Capacity Building & Training

Lack of capacity has been identified as one of the main bottlenecks for sustainable development in Namibia (see Vision 2030, National Development Plan 2 mid-term review and National Capacity Self Assessment (NCSA) reports). It is widely recognized that the lack of capacity at the national, regional and local levels for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use, including for its mainstreaming, stems from:

The primary targeted groups are the national (e.g. MME, MET, MFMR, MRLGHRD, MWTC and MAWF), regional (Regional Councils) and local (Local Authorities) governments and other ICZMC members involved in CZM.

In partnership with other initiatives, NACOMA will provide cost-effective training to the identified stakeholder groups. It will further provide targeted support to MET’s efforts to mainstream and enhance biodiversity management by specifically strengthening local and regional delivery mechanisms.

Some of the general capacity-building themes identified to date are:

Training and capacity building in the above mentioned themes will be provided through technical assistance from the PCO and other national and international thematic experts, thematic training workshops, on-the-job training, and study tours.

This activity is linked to the ongoing decentralization process as well as contributes to improved effectiveness of institutions engaged in ICZM by filling the capacity gap at local, regional and national levels regarding ICZM, biodiversity conservation and sustainable use. It would, thus, facilitate the mainstreaming of coastal biodiversity and resources into development planning, decision-making and key economic activities.

The capacity building and training have not progressed well as anticipated, and continue to be carried out on ad hoc basis. This is mainly due to the fact that the PCO team does not have the easy implementable Training and Capacity Building Strategy and Action Plan (TCBSAP). Initial efforts to have the TCBSAP in time have failed as the hired consultant failed to deliver acceptable and implementable TCBSAP. The PCO team is now in process of re-launching this task for speed implementation. This involved reformulation of the TCBSAP task, redevelopment of the terms of reference and re-procure the service for new consultant. NACOMA however continues to carry out urgent and priority training and capacity building activities as necessary, with the latest one being the training of coastal Regional Councils (RC), coastal Local Authorities (LA) and Line Ministries (LM) in usage of GIS (Geographic Information Systems) in application of Erongo and Kunene coastal SEA results and recommendations. Other ad hoc trainings that took place to date include SEA & EIA trainings to MET and some RC’s and LA's staff members (both inside Namibia and in South Africa); project cycle management to all coastal RC’s, LA’s and LM’s staff, etc.

For more information and downloading reports linked to this activity, please visit Reports & Publications.