The Governor of Kavango West, Sirkka Ausiku, says that even though the region is faced with many developmental challenges, they are not impossible to achieve. 

Ausiku emphasised that focus and persistence are all that are needed to address the region's difficulties. 

The governor made these remarks during the 10th State of the Region address at Nkurenkuru today. 

As the youngest region in the country, Kavango West still battles with poor road infrastructure, inadequate water supply, and limited rural electrification facilities. 

Poor mobile communication networks and a lack of education and health facilities also top the list as some of the regions' major needs. 

Ausiku says these challenges will continue to be on the region's agenda until they are fully addressed. 

"The region is appealing to all ministries, agencies, and offices to start using the available statistics and reports from NSA as a basis for policy formulation for planning, decision-making, and resource allocation towards programmes and projects in all 14 regions." 

In terms of milestones, the governor highlighted the completion of constituency offices, the construction of the regional government office park, and the construction of the Nkurenkuru Vocational Training Centre, all of which are expected to be completed by next year. 

Ausiku singled out manufacturing, community-based tourism, and agriculture as some of the sectors that will improve the livelihoods of many communities in the region. 

"The region is also appealing to the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises and the Ministry of Industrialization and Trade to ensure that management issues at Kavango Cattle Ranch are addressed without further delay because the region believes that if this farm is well managed, it can create agro-processing industries, create needed jobs, address poverty, and improve food security in the country." 

Regarding education, Kavango West is among the best-performing regions in the country in both the grade 11 and 12 national exams. Despite this, there is still a need for more schools and hostels. 

"The region further requests more hostels to accommodate more learners. This will help to accommodate more of our learners who are travelling long distances to and from school, and it will also reduce school dropouts." 

Stateless and undocumented persons still remain a concern in Kavango West; however, the governor says the issue is being addressed. 

"The ministry has allocated a budget of N$15 million to construct a regional civic affairs office. This will improve the current situation of the long queues in our region. This region is also requesting the ministry to address, as a matter of urgency, the problem of stateless and undocumented persons, which is a huge problem. They can't access programmes."

There are still several services that are not available in Kavango West. The governor emphasised the need to have the Ministry of Justice, the Social Security Commission, a fully-fledged NaTis, and a permanent nbc office in the region. 

She also demanded the construction of the Nkurenkuru District Hospital without further delay.