four established NGOs -- the Legal Assistance Centre, the National Society for Human Rights, the Urban Trust of Namibia and the Namibia Development Trust -- all of which receive funding from NID, referred to the successful integration of the following CSDP-funded advocacy activities into their existing programs:
· Addressing issues around the passing of the Combating of Domestic Violence Act;
· Advocating Tolerance, Participatory Democracy and the need for reducing polarization around differences;
· Building stronger links between government at local and regional level and civil society and promoting decentralization;
· Recommending changes to the draft Communal Land Bill with regard to the use of land and water points;
· Advocating for more favorable conditions for community-based tourism initiatives;
· Working for the integration of HIV/AIDS awareness in all development activities.
Emerging NGOs also benefit from the program, receiving technical assistance, institutional capacity skills training and competitively awarded small grants offered by the NID. Amongst these organizations, Swakop Youth against Crime has achieved considerable success in promoting crime prevention initiatives to the Swakopmund Town Council. Its efforts have already resulted in strategies being implemented, which have virtually eradicated petty crime in the central business district. The local business community also renders its support to this organization, and endeavours are currently underway to replicate their crime-fighting model to other towns in Namibia.
As a result of the CSDP`s success, the Embassy of the Netherlands has recently provided additional funding to the program, with the purpose of deepening the effort and consolidating the results being achieved. |
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NAMIBIA`S REFORM SUCCESSES PRESENTED
Four senior officers from the Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture`s northern education regions of Namibia recently presented a symposium on Namibia`s joint USAID/MBESC School Improvement Program at a major international conference in the United States. The Regional Education Officers, Mrs. Dutte Shinyemba from Ondangwa East Education Region, Mr. Andreas Amushila from Ondangwa West, Mr. Alfons Dikuua from Rundu Region, and Mr. L. S. Lupalezwi from Katima Mulilo Region, represented the MBESC at the Comparative International Education Society`s 46th Annual Conference. |
The subject of the conference was "The Social Construction of Marginality: Globalization`s Impact on the Disenfranchised."The Namibian delegation`s symposium offered an overview of the reform in the education sector since the country’s Independence and detailed progress to date in the government`s efforts to overcome the effects of marginalization resulting from the apartheid system.
The officers, who are all members of the National Steering Committee for the USAID-funded Basic Education Support Project, Phase II, provided detailed information on the development of the MBESC School Improvement Program in the four northern education regions of the country. Mrs. Shinyemba and Mr. Lupalezwi focused on the ways in which Namibia`s School Improvement Program (SIP) provides local support for improvement in teaching practice and school management through ongoing professional development activities for education officers in their regions. Mr. Amushila and Mr. Dikuua emphasized the ways in which the government`s efforts to involve parents and community members in local school improvement activities have produced dramatic results.
The Namibian educators declared that they gained a great deal of useful information by participating in the deliberations of conference sessions presented by an internationally well respected forum of educators from around the world. The Namibian symposium was well received at the conference and the MBESC and USAID Namibia applaud the officials for their accomplishment. |
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