By:Leakey Kaxwadi
The municipality of Otjiwarongo and the World Food Programme (WFP) under the United Nations (UN) have signed a memorandum of understanding to find solutions that will mitigate the scourge of hunger and reduce the level of poverty in the community of Otjiwarongo.
Otjozondjupa is one of the poorest regions in Namibia with a 50.9% rating on the latest UN International Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) multidimensional poverty index after Kunene (64.1%), Kavango East (70.0%) and Kavango West (79.6%).
According to the town’s mayor Gotlieb Shivute, through this agreement, the aim is to improve livelihoods and strengthen Namibia’s food systems to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic shockwaves by promoting urban agriculture by availing agricultural plots to small-scale farmers.
World Bank Report on poverty and shared prosperity reveals that 1.6 million people in Namibia are living in poverty as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The report also shows that the pandemic mostly affected already vulnerable people which threatens to widen social gaps further and increase already extremely high inequality.
“As the town continues to attract the rural population, it continues to be the highest populated town in Otjozondjupa region which makes up one-third of the regional population and contributes about 2% of the national population of 2.28 million people. Due to the central geographic location of Otjiwarongo, it is natural to conclude that it remains the best place of attraction for potential inhabitants,” Shivutesaid.
Hepointed outthat the agreement will contribute to the ending of hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition by 2030.
Shivute added: “The Otjiwarongo municipality recognises the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and WFP for combining forces to actively collaborate on the project that will benefit two local schools from Grow Home Programme in consultation with the ministry on education, the agricultural municipal camp 3 farmers and the Otjiwarongo Multi-Purpose Help Centre,a welfare organisation that operates under the municipality of Otjiwarongo that offer feeding programme and educational support to school going orphans and vulnerable children.”
In 2019, the Food Bank Programme under the poverty eradication ministry identified about 1000 households in Otjiwarongo and Okahandja to benefit from the programme, which targets the most hard-hit households.
Speaking at the same event, theWFP deputy country director Ericah Shafudah said that the organisation within the UN is one of the largest global humanitarian agencies which is known for saving lives and changing lives, delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience.
Shafudah also said that the WFP’s mandate has a development component that focuses on providing experts to assist governments, offers nationally-tailored technical assistance and capacity development to strengthen individual government capacities to produce their own food.
“For the food system, one needs partners to hold hands to assist. That is why the government has allowed us to talk to the developmental partners, private sector, and government entities including Otjiwarongo municipality,” she explained.
UN-Otjiwarongo Sign Agreement To Tackle Poverty
