Un-employment vs UN-employable

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There is a famous Chinese proverb that says tell me I will forget, show me I will remember and Involve me I will understand. This in my opinion sums up the views of many urban youth in Windhoek Namibia who are studying and or seeking employment. The current situation in Namibia and I am sure in many parts of the world as well, is that to secure employment you need  work experience and to have a experience you need a job. As a result Many Urban youth that have graduated from the University of Namibia find it hard to enter the job market and usually end up working for themselves or doing jobs that pay anything.

thedrivenclass.com

Employers complain that training institutions do not equip students with the right skills and competencies needed; this is due to the fact that formal education focuses more on remembering theories and facts than actual applications in the real world.

blog.guiasenior.com

There is a simple solution to this dilemma the Namibian society needs to embrace a culture of apprenticeship and mentorships as a form of work based training. And government spending on education should support programs that adopt this method of education. To ensure that the right skills are transferred effectively to the urban youth matching the necessary competencies needed in the job market.

For more info on work-based training programs and alternative qualifications in namibia email me 

kalabamufrank@gmail.com

We moving on Up

kids-soupkitchen.org

Over the heroes day long weekend I spent some time in katutura and had a tour of an informal settlement known as Havana 6. The experience got me thinking Why do people migrate from the rural area and move to town only to stay in shacks? And what is the government of Namibia doing to address the need of people migrating to Windhoek.

  Now to my knowledge recently the government has passed two new acts of legislation the Labor Amendment  act and the flexible land Tenure act, which for me clearly show that the government is not making long term strategies in the interest of its people living in informal settlements.

http://www.nbc.na/

Why I say this is that the land act in the long run will benefit the rich. Here is why I think that; in reality the people will be able to organize claim land and have title deeds; Yeah for them. Now these same people will now have aces to loans and use the land/house as surety. I am confident that a high number of people will default and loss the land and end up in the balance sheets of Banks. Hate it or love it that is what will happen.

mafiaspirit.blogspot.com

Now the new labor act is a mess on its own. To me it’s designed to make it hard to get a casual work but when you do get casual work you are protected which is ok, but now comes to the employer this will definitely increase the cost of labor. The clause that allows for the presumption of indefinite employment is going to be abused by employers that I can guarantee, how you ask? You will have to pay me to tell how that’s intellectual property.

   

Now back to my first question why move from the rural area. Well my underlying thought is based two key qualitative variables Hope and Consumerism. On the issues of consumerism people migrate because they come from subsistence farming which make it hard to have access to consumer goods like cell phones, Kentucky fried chicken, toys for kids blah blah. Now hope comes in the sense that there is chance of better life with the supposition of proximity to health care, good teachers, and personal empowerment as in there voice will be heard in the city.

fakeposters.com

  Now Namibia as of at 2009 has 235 informal settlementsapprox. 135,000 household and approx population of 540,000. And the latest census shows this has increased. Will the trend further hurt Namibia when it comes to the geni coefficient score?