Outreach programme hailed a success

Outreach trips made by four specialist centres of learning at the Polytechnic of Namibia to three southern towns with the aim to strengthen their regional presence in the areas are said to have been successful.
The Namibia Business Innovation Centre, the Centre for Open and LifeLong Learning, the Centre for Co-operative Education and the Namibian German Centre for Logistics made trips to the towns of Keetmanshoop, Luderitz and Oranjemund recently.
Dagmer Hosbein, Director of the Namibia Business Innovative Centre said the centres’ brought their services, products and programmes to the regions in the hope of making the communities  understand the role of tertiary education.
The visits forms part of the centres’ holistic approach that was implemented to build capacity in the formal sector, among budding entrepreneurs, SMEs and communities.
Another aim of the visits was to bring together different stakeholders in the specific communities that would instil a sense of co-operation and common responsibility towards local socio-economic development.
Hosbein said the visits made a difference in the communities and allowed open and unrestricted access to the schools’ programmes, products and services, and most importantly, information. The visits also helped to grow awareness on mutual responsibilities to ensure greater stakeholder involvement in meaningful education, training and skills development in support of socio-economic development.
The visits started in April this year and are an on-going commitment towards the communities beyond the boarders of the Khomas Region where the centres are headquartered.
“So far we have visited Outapi, Ongwediva, Tsumeb, Katima Mulilo, Rundu,
Otjiwarongo,and just recently Oranjemund, Luderitz and Keetmanshoop. We will soon visit Gobabis and Walvis Bay” Hosbein said.
The centres will soon revisit the same communities with the particular aim of conducting trainings to respond to specific requests from the respective communities. Requests from the communities include training in entrepreneurship, business development, economic growth in start-up companies, mentorship and logistics development.