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Country Overview: UN Volunteers in Namibia

01 February 2003

BONN: One of the largest United Nations Volunteers (UNV) initiatives in recent years is in the offering for Namibia. In 1999, the Namibian National Planning Commission conducted a national workforce assessment in which shortages were identified in all sectors, from health care and education to research and public administration. Under the project -- carried out in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and executed by UNV -- a mixed team of UN Volunteers and those from other volunteer sending agencies are to take an active part in building local capacity over a five-year period. They will upgrade the technical skills and abilities of the Namibian workforce; fill specific technical and functional gaps in governmental institutions with UN Volunteers during the programme's duration; and enhance the skills of the unemployed and inexperienced sector of the labour force. A total of 1,070 national and international UN Volunteers are required at an estimated cost of US$29 million. The Government, in partnership with the bilateral and multilateral donor community, will cover the cost of the project. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNV are providing approximately US$300,000.

The Namibian Government has also developed a long-term perspective plan titled Vision 2030. In cooperation with UNV, the plan will provide, by way of a participatory approach, a policy regarding choices for the future course of development through 2030. This target date was chosen as a possible horizon for the country to achieve developed country characteristics.

UN Volunteers' current contribution to Namibia
Currently, there are 13 UN Volunteers working in Namibia. Two work with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as field officers looking after the welfare of 300 refugees in two refugee camps. With the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), three UN Volunteers work as regional food security and nutrition officers. Under UNV's capacity building initiative in Namibia, six UN Volunteers work as land surveyors, a survey planning adviser, a HIV/AIDS and development specialist and a poverty reduction specialist. One fully-funded Belgium UN Volunteer is a tourism specialist facilitating and training the ethnic San population to effectively harness the economic benefits of tourism. In a public-private partnership for urban environment, one UN Volunteer from Ghana works as a UNV programme coordinator strengthening policy and institutional frameworks in public-private partnerships.

UNV is administered by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)