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Trust and Council to bring out the voice of San people

Trust and Council to bring out the voice of San people

In an effort to represent the San communities on a national level, two San organisations, were launched on Thursday in Windhoek.
These two organisations will represent the San from the various regions through the NSC and the //Ana-Jeh San Trust which consists of San students in Windhoek enrolled in tertiary education with the assistance of the Division: Marginalised Communities in the Office of the Vice-President
The San Council is a collective of San leaders from different backgrounds with the goal and objective to advanced the social, economic and political development of all San communities. Informally established in 2004, in 2015 it became formalized as a Voluntary Association with a Constitution and a Management Committee.
The NSC currently comprises representatives from the Ju|’hoansi in Tsumkwe East, !Xung in Tsumkwe West, !Xoo, ‘N|oha, Naro from Omaheke South, ≠Xao||ae from Omaheke North, Hai||om from Oshikoto and Khwe from Kavango and Zambezi.
It was established to promote the rights of the San communities and to assist in the development of the individual members and of the communities collectively. At the ceremony where the Council and the Trust were launched, it was stated that these two organisation will active to lead the San to self-determination in line with national policies, international laws, treaties, protocols, standards and ideals.
The //Ana-Jeh San Youth Project was started by San students in Windhoek in 2014 and formalised into the //Ana-Jeh San Trust this month. The trustees said they understands the need to encourage San children to regard education as an important tool that is preparing them for a better future. “//Ana-Jeh encourages learners to enjoy their school activities and to take their school work seriously” they said.
The Trust aims to promote the right to education for all San people; minimise San learner drop-out rates in educational institutions; increase the numbers of San learners in higher educational institutions; provide assistance with education and improve the performance of San learners, and finally, encourage and promote San parents’ involvement and support in their children’s education.
Job Morris, founder of the San Youth Network at the launch said, “I want to develop methods that will seek to reaffirm, redress and shift past representations to appropriate responsible representation which affirms that the San are proper representatives by themselves and for themselves”.
Meanwhile, the organisations received financial support from the Open Society Initiative of Southern Africa (OSISA), the Embassy of Finland and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

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