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WINDHOEK. – Namibia will host the 38th Summit of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in August.
The summit is to be held under the theme “Promoting infrastructure development and youth empowerment for sustainable development”.

In line with this theme Otjinene Constituency is already taking the lead and has initiated a youth project intended to engage the youth of not only the constituency but the entire region of Omaheke, towards seeing that they are gainfully employed.
For this N$200,000 has been requested as start-up capital for the various income-generating projects that the youth would be engaged in.

Through the employment initiatives youths would be engaged in projects offering human resources at events such as weddings and funerals where they would hire out tents which they would pitch up themselves.

“Youth in Otjinene constitute a big chunk of the population, yet they remain the most defeated and marginalised. The difficult circumstances that young people face because of limited opportunities for education and training, viable employment and social services, and because of a growing incidence of substance abuse and juvenile crime, are deteriorating the chance of Otjinene’s quest for achieving a developed constituency,” reads the project proposal.

Among the problems that the youth in the constituency face are high levels of unemployment, which include long-term unemployment; high level of school drop-outs, increasing incidences of diseases such as HIV and Aids and lack of opportunities where the youth could participate in societal life thereby contributing to their development and well-being.

After consultations with the youth and various stakeholders, it has been established that the priority is for the youth to be taught social values and norms.

Hence the empowerment approach which includes inculcating social values in them. – New Era Namibia.