SEE Namibia – An active stakeholder in effective democracy
By Joseph Ndondi
Co-Founder of SEE Namibia.
SEE Namibia is a civic organisation that started as a social media campaign on Twitter that was titled #itwillendinvoting#. The campaign was aimed at encouraging the Namibian youth to participate in the 2019 national elections, the campaign then later turned into a voluntary association as there was a need to develop innovative ways to encourage young people to participate in the elections and to understand the importance of exercising their constitutional right to vote.
The association then engaged in a series of robust campaigns on and off social media, this included having young people from different across Namibia make videos to raise awareness on the importance of participating in elections. As a result of the organization’s targeted approach to encourage young people to participate in the elections, the voter turnout by young people increased to 49.9% compared to the 36.6% in the previous electoral cycle.
The organization was later renamed and re-branded from IAmVoting Namibia to Social Enabled Education Namibia (SEE Namibia), in order to debunk all misconceptions of political affiliation and to increase the organizations reach and jurisdiction.
The organization’s mandate is to actively carry out civic education, encourage young people to be involved in the democratic processes and effectively grow the relevance of digital democracy. SEE Namibia has about four strategic objectives, namely, the Community Dialogue Initiative, this project focuses on bringing leaders and residents together at the regional level to discuss issues facing their respective regions and to find possible solutions.
The Comprehensive Leadership Development Training Initiative will train student leaders to better understand their roles, democracy and accountable leadership. Furthermore, the Abraham Iyambo Achievement Awards is aimed at promoting social transformation, inclusivity and excellence within public leadership by awarding exceptional young people, who have created positive social change within their communities.
Election Observations, this particular initiative will focus on training young people to effectively oversee democratic elections. These initiatives are amongst the many brilliant projects the organization plans on carrying out.
SEE Namibia continues to grow by the day and empower young people within its structures. The organization has a board of ten members, whilst the management team is made up of seven directors, over five members of the editorial team, regional coordinators and 1038 volunteers across the entire country.
SEE Namibia’s zeal to empower young people has led to a high number of volunteers that are able to carry out their internships with the organization, enhance their skills and gain extensive first-hand leadership training. SEE Namibia carries out its mandate of keeping the youth informed through hits social media platforms and its newsletter that publishes monthly articles on national issues and relevant information to Namibia’s democracy. This vibrant organization continues to thrive through unity of purpose and inclusivity. In five years the organization aspires to expand to at least two SADC countries and to contribute to the increase in youth participation in democratic processes.
