Namibia’s Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry John Mutorwa recently unveiled the joint management committee of the Namibia/UNESCO Water Support Project (WSP) when he revealed the names of the appointees to undertake leadership responsibilities to ensure the implementation of the project.
The minister appealed to the group to treat the policy framework document as a key guiding document in the implementation of the project.
“Handle, treat and use the said policy document as the dynamic document. Enrich, adapt and refine the document as a work in progress, in accordance with the dictum: practice makes perfect.”
He added that the country has suffered a series of hydrological extremes, such as floods and droughts and these affects the economy of the country and the livelihood of its people negatively.
The minister said the Namibia/UNESCO WSP would be implemented by government under the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry and the two public universities, as they will be involved in the training, education and capacity building part of the project.
The Ministry of Mines and Energy will involve its directorate of geological survey in the groundwater part of the project, whereas the Prime Minister’s office through the Directorate of Disaster Risk Management will be involved in the drought and flood risk management plans and mitigation.
Dr Jean-Piere Ilboudo from UNESCO noted that the plan is to train the youth as engineers at the two State universities and to come up with long-term integrated flood and drought mitigation plans
“First, we need to have experts. Second, we need to have a plan, which is not coming after the disaster, but [will] be able to prevent and to inform people before disasters, like an early warning system, and to be able to demonstrate that concretely in the field you are working in that it is useful for the country,” the agriculture minister further elaborated.
Deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry Abraham Nehemia said one of the primary aims is to build capacity at home.
