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 Namibia; Toward a Knowledge Based Society |
Elaeti.nam
Number Posts: 272
Last Post: 05.01.2009, 15:32
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| Tuesday, 19. August 2008 at 11:56 |
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One of the major policies of the post independent Namibia's government is to make Namibia a knowledge based society. That is a society where knowledge plays a big role in every day life. In such a society all desicions are made according to what is known (statistics, scientific, etc).
Namibia's vision is to have a society where everybody KNOWS. To achieve this, education is the first step, which is why the biggest chunk of the government's expenditure goes to education.
For this vision to be fully realised, stakeholders need to be sensitized about it and what is required of them. In this case the stakeholders are all the people, Especially the young people who have been educated for past 18 years. The government has spent a lot of money on us and they expect a lot from us.
Elaiti thinks the first thing expected of us is to understand the overall economic shape of Namibia and how it functions. This would help us understand how we can contribute in different fields We have chosen such as Medical, Law, Engineering, Humanity, Enterprenuership, etc. I think our task is easier than those of our comptriots who had to sacrifice their lives during the liberation struggle.
There is a lot of data at the Bureau Of Statistics in the National Planning Commission that can tell us how our economy is doing. Ideally these datas should be central to all we discuss everyday (Knoledge Society) (I actually think the Bureau of Statistics should be a body on its own, much like StatsSA.
One data that interests me is the recent study on Household Expenditure. It shows that the gap between the poorer and richer is narrowing. (Gini coefficient changed from 0.7 to 0.6). It would be interesting to know what caused this narrowing. Knowing this would help us to focus our energy on that area so that we can make our Namibia a better society.
Government bodies should not be the only sources of Statistics. Educational Institutions should also play a role. A classical example is Unilever Institute at UCT, which contacted a study on the emerging black middle class in South Africa (black diamonds). That study shows that the Black diamonds increased by 30% within a year. Remember it is the middle class that where behind the consumer boom that drove South Africa's economy for the past few years. This increase in the middle class is said to have been caused by Affirmative Action and BEE laws.
No statistics is currently available in Namibia on the black middle class, but observations shows a same trend as South Africa. I am sure if you go to Car Dealers and Housing Developers they will tell you that the majority of their customers are now black.
The middle class is important for any society's economic advancement, in advanced countries it makes up 50% of the population, in South Africa only 20% are in the middle class, the positive is that this number has been increasing since Affirmative Action and BEE were introduced.
It is this middle class that we must transform into the knowledge society. This would have a multiplying effect on our economy. The well informed middle class will do what is right to ensure that the poor joins the middle class and the rest would be history.
Interestingly in today's New Era, there is a report that Namibia's State Phamaceutical system is in a good shape. Good. BUT, this is according to a study by two final year students from Toronto University. If we had a knowledge based Society, we should have known this already. They also said the System is service Oriented rather than patient oriented. If we knew, we could have easily adapted to being a patient oriented. One other thing they have also noted is that there is fewer local pharmacists. So those many Namibian pharmacists studying at UWC and other SA Universities won't go to waste.
If you have gone through the whole of this post, then you are about to join Namibia's Knowledge Society, If are not already a member (LOL )
[Post edited by: Elaiti on 19/8/08 2:01 PM]
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 Re: Namibia; Toward a Knowledge Based Society |
Elaeti.nam
Number Posts: 272
Last Post: 05.01.2009, 15:32
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| Re: Namibia; Toward a Knowledge Based Society |
Elaeti.nam
Number Posts: 272
Last Post: 05.01.2009, 15:32
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| Thursday, 21. August 2008 at 10:44 |
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"Thinking out of the box" Society
A knowledge based society leads to an innovative, creative and "thinking out of the box" people.
Imagine:
-Cars did not always have radios,
-Jukeboxes were not always there,
-Who decided to can/tin food,
-Cameras are now integrated into cellphones,
These are all examples of "Out of the box" thinking. That is people thought of things that would add value to humanity while making money for themselves.
Infact thinking out of the box is the basis on which civilization is build on. And the country that has more inventors takes the lead in development.
Every country has creative people born into it, but if they are not well informed, they cannot be innovative enough to create world class products. How do you expect Shipwiisho to write a new Software that classifies diseases in Oshikoto region, when He doesn't know how Bill Gates and Mark Shuttleworth made progress in that field (software development).
I am stressing on "Thinking out of the box" because right now we lack innovative enterprenuers. Almost everybody wants to own a business, but very few are being innovative. All we see is copying enterprenuers. A knowledge based society would give birth to more Innovative Enterprenuers who would commercialise new products that might be needed not only in Namibia but also in the whole world. That would be a good source of foreign currency that would help our economy grow faster. A good example is Finland; Nokia now a multinational telecommucation company contributes a lot to the finnish economy. Imagine the revenue that the government gets in the form of taxes from Nokia.
Basically to be an effective creative and innovative person, one needs to know what others have already invented, how it is being used and then "think out of the box" on how to improve it or invent a new product that is for example more convinient to use.
How are national data relevant to Innovative Enterprenuership. Let's take an example of the Namibia Household Income and Expenditure Survey of 2003/2004 http://www.npc.gov.na/publications/prenhies03_04.pdf.
It shows that only about 15% of households in Namibia owns bicycles. This can be a good business opportunity, especially that, such a percentage varies from region to region. some have about 20% while others only 7%. Further research can reveal why this is case. It might be that bicycles are under supplied and under marketed in Namibia. Maybe bicycle usage is low in some regions because the available bicycles cannot cope with efululus (Sandy soil) in those regions. If an Innovative Polytechnic Mechanical Engineer knows that is the case then He would design a Bicycle that can better cope with efululu.
Another interesting data is that of donkey/ox carts. The household ownership in regions varies from 0.6% in Ohangwena to 20% in Hardap. Should it be like this? probably No. So next time you want a business, don't just think of a TAXI, Bar or Jackpot, But an investment into Donkey/Ox carts and market them in Ohangwena.
These are just a very small portion of data that can be used in a Knowledge Based Namibia for different purposes.
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| Re: Namibia; Toward a Knowledge Based Society |
Kachokwe
Number Posts: 144
Last Post: 05.01.2009, 12:24
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| Thursday, 21. August 2008 at 15:29 |
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Elaeti.nam, I like your topic and 100% agree with your points above. However, I am of concern about the the "reading culture" among Namibians particullaly the youth who are to become the Knowledge Based Society as its being proclaimed, because I see that, apart from the knowledge that one is get through education as you mentioned it, one need to read more sources to enrich his/her knowledge and to get abreast with current information on different fields and subject areas. But according to my experience (as Information Officer/Librarian) young people are just reading for study purpose and after school/University they are hardly found in the Libraries and information centers or just to buy their own reading materials for the purpose of expanding their knowledge.
Some may I have excuses that Libraries are few in the countries, yes they might not enough at this stage but the government has tried to have few Community libraries) in the regions that are functional but its hard to find people going there (statistics prove that). They are not 100% good stocked but I think the little which is there is enough to make impact in ones life and add knowledge to the existing one. I think if us young people would develop culture of reading and get exposed to the relevant and up to date information materials that we would use to our maximum, then that vision will become true and we will use this knowledge to initiate different projects that will help to elviate poverty in our country.
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| Re: Namibia; Toward a Knowledge Based Society |
Tokyo
Number Posts: 89
Last Post: 12.10.2008, 01:30
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| Saturday, 11. October 2008 at 23:16 |
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Thanks for the info!
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| Re: Namibia; Toward a Knowledge Based Society |
Elaeti.nam
Number Posts: 272
Last Post: 05.01.2009, 15:32
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| Tuesday, 30. December 2008 at 03:26 |
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Smart nations will survive the current economic hardships
Recent developments shows that Namibia is not insulated from the credit crunch. The decrease in comodity prices caused some mines and exploration activities to become unviable, so jobs will be lost.
Namibia is highly depented on her natural resources. I guess the anticipated challenges will encourage Namibians to have a better understanding of how our economy functions, so that we can fast tract the process of diversifying our economy.
This once again underlines the importance of having a knowledge based society.
Elaeti.nam
[Post edited by: Elaeti.nam on 30/12/08 3:28 AM]
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| Re: Namibia; Toward a Knowledge Based Society |
Elaeti.nam
Number Posts: 272
Last Post: 05.01.2009, 15:32
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| Wednesday, 31. December 2008 at 12:13 |
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NDP III and Knowledge Based Economy
The government has recognised the power possesed by having a knowledge based economy, thus they have included it as one of the 8 Key Result Areas (KRAs) of the NDP3. Below is the transcript taken from the . NDP III Executive Summary
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7. Key Result Area: Knowledge-Based Economy and Technology
Driven Nation
This KRA complements other KRAs and cuts across all development themes. It
is based on the Vision 2030 objective of transforming Namibia into a knowledgebased,
highly competitive, industrialised and eco-friendly nation, with sustainable
economic growth and a high quality of life. Thus, it is concerned about the
innovative use of both tacit and codified forms of knowledge and technology
to help the country leapfrog from a resource-based into a knowledge-based
economy. Improvement of the people’s access to information, technology and
knowledge are key factors in accelerating economic growth and enhancing the
competitiveness of Namibia.
The overall performance of this thematic area during the NDP2 was encouraging,
despite a shortage of necessary change agencies and the absence of qualified
and experienced personnel in the fields of innovation and ICT. For example, the
value added research projects such as the pearl millet (mahangu) and drought
resistant crop varieties developed at the Okashana Research Station and the Dr
Sam Nujoma Marine and Coastal Research and Resource Centre at Henties Bay
(SNMCRRC) received recognition as a NEPAD node for Biosciences with its
NDP3mushroom project while the Gobabeb Desert Research Centre is now a SADC
Centre of Excellence on Desertification. Furthermore, the Office of the Prime
Minister has facilitated several initiatives, which have had a commendable
impact on the utilisation of ICT in the public service.
On the policy and institutional fronts, a number of NDP2 targets were achieved.
These include the adoption of the National ICT Policy for Education (2005),
the Namibia Information and Communication Technology Policy (2004) as
well as the E-Governance Policy. In telecommunications, mobile telephony
has expanded rapidly and the number of Internet subscriptions increased,
particularly in major towns. However, most rural communities are still without
adequate access to both the mobile phone network and the Internet.
The major barriers to Namibia’s transition to a knowledge-based and technology
driven nation are:
(i) the lack of adequate numbers of qualified personnel;
(ii)low disposable household income; and
(iii) a lack of access to electricity in rural areas which limits access to ICT.
Another aspect is the lack of an enabling
environment that allows private initiatives and entrepreneurs to deliver
technology solutions that suit low-income groups.
In order to enhance people’s access to economically viable knowledge, the
Government will develop affordable and accessible ICT services, provide
adequate ICT training and awareness, improve ICT Security, implement five
phases of e-Governance, create a National Commission on Research, Science,
Technology and Innovation (RSTI), ensure nationwide demand and diffusion
of economically viable knowledge for RSTI, enhance media development,
establish National Spatial Data Infrastructure ensure the timely production of
statistics, consolidate the integrated results-based planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation system, implement the Performance Management
System (PMS) for the Public Service and establish the Namibia Institute of
Public Administration and Management.
The full NDP III Executive Summary can be accessed @:
http://www.npc.gov.na/docs/NDP3_Executive_Summary.pdf
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Designed for Namibia