The Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture (MoEAC), in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), hosted a public discussion on social protection for Namibian artists and cultural professionals.
Social protection for artists and cultural professionals aligns with the UNESCO 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, to which Namibia is a signatory.
The discussion aims to adopt and implement policies to protect and promote cultural expressions in Namibia and also to recognise that the vigour and vitality of arts and culture depend on the well-being of artists both individually and collectively.
The Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture means to enhance artists and cultural professionals' well-being through social dialogue.
And this, says deputy minister Faustina Caley, is significant in that her ministry seeks to develop and strengthen social protection systems that are adequate, sustainable, and adapted to practices and trends in like-minded sectors across the world.
"In Namibia, limited statistics exist to show the employment levels in both the formal and informal markets, income levels, and the contribution of employees to household income in both urban and rural areas. The decline in profit levels and the impact of the sustainability of wages are circumstances that required a response that could have cushioned the terrible impact on artists and cultural practitioners and their businesses."
The public discussions sought to provide an overview of the status of artists in Namibia in the context of the 2005 UNESCO Convention, establish the need for social protection for artists and cultural professionals in Namibia, and determine the way forward in terms of providing social protection in the creative and cultural sectors in Namibia.
The anticipated outcomes are actionable policy recommendations and strategies that stakeholders can adopt to enhance social protection for artists and cultural professionals in Namibia.