From Promise to Practice: Rethinking Namibia’s Jobs Conversation
By Hopolang Phororo |
Almost every day, Namibia’s newspapers carry a story about jobs.
One day it highlights youth empowerment initiatives, such as MTC’s 4Life programme. Another day it is a sobering reminder that more than 70% of working individuals are unable to save or build generational wealth because unemployed relatives depend on them.
On another day, we read about efforts such as the National Youth Development Fund supporting young entrepreneurs. And we also hear about TVET as a pathway to economic emancipation.
Different headlines. Different angles. But they all point to the same reality: jobs and livelihoods matter deeply to Namibians.
As Namibia marked 36 years of independence under the theme “Beyond 35: For a Prosperous Future,” it is worth asking whether the national conversation on jobs is taking us where we need to go.
Namibia has set itself an ambitious goal: to create 500,000 jobs. This is not just a policy target – it reflects the scale of the challenge and the urgency of delivering meaningful economic opportunities, particularly for young people.
According to the Namibia Statistics Agency, youth unemployment stood at around 44% in 2023 underscoring the scale and urgency of the challenge.
At the same time, recent policy developments add a further dimension to this urgency. The President’s initiative to expand access to free tertiary education will, over time, increase the number of graduates entering the labour market each year. This is a positive and important investment in Namibia’s human capital.
However, it also underscores the need to ensure that the economy can absorb this growing pipeline of skilled young people.
Without corresponding progress on job creation, there is a real risk of increasing numbers of educated but unemployed youth – an outcome that would be deeply frustrating for young people and a missed opportunity for the country.
The question is whether we are organised to deliver at that scale.
The encouraging news is that Namibia is not short of ideas. The building blocks of job creation are well known – stronger skills systems, support for small and medium enterprises, labour-absorbing sectors, and deeper private sector engagement.
Across government, the private sector and development partners, a wide range of initiatives is already underway.
Yet the challenge persists – at scale.
This suggests that the issue may no longer be the “what,” but the “how.”
A central constraint is the absence of a coordinated view of the employment landscape. Despite the number of initiatives in place, there is limited shared tracking of outcomes, limited visibility on what is working, and insufficient alignment to ensure that efforts complement rather than duplicate one another.
As a result, promising initiatives are not consistently scaled or replicated, and the collective impact remains below its potential.
The risk is not inactivity. The risk is effort that does not translate into impact at scale.
At the same time, Namibia’s employment story cannot be told without recognising the role of micro and small enterprises. Across the country, thousands of such businesses sustain livelihoods every day, often outside the formal policy spotlight.
Yet many do not survive beyond the first few years. While Namibia-specific data remains limited, evidence from enterprise development studies across Africa, including work by institutions such as the International Finance Corporation and regional SME research suggests that a large proportion of small businesses, often estimated at around 70–80%, do not survive beyond their first five years.
This raises an important question: are we creating enterprises, or building businesses that last?
If Namibia is to make meaningful progress toward its job creation ambitions, these enterprises must be supported not only to start, but to grow. This requires improved access to finance, stronger business capabilities, and pathways for enterprises to scale and create jobs for others.
The question is not only how many enterprises are created, but how many are enabled to grow and contribute to employment at scale.
Addressing these challenges will require more than individual programmes. It will require stronger coordination across institutions, clearer accountability for results, and a more deliberate focus on scaling what works.
Initiatives such as the Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions offer a potential platform to support this shift. The Global Accelerator is a multistakeholder initiative that brings together government, the private sector and development partners around a shared approach to job creation and social protection.
At its core is a focus on aligning policies, financing and implementation across sectors, precisely the areas where fragmentation often limits impact.
For Namibia this presents an opportunity not to introduce new programmes, but to better connect and scale what already exists with a clear focus on delivery and results.
Ultimately, the challenge is not a lack of commitment or effort. It is whether these efforts can be brought together in a way that delivers measurable outcomes.
As Namibia looks beyond 35 years of independence, the opportunity is clear – to move from well-intentioned initiatives to a more coordinated and results-driven approach to job creation.
Because in the end, the question is not whether we are doing enough.
It is whether what we are doing is working.
– Ms Hopolang Phororo is Resident Coordinator for the United Nations in Namibia.
