The Topnaar community in the Erongo Region is in need of a vocational training center, as well as other private educational institutions that could cater to the youth.

This was raised by a member of the community association, Albertus Kooitjie, during a community engagement meeting hosted by the Topnaar Community Association at Utuseb.

Utuseb is a small settlement situated in the Namib Desert, approximately 40 kilometers from Walvis Bay, on the banks of the Kuiseb River.

Part of the Walvis Bay Rural Constituency, Utuseb has a population of about 2,000 inhabitants.

The community currently has two primary schools.

Kooitjie said parents have to send their children to schools in the township after completing Grade Seven; however, most of them drop out of school due to a lack of accommodation.

It is against this backdrop that Kooitjie expressed the need for the government to upgrade the current educational facilities to allow children to complete their education.

"The young Topnaars who are staying in the area don't have a place to live in Walvis Bay or even Swakop; they don't have a house, so most of the 7th graders are becoming dropouts because they don't have a place to stay or live in the towns. It's not that they can't continue their education; there are obstacles, such as a lack of shelter in town, that will cause them to drop out."

"These people that are here, will they only sit here and warm their seats and then get paid?" asked Daphny Swartbooi, adding, "We need development in this area; we need houses, water, and electricity as well; children are struggling with schools; our children want to study; these people that we have elected, please get up and fight for us in terms of development."

Meanwhile, the Erongo Regional Council has facilitated the construction of a !Nara seed storage and processing plant in Rooiback, to be managed by the Topnaar community in the Kuiseb Delta.

The goals of this social project are to ensure the long-term use of the !Nara plants to create jobs, slow desertification, and improve the living standards of the Topnaar community.

This unique plant, found only in areas inhabited by the Topnaar community, is consumed as food and is also used as medicine.

The most important economic activities in the constituency are the harvesting and selling of !Nara seeds, livestock farming, gardening, the mining of precious stones, and tourism.

The constituency's weather ranges from cool to hot and windy, which also makes the area ideal for the generation of electricity from solar panels or wind turbines.