The Deputy Minister of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture (MEIYSAC), Dino Ballotti, engaged learners, educators and youth in the Omaheke Region.

During the visit, Ballotti emphasised the importance of turning engagements into tangible outcomes.

"We really need to see some action from this engagement, and I believe that for us to highlight areas, and of course we're not yet to fix every problem, that is also not realistic. But when we leave here with 345 clear action points, we can hold ourselves to account. What we wish is to sincerely engage the regional council on progress, on challenges, and on priorities. Our ministry, as mentioned by the governor, has 4 of those 7 priority areas of government. When I say 4, we have education, which is one of the 7 priorities; we have sport; we have our youth agenda; and we have creative industry, which is our arts and culture mandate."

He noted that the government is serious about taking services to the people, saying development cannot be centred in one region.

"It is not the region of |Khomas. It is the Republic of Namibia, and there are 14 regions that require equal attention, and I want to make that very clear. Now, as we know, I'm probably preaching to the choir, that Omaheke plays a strategic role in youth development in sports and in cultural heritage."

Balotti emphasised all government initiatives must ultimately translate into employment opportunities; maintaining job creation should remain at the centre of every development conversation.

"And, again, we need to have serious conversations about infrastructure. On the innovation and entrepreneurship topic or mandate, we wish to engage in job creation. Everything that we do must speak to job creation. That is the funnel. We can talk about everything from our security clusters, and we can talk about agriculture, but if it doesn't move towards job creation, then we need to ask ourselves, are we having the right conversation?"

Ballotti added that mindsets around entrepreneurship need to change, elaborating that while young people are encouraged to study and qualify for various fields of study, there is still limited emphasis on starting businesses and creating jobs. 

"But then we need to advocate and start something to employ people. We cannot be sending out job seekers. And so, on the subject matter of entrepreneurship, it's an agenda that we need to be pushing every day."