Accessibility to community infrastructure plays a critical role in youth development approaches.
It is against this background that the youth organisation called Twamanguluka, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture (MEIYSAC), hosted a national stakeholder working session focused on the revitalisation of youth centres across the country.
There is a need to integrate cross-sectoral approaches for youth development that combine education, health, enterprise development, technology, sports, and creative industries within accessible community infrastructure.
The Twamanguluka Youth Centre Revitalisation Project seeks to transform existing public youth infrastructure into integrated multipurpose youth hubs that connect young people to education, health services, enterprise opportunities, digital skills, sports, creativity, and employment pathways.
With a focus on a four-pillar partnership framework: infrastructure revitalisation, co-management of youth centres, integrated programme delivery and financing and strategic partnerships.
Dr Marie-Jeanne Ndimbira-Rosner, founder and director of Twamanguluka, reiterates, 'One thing I would like all of you to understand is that at its core the programme is about one thing: harnessing Namibia's youthful population as a driver of inclusive growth, economic participation and social resilience.' The second thing we need to recognise is that the starting point of the programme, the advantage point, is that the government already has infrastructure, and what we would like to do is capitalise on the existing infrastructure and improve it, change it, modernise it and make it more inclusive for the progression we would want for young people."
The initial pilot phase of the programme will be launched in Katima Mulilo, Rundu, and Gobabis, with a focus on assessing and activating infrastructure relevant to multi-purpose youth hubs across regions.
"We hope that the outcomes of the project will be increased youth employment and create employment because we are bringing in capital, and we are going to encourage young people, especially in the agriculture programmes, to start their own courses along the whole value chain."